FutureTense

A ballsy title: Alternate Universe SF as a form of Intellectual Masturbation. Kinda sweet, thinking there’s still a Left in SF. Oh wait, they’re outside of the US. Maybe they have something other than Dead Center.

But forget the whole Left/Right thing. Doesn’t altH remind you of a bunch of teenage boys min- maxing their D&D characters into studly super jocks without actually ever getting around to playing the game? Is there a subtle acknowledgement of rampant boredom built into the whole idea of twitching history to one’s own amusement?

Its one of those things I’ll never under stand. History isn’t boring. How is an armchair bound, post middle-aged SF writer suppposed to make the fake thing more interesting than the real thing?

On the other hand, its one of the few slices of the spec pie that have pulled in good bucks and readers. Kinda makes you wonder. And me, ill.

Then Howard Waldrop reinvents altH by rewriting the missile crisis of the 1960’s in a way that will leaves non-Cons weeping over how far we haven’t come in the last 40 years. So maybe there is a purpose to altH besides 40 year old boys metaphorically wanking off.

Best regards,

Alan

[scribblingwoman]