Sansom, C J
Entry updated 1 May 2024. Tagged: Author.
(1952-2024) Scottish solicitor and author, almost entirely of crime novels, the most prominent of these being the Shardlake sequence of historical detective mysteries set during the reign of Henry VIII and beginning with Dissolution (2003) [series not listed below].
He is of sf interest for Dominion (2012), an Alternate History tale set in a 1950s Europe where victorious Germany's client states are governed by Vichy-style regimes (see Hitler Wins); the Jonbar Point that enables this world is Britain's surrender on 9 May 1940 (just before, in the real world, Winston Churchill became prime minister); here it is Lord Halifax (1881-1959) who takes over. After the war, a resistance movement is headed by Churchill, while in America Adlai Stevenson wins the 1952 election (Eisenhower lacking any D-Day charisma). Sansom's depiction of home-grown fascists, fellow travellers and racists, in particular a swarm of all-too-eager anti-Semites (see Race in SF) evoked some negative comments in right-wing UK journals. Dominion was given a Sidewise Award in 2013. [JC]
Christopher John Sansom
born Edinburgh, Scotland: 9 December 1952
died Brighton, East Sussex: 27 April 2024
works (highly selected)
- Dominion (London: Mantle, 2012) [hb/Getty Images]
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