Harry Turtledove Books

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Harry Turtledove is an American author that writes alternate historical fiction. Born in 1949 in Los Angeles, his grandparents (Romanian Jews) lived in Winnipeg (Manitoba) before moving to the United States. Turtledove started writing at 12.

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At the time, he was quite enamored with Science Fiction and Fantasy. The fact that he would grow up to become the so-called Lord of Alternate History never occurred to him, not at that tender age. The author wasn’t even a fan of history. He barely noticed the subject in school.

Turtledove’s journey into publishing and Alternate history, in particular, begun with ‘Lest Darkness Fall’ by L Sprague de Camp. Harry Turtledove was 14 when he came across the novel. Books like ‘The Man in the High Castle’ and ‘World’s of the Imperium’ cemented his love for alternate history but de Camp is responsible for sparking it in the first place.

The magic of ‘Lest Darkness Fall’ lay in the fact that Turtledove couldn’t determine how much of de Camp’s words were fiction. This changed his perception of history. The author felt compelled to delve into the subject with added fervor.

By 16, Turtledove had written an alternative history novel of his own. It wasn’t that good but it was a decent start. Initially drawn to science, the novelist was only enrolled at Caltech for a year before dropping out. Turtledove would like to think that he was driven by passion and nothing else to leave Caltech for UCLA.

But, in truth, he couldn’t do calculus, and the hours, days, and weeks he spent reading The Lord of the Rings did nothing to improve his talents in the subject. And yet it would be foolish to call Harry Turtledove a lazy student. By the late 1970s, the author had earned a Ph.D. in Byzantine history.

His writing career took off soon after. Initially teaching at UCLA, Turtledove produced a few scholarly works, including a translation of an ancient chronicle. Byzantine History was the author’s passion. But he quickly found that the job market had nothing to offer a scholar of his talents.

Even the teaching opportunities he thought he would secure refused to manifest. This gave Turtledove the freedom to give fiction writing his undivided attention.

Turtledove’s first book was ‘Wereblood’. He followed it up with ‘Werenight’. Both titles were written under a pen name (Eric G. Iverson). You can blame this on his Belmont Tower editor who initially refused to accept that ‘Turtledove’ was the author’s real name, and then he decided that a more appropriate surname was bound to produce greater profits.

Harry Turtledove has written science fiction, fantasy, and mystery. But it is for alternate history that he is best known. He met Laura Frankos while teaching at UCLA. Later on, he married her.

Harry Turtledove Awards

The author has received Prometheus and Nebula award nominations. He won the Prometheus and Hugo Award for ‘The Gladiator’ and ‘Down in the Bottomlands’ respectively.

Best Harry Turtledove Books

The author has been praised for creating original alternate history situations rather than simply re-purposing old ones, with some of the best titles in his bibliography including:

The Guns of the South: The war was over, or at least it should have been. The confederacy was broken, ill-equipped to mount any significant resistance. For General Lee, defeat was certain.

But then a strange fellow changed all that. He had a new weapon, a gun unlike any that Lee had ever seen, a rifle with breathtaking efficiency and accuracy. With this gun, the AK-47, Lee realized that the Confederates had a chance at attaining overwhelming victory.

This alternate history novel from Harry Turtledove follows the exploits of a group of White Supremacists from South Africa in 2014 who travel back in time to change history.

In the Balance: WWII was in full swing. The Germans, the British and their various allies were fighting a war that would determine the geopolitical future of the planet. Nothing could stop the momentum of violence, or so everyone thought. None of them were prepared for Fleetlord Atvar, an adversary from the stars who was determined to claim the planet for his people.

Now, at the planet’s darkest hour, humanity must do the impossible. They must unite to face a foe that threatens them all.

When Does The Next Harry Turtledove book come out?

Harry Turtledove doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Wages of Sin and was released on December, 12th 2023.

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