The Warlord of the Air

After Keith Roberts' "Pavane", this was the next book (and I was so pleased to see, a series!) that turned me on to Alternate History SF.

And, incidentally, pretty much invented steampunk - though Michael Moorcock gets little credit for this.

MM was in full flood in the 70s: there seemed to be a book a week coming out, but this was the only one that could legitimately be termed SF. It has as its hero a very straightforward Victorian military man - Oswald Bastable - who is whisked into an alternate history and into his future, to be part of some wonderfully imagined adventures, starring some very familiar historical characters, and some brilliant steampunk technology.

I have just lent the series - still on my shelf - to a friend who loves steampunk: she was most impressed. Thoroughly recommended: I'm even going to read them again this Xmas break (now that I've found them again!).