This one is sort of for the "As Others See Us" column. From the
BBC's obituary for spy-thriller writer Len Deigthon:

| A year later, _SS-GB_ envisaged what might have happened if Germany
| had won the Battle of Britain - beating Robert Harris to the
| concept of an alternative history novel by 20 years. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cervgrvekxzo

You might say the BBC lives in an alternate history where there
were no prior althist novels...

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 3/17/26 8:52 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:

In article <slrn10rihtu.pi8.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:

This one is sort of for the "As Others See Us" column. From the
BBC's obituary for spy-thriller writer Len Deigthon:

| A year later, _SS-GB_ envisaged what might have happened if Germany
| had won the Battle of Britain - beating Robert Harris to the
| concept of an alternative history novel by 20 years.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cervgrvekxzo

You might say the BBC lives in an alternate history where there
were no prior althist novels...

I wonder if there were any best-selling alt-hist novels before SSGB? Certainly *we* knew about them.

Good point. Of course, "alternate history" is both a wide tent and a
slippery slope.

Winston Churchill's "If Lee Had Not Won The Battle of Gettysburg" is
from 1930 (and is not a novel, of course). And Thurber's parody
"If Grant Had Been Drinking At Appomattox" was also 1930 (also not a novel).

And it's been many years, but I rembember liking SSGB pretty well -- there are still several specific bits I remember distinctly.

I had to check - SS-GB was published in 1978. I thought it was older.
Tony

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

In article <n1t14lFbqedU1@mid.individual.net>,
ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) wrote:

In article <slrn10rihtu.pi8.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:

This one is sort of for the "As Others See Us" column. From the
BBC's obituary for spy-thriller writer Len Deigthon:

| A year later, _SS-GB_ envisaged what might have happened if Germany
| had won the Battle of Britain - beating Robert Harris to the
| concept of an alternative history novel by 20 years. >https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cervgrvekxzo

You might say the BBC lives in an alternate history where there
were no prior althist novels...

I wonder if there were any best-selling alt-hist novels before SSGB? Certainly *we* knew about them.

Wikipedia has an EXTENSIVE list of alt-history works of all sorts (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_alternate_history_fiction). I
will note that I don't agree with the inclusion of several items (e.g.,
_Lest Darkness Fall_).

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_. ?-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

In article <n1thqrFef88U1@mid.individual.net>,
ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) wrote:

In article <robertaw-CB485F.10115917032026@news.individual.net>,
Robert Woodward <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:

In article <n1t14lFbqedU1@mid.individual.net>,
ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) wrote:

In article <slrn10rihtu.pi8.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:

This one is sort of for the "As Others See Us" column. From the
BBC's obituary for spy-thriller writer Len Deigthon:

| A year later, _SS-GB_ envisaged what might have happened if Germany
| had won the Battle of Britain - beating Robert Harris to the
| concept of an alternative history novel by 20 years.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cervgrvekxzo

You might say the BBC lives in an alternate history where there
were no prior althist novels...

I wonder if there were any best-selling alt-hist novels before SSGB?
Certainly *we* knew about them.

Wikipedia has an EXTENSIVE list of alt-history works of all sorts >(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_alternate_history_fiction). I
will note that I don't agree with the inclusion of several items (e.g., >_Lest Darkness Fall_).

Is your objection to LDF the time-travel element? Alt history requires
that events unfolded differently, not that somebody nudged them?

Yes, I consider it to be Altered History. BTW, I think Sinclair Lewis's
_ It Can't Happen Here_ to be the same genre as Allen Drury's Cold War thrillers (which aren't in the list) and Mercedes Lackey's Elemental
Masters series to be secret history (the rest of the world appears to be
the same as ours).

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_. ?-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)