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readingthepast2009-05-30 03:59 pm
damned_colonial) wrote in readingthepast2009-05-30 03:59 pm
Mod post: theme suggestions
Please suggest themes you'd like to see covered here! Cut and paste the following into a comment:
ETA: please put your theme in the subject of your comment!
Theme:
Are you prepared to run it? Yes/No
Suggested books, if you have them already:
What does it mean to run the theme?
1. At least one month in advance, you'll let everyone know about the theme and your suggested reading for it. You need to suggest at least 3 works of fiction.
2. On the first of the month, you will post a welcome/introduction/kickoff for the theme.
3. Throughout the month, you'll take an active part in discussion of the theme.
You do not have to be an expert on the theme to run it. You just need to have an interest in it.
ETA: please put your theme in the subject of your comment!
Theme:
Are you prepared to run it? Yes/No
Suggested books, if you have them already:
What does it mean to run the theme?
1. At least one month in advance, you'll let everyone know about the theme and your suggested reading for it. You need to suggest at least 3 works of fiction.
2. On the first of the month, you will post a welcome/introduction/kickoff for the theme.
3. Throughout the month, you'll take an active part in discussion of the theme.
You do not have to be an expert on the theme to run it. You just need to have an interest in it.
WW2 alternate histories
Prepared to run it: sure
Suggested books:
I'm thinking of focussing on the European theatre.
Jo Walton, "Farthing"
Len Deighton, "SS-GB" (recced by a co-worker)
Stephen Fry, "Making History"
These three by Harry Turtledove look interesting (via Wikipedia):
* The Man with the Iron Heart (2008) - Reinhard Heydrich survives an assassination in Czechoslovakia by partisans and later goes on to lead an insurgent movement against the allied occupation of Germany. This is another historical transplant, in this case the Iraqi insurgency of 2003 is transplanted to postwar Germany.
* After the Downfall (2008) - A Wehrmacht officer is transported into a fantasy world during the Russian invasion of Germany at the end of World War II.
* Hitler's War (2009)-At the 1938 Munich meeting, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain refuses to grant Germany more land, thus pushing Hitler's plans for war earlier.
Since this is a 20th century period I don't think anything will be gutenbergable, but some publishers like Baen have free books online, so perhaps we could find a freebie there?