arry Turtledove began his career as a writer chronicling the Byzantine Empire and has since become one of the most prolific writers of science fiction—and arguably the leading voice of the subgenre alternate history. Turtledove began writing fiction under the pen name Eric G. Iverson with the novel Wereblood (1979). He continued under this pseudonym until 1985, when he also began writing under his own name as well. Since then, he has written more than 60 novels.
He was awarded the Hugo for his novella "Down in the Bottomlands" in 1994 and soon became a best-seller in novel-length work with The Guns of the South, which would go on to win the John Esthen Cook Award for Southern Fiction. He has built multiple worlds with his series, as exhibited in the Videssos Cycle, Worldwar (which received an honorable mention in 1995 for the Sidewise Award for Alternate History) and American Empire, among others. He was named an honorary Kentucky colonel at Rivercon XXIII.
In addition to his considerable talent as a novelist and short-story author, he has proven to be an accomplished collaborator as well, working with S.M. Stirling on Worlds That Weren't and Household Gods with Judith Tarr as well as with actor Richard Dreyfuss with The Two Georges.
Turtledove is married to mystery author Laura Frankos and has three daughters. His Web site can be found at: www.sfsite.com/~silverag/turtledove.html.
Is there any historical figure you haven't written about yet, that you'd like to?
Turtledove: Oh, sure, there are lots of them. I don't like to name names just yet, because when I talk about stuff before I write it—it has a tendency to go out of my head before I do it [laughs].
In Ruled Britannia, you have William Shakespeare as a main character. You wrote the Shakespearean poetry and plays in the book. Was this hard to do? Have you had any feedback from Shakespearean scholars on the accuracy of the prose?
Turtledove: This was probably the scariest thing I have ever tried, because one of the worst things for a writer to do is write about a writer who is better than he is. Shakespeare is better than everybody. What I did was adopt and adapt real Shakespearean lines as much as I could, use work by his contemporaries who sound more like him than I do. Filled in the blanks and made some of the bad puns myself [laughs].
So far, I haven't had any feedback yet. I haven't seen any of that. The reviews have been good, though.
Along the same line—what sort of preparation did you do for Ruled Britannia? Why do you think that Shakespeare is still so popular after almost five centuries?
Turtledove: I got the idea in 1995. I immediately do what I always do, I started buying a bunch of books about the period. Those sent me in other directions, which sent me into buying other books. So I read, read and read. I was in London, and I went to the New Globe Theatre, and I went to the Tower [of London.] Reading and seeing the sites are the best things you can do [laughs].
The reason for Shakespeare's popularity is because there is no one in the English language who has written better, ever, or who has ever come close.
What inspired you to include Spanish playwright Lope de Vega in Ruled Britannia?
Turtledove: I needed someone on the Spanish side, who would be trying to stop what Shakespeare was up to. In real history, Lope de Vega did sail in the Armada; he was one of the few who were lucky enough to come to Spain. It was reasonable to assume he would have stayed in England as an occupier if the Armada had won. He was a playwright himself. So he might find himself involved in the English theater. He was someone who had an active time with women all through his life, which made him an interesting character to write in that regard. You put that all together and he seemed like the ideal foil for Shakespeare.
How do you still maintain an active fascination for science fiction?
Turtledove: My whole life is what it is basically because of science fiction. I have a degree in Byzantine history I wouldn't have if I hadn't read Lest Darkness Fall [by L. Sprague de Camp] when I was 14 years old. Because I have that degree and the research skills that went with it, [that] set up most of what I have written. I would have probably written something else if I had done something different, with my academic background, because I already had the bug. This influenced what I had done. I met my wife when I was teaching history at UCLA.
If it weren't for science fiction, I wouldn't have the degree I have, I wouldn't have written most of what I have written, I wouldn't be married to the lady whom I am married to, I wouldn't have the kids I have. Other than that, it hasn't changed my life at all [laughs].
Are there any more books planned for the American Empire series?
Turtledove: Yes. I just sent back the copyedited manuscript for the immediate sequel to The Center Cannot Hold. The working title is The Victorious Opposition. There are going to be three more after that, at least. Which will takes things into the 1940s.
Mary McGregor [from The Center Cannot Hold] can be seen as a freedom fighter or a terrorist. Was there any concern of having a terrorist-like character so soon after 9/11?
Turtledove: I knew where she was going long before 9/11. So it didn't just arise. Terrorism didn't start with 9/11, terrorism has been around for thousands of years, and it isn't going to go away either. No matter how much we wish it would.
No, I don't have a concern for that. It just comes with the territory.
Alternate history has been a sub-genre in science fiction for a very long time. You mentioned Lest Darkness Fall [1939], in which L. Sprague de Camp's hero is thrown back to sixth-century Italy and has a chance to remake history. What are some of your favorite alternate-history sci-fi novels?
Turtledove: Obviously, Lest Darkness Fall is one of them. H. Beam Piper's Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen. Poul Anderson's time-travel stories are classics—I grew up on those. Kim Newman and S.M. Stirling also do good work.
Two who I have been particularly impressed with this year are Kim Stanley Robinson's Years of Rice and Salt and Steve Barne's Lion's Blood.
There's lots of people doing good work out there.
Why do you think your books became so popular in the alternate-history genre?
Turtledove: I like to think that they are classics of Western literature [laughs]. More realistically, I think it is partially because I do have a background in history. I'm lucky to make other times and other places seem real. I'm able to extrapolate from what did happen here and there to what might have happened if things had gone differently.
Why do you think science fiction and history go together so well?
Turtledove: I think what alternate history does is the same sort of thing that other science fiction does. Other science fiction will change the present or near future and will look at the farther future and see the effects of the change.
What alternate history does is change the more distant past and look at the more recent past. You extrapolate the same kind of way. You do it back in time instead of forward in time.
They are sort of Siamese twins.
Just different ends of the spectrum? The past instead of the future?
Turtledove: Exactly.
Why did you write Wereblood and Werenight under a pseudonym?
Turtledove: My publisher gave me that pseudonym on the grounds that no one would believe that Turtledove—which is my real name—was my real name. I had no choice in the matter.
I was just starting to be known under my pseudonym of Eric Iverson. I kept the pen name for a while. I was also publishing academic nonfiction. I thought it might be useful to have one name for the fiction and one name for the nonfiction.
When I sold the four books of the Videssos Cycle to Lester del Rey [of Del Rey Books], Lester said, "I'm going to give you your real name back, because people will remember it."
I may be the only writer around who has both his pen name and his own name opposed on him by force [laughs].
You wrote The Two Georges with Richard Dreyfuss. How was it working with Richard Dreyfuss? And because of the Dreyfuss connection, has Hollywood sparked an interest in that book?
Turtledove: The Two Georges has been optioned [to be made into a movie]. I have no idea if it will be produced.
It was fascinating working with Dreyfuss. I got to see him reading my dialogue aloud, and listening to him. This was extremely instructive of what works and what does not work when you hear a trained actor delivering your lines. I learned a lot, I enjoyed it a lot.
What is the key to a successful collaboration?
Turtledove: The example I'd like to talk about is my collaboration with Judith Tarr on a time-travel fantasy novel called Household Gods. When I pitched the idea to Judy I said, "Is this something you want to do? Is this something you think you can do with me? And will we be friends after we've done it?"
You want to work with someone who has a different set of strengths and weaknesses from yours. With luck the book will have the strengths of both of you and the weaknesses of neither. I'd like to think that Judy and I succeeded in that. We're talking about doing another one together, but it won't be until 2004 or so.
Do you have any concern about being pigeonholed as an alternate-history writer? Is there other science fiction you'd like to write?
Turtledove: I write all kinds of things. I write historical fantasy. I write funny fantasy. I write hard SF. I write straight historical fiction under another name.
If you do the same thing over and over again, you might as well drive a truck, for heaven's sake.
Token history question: In history class, we're taught that America won the War of 1812. But the British burned down most of Washington, D.C., and kidnapped the president and first lady, and the major battle we won, The Battle of New Orleans, was fought after the war was over. Did we really win the War of 1812, or was it more of a diplomatic victory?
Turtledove: The War of 1812 was essentially a push; we puff it up because no country likes to admit that they lost [laughs] or came out even.
You've edited a number of alternate-history anthologies. What is the most common mistake writers make when writing alternate-SF stories?
Turtledove: Most of the common mistakes come with any writing that isn't so good—bad characters, bad plots, bad writing. The ones which are peculiar to alternate histories are bad research and bad extrapolation.
You wrote about white supremacists in The Guns of the South. Were you worried you might offend some people with that?
Turtledove: No. Good heavens, such people exist. They're out there, they are fair game.
Do you currently have any works in progress?
Turtledove: A writer who doesn't have works in progress better look for another job [laughs]. I'm working on more books in the American Empire series, as I said. I'm also working on an alternate history YA right now. I also have a couple of other things in the planning stages. I stay busy, I have to.
Any last words?
Turtledove: I'd like to close with the same thing any writer automatically thinks when he is talking to his readers. "Buy my books, please. I know you'd like them." [Laughs.]
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