#36 – Alternate History – A Reader's History of Science Fiction
Alternate histories, where events in the past unfolded differently, are a fairly new genre, but it's made large strides since it first became popular in the 80s. In this episode, we look at an overview of these works. Book recommendation: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. My companion blog post on The Calculating Stars. Other books discussed: The Domination by S. M. Stirling "The Road Not Taken", The Guns of the South and Harry Turtledove in general. The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
Dystopian fiction has become a popular subgenre of sci-fi in its own right, but the earliest dystopian novels shared some unique elements in common, inverting the standard tropes of the hero’s journey. In this episode, we explore what has made these stories so enduring.
Book recommendation: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.
My essay on the inverted hero’s journey.
Link to the Heroine’s journey.
Link to O’Brien’s speech.
Other books mentioned:
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
