David Daw, Author at Gizmodo

Everything you need to know about Starcraft II

On July 27, Blizzard Entertainment will release Starcraft II, the sequel to the real-time strategy game so popular that it’s still the gold standard of the genre 12 years later. Today, we’ll be looking at Starcraft as a scifi narrative. Starcraft is military science fiction that focuses on three warring species: the power-armor-clad Terrans, the…

io9 David Daw Jul 18

Great moments in alternate history: World War II

It’s finally here — the biggest alternate timeline of all alternate timelines, the alternate history trope to top all alternate history tropes. Today we look at some alternate histories of the Second World War. Let’s start with one of the most respected works in science fiction, Philip K. Dick’s Hugo Award-winning The Man in the…

Books & Comics David Daw Jul 4

Great moments in alternate history: Shakespeare and friends

The Elizabethan era has everything: the mysterious lost years of William Shakespeare, his playwright/spy contemporary, and multiple plots to destroy England, and we haven’t even gotten to the alternate history yet. If you deal with the Elizabethan era, you have to deal with Shakespeare obviously — Poul Anderson’s A Midsummer Tempest deals with an alternate…

Books & Comics David Daw Jun 27

Great moments in alternate history: the golden age of zeppelins

If I’ve learned anything from Alternate History fiction, it’s that in 90% of all alternate universes are timelines where A.) Hitler won WWII; or B.) people fly zeppelins instead of planes. Today we’ll explore the latter. Note: This week’s column contains plot details regarding io9’s Book of the Month, Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker. If you’re going…

Books & Comics David Daw Jun 20

Where are all the good alternate history movies?

We’ve got tons of alternate history books, comics, and video games, and yet we have so few committed alt-history motion pictures. On this Sunday’s Great Moments in Alternate History, we’re going to the movies! Before we explore the above questions, I should take a moment to explore the state of alternate history cinema. Excluding films…

Movies David Daw Jun 13

Great moments in alternate history: the non-fall of the Roman empire

The Roman Empire has given speculative fiction authors plenty of fodder for alternate history tales. There are dozens of stories in which the fall of Rome is delayed or prevented, and technology advances at an alarming pace. For example, there’s Jacek Inglot’s Quietus in which a Roman Empire that has rejected Christianity has steamships by…

Books & Comics David Daw Jun 6

A brief history of alternate history fiction

This week we take a break from examining alternate timelines and recap the real-life origins of the alternate history genre. Did you know such historical luminaries as Benjamin Disraeli, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and H.G. Wells were alternate history aficionados? The first writing that looks anything like modern alternate history dates back to the first century. In…

Books & Comics David Daw May 30

Great moments in alternate history: history’s superheroes

The Cold War, The Victorian Age, The Catholic Reformation… Is there anything Batman can’t make better? This week we cover alternate histories of the DC and Marvel universes. The most difficult part about alternate histories in comics is keeping everything straight. When you have a world that allows for both time travel and alternate universes…

io9 David Daw May 23

Great Moments In Alternate History: Our Alternate Presidents

Great presidents are the bread and butter of American history. But for every Lincoln or Washington, there’s a ton of poor saps who didn’t even make the primaries. In this week’s alt-fiction column, history’s losers take over the White House. Charles Lindbergh: Famous aviator Charles Lindbergh was considered and courted for the Republican nomination for…

Books & Comics David Daw May 16

Great Moments in Alternate History: The Discovery Of The Multiverse

It doesn’t really matter to our dimension the British Empire never existed in another reality. At least it doesn’t until somebody from one of those timelines comes to visit. This week we explore portals to other universes. Like most of the major Alternate History tropes this one is actually quite old. In fact, the Sidewise…

Books & Comics David Daw May 9

Great Moments In Alternate History: The Land Before Time

The Earth existed for four billion or so years before humans showed up and started recording history. Why limit ourselves to the what-ifs of the past few thousands years? In these alternate reality tales, continents and dinosaur empires rise and fall. 65 million years ago, some disaster – probably caused by an asteroid – wiped…

Books & Comics David Daw May 2

Great Moments In Alternate History: The Time-Travelers Show Up

Alternate history occurs when somebody makes a slightly different decision or a key event just gets lost in the shuffle. But sometimes history changes when time-travelers drop by! Here’s what AH literature teaches us to do (should we ever time-travel). First off, survey the situation. It can be hard to steer history too far astray…

Books & Comics David Daw Apr 25

Great Moments In Alternate History: The Discovery Of Magic

WWI fought with dragons? England as the land of Faerie? A space flight that runs on mummy dust? It was only a matter of time until fantasy figured out that everything’s better with a little bit of magic, even history. Susanna Clarke’s fantastic Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrell has probably done more to tie magic…

Books & Comics David Daw Apr 18

Great Moments In Alternate History: First Contact

Alien fleets, rayguns and…Winston Churchill? Sure, we haven’t met any aliens yet in our timeline (or they’re being very discreet about close encounters), but alternate history authors won’t let that stop them. First contact isn’t just for the future anymore! Harry Turtledove is, as usual, all over this alternate history trope and his Tosev timeline…

Books & Comics David Daw Apr 11

Great Moments in Alternate History: The American Revolution

The Declaration of Independence, Washington crossing the Delaware, the Constitutional Convention: all great moments in America’s history. But you know what would have made them better? Alchemical guns and airships. Let’s look at some alternate stories of the American Revolution. It’s hard to imagine a group of guys whose historical lives already sound more made…

Books & Comics David Daw Apr 4

Great Moments in Alternate History: Charles Babbage

In real life, Charles Babbage was a relatively unknown inventor who pioneered early computers. In modern alternate reality fiction, Babbage is a mad genius and steampunk icon. Here are some authors who resurrected Babbage’s career a century later. Welcome to Great Moments in Alternate History, a column that covers all the great moments in history…

Books & Comics David Daw Mar 28

Nova Albion Steampunk Exhibition: The Most Fun You Could Have in the (Alternate) 19th Century

Even pets showed up in their finest attire for the Nova Albion Steampunk Exhibition, a three-day celebration of everything steampunk last weekend in Emeryville, California. Our travelogue gallery will take you back to a 19th century that never was. Upon arriving at the exhibition, guests were welcomed by creatures spawned by maker/guest of honor Jon…

io9 David Daw Mar 15

David Daw

Everything you need to know about Starcraft II

Great moments in alternate history: World War II

Great moments in alternate history: Shakespeare and friends

Great moments in alternate history: the golden age of zeppelins

Where are all the good alternate history movies?

Great moments in alternate history: the non-fall of the Roman empire

A brief history of alternate history fiction

Great moments in alternate history: history’s superheroes

Great Moments In Alternate History: Our Alternate Presidents

Great Moments in Alternate History: The Discovery Of The Multiverse

Great Moments In Alternate History: The Land Before Time

Great Moments In Alternate History: The Time-Travelers Show Up

Great Moments In Alternate History: The Discovery Of Magic

Great Moments In Alternate History: First Contact

Great Moments in Alternate History: The American Revolution

Great Moments in Alternate History: Charles Babbage

Nova Albion Steampunk Exhibition: The Most Fun You Could Have in the (Alternate) 19th Century

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