WHO IS

HARRY TURTLEDOVE?

Well I'm sure "A genius." were the first words that popped into your mind, but I meant more in the biographical sense.

Harry Norman Turtledove (also known as: The Wizard of If, Eric Iverson, Dan Chernenko or H. N. Turteltaub) was in born June 14th in 1949. ("Turtletaub" was actually his grandfather's surname which was americanised to "Turtledove" when he emigrated from Austria, before our hero was born).

He now lives in Los Angeles California, USA. Before you ask, no I can't give out the address (well I don't know it!). He lives with his wife and three daughters (whom one cannot help envying; they can read his latest stories without having to wait!).

He was christened "The Wizard of `If`" by the Chicago Sun Times when it did a review for some of his work. As he said in the preface of his first novel "Agent of Byzantium" (I strongly recommend it if you haven't read it yet) he is a historian, has a degree in Roman/Byzantine history and is a sci-fi writer. Which as us die-hard fans know is a great combination because he produces often exciting, cleverly-plausible, meticulously researched and thought-out novelisations of how the present, past or future would have turned out if history had gone differently at a solitary point.

It would be fair to consider his work gospel (i.e. a definite account of what might have been) because, as dedicated readers already know, he puts a lot of effort into researching and thinking about the changed times. Hence his "Wizard of If" title which is more than earned.

Now I could go on with more praise and laudatory remarks about Harry Turtledove here but I have a 10 Mb limit for this website!

In a recent radio interview the interviewer commented Harry normally releases about five or six new books every year. Which is more than the average american normally reads in a year, he added with a laugh! (I think that's probably true in New Zealand too to be fair.)

I'll add to this page with more when I know more.

For now...

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