tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764631039755560338.post2515193255118741603..comments2024-03-08T20:21:22.820+00:00Comments on The Deighton Dossier: [Guest contributor] SS-GB and its place in the alternative history landscapeDeighton Dossierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01764108300942425651noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764631039755560338.post-90656743214768792622017-06-03T12:57:46.970+01:002017-06-03T12:57:46.970+01:00Jim/Simon
Thanks for your comments. I used to be a...Jim/Simon<br />Thanks for your comments. I used to be a huge SF fan, particularly time travel and its idea of paradoxes, but never a Trekkie. The City on the Edge of Forever story sounds good though. For other Nazi alternate histories, that by controversial SF author Norman Spinrad, The Iron Dream, a real peculiarity about Hitler emigrating to the US and becoming a pulp fiction writer, may be worth a look. Also the very prolific Harry Turtledove, king of alternate histories, has written 7 books in his The War That Came Early series and a few other alternate WW2 novels, though I haven't read them. The problem with books like Turtledove's (and Sarban's) is that the further you get from the epicentre of the event, the more events diverge from probability. This is now called the Butterfly Effect, after Ray Bradbury's excellent 1953 time travel story A Sound of Thunder. So, Simon, that's why the What If? essays are not a waste of time and are good to read, because their speculation is kept to a minimum. Of course they cover much more than WW2. <br />On the back story to Dominion, I agree it's farfetched, though Sansom has made a good effort at a detailed alternate.<br />Best<br />Raki Rakihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11163261883214433650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764631039755560338.post-65179863994848129252017-05-13T10:40:06.338+01:002017-05-13T10:40:06.338+01:00"The backstory explains that in 1940, Britain..."The backstory explains that in 1940, Britain under Lord Halifax surrendered to Nazi Germany. Now, in 1952, Lord Beaverbrook is PM with Oswald Mosley as Home Secretary. Churchill is the leader of the resistance"<br /><br />Never thought Lord Beaverbrook, a Canadian, was an appeaser or the British Marshall Petain! Mosley the Home Secretary? This is the kind of delirium that is plausible when one is suffering from very high temperature caused by an extreme Flu variant!<br />But , I can still believe the French President "agreeing" always with the German Chancellor even today on matters of the EU, despite Macron elected as the French president, following the tradition from the days of WWII, now, with a different name of German-French solidarity in respect of the EU!<br />No need for the "What if" conjectures any more today, the German Chancellor is running the EU, now, for Germans, which means most of Europe!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764631039755560338.post-85171190129892200692017-05-11T20:49:23.401+01:002017-05-11T20:49:23.401+01:00I hasten to add that I was a postgraduate student ...I hasten to add that I was a postgraduate student in computer science, and hence as a neutral was able to enjoy that debate.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764631039755560338.post-76111607777480168272017-05-11T20:38:04.579+01:002017-05-11T20:38:04.579+01:00Perhaps a waste of time reading these "What i...Perhaps a waste of time reading these "What if" anthologies. However, the only two What if" speculations that are worth thinking about a bit, were: "What if Winston Churchill did not become the Prime Minister" and "What if D-day landings failed".<br />When I was a student in an university in early 1970s, there was a debate in our university's political science department about the "What if" speculation of "What if John Kennedy was not assassinated, but was able to serve his first term, and was defeated by Barry Goldwater when standing for the second term". Well, at the end of this interesting debate, one historian in the audience remarked that events tend to pull back from the edge of precipice at various times in history, pointing out at the defeat of Barry Goldwater against Lyndon Johnson. I tend to agree with this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764631039755560338.post-9171155309225751062017-05-08T07:55:46.241+01:002017-05-08T07:55:46.241+01:00A great article.
Worth an honorary mention I thin...A great article.<br /><br />Worth an honorary mention I think would be what is arguably the best ever Star Trek episode. The City on the Edge of Forever. This episode, written by Harlan Ellison and the Star Trek staff writers also stars Joan Collins. <br /><br />Rather than showing us the consequences in the 20th century it uniquely proposes the far consequences of a Nazi victory which leaves Kirk and Spock stranded on a planet with no Enterprise and no Federation of Planets to beam back to! <br /><br />A crew member has time travelled back to the prewar New York and inadvertently changed history. <br /><br />This created the situation where the USA never entered the Second World War. This leads to a world that eventually descends into barbarism following a Nazi victory. All this exposition is revealed via the delightful device of an add on to Mr Spock's Tricorder which he creates out of radio valves. <br /><br />A very different tale to SS-GB and the novels that Robert mentions above but wrapped up in less than an hour. An ingenious and skilful bit of story telling done on a relatively slim budget.<br /><br />best regards<br />Terry Kidd Terry Kiddhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03888160718812027224noreply@blogger.com