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The Grasshopper Lies Heavy
10 years ago
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_M.....he_High_Castle
I need books that drop me into an alternate reality and leave me blinking and wanting more, so it is with delight that I am reading The Man In the High Castle by Philip K. Dick. Books like this give me so much more value because I can spin my imagination around the idea and sink hours of daydreaming in that world. And why am I only finding out about this now?
Because Amazon Instant Video has a television series based on it.
So would the world be like if the Germans and Japanese won the War? I would be living in the Pacific States and under one totalitarian government and my friends back east would be living under Nazi rule- according to this novel. Lucky Colorado gets to be free of course. (This is an alternate history written in the early 60's so Japan is not technologically advanced, but Germany is sending rockets to Mars.) A banned book that shows what would happen if America and the Allies won WW2 is called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy and it is not terribly optimistic. In the television series that book is replaced with newsreel films that people find. But where from? It's just so juicy.
No spoilers, I am only halfway through reading.
I need books that drop me into an alternate reality and leave me blinking and wanting more, so it is with delight that I am reading The Man In the High Castle by Philip K. Dick. Books like this give me so much more value because I can spin my imagination around the idea and sink hours of daydreaming in that world. And why am I only finding out about this now?
Because Amazon Instant Video has a television series based on it.
So would the world be like if the Germans and Japanese won the War? I would be living in the Pacific States and under one totalitarian government and my friends back east would be living under Nazi rule- according to this novel. Lucky Colorado gets to be free of course. (This is an alternate history written in the early 60's so Japan is not technologically advanced, but Germany is sending rockets to Mars.) A banned book that shows what would happen if America and the Allies won WW2 is called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy and it is not terribly optimistic. In the television series that book is replaced with newsreel films that people find. But where from? It's just so juicy.
No spoilers, I am only halfway through reading.
He's also done alternate history where the Confederacy wins the American Civil War, leaving in its wake two nations and setting things up for a Second American Civil War, as well as differing allegiances for the First World War. This series has no official name, but some call it Southern Victory while others may call it Timeline-191. The first book in this story arc is How Few Remain.
In a standalone alternate history (Guns of the South) Confederate General Lee finds his Army of Northern Virginia the lucky recipient of vast quantities of modern AK-47 assault rifles, courtesy of some time-travelling Afrikaner's from the 21st century.
The Ship sinks.
The Kid is really Darth Vader.
The Terminator returns.
Kermit and Miss Piggy are no longer 'an item'.
;)
Also you should read his OTHER books and see what you think of them compared to the movies they were made into. The first of course being "Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep" which served as the basis for "Blade Runner." (note- Dick actually liked this adaptation by Riddley Scott but it was the only one he got to see because he died shortly thereafter.) :)
OMG there are so many more than I read....
by Harry Turtledove.
Good pacing, a playful look at how we might be had magic not science emerged triumphant, and a playful poke at government as well.
Of course how else is a war historian gonna indulge his love of obscure interwar stopgap weaponry?
Haven't read much of Dick's work, though I had read and was much impressed by his CONFESSIONS OF A CRAP ARTIST (mentioned above). Don't know why I haven't read more of his work, given what an important influence he was... guess I'll need to rectify that.
...just kind of hard to find.