I have never heard of this award before but since my favourite book ever received it in 2001, I think I should mention it. And read a few more of those books that are on this list. I do love musing about what if … what if something in history hadn't happened that way. Always a great way to start a thought. Or a book. I absolutely love dystopian novels.
Of course, there are a few websites where you can look up the latest news:
Uchronia
SFE - Science Fiction Encyclopedia
and, of course, Wikipedia
And these are the past winners:
1995: Paul J McAuley, Pasquale's Angel (1994)
1996: Stephen Baxter, Voyage (1996)
1997: Harry Turtledove, How Few Remain (1997)
1998: Stephen Fry, Making History (1996)
1999: Brendan DuBois, Resurrection Day (1999)
2000: Mary Gentle, Ash: A Secret History (2000)
2001: J N Stroyar, The Children's War (2001)
2002: (tie) Martin J Gidron, The Severed Wing (2002); Harry Turtledove, Ruled Britannia (2002)
2003: Murray Davies, Collaborator (2003)
2004: Philip Roth, The Plot Against America (2004)
2005: Ian R MacLeod, The Summer Isles (October/November 1998 Asimov's; exp 2005)
2006: Charles Stross, Merchant Princes volumes 1-3: The Family Trade (2004), The Hidden Family (2005) and The Clan Corporate (2006)
2007: Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen's Union (2007)
2008: Chris Roberson, The Dragon's Nine Sons (2008)
2009: Robert Conroy, 1942 (2009)
2010: Eric G Swedin, When Angels Wept: A What-If History of the Cuban Missile Crisis (2010)
2011: Ian R MacLeod, Wake Up and Dream (2011)
2012: C J Sansom, Dominion (2012)
2013: (tie) D J Taylor, The Windsor Faction (2013); Bryce Zabel, Surrounded by Enemies: What If Kennedy Survived Dallas? (2013)
2014: Kristine Kathryn Rusch, The Enemy Within (as "G-Men" in Sideways in Crime, anth 2008, ed Lou Anders; exp 2014)
2015: Julie Mayhew, The Big Lie (2015)
2016: Ben H Winters, Underground Airlines (2016)
2017: Bryce Zabel, Once There Was a Way (2017)
2018: Mary Robinette Kowal, The Calculating Stars (2018)
2019: Annalee Newitz, The Future of Another Timeline
2020: Adrian Tchaikovsky, The Doors of Eden
2021: Laurent Binet, Civilizations
2022: B.L. Blanchard, The Peacekeeper
"Due to the COVID-19 crisis, announcement of the Sidewise Awards winners for alternate history published in 2019 has been delayed a year. The 2019 short list and winners will be announced at the same time as are the 2020 short list and winners, which will occur in summer 2021."
I've never heard of this award either, but I have heard of some of the books that have won it. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI think, even if this is not our genre, there are books here for everyone. I'm looking forward to the two awards they will come up with this year. And will probably read more from this list. Have you read any of them?
DeleteI have not read any of them, though I have read one similar to the Kennedy one, about what a second term for JFK might have looked like. Makes you terribly said for what might have been.
DeleteThat sounds very interesting. It's always good to reminisce what would have happened if ... That's why I love dystopian novels. Of course, it's great to see how wonderful it is that the "great" AH didn't win the war but I can imagine how sad it is imagining what would have happened to this world had Kennedy survived. If you remember the title, let me know. Thanks.
DeleteAnd a world where Hitler won is definitely one I would not want to live in. And who knows, maybe I never would have been born (I'd be okay with that, in that case). I'll look for the Kennedy one, I think I reviewed it but I can't remember, it has been a couple years.
DeleteThanks, Sarah. I would not have wanted to live in that world, either, even though it had meant that my country would have been on the winning side, officially. But I always say Germany didn't lose the war, the nazis did. The German people definitely is better off this way.
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