The perils of reading science fiction
One of the things we become experienced at doing when we read sf is picking up on clues about the world. An artfully dropped name can tell you all about the alternate history you are in, a casual phrase can give you vital information about the technology available, and so on. It’s what Samuel Delany was talking about when he discussed the way sf makes metaphors concrete. But how can you tell whether something is an artful clue, or a mistake? I am currently reading a novel for review. I know from the blurb that at some point history will be changed, and there has been right from the start talk of a device that will change the flow of time. However, so far the novel seems to be a fairly realist account of the Second World War in our history. Except that I have just encountered a scene in which an American serviceman drives around London in the blackout of 1944 in a Mini. Although nothing else I have read so far suggests that the setting is in any way an alternate reality, do I take this casual mention as reason to change my whole perception of where the novel is? Or do I assume that the author missed out on some basic research (it took me all of 30 seconds on Wikipedia to confirm that the Mini, designed by Alec Issigonis, was launched in 1959)?