A World of Difference

Del Rey Mass Market Edition

Written by Harry Turtledove

Copyright 1990 by Harry Turtledove

In A World of Difference, a Viking lander is destroyed on the planet Minerva just as it sends pictures of it's destroyer - an alien life form. The United States and the Soviet Union then launch a manned space mission to Minerva.

This novel takes place in an alternate universe where a life-bearing planet, Minerva, takes the place of the red planet Mars in our universe. Despite Minerva being a near neighbor of Earth, the aliens and humans have never met before. The aliens have two domains that are at war with each other but they are separated by a vast chasm. With the human's technology, one domain is able to cross the chasm and the deadly ice floes to invade the other domain - and the Americans and Soviets wind up on opposite sides of an alien war.

One of the major differences with the aliens, aside from the extra arms, are the fact that the females bleed to death when giving birth so the females are very child-like because they do not live long enough to mature.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Mission to Minerva

 

A Baen Book

Written by James P. Hogan

Copyright 2005 by James P. Hogan

The fifth novel in the "Giants" series - Mission to Minerva, written by James P. Hogan,  is about UNSA scientists, Victor Hunt and Chris Danchekker, as well as the alien giant Ganymeans conducting experiments into open communication - and travel into alternate realities. Their ultimate goal is to go 50,000 years into the past - to prevent the destruction of the planet Minerva, the giant's original home, whose debris is now the asteroid belt in our solar system.

While the scientists try to figure out how to achieve stabilization and connection between the alternate worlds, and how to travel back in time, the scientists never consider the consequences of actually changing history aside from saving Minerva. I felt that not considering the consequences of their actions to history was very irresponsible for the scientists as they try to go back in time. They forget that present day mankind originally came from the planet Minerva, so the Earth as we know it would not exist if the Minervan survivors never came to Earth. They don't even considered if they would even exist after changing the past.

It is only in the last quarter of the book that they actually all travel back in time to Minerva to search for the ancient Terrans who were responsible for the destruction of Minerva, that the adventure begins.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.