Curious Notions is an alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove

Harry Turtledove

Harry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.- Life :...

. It is a part of the Crosstime Traffic

Crosstime Traffic

Crosstime Traffic is a series of books by Harry Turtledove. The central premise of the stories is an Earth that has discovered access to alternate universes where history went differently. "Crosstime Traffic" is the name of the company with a global monopoly on the technology.-Background:The...

 series. In Curious Notions, the Central Powers

Central Powers

The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...

 won World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 prior to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 entering the war. Subsequently, the German Empire

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

 invaded and conquered the United States in the 1950s. The story is set 150 years later, in German-occupied San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

. The main plot deals with time travelers from our universe establishing an electronics shop in San Francisco, coming under the suspicion of both the German authorities and the tong

Tong (organization)

The word tong means "hall" or "gathering place". In North America a tong is a type of organization found among Chinese living in the United States and Canada. These organizations are described as secret societies or sworn brotherhoods and are often tied to criminal activity...

s while preventing the Germans from duplicating the time travel technology.

Literary significance and reception

Roland J. Green

Roland J. Green

Roland James Green is an American science fiction and fantasy writer and editor. He has written as Roland Green and Roland J. Green; and had 28 books in the Richard Blade series published as Jeffrey Lord .- Early life and personal matters :Green was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, in 1944...

 reviewing for Booklist

Booklist

Booklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. It is geared toward libraries and booksellers and is available in print or online...

said that this novel had a "well-constructed world, superior characterization, and some serious analysis of the ethics of cross-time travel all make the yarn a winner."