Literary Allusions in Turtledove's Work

Like many authors, Harry Turtledove periodically pays homage to other authors in his work. What follows is a list of such homages which can be found in Turtledove's body of work, organized by the author (or other creator of fiction) whose work is invoked.

Note: As many homages are subtle, they can easily escape the notice of any given reader. Therefore we strongly encourage anyone who has found, or believes he has found, an homage not already on this list, or by an author not represented, to add it.

L Frank Baum
Aside from actually appearing as a character in Walk in Hell, L Frank Baum's children's novel Queen Zixi of the Ix is featured in

CS Forrester
In In at the Death, CS Forrester appears to have been fused with Patrick O'Brian to create the fictional author CS O'Brian, whose name is obviously a portmanteau of the two historical authors' names. CS O'Brian was marked for writing novels about naval warfare in the early nineteenth century, which was also the claim to fame of both CS Forrester and Patrick O'Brian.

Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln, who has been featured as a character in a number of Turtledove stories, is of course best remembered as the greatest President of the United States. He was also a poet. His 1846 poem "My Childhood Home I See Again," which includes the line "Where many were, how few remain of old familiar things!" provided the title for How Few Remain. Three stanzas of this poem are excerpted in the book's front matter.

Patrick O'Brian
In In at the Death, Patrick O'Brian appears to have been fused with CS Forrester to create the fictional author CS O'Brian, whose name is obviously a portmanteau of the two historical authors' names. CS O'Brian was marked for writing novels about naval warfare in the early nineteenth century, which was also the claim to fame of both CS Forrester and Patrick O'Brian.

Wilfred Owens
Wilfred Owens' poem "Mental Cases" provides the title for Walk in Hell. The verse of the poem which contains the phrase (in the line "Surely we have perished sleeping/And walk in hell; but who these hellish?") is excerpted in the book's front matter.