I think alternate history gets classifed more as SF than fantasy for two reasons:
1) It's not actually fantastical, just _different_; ergo: SF by default. 2) When alternate history intersects our own (1632, Islands in the Sea of Time, Lest Darkness Falls), the cause may be mysterious, but isn't typically shown as magical/fantastic. Therefore alternate history = parallel universe = scientific extrapolation.
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momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2009-03-12 07:56 pm (UTC)1) It's not actually fantastical, just _different_; ergo: SF by default.
2) When alternate history intersects our own (1632, Islands in the Sea of Time, Lest Darkness Falls), the cause may be mysterious, but isn't typically shown as magical/fantastic. Therefore alternate history = parallel universe = scientific extrapolation.