Okay, so some people might think that visiting California is like stepping into an alternate universe anyway, but in The Man in the High Castle
, Philip K. Dick shows what California and the (former) United States of America might be like if history had taken a different turn back in World War II.
In his alternate history, the Allied forces lost the war to Germany and Japan. The United States was dissolved and the land split up between the winning countries, with the western states going to Japan. So in this alternate California, people speak Japanese, bow to each other and smoke Land-O-Smiles brand reefer. Woo hoo!
I love the concept of sidestepping into alternate universes. Didn’t Sliders take place in San Francisco, too? Think about all the different possibilities. What would life be like if the southern United States had successfully seceded from the Union? What would the world be like if Jesus had fought for his life and won, if Mohammed had died a martyr, if Buddha had eaten steak?
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on Saturday, November 18th, 2006 at 5:06 pm and is filed under US and Canada, fantasticalities.
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