Today’s topic comes from QSFer John Allenson: “A suggestion for a discussion. What do people think of Alternate History? Anyone writing AH? What would be some good possibilities for Queer AH?”
Ooh, I like this one. What if things had gone differently in the middle ages and we’d had an openly gay Pope who had steered the Church to be gay friendly?
How would things have been different if the Nazis had singled out Christians, or whites, or straights instead of Jews and gays for the holocaust?
What if drag queens hadn’t risen up at Stonewall?
So many possibilities.
So my question to you – Do you read/write alternate history? And if you were to write one, what would you write about? How would your Earth be different?
I’ve got a story coming from Riptide in March that is as close to Alternate History as to anything else – I think of it as being a vaguely iron-age world, but one in which one of the society has evolved to treat heterosexual relationships as reproduction-based, with gay relationships being the more ‘romantic’ ones, based purely on affection and choice.
I THINK I wrote it as a plausible option – and it was FUN!!!
Ooh Kate!!! I want to read that!
I’ve written alternative history too. What would have happened if Edward 2nd had been a bit more sensible and hadn’t allowed his Piers to antagonise the barons? Or if Richard 1st had set his mind to seducing Saladin instead of killing his way across the Holy Land.
Way on the back burner is another story being pieced together bit by bit about how a devastating plague around 50BC led to the Romans developing existing technology so the steam age and industrial revolution began around year 1. Roman steampunk! I hope I live long enough for it to reach the top of my to be written pile