[Born SF 42] • Dodendans met het Roomse Rijk

An ever-expanding subgenre of sf is devoted to "alternate worlds" or "alternate histories": fiction in which a crucial event goes differently than in the world we know, history is changed. Keith Roberts's Pavane ('68) is set in a backward 20th century molded by the assassination of Queen Elizabeth I the triumph of a militantly antiscience Catholic Church. This is a classic alternate history, in the same company as such highly regarded novels as L. Sprague De Camp's seminal Lest Darkness Fall ('41), in which a modern man slips back in time attempts to avert the Dark Ages; Ward Moore's Bring the Jubilee ('53), set after the South wins the US Civil War; Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle ('62), set after the Germans Japanese win WWII. Lest Darkness Fall The Man in the High Castle are justly famous; the other two classics, Bring the Jubilee Pavane , are less well known, that's a shame. One reason for Pavane 's relative obscurity among American SF readers might be its British setting author (the Moore Dick novels are both set in the US, De Camp, Moore Dick were all American). Another reason might be that Pavane is a novel created from interrelated but standalone stories (6 'measures,' or novelettes, a coda), the stories are of varying quality. Most are wise, beautifully written intensely visualized, especially the opener, "The Lady Margaret," the closer, "Corfe Gate"; but "Brother John," the story of the monk-artist who witnesses Inquisition tortures sparks an anti-Church rebellion, is far less detailed sometimes even unclear. Another reason for the novel's obscurity may be that some of the stories/chapters have more of a fantasy feel than is typical of more recent alternate history. Also, the nature of the coda's revelations may put off some readers. Nonetheless, Pavane is an intelligent, powerful moving work, deserving of a wide readership.--Cynthia Ward

Prologue (1968) story

The Lady Margaret (1966) novelette (aka The Lady Anne)

The Signaller (1966) novelette

Brother John (1966) novelette

Lords Ladies (1966) novelette

The White Boat (1966) novelette

Corfe Gate (1966) novelette

Coda (1968) story