Glasgow Sci-Fi/Fantasy and Horror Book Group

 
 
 

Hello all, for June we're reading Alternate history titles - fiction which takes a "What If?" approach to history.

Scifi tends to dominate this genre, with books speculating how history may have gone if one historical event went differently (eg WW2, I cant be only one who immediately thinks of The Man in the High Castle and Fatherland on hearing this genre name).
Although if you are playing loose with the genre, any scifi from decades ago where the setting it now in the past could count. (would we truely have had flying cars in 2015 if there had been 19 Jaws movies? We'll never know).

But there are fantasy takes as well, such as steam punk Victorian era, or how mythological creatures may have impacted world history if they were real. Probably even horror takes on genre too, like if Jack the Ripper kept on killing if that tickles your fancy.

Here are some examples to set the mood, but as always you are free to read whatever you wish and tell us on day what you thought of it.

Example Sci-fi

• The Man in the High Castle, by Phillip K Dick (1962) (Axis win WW2)
• Fatherland, by Robert Harris (1992). (Axis win WW2)
• In the Balance, by Harry Turtledove (1994) (aliens invase earth during WW2)
• Resurrection Day, by Brendan DuBois (1999) (Cuban Crisis led to WW3)

Fantasy examples

• The Dragon Waiting, by John M Ford (1983). (Vampires involving themselves in 15th century England feudal wars)
• Anno Dracula, by Kim Newman (1992). (Dracula was real and be came King of the British Empire)
• His Majesty's Dragon, by Naomi Novik (2006) (Napoleonic Wars with dragons)

Venue change: While regular place was OK for May, we've been having issues with table booking for a while now with them. So for June we'll be trying the STARBUCKS on 1st floor Cineworld, Renfrew Street. We can't book a table sadly, but hoping it'll be quiet enough - and if not, there's a bar next to it that always looks empty. (I'll arrive at 6pm to grab a table, so just look for books)