Download or read book The Fiction Writer s Guide to Alternate History written by Jack Dann and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-07-13 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive guide to the speculative sub-genre of alternate history fiction, this book maps the unique terrain of this vibrant mode of storytelling and then explains how to write it. First giving a concise conceptual overview and the critical tools to differentiate the different forms of counterfactual fiction, Jack Dann lays out the 'tricks of the trade' such 'Heinleining', how to create recognizable 'divergent points' and how to employ paratextual elements and 'layering' to overcome readers' unfamiliarity with invented counterfactual events and cultures. Alongside this, Dann takes you step-by-step through a complete short story to demonstrate, line-by-line, how alternative history fiction works. As well as Dann's exacting methodology for writing professional quality alternate history stories, this book also features a live-on-the-page Q&A with some of the most esteemed alternate history writers working today, including Kim Stanley Robinson, John Birmingham and Lisa Goldstein among many others, who will detail their own particular hacks, theories, processes, methods and strategies. Combining extensive and deep knowledge of the field with accessible writing advice, this is the ultimate guidebook to the broad and complex sub-genre of counterfactual and alterative history fiction.
Download or read book The Fiction Writer s Guide to Alternate History written by Jack Dann and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-07-13 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive guide to the speculative sub-genre of alternate history fiction, this book maps the unique terrain of this vibrant mode of storytelling and then explains how to write it. First giving a concise conceptual overview and the critical tools to differentiate the different forms of counterfactual fiction, Jack Dann lays out the 'tricks of the trade' such 'Heinleining', how to create recognizable 'divergent points' and how to employ paratextual elements and 'layering' to overcome readers' unfamiliarity with invented counterfactual events and cultures. Alongside this, Dann takes you step-by-step through a complete short story to demonstrate, line-by-line, how alternative history fiction works. As well as Dann's exacting methodology for writing professional quality alternate history stories, this book also features a live-on-the-page Q&A with some of the most esteemed alternate history writers working today, including Kim Stanley Robinson, John Birmingham and Lisa Goldstein among many others, who will detail their own particular hacks, theories, processes, methods and strategies. Combining extensive and deep knowledge of the field with accessible writing advice, this is the ultimate guidebook to the broad and complex sub-genre of counterfactual and alterative history fiction.
Download or read book The Alternate History written by Karen Hellekson and published by Kent State University Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What would the world be like is history had taken a different course? Science fiction literature has long contemplated this question, and this text analyzes alternate history science fiction through a variety of historical models. It raises questions of narrative, writers, temporality and time.
Download or read book Post 9 11 Historical Fiction and Alternate History Fiction written by Pei-chen Liao and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-09-19 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on theories of historiography, memory, and diaspora, as well as from existing genre studies, this book explores why contemporary writers are so fascinated with history. Pei-chen Liao considers how fiction contributes to the making and remaking of the transnational history of the U.S. by thinking beyond and before 9/11, investigating how the dynamics of memory, as well as the emergent present, influences readers’ reception of historical fiction and alternate history fiction and their interpretation of the past. Set against the historical backdrop of WWII, the Vietnam War, and the War on Terror, the novels under discussion tell Jewish, Japanese, white American, African, Muslim, and Native Americans’ stories of trauma and survival. As a means to transmit memories of past events, these novels demonstrate how multidirectional memory can be not only collective but connective, as exemplified by the echoes that post-9/11 readers hear between different histories of violence that the novels chronicle, as well as between the past and the present.
Download or read book The Time Traveler s Guide written by Simon Rose and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-10-25 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Time Traveler's Guide examines the writing of time travel stories and historical fiction. Books always transport us to other places, especially stories involving time travel or those set in different historical eras. The book examines the definition of time travel and historical fiction, the creation of time machines, methods and devices, selecting historical eras and settings, and creating characters and crafting dialogue. The book also explores common issues with time travel stories, and the importance of research, plausibility, description, and plot, along with writing about time travel into the future, alternate history, and parallel universes. The Time Traveler's Guide is an excellent resource for those writing time travel or historical fiction stories for both children and adults. "This is a unique book, overall, and I recommend it to writers and those interested in methods of time travel in general." "The Time Traveler's Guide is a great resource for any writer wanting to improve their craft."
Download or read book Public History written by Thomas Cauvin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-20 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Public History: A Textbook of Practice is a guide to the many challenges historians face while teaching, learning, and practicing public history. Historians can play a dynamic and essential role in contributing to public understanding of the past, and those who work in historic preservation, in museums and archives, in government agencies, as consultants, as oral historians, or who manage crowdsourcing projects need very specific skills. This book links theory and practice and provides students and practitioners with the tools to do public history in a wide range of settings. The text engages throughout with key issues such as public participation, digital tools and media, and the internationalization of public history. Part One focuses on public history sources, and offers an overview of the creation, collection, management, and preservation of public history materials (archives, material culture, oral materials, or digital sources). Chapters cover sites and institutions such as archival repositories and museums, historic buildings and structures, and different practices such as collection management, preservation (archives, objects, sounds, moving images, buildings, sites, and landscape), oral history, and genealogy. Part Two deals with the different ways in which public historians can produce historical narratives through different media (including exhibitions, film, writing, and digital tools). The last part explores the challenges and ethical issues that public historians will encounter when working with different communities and institutions. Either in public history methods courses or as a resource for practicing public historians, this book lays the groundwork for making meaningful connections between historical sources and popular audiences.
Download or read book St James Guide to Science Fiction Writers written by Jay P. Pederson and published by Detroit, MI : St. James Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 1204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Concise discussions of the lives and principal works of prominent science-fiction authors, written by subject experts.
Download or read book Contemporary Authors written by Kathleen Edgar and published by Contemporary Authors. This book was released on 1996-12 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Your students and users will find biographical information on approximately 300 modern writers in this volume of Contemporary Authors®. Authors in this volume include: Robert Benchley Deepak Chopra Hillary Rodham Clinton James Finn Garner
Download or read book Everfair written by Nisi Shawl and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2016-09-06 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From acclaimed short fiction writer Nisi Shawl comes a brilliant alternate history set in the Congo, where heroes strive for a Utopia and endeavor to live together despite their differences. Now with a foreward from award-winning author Cadwell Turnbull. In this re-imagining of Belgium's disastrous colonization of the Congo, African American missionaries join forces with British socialists to purchase land from the Congo Free State's "owner," King Leopold II. This land, which they name Everfair, is set aside as a safe haven for native populations of the Congo as well as settlers from around the world, including dream-eyed Europeans attempting to create a better society, formerly enslaved people returning from America, and Chinese railroad builders escaping hard labor. Using the combined knowledge of four continents, Everfair becomes a land of spying cats and gulls, nuclear dirigibles buoyed by barkcloth balloons, and silent pistols that shoot poison knives. With this technology, Everfair will attempt to defeat the Belgian tyrant Leopold II. But even if they can defeat their great enemy, a looming world war and political infighting may threaten to destroy everything they have built. “A book with gorgeous sweep, spanning years and continents, loves and hates, histories and fantasies... Everfair is sometimes sad, often luminous, and always original. A wonderful achievement.” — Karen Joy Fowler At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Download or read book Rising Sun written by Robert Conroy and published by Baen. This book was released on 2013-10-29 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the author of breakout WW II era alternate history Himmler’s War, another compelling alternate history thriller. With an American loss at the Battle of Midway, Japan runs rampant in the Pacific. It is the summer of 1942 and what our historians have called the Incredible Victory in the Battle of Midway has become a horrendous disaster in this world. Two of America’s handful of carriers in the Pacific have blundered into a Japanese submarine picket line and have been sunk, while a third is destroyed the next day. The United States has only one carrier remaining in the Pacific against nine Japanese, while the ragtag remnants of U.S. battleships – an armada still reeling from the defeat at Pearl Harbor – are in even worse shape. Now the Pacific belongs to the Japanese. And it doesn’t stop there, as Japan has thrust her sword in to the hilt. Alaska is invaded. Hawaii is under blockade. The Panama Canal is nearly plugged. Worst of all, the West Coast of America is ripe for destruction as bombers of the Empire of the Sun bombard west coast American cities at will. Despite these disasters, the U.S. begins to fight back. Limited counterattacks are made and a grand plan is put forth to lure the Japanese into an ambush that could restore the balance in the Pacific and give the forces of freedom a fighting chance once more. About Rising Sun: “Conroy extrapolates a new and militarily plausible direction for WWII . . . A thrilling adventure.”—Booklist About Himmler’s War: “[Conroy] adds a personal touch to alternate history by describing events through the eyes of fictional characters serving on the front lines. VERDICT: Historical accuracy in the midst of creative speculation makes this piece of alternate history believable.”–Library Journal About Red Inferno: 1945 “An ensemble cast of fictional characters. . . and historical figures powers the meticulously researched story line with diverse accounts of the horrors of war, making this an appealing read for fans of history and alternate history alike.”—Publishers Weekly “[E]ngrossing and grimly plausible. . .the suspense holds up literally to the last page.”—Booklist About 1945: “ moving and thought-provoking . . .”—Publishers Weekly “Realistic . . .”—Booklist About 1942: “. . .fans of Tom Clancy and Agent Jack Bauer should find a lot to like here.”—Publishers Weekly “A significant writer of alternate history turns here to the popular topic of Pearl Harbor, producing. . . this rousing historical action tale.”—Booklist “A high-explosive what-if, with full-blooded characters.”—John Birmingham, bestselling author of Without Warning About 1901: “. . . cleverly conceived. . .Conroy tells a solid what-if historical.”—Publishers Weekly “. . . likely to please both military history and alternative history buffs.”—Booklist Comprehensive Teacher's Guide available.
Download or read book The Writer s Guide to Creating a Science Fiction Universe written by George Ochoa and published by Writer's Digest Books. This book was released on 1993 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To hold the interest of knowledgeable sci-fi readers, a writer the genre must stay within certain fuzzy boundaries of scientific belief. This volume provides some of the scientific detail that will make a writer's adventures compelling and consistent with current views of the universe. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Download or read book We Install written by Harry Turtledove and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-08-25 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Short fiction, plus three essays, by the New York Times–bestselling author—including a Hugo Award–winning novella. Harry Turtledove earned the title “master of alternate history” from Publishers Weekly for his thought-provoking novels that turn historical facts into gripping tales of possibility. But his writing talent goes much further. We Install offers a showcase of styles, from humor—in “Father of the Groom,” a scientist with a penchant for wild experimentation helps his love-struck son by synthesizing a wedding ring out of two carrots—to classic science fiction, as in the Hugo Award–winning “Down in the Bottomlands” and “Hoxbomb,” in which a regular guy just trying to make a living selling scooters has to deal with some very odd competition. The alternate history tale “Drang von Osten” begins on a bloody battlefield in World War II and ends somewhere quite different. In the brand-new “Logan’s Law,” a man discovers that sometimes, second chances really do work out. The book’s three essays tackle the diverse subjects of how to write alternate history, Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, and the history of Chanukah. We Install will delight longtime Turtledove fans and new readers alike with its rich offerings from one of the finest craftsmen writing today.
Download or read book The Steampunk Adventurer s Guide Contraptions Creations and Curiosities Anyone Can Make written by Thomas Willeford and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2013-11-22 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fascinatingly Fun, Family-Friendly Steampunk Projects "Here’s a Steampunk tale with an invitation to build Steampunk props. An interactive notion; an imaginative adventure; and a way to further stimulate your own imagination." -- From the Foreword by David Silverman, director and producer of The Simpsons Movie and codirector of Monsters, Inc. Steampunk stalwart Thomas Willeford cordially invites you on an adventure--one in which you get to build ingenious devices of your own! Lavishly illustrated by award-winning cartoonist Phil Foglio, The Steampunk Adventurer's Guide: Contraptions, Creations, and Curiosities Anyone Can Make presents 10 intriguing projects ideal for makers of all ages and skill levels, woven into an epic tale of mystery and pursuit. Follow the exploits of Isaac and Amelia, a brother and sister who must devise a series of beguiling gizmos to rescue their uncle from a skyship that's been commandeered by a nefarious villain and his rogue automatons. Each chapter contains an installment of this captivating story along with the step-by-step instructions and list of tools and materials you'll need to create the featured gadgets. Discover how to forge these imaginative contraptions: Decoder armguard Signaling periscope Goggles Grappling hook launcher Airship harness Glider wings Rivet gun Power armor Magnetic amplification gauntlet Rocket pack
Download or read book Alt Hist Issue 2 written by Mark Lord and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2011-05-11 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alt Hist is the new magazine of historical fiction and alternate history. The second issue features eight new stories and also three book reviews. From ancient Egypt to World War I, and the death of Abraham Lincoln, there is something for every fan of historical fiction in Alt Hist Issue 2. Stories featured in Alt Hist Issue 2: 'Long Nights in Languedoc' by Andrew Knighton 'The Apollo Mission' by David X. Wiggin 'Son of Flanders' by William Knight 'In Cappadocia' by AshleyRose Sullivan 'The Orchid Hunters' by Priya Sharma 'Death in Theatre' by Jessica Wilson 'The Scarab of Thutmose' by Anna Sykora 'The Watchmaker of Filigree Street' by N. K. Pulley And reviews of: Historical Fiction Writing: a practical guide and tool-kit by Myfanwy Cook Ruso and the River of Darkness by R. S. Downie Rome Burning by Sophia McDougall
Download or read book Alt Hist Issue 2 written by Andrew Knighton and published by Alt Hist Press. This book was released on 2011-05-30 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alt Hist is the new magazine of historical fiction and alternate history. The second issue features eight new stories and also three book reviews. From ancient Egypt to World War I, and the death of Abraham Lincoln, there is something for every fan of historical fiction in Alt Hist Issue 2. Stories featured in Alt Hist Issue 2: ‘Long Nights in Languedoc’ by Andrew Knighton ‘The Apollo Mission’ by David X. Wiggin ‘Son of Flanders’ by William Knight ‘In Cappadocia’ by AshleyRose Sullivan ‘The Orchid Hunters’ by Priya Sharma ‘Death in Theatre’ by Jessica Wilson ‘The Scarab of Thutmose’ by Anna Sykora ‘The Watchmaker of Filigree Street’ by N. K. Pulley And reviews of: Historical Fiction Writing: a practical guide and tool-kit by Myfanwy Cook Ruso and the River of Darkness by R. S. Downie Rome Burning by Sophia McDougall
Download or read book The Rough Guide to Sci fi Movies written by John Scalzi and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This guide explores cinema's fascination with space exploration, time travel, and fantastical worlds and tells the stories behind the movies that have been expanding our universe since film began.
Download or read book How I Write Historical Fiction written by Richard Blake and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-10-17 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I could have called this short book How to Write Historical Fiction. It would arguably have been an accurate title. The book does tell you how to seek your inspiration, and where to do research, and how to find and develop characters, and how to write dialogue and description, and how to integrate the description of background into the main narrative. It even says something about how to find a publisher.On the other hand, the title I considered and rejected would have created a misleading view of the book. When I pay for a How to book, I expect something that takes me, chapter by chapter, though the matter of what I want to learn. How to Write Historical Fiction needs to start with a chapter of encouragement—for example, how Philippa Gregory and Steven Saylor have made a pile of cash from their historical novels, and how you can too. It needs to end with a list of the agents who handle historical fiction. Between these points, there must be practical advice on how to write coherent prose, and how to proof a typescript. How I Write Historical Fiction is a much better title.This book is a set of essays, interviews and reviews written between 2011 and 2014. Its most obvious faults are a degree of repetition, and a relentless puffing of my own works. I think these are pardonable faults. When you are answering the same questions, or making the same points, repetition is inevitable. As for the puffing, I wrote mainly to bring people's attention to my novels, and it would have defeated this object not to mention them. In further mitigation, I suggest that the book does contain a great deal of sound advice about the craft of historical fiction. I have spent years dealing with the problems faced by everyone who tries to write an historical novel. How I deal with them has brought me much acclaim. More to the point, it has encouraged Hodder & Stoughton—not an insignificant publisher, I hardly need to say—to commission six novels; and these have been translated so far into Spanish, Italian, Greek, Slovak, Hungarian, Chinese and Indonesian. Perhaps I am doing many things wrong. At the same time, I must be doing some things right. Such being the case, I offer these reflections as encouragement and advice to anyone who is thinking to enter the most honourable craft that is at once the dearest joy of my life—only excepting my womenfolk—and the main provider of my daily bread. Richard BlakeDeal, October 2014Post Scriptum As a further deterrent—or incentive—to the reader, I must say that neither this book nor my novels are for the prudish. Because I do not excel in such things, and because the Internet is filled with the writings of those who do excel, I prefer to avoid close descriptions of the sexual act. What I do not avoid is trying to see things as they are. Nor do I seek to judge these things by any of the standards that have been fashionable during my lifetime. One of the interviews republished here is with Ulisex, which is Mexico's leading LGBT magazine. This began as an interview with an Irish gay magazine. It was not published in Ireland. The editor had one look through it, and told me, with rising outrage and hysteria, that his mother had been profoundly shocked by the explanations of the Latin sexual vocabulary and by the translations from the Epigrams of Martial. If you are disgusted by the English meanings of words like fello and irrumo and paedico and futuo and cinaedus and pathicus and tribas, this is not a book I would encourage you to read. Otherwise, you can find a complete listing of my novels in the Appendix.
