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I've not seen all of the series but from what I have seen nothing seems particularly fantastical or science-fiction-y, the premise is that somehow the Axis won the war and have dominated the world.

I don't remember anything that would in my mind constitute science-fiction, no advanced technology or weaponry, seemingly most things are less advanced if anything.

To me this seems like it's more fiction than science-fiction.

https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/man-in-the-high-castle

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  • looking at the other questions in the tag, it sounds like there may be some reality/timeline-hopping which would make it on topic
    – phantom42
    Dec 15, 2015 at 23:21
  • @phantom42 probably should have roped in someone more qualified. :P
    – CandiedMango
    Dec 15, 2015 at 23:22
  • Is alternate history in general on topic? It's a kinda-maybe branch of fantasy, but I guess it would depend on the community intent. I know some books like that are based off some time travel event, but not all, nor is it always obvious.
    – Radhil
    Dec 15, 2015 at 23:47
  • 2
    @Radhil Back at the beginning of the site we deemed alternate history to be on-topic.
    – user56
    Dec 16, 2015 at 19:59
  • My brother-in-law assures me that the book is 100% definitely science fiction/fantasy. Neither of us have seen the TV show, but I can't imagine Amazon cutting out the science fictiony bits - they're what sell TV shows these days.
    – Martha
    Dec 29, 2015 at 15:50

2 Answers 2

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Yes

Alternate history is a genre that's usually accepted to be a part of the Science Fiction and Fantasy family. This is expressly true if there are explicitly SFnal elements - such as the alternate history being a parallel dimension/universe with people and things crossing over - but even when the AH is self-sustained, it's still a speculative genre that fits into our site.

It's true that AH novels or shows can be seen as Historical Fiction as well, and a very theoretical debate can be made about historical fiction with any minor changes from recorded history qualifying as AH and sneaking its way into our site, but I think this is premature worry, and explicitly-AH works should be accepted.

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Having not completed watching the show (due to only one season being released at time of writing), it seems to have science fictional elements beyond the alternate history premise (this is beyond the final scene of season 1, which in and of itself is science fictiony). The story revolves around accumulating MacGuffins in the form of films of alternate (to the people in the story) timelines. This implies either in universe there's someone with vast resources making unbelievably realistic films, or someone has the ability to see alternate timelines and is filming them.

I've also heard spoilers from the book that indicates an important character has supernatural abilities, which puts it clearly into our domain.

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