Recently I’ve seen the traffic spike on some of my Beatles writings, specifically on alt-history Beatles, so I’m going to assemble a guide to things I written on the subject over the years. Post-Abbey Road Albums It’s an interesting game to imagine what the Beatles might’ve done had they soldiered on into 1970. There’s interestingContinue reading “Alternate Beatles”
Tag Archives: alternate-history
Sorry, Boys, You Failed the Audition
What if the Beatles didn’t get a record contract with Parlophone in 1962? That’s the subject of BBC Radio 4’s radio play, Sorry, Boys, You Failed the Audition, adapted by Ray Connolly from his novella of the same name. Originally broadcast by the BBC in 2013, it was rebroadcast again this week, and I streamedContinue reading “Sorry, Boys, You Failed the Audition”
The World of The Man in the High Castle
The first time I read The Man in the High Castle, I was disappointed in it. It was only the second Philip K. Dick novel I had read (the first was Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), and I closed the book thinking, “Is that all there is? It just ends there? Really?” I hadContinue reading “The World of The Man in the High Castle”
On The Beatles’ The Lord of the Rings
In 1963, when the Beatles agreed to make A Hard Day’s Night, the film, they signed a three-picture deal with United Artists. In 1964, they made A Hard Day’s Night. In 1965, Help! By and large, though, they didn’t like making films. Too much work. And so, when the idea was floated of an animatedContinue reading “On The Beatles’ The Lord of the Rings”
On Counterfactuals, Tantrums, and the Expensive Orgy
Two political op-eds have captured my attention in the past day. They cover similar ground — the struggles of the Democrats this election cycle — in profoundly different ways. The Washington Post‘s Eugene Robinson, he writes in “The Spoiled-Brat American Electorate” that “registered voters say they intend to vote for Republicans over Democrats by anContinue reading “On Counterfactuals, Tantrums, and the Expensive Orgy”
On Newt Gingrich’s 1945
I own Newt Gingrich’s 1945. Confession time. I paid full price for it. On the day it came out. 1945. It’s legendary in science fiction circles. Then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich made a deal with Baen Books for a series of alternate history novels. Co-written with William Forstchen, 1945 posited a world where AdolfContinue reading “On Newt Gingrich’s 1945”
On Paperback Writer
It sometimes surprises me, given the cultural signifance of the Beatles, that there’s not more fiction devoted to the Beatles than there is. There’s a few novels — Liverpool Fantasy stands out — and some short stories, like Ian MacLeod’s “Snodgrass” and Stephen Baxter’s “The Twelfth Album.” Curiously, all of these novels are alternate historiesContinue reading “On Paperback Writer”
On “Hot As Sun”
Checking my WordPress stats on Saturday, I decided to take a look at the “Tag Surfer” function. Basically, it’s a search of WordPress.com blogs, and if you give it a tag to search for — like, say, “Beatles” — it will pull up a list of recent posts written on wordpress.com blogs categorized as “Beatles.”Continue reading “On “Hot As Sun””
On Reading “The Twelfth Album”
I wrote earlier in the month about putting together “God,” the Beatles album from Stephen Baxter’s alternate history story, “The Twelfth Album.” The Wikipedia article on the story gave the track line-up, and it was easy to put together the playlist in Windows. But I hadn’t read the story. Thankfully, I found a used copyContinue reading “On Reading “The Twelfth Album””
On “God”
About ten years ago Stephen Baxter wrote an alternate history story entitled “The Twelfth Album.” Its premise? Two guys, going through a dead coworkers effects, discover a mysterious, impossible LP — a Beatles album entitled “God.” The cover was elementally simple: just a black field, with a single word rendered in a white typewriter fontContinue reading “On “God””