Re: [OT] Turtledove

On Thu, May 30, 2002 at 05:22:04PM +0200, KH.Ranitzsch@t-online.de
wrote:
> John Sowerby schrieb:
> > One set of ideas I do like is from Harry Turtledove. In a 
> > world where the CSA won at Antietam, and then won again 10 years
> later 
> > with the aid of the French and British, the Great War opens out on
> the US 
> > continent with the USA fighting with the Germans / Austrians, and
the
> CSA 
> > alongside the British and French.
> 
> How do you rate Turtledove ? He does have some neat ideas about
> alternate histories. But...

>From what I can tell he has a distrubing tendencies to start series.

Roughly every other book is the first in a new series. It's a good job
that he can't half write fast. I have a suspicion there is no such
person;
it's really a team of writers.

This becomes more likely when you wander into a bookshop that has a
decent amount of his stuff. He's currently got at least two alternate
historys on the go and a couple of fantasy series as well.
 
> So far I have only read 'Colonization: Second Contact'. For those who
> don't know it: It is a follow-up to his 'World War' series, in which a
> race of Alien Humanoid Lizards arrived right in the Middle or World
War
> II and tried to conquer Earth, but only managed to grab about half of
> it. In 'Colonization' it's about 20 years later, Aliens and Humans
have
> somewhat settled down and learned to live with each other. 
> 
> I must say, I have pretty mixed feeling about that book. He has some
> good ideas about the cultural interaction between Lizards and Humans.
> Otherwise, I was not impressed. His descriptions of nations other than
> the USA are a mix of stereotypes and sloppy research [ I can elaborate
> on that if you wish ], and I found long stretches boring and somewhat
> repetitive. Nor did his character grab my attention. I didn't finish
> it.

That's one of them.

So far, off the top of my head:

CSA won the civil war: How Few Remain, American Front, Walk in Hell,
Breakthroughs, <new series I forget the name of>

WWII, aliens arrive: Tilting the Balance, In the Balance, Upsetting
the Balance, Striking the Balance, Colonisation, <new one I haven't
read>

King George & Washington came to an understanding, and it's now 1990s
but Britain rules the world: The Two Georges.

Mars has life: A World of Difference.

Britain attacks US in victorian(?) times: Stars And Stripes In Peril,
..Forever, ..Triumphant.

World War One in a fantasy world: Into the Darkness, <one I don't
recall>

And that's only in the last few years... and I don't really follow the
fantasy series...