# Recommend alternate history series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 12, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551 "2016-08-12T12:40:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/21 "2016-08-13T19:42:18Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > If you’re not in the mood for horror, there’s Naomi Novick’s [Temeraire](http://www.naominovik.com/temeraire/) series. Imagine the Napoleonic wars–with sentient dragons taking part! Throughout the series, she expands her scope & we see societies around the world & how they relate to the dragons in their midst. Witty in a Patrick O’Brien sort of way… That series starts out strong, but gets depressing for a couple books in the middle. The Lord Darcy Series is great for those who love mysteries. A lot of other sleuths show up with slightly changed names. Lord Bontriuphe. James Le Lien. The earlier Turtledove are good reads. Worldwar tetralogy, Southern Victory- 10 books, How Few Remain (1997) The Great War trilogy American Front (1998) Walk in Hell (1999) Breakthroughs (2000) The American Empire trilogy Blood and Iron (2001) The Center Cannot Hold (2002) The Victorious Opposition (2003) The Settling Accounts tetralogy Return Engagement (2004) Drive to the East (2005) The Grapple (2006) In at the Death (2007) While we are talking Turtledove, try:Household Gods (1999) — co-written with Judith Tarr. _Dies the Fire_- what to say? Its a LOT like Wheel of Time. Starts good, then as the series goes on and became more popular the publishers kept asking for more, so Stirling started to drrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwww things out. I havent even bothered with the last two (or is it three?). The first few are good, but know there will never be a ending. If you can accept that, go ahead. But it’s more of a post apopcalyptic series than alt-hit. OTOH, you can get the HC for 1 cent each on Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/22 "2016-08-13T19:51:32Z")
Does it have to be a series? _The Man in the High Castle_ by Philip K. Dick _Bring the Jubilee_ by Ward Moore _Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell_ by Susanna Clarke _The Gate of Time_/_Two Hawks from Earth_ by Philip José Farmer That’s just those I’ve read. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/23 "2016-08-13T20:50:08Z")
If you stop reading the _Dies the Fire_ series after _A Meeting At Corvallis_, it’s not all that bad. It’s after that it turns totally rancid. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/24 "2016-08-13T23:14:05Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > This!. > > Deadly with a blade, is Belisarius. I agree they’re fun. But fair warning, half the protagonists would make Honor Harrington say ‘Ok, that’s a little Mary Sue’. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/25 "2016-08-14T01:54:39Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Although he left several springboards for sequels in the last book. Like The surviving Wolf child, the crashed zeppelin, the settlements on the Rio de La Plata, etc. Yeah, and it would be great if he actually did anything with any of those openings. Instead he keeps churning out more stuff in the Dies The Fire series. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/26 "2016-08-19T22:04:17Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > atrick O’Brien sort of way… > > S M Stirling’s written a bunch of alternate history. My favorite series, _The Lords of Creation_, consists of two (2) books & a short story. It’s really Alternate Solar System–what if Mars & Venus were the fascinating worlds revealed in Classic SF? Then there’s _Peshawar Lancers_–only one book & one short story; ripping yarns for those who can enjoy a bit of Kipling. Plus a bunch of other stuff. _Islands in the Seas of Time_ held my interest but its offshoots (still offshooting) have not. (Maybe I’ll try them again some day). [There are excerpts at his website](http://smstirling.com/books/)! > [@Bricker](#): > > I’m giving “Dies the Fire: A Novel of the Change,” a try! I am up to Book 5 now of Emberverse. I am hooked. It started out straightforward post-apoc scifi, took a quick turn into fantasy, and is now navigating the thermocline between them quite intriguingly. Thanks so much! ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/27 "2016-08-21T17:46:43Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > This, word for word. Skip _Dies the Fire_ completely and go for the Nantucket trilogy, which is excellent. But his best is _Peshawar Lancers._ Although looking up from the keyboard I can see a copy of _Conquistador_ beckoning me for a re-read. Read the Nantucket trilogy first, then the original DtF trilogy - but stop at that point. _Conquistador_ is my favourite of his other books, followed by the two LoC books (in which alien space bats terraformed Mars and Venus millions of years ago, planted them with life from Earth, and then came back from time to time to transfer newer life forms\*). - For some reason the critters that were transplanted to Venus don’t seem to have done any evolving of their own. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/28 "2016-08-21T20:40:02Z")
Oh, another Harry. Harry Harrison. **The Hammer and the Cross** trilogy is a fun alternate series. Starting with the Viking world and Anglo-Saxon world and expanding it’s scope from there. Don not read his **Stars and Stripes** series. It’s _wretched_. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/29 "2016-08-21T20:52:29Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > If you stop reading the _Dies the Fire_ series after _A Meeting At Corvallis_, it’s not all that bad. It’s after that it turns totally rancid. I agree with this completely. I really enjoyed the first book then it went downhill every time after. OP, have you thought about Newt Gingrich’s Gettysburg series? I read them over a decade ago, so I honestly don’t remember what I thought. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/30 "2016-08-21T21:06:17Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > In the same vein of 1632, there is the “Island in the sea of time” series by S.M. Stirling, where Nantucket is send to the bronze age, is good if not IMHO as good as 1632. > Then you have John Birmingham’s Axis of Time trilogy where a 2020’s Carrier battle group ends up in 1942. > > Both are very good. \*Islands \*is the prequel of sorts to _Dies The Fire_, though you don’t _ **have** _ to have read them first. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/31 "2016-08-21T21:21:40Z")
Two more AH favorites by authors who don’t normally write SF: _Fatherland_ by Robert Harris _Resurrection Day_ by Brendan DuBois And one more that will probably be hard to find: _The Divide_ by William Overgard ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/32 "2016-08-21T21:40:44Z")
Some Turtledove not mentioned yet are **Days of Infamy** and **End of the Beginning** , which explore what might have happened if the Japanese had followed up Pearl Harbor with a full scale invasion. I hope he never continues with that “series,” because the two books work quite well all by themselves. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/33 "2016-08-21T22:22:34Z")
“For Want of a Nail.” It’s a “history textbook” detaining what happened after the rebelling colonies lost the battle of Saratoga. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/34 "2016-08-21T22:32:19Z")
“If Lee Had Not Won the Battle of Gettysburg” was written by Winston Churchill. It’s a short work, you can find it online. One place - [If Lee Had Not Won the Battle of..., by Winston Churc..., SCRIBNERS - The Unz Review](http://www.unz.org/Pub/Scribners-1930dec-00587) ---
**Author:** ![TYphoonSignal8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TYphoonSignal8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TYphoonSignal8)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/35 "2016-08-22T01:08:54Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Two more AH favorites by authors who don’t normally write SF: > > _Fatherland_ by Robert Harris > [ Surely one of the best books ever. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/36 "2016-08-22T02:11:26Z")
I also like the [Heirs of Alexandria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heirs_of_Alexandria_series) series, mostly set in an alternate Venice in the 1500s. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/37 "2016-08-22T04:10:12Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > If you’re not in the mood for horror, there’s Naomi Novick’s [Temeraire](http://www.naominovik.com/temeraire/) series. Imagine the Napoleonic wars–with sentient dragons taking part! Throughout the series, she expands her scope & we see societies around the world & how they relate to the dragons in their midst. Witty in a Patrick O’Brien sort of way… > [@DrDeth](#): > > That series starts out strong, but gets depressing for a couple books in the middle. I read Temeraire for six books before losing interest and giving it up. They’re decent but to me started feeling a bit repetitive. The biggest weakness, I felt, was the characterization of the dragons - for the most part they’re written as being somewhat childlike (or at least intellectually lazy) which made them a lot less interesting to me. Because of it I never found myself really caring about the dragons as characters, I was only interested in how they changed the path of history. Your mileage may vary, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/38 "2016-08-22T07:38:59Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I like Robert Conroy. He wrote very straight up alternate history - no time travel or supernatural elements. The downside is that while I enjoy his books, I have to acknowledge he wasn’t a great writer - his characters are two dimensional and his plots are full of cliches. I guess he falls into the guilty pleasure category. He also wrote no series; all of his works are stand-alone novels. > [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Gotta admit, I’ve got a weakness for his stuff, as well. It’ll never be great, but they’re consistently good yarns. I’ve got several Conroy novel on my Nook. They’re not bad. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/39 "2016-08-22T10:51:30Z")
My problem with Conroy’s books is that they were all the same. History twists, somebody end up fighting America, America kicks ass. The end. In terms of alt-history books, I just finished reading “Underground Airlines”, which I liked. It’s set in the present, and the main character works undercover for the US Marshal’s Service tracking down runaway slaves. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551/40 "2016-08-22T11:22:48Z")
A few more recommendations : Jo Walton’s “Small Change” series (Britain makes a separate peace with Hitler, Fascists take over Britain) The Yiddish Policeman Detectives Union by Michael Chabon (Israel is founded in Alaska ) Kim Stanley Robinson’s “The Years of Rice and Salt”. (The Black Death wipes out Europe) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-alternate-history-series/762551.md?page=3)