Table of Contents

About the Author

About the Contributors

1. A Few Introductory Notes and Thoughts About Alternate History
and the Slippery Slope of Fiction

2. Let’s Examine What We’re Talking About
- Definitions and Divergence Points
- ‘Alternate History’ and Science Fiction: a Potted History
- Model making…

3. Are we really Theorizing about History and Morality and Choice?
- How To Bring Your Readers Up To Speed
- Thinking About History…and Your Readers

4. Taking a Break From Me: “White City” by Lewis Shiner

5. Craft Problems and Solutions
- Deconstructing Tesla and Assembling the Counterfactual Fiction Writer’s Toolbox
- A Quick Inventory

6. The Tactics of Creating Counterfactual Texts: a Roundtable Q & A
With Kim Stanley Robinson, William Gibson, Pamela Sargent, Harry Turtledove, John Crowley, Michael Bishop, , Lisa Goldstein, John Kessel, John Birmingham, Barry N. Malzberg, Janeen Webb, Bruce Sterling, Mark Shirrefs, Christopher Priest, Terry Bisson, Mary Rosenblum, Michael Swanwick, Paul Di Filippo, Richard Harland, Howard Waldrop, Lewis Shiner, and George Zebrowski

7. A Very Personal Meditation On Writing: Or How I Do It…and Think About It

8. A Very Few Last Words About…You

Appendix

Bibliography

Index

Promotional Information

An authoritative guide to the unique terrain of alterative history and counter-factual fiction and how to write it, featuring advice from influential authors and practitioners in the field.

About the Author

Jack Dann is an internationally published author, editor, lecturer, anthologist and Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, School of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland, Australia. He has written or edited over eighty books and his awards include the Nebula, World Fantasy, Aurealis, and Shirley Jackson awards. He received his PhD from the University of Queensland.

Reviews

A tour-de-force treasure trove ... Invaluable to authors at any stage in their careers.
*Paul Levinson, Professor of Communication and Media Studies, Fordham University, USA*

The Fiction Writer’s Guide to Alternate History is not only an incredibly readable and illuminating guide to the art of writing alternate history, it’s also a superb introduction to alternate history as a genre. This book will be of great interest to anyone involved in writing or teaching alternate history and related kinds of literature.
*Dr Sean Seeger, Senior Lecturer in Literature, University of Essex, UK*