Subject: 'The Wheels of If' Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2001 17:35:54 -0600 From: rsnraye@swbellnospam.net Organization: SBC Internet Services Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written, soc.history.what-if 'The Wheels of If' _The Wheels of If and Other Science-Fiction_ L. Sprague de Camp Berkley Medallion: New York, October 1970. A local university library was selling some donated SF paperbacks for twenty cents each. I couldn't pass up a seminal work of alternate history at that price. It's a pretty good yarn concerning a New York City prosecutor who is abducted from his own timeline via a McGuffin of psychology or parapsychology. He eventually arrives in New Belfast, Vinland and proceeds, through a series of highly unlikely but entertaining contrivances, to show the various antagonists the power of modern practical politics. De Camp was an intelligent and erudite man (q.v. his nonfiction books) and 'The Wheels of If' has a sound, if thin, background in European history. Somewhat to my dissatisfaction, he included a number of original elements in his story without bothering to ponder them or at least to explain them to the reader. For example, why is Vinland's physics more advanced than its chemistry? Why is Vinland's technology based on pneumatics? Why do the Vinlanders use the Roman alphabet? How has Dr. Noggle singlehandedly created a powerful science of metaphysics? Et cetera. Modern alternate history writers, notably S.M. Stirling*, would take pleasure in extensively describing their machinations and giving them rather more secure bases in reality. But then, they would tell this story over the course of a trilogy composed of perhaps 1500 pages. De Camp did it in a novella of about eighty pages. De Camp uses two points of departure to create his world, rather a faux pas today. The first is a victory for Celtic Christianity at the Synod of Whitby and the second is a victory for Islam on the battlefield of Tours. His explanation of how these events led to the society of which he writes is, shall we say, tenuous. 'The Wheels of If' was originally published in the October 1940 issue of _Unknown Fantasy Fiction_ and is instantly recognizable as a pulp story. The modern fan may find it somewhat déclassé or even tacky. When you consider that de Camp was feeding his family on perhaps a cent per word, it ain't a bad piece of work at all. Recommended for anyone interested in where alternate history has been and where it is going. *In 'The Wheels of If', "North America was discovered by one Ketil Ingolfsson in 989 A.D." Stirling used the same surname for one of his Draka families. I wonder if this was a conscious appropriation. -- Nathan Raye 'Bagpipes in the small hours, Colonel, can be a frightening thing.' - from 'The Mercenary' by Jerry Pournelle. Subject: Re: 'The Wheels of If' Date: 14 Jul 2001 01:00:33 +0100 From: John A Lee Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written, soc.history.what-if Followup-To: soc.history.what-if References: 1 rsnraye@swbellnospam.net writes: Welcome back, Nathan. Subject: Re: 'The Wheels of If' Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2001 19:56:09 -0500 From: Dan Goodman Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written, soc.history.what-if References: 1 In article <3B4F85D9.4DABAA24@swbell.net>, rsnraye@swbellnospam.net says... > 'The Wheels of If' > _The Wheels of If and Other Science-Fiction_ > L. Sprague de Camp > Berkley Medallion: New York, October 1970. > > > A local university library was selling some donated SF paperbacks for > twenty cents each. I couldn't pass up a seminal work of alternate > history at that price. It's a pretty good yarn concerning a New York > City prosecutor who is abducted from his own timeline via a McGuffin of > psychology or parapsychology. He eventually arrives in New Belfast, > Vinland and proceeds, through a series of highly unlikely but > entertaining contrivances, to show the various antagonists the power of > modern practical politics. > > De Camp was an intelligent and erudite man (q.v. his nonfiction books) > and 'The Wheels of If' has a sound, if thin, background in European > history. Somewhat to my dissatisfaction, he included a number of > original elements in his story without bothering to ponder them or at > least to explain them to the reader. For example, why is Vinland's > physics more advanced than its chemistry? Why is Vinland's technology > based on pneumatics? Why do the Vinlanders use the Roman alphabet? Offhand, I would say it's because it was settled by people who used the Roman alphabet -- just as their "relatives" in our timeline did. How > has Dr. Noggle singlehandedly created a powerful science of > metaphysics? Et cetera. Modern alternate history writers, notably S.M. > Stirling*, would take pleasure in extensively describing their > machinations and giving them rather more secure bases in reality. But > then, they would tell this story over the course of a trilogy composed > of perhaps 1500 pages. De Camp did it in a novella of about eighty > pages. > > De Camp uses two points of departure to create his world, rather a faux > pas today. The first is a victory for Celtic Christianity at the Synod > of Whitby and the second is a victory for Islam on the battlefield of > Tours. His explanation of how these events led to the society of which > he writes is, shall we say, tenuous. > > 'The Wheels of If' was originally published in the October 1940 issue of > _Unknown Fantasy Fiction_ and is instantly recognizable as a pulp > story. The modern fan may find it somewhat déclassé or even tacky. > When you consider that de Camp was feeding his family on perhaps a cent > per word, it ain't a bad piece of work at all. Recommended for anyone > interested in where alternate history has been and where it is going. > > *In 'The Wheels of If', "North America was discovered by one Ketil > Ingolfsson in 989 A.D." Stirling used the same surname for one of his > Draka families. I wonder if this was a conscious appropriation. Ask him. While he hasn't shown up here much lately, I believe he has a newsgroup at http://www.sff.net. -- Dan Goodman dsgood@visi.com Subject: Re: 'The Wheels of If' Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2001 21:46:55 -0700 From: "Robert A. Woodward" Organization: Home User Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written, soc.history.what-if References: 1 , 2 In article , Dan Goodman wrote: > In article <3B4F85D9.4DABAA24@swbell.net>, rsnraye@swbellnospam.net > says... > > 'The Wheels of If' > > _The Wheels of If and Other Science-Fiction_ > > L. Sprague de Camp > > Berkley Medallion: New York, October 1970. > > > > > > > > *In 'The Wheels of If', "North America was discovered by one Ketil > > Ingolfsson in 989 A.D." Stirling used the same surname for one of his > > Draka families. I wonder if this was a conscious appropriation. > > Ask him. While he hasn't shown up here much lately, I believe he has a > newsgroup at http://www.sff.net. That newsgroup doesn't exist anymore; but I have seen him post on the newsgroup 'sff.science-fiction.alternate-history' -- robertaw@halcyon.com http://www.halcyon.com/robertaw/ rawoodward@aol.com