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The past is another country — but an alternate history is a whole new world. The best alternate histories can make you see the real history of our world in a whole new way, and make you realize that events that seem like they were inevitable... may not have been. More »
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Great presidents are the bread and butter of American history. But for every Lincoln or Washington, there's a ton of poor saps who didn't even make the primaries. In this week's alt-fiction column, history's losers take over the White House. More »
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In Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury envisioned a future where society had abandoned literature in favor of watching their screens. According to writer Philip Roth, we're getting closer to that future, and in 25 years, hardly anyone will be reading novels. More »
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"It's always a slightly unnerving proposition when a mainstream literary author takes an unexpected sidestep into science fiction, having shown no previous tendencies in that direction... More »
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Isaac Asimov awoke each morning 6 AM and worked well into the night, sometimes churning out entire books in a matter of days. Kingsley Amis’ writing binges were fueled by nicotine, alcohol, and numerous cups of tea, while surrealist Haruki Murakami claims to work himself into a routine-induced trance. Take a gander at how some of science fiction’s most famous writers have organized their days and kept their creative juices flowing. More »
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Dale Peck and Tim Kring's alternate-history novel is just the latest in a long history of mainstream authors lifting ideas from science fiction. But what sci-fi concepts have been most in vogue with literary publishers — and when did those fads peak? We decided to look at the biggest novels by literary authors that involved time travel, alternate history, or post-apocalyptic futures. And then we threw in larger political, cultural or literary events that could have influenced authors, publishers or readers. We discovered a shocking connection between real-life wars and the popularity of time-travel stories. More »
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