Secret History

There is also a thriving Genre of secret historical fiction. Often this relies on Alternate History , with the end result of the changed historical premise being a world that is otherwise indistinguishable from the present (an example would be ''The Alteration'' by Kingsley Amis , in which the entire 20th century world is run by the Catholic Church). Secret history is sometimes used in a Science Fiction Universe to preserve Continuity by reconciling predicted events in a science fiction universe with what actually happened.

Retconning , the process of inventing or altering the Canonical account of past events in fiction, may create a secret history for a character, as in the case of Alan Moore 's reimagining of Swamp Thing , or turn an established history into a secret history, as in the case of DC Comics ' Crisis On Infinite Earths .

Examples of secret history in the media include:

''' has a forgotten King Richard IV Of England

Dark Skies

The X-Files

The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson

many of the novels of Robert Graves are in this genre, eg I, Claudius , Claudius The God , Count Belisarius , Wife To Mr Milton

The Crying Of Lot 49 , Gravity's Rainbow and Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon

In The Country Of The Blind by Michael Flynn is about a secret society that attempts to influence history with mathematics calculated on Babbage Analytical Engine s.

Harry Paget Flashman is placed at the centre of many 19th century events by George MacDonald Fraser

The Shadow Hearts series of video games uses secret histories as its trademark style.

Fantasy Author Tim Powers predominate style of writing is based on secret histories.

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Secret History