Are 'what if' stories coming into fashion?

A recent post in The Economist magazine congratulated Francis Spufford whose Cahokia Jazz won this year’s long-form class of the Sidewise Awards for Alternate History. The Economist went on to state: “The what-if genre of fiction is growing fast, with work of startling quality and originality. [Cahokia Jazz is] A noir thriller that takes […]

Politics of extremism - Fiction, fact or both?

Republished June 2024 All countries go through unhappy periods – change, uncertainty, economic instability – which often provoke fear of ‘the other’ and of the unknown. People question their government, values, their purpose and place in life. They become sensitised to the negative and ignore the positive things they forget they have.

Roma Nova […]

Julian the 'Apostate' and that spear...

Of all the ‘what ifs’ of history, the death of Emperor Julian in AD 363 has to be one of the most intriguing. He rejected Christianity, demoted its by then prominent place in the Roman state and promoted Neoplatonic Hellenism in its place. His aim was to reduce Christianity to one of many also-ran eastern […]