Harry Turtledove

Frequently Asked Questions

Further questions should be sent to Steven Silver

Section 8.1 has been added and other sections, including 5.1.3., 5.1.3.1., and 4.2. have been updated. (12/5/11)

Information about the map in The Victorious Opposition (5.1.4.3.)
Contact information for Dr. Turtledove's literary agent (1.5.)
(1/19/04)

Information on options added, Section 4.1.  
Question about continuation of The Great War Series (5.1.4.2.) added.
Updated titles of Colonization series (5.1.3.)
Information about Homeward Bound (5.1.3.1.) added.
Added titles of books in the Darkness series (5.1.5.)
(4/29/02)

Question about Worldwar/Great War linkages added in Sections 6.2 and 6.3. (8/19/99)

Addition of The Two Georges film material made, Section 4.1. (4/2/99)

Some minor corrections have been made (1.4), Sections 2.4.1, 6.1, and 7.1 have been added. (2/20/99)

Harry Turtledove is a science fiction & fantasy author who is best known for writing alternate history.  He holds a Ph.D. from UCLA in Byzantine history.  A more complete biography can be found on the Biography page of this website.

He actually looks quite a bit like the human in the illustration at the top of this page.  Photographs of him can be found throughout this website.

I'm afraid I can't give out direct contact information, however, a letter sent to Turtledove c/o any of his publishers will find its way to him.  Their addresses can be found on the Biography page.

Eric G. Iverson, Mark Gordion, H.N. Turteltaub, Dan Chernenko

Mark Gordion was used for a single story which appeared in an issue of Analog which already contained an "Eric Iverson" piece (this was before Turtledove began using his own name).  Since the magazine prefers not to run multiple stories by a single by-line, Turtledove used Mark Gordion, instead.

Turtledove elected to use the pseudonym H.N. Turteltaub (his initials, plus the original German version of his name) on his historical novel Justinian.  The reason for this decision has to do with the way bookstores currently order books based on previous sales.  Had the book been published under Turtledove's own name, more copies of the historical novel would have been ordered than the publisher believed would sell.   Turtledove's next book would have had orders placed based on the sales of Justinian, which could hurt his sales if Justinian's sales were low.  Sales were high enough that Turtledove's publisher purchased more historical novels by him.

He used the pseudonym Dan Chernenko for the three book "The Scepter of Mercy" trilogy, published by Ace from 2003-2005 because he felt the books were different from what he generally wrote and wanted to see the reaction they would get without his name.

Harry L. Turtledove (1921-2011) was a cousin of Turtledove's who lived in Washington state. Harry L. Turtledove's writing career dates back at least as far as the 1950s.  In 2008, the two Harry Turtledoves appeared on a panel together at Orycon.

Harry Turtledove is represented by Russel Galen of Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.  381 Park Avenue S., Suite 1112, New York, NY 10016.

Werenight (Belmont Tower, April 1979) was his first published novel under the name Eric Iverson. It, along with the sequel, Wereblood, would later be published in a revised issue entitled Wereblood under the Turtledove byline.  The Misplaced Legion (Del Rey, February 1987) was the first novel to appear as by Harry Turtledove.

His first sale was the short story "Death in Vesunna," co-written with Elaine O'Byrne.  However, the magazine went belly-up before it was published.  His first published short story was "Report of the Special Committee on the Quality of Life," which appeared under the Eric Iverson byline in Universe 10 (edited by Terry Carr).  The first story to appear under the Harry Turtledove byline was either "Herbig-Haro" or "And So To Bed," both of which have January 1986 publication dates.

No.  Although The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump was heavily influenced by Anderson's Operation Chaos, as well as Robert A. Heinlein's Magic, Inc.   The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump does seem to be set in the same universe as Turtledove's own Thessalonica.  In Operation Luna (1999), Poul Anderson's sequel to Operation Chaos, the main character relaxes by reading a mystery novel entitled The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump.

Although Turtledove hasn't ruled it out, he has said that it will take him quite a long time to generate enough puns to put together another adventure of David Fisher.  See also, question 5.2.

The Baen reissue includes the short story "Pillar of Cloud, Pillar of Fire."

Although there are currently no plans for any more stories about Basil Argyros, more stories shouldn't be ruled out.

Most of the differences Turtledove made when Baen reissued these books were along the lines of cleaning up the text to make it run smoother.  He also changed the character named Viredorix  to Aingus so the character would not be confused by the similarly named character in the Videssos cycle.

The changes made to this story were mostly to clean it up and give it a more professional look.

When "Gentlemen of the Shade" appeared in Ripper! (edited by Susan Caspar & Gardner Dozois), a paragraph was omitted.  The version appearing in Kaleidoscope has the paragraph reinstated.

The changes made to this story were mostly to clean it up and give it a more professional look.

Turtledove has collaborated on novels with Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Shwartz, S.M. Stirling and Judith Tarr.  He has collaborated on short stories with Elaine O'Byrne and Kevin R. Sandes.

Richard Dreyfuss is better known as an actor than an author.  He has appeared in such films as "American Graffiti," "Jaws," "Close Encounters or the Third Kind," the "Stake-out" movies, "Mr. Holland's Opus," and "Krippendorf's Tribe."  Dreyfuss has won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for "The Goodbye Girl."

Dreyfuss, a fan of alternate history, contacted Turtledove about an idea he had which resulted in The Two Georges.  Dreyfuss and Turtledove plotted the novel and created the characters with Turtledove doing the majority of the writing and sending chapters to Dreyfuss for approval.  Dreyfuss, at the time, was in Washington state working on "Mr. Holland's Opus."

Elaine O'Byrne was Turtledove's first wife.  They co-authored "Death in Vesunna."

Sandes is a friend of Turtledove's.  According to Turtledove, they wrote "The Boring Beast" together one night after they had a few beers too many.

Turtledove first collaborated with Shwartz on the War World novels.   This collaboration was mostly just each participant taking and revising the short stories they had previously written for the series.

Susan Shwartz holds a Ph.D. in Medieval literature and has written several novels, including Silk Roads and Shadows, Byzantium's Crown, Shards of Empire and Cross and Crecent.

Turtledove first collaborated with Stirling on the War World novels.   This collaboration was mostly just each participant taking and revising the short stories they had previously written for the series.

S.M. Stirling has written several alternate histories in the "Draka" series and has recently begun a trilogy about the island of Nantucket which has been transported back to 1250 BC, the first book is Island in the Sea of Time.

Turtledove first collaborated with Tarr on the War World novels.   This collaboration was mostly just each participant taking and revising the short stories they had previously written for the series.  In 1999, Tarr and Turtledove will be releasing another collaboration, Household Gods (formerly Abysm of Time), which appears to be a true collaboration.

Judith Tarr has written several fantasy and historical fantasy novels.   Some of her titles include Alamut, King and Goddess, the "Arvayan" series and "The Hound and the Falcon" series.  She holds a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from Yale University.

Guns of the South was optioned by Donna Dubrow Productions, however the option has been allowed to lapse.  The Two Georges was optioned by Granada Television.  Interest has also been expressed in the Worldwar series and several other properties.

Please note that an option does not mean that a film or television series will actually be made.  In fact, an option may prevent a movie from being made if the company which holds the option does not exercise it, but retains the option, thereby making the property unavailable to other filmmakers.

The producers of "Sliders" asked Turtledove to write some episodes, however, Turtledove's existing commitments precluded him from doing so.

Although Dreyfuss apparently first approached Turtledove with the idea of writing a screenplay, the results of their collaboration was the novel The Two Georges.

• Wereblood*
• Werenight*
• Prince of the North
• King of the North
• Fox and Empire

*Wereblood and Werenight were re-issue under the title Werenight by Baen books.

While there is room for more novels, Turtledove has not committed to writing further in this series.

The Videssos Cycle is made up of three series, a stand alone novel, and three short stories.   The novels (in order of publication) are:

The Videssos Cycle

• The Misplaced Legion (1987)
• An Emperor for the Legion (1987)
• The Legion of Videssos (1987)
• The Swords of the Legion (1987)

The Tale of Krispos

• Krispos Rising (1991)
• Krispos of Videssos (1991)
• Krispos the Emperor (1994)

The Time of Troubles

• The Stolen Throne (1995)
• Hammer and Anvil (1996)
• The Thousand Cities (1997)
• Videssos Besieged (1998)

• Bridge of the Separator (2005)

Although Turtledove hasn't ruled more novels out, and has, in fact, indicated that he would like to write more in the Videssos universe, there are currently no plans for any future Videssos novels.

The Worldwar series was originally a four book sequence, but in 1998, Turtledove sold a trilogy set about twenty years after the original series, followed by a single book coda which is much more science fictional in nature than the earlier volumes..

The Worldwar Tetrology

• Worldwar:  In the Balance (1994)
• Worldwar:  Tilting the Balance (1995)
• Worldwar:  Upsetting the Balance (1996)
• Worldwar:  Striking the Balance (1996)

Colonization Trilogy

• Colonization:  Second Contact (1999)
• Colonization:  Down to Earth (2000)
• Colonization:  Aftershocks (2001)

Coda

• Homeward Bound (2004)

At this time, there are not plans for additional novels in the series.

The Great War series is made up of an introductory novel and then the series proper.

• How Few Remain (1997)

The Great War Series

• American Front (1998)
• Walk in Hell (1999)
• Breakthroughs (2000)

American Empire

• Blood and Iron (2001)
• The Center Cannot Hold (2002)
• The Opposition Victorious (2003)

Settling Accounts

• Return Engagement (2004)
• Drive to the East (2005)
• The Grapple (2006)
• In at the Death (2007)

The series appears well and fully done.

The Settling Accounts series covered World War II's period. 

In the first edition of The Victorious Opposition, the map appears to place Philadelphia in New Jersey and other similar errors.  The map is printed from multiple plates. One of the plates got shifted, resulting in city names and rivers not lining up with the states' borders.  It should be corrected in future editions. 

The originally a  fourth volume of the Great War series was to have been called Settling Accounts. Before it was published, a follow-up trilogy was sold, American Empire, was sold and the title was eventually applied to the third series in the time-line.

The first Darkness novel will be coming out in April, 1999.

• Into the Darkness (1999)
• Darkness Descending (2000)
• Through the Darkness (2001)
• Rulers of the Darkness (2002)
• Jaws of Darkness (2003)
• Out of the Darkness (2004)

Turtledove has hinted that the Darkness series may run to as many as six or seven books.  

Thessalonica is set in the same universe as The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump, although approximately thirteen centuries earlier.  While the universe dynamics are the same, the books are very different in nature, TCotTSD being a humorous, pun-laden mystery set in modern Los Angeles and T set in a besieged Medieval Thessalonica.  Although humor does appear in T, it is nowhere near the same extent as in TCotTSD.

Although Between the Rivers shared some thematic links to TCotTSD (notably henotheism), evidence indicates that they are not in the same universe.

Henotheism is the belief that many gods exist, their strengths based on the number of worshippers they attract.

Although Dr. Turtledove rarely rules out writing additional stories in his universes, he has commented that the changes in the world of The Guns of the South multiply so quickly that he really isn't sure where things go much beyond the end of the novel.   Future books in this world, therefore, are unlikely.

No.  Worldwar was written based (until the invasion) on our own real time line.   The Great War time line diverged in the 1860s.  There is no way to reconcile the different histories.

No.  Although Turtledove could include some of the older characters from the Worldwar series, he has stated that they will not show up in the Great War time line.

Although Dr. Turtledove is flattered that his readers would want to write stories in his worlds, the copyright issues which occur with fan fiction lead him to ask that fans refrain from writing such stories.

Although Dr. Turtledove began this project with Bryce Zabel, the project stalled and Dr. Turtledove left the project.  It is possible that Mr. Zabel will continue it, but Dr. Turtledove will no longer be involved.