I read this book just as I was finishing writing my novel, It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles. Jack Dann's book is brimming with useful information about how masterful science fiction writers have written alternate history stories.
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…
In addition to being an author, I'm also a singer-songwriter, with two albums released. I loved the way The Singer Sisters told a story across decades about two sisters who sang the folk songs they wrote.
A successful career woman, at a juncture in her life, has finally attained the beautiful lifestyle, the security, all she had ever dreamt of during her trauma laden upbringing—only to realize she may have lost the only thing of worth. Fear, drama, trust, grief—and eventually, understanding and redemption dominate this novel-like memoir.
It's 1996, and in this alternate history novel about the Beatles, disc jockey Pete Fornatale travels downtown to Grand Central Terminal and finds the world of music that he inhabits is very different. John Lennon is alive and well, and The Beatles never disbanded. The short story this novel is based upon won the Mary Shelley Award for Outstanding Fiction in 2023, and was a Finalist for the Sidewise Award (short form) for Alternate History 2022.
