There are two classic forms of science-fiction storytelling typified by “Star Trek” and “Sliders.” In one, a crew travels from world to world, encountering and interacting with fascinating alien cultures. In the other, the same holds true, only the cultures are human, not alien, representing alternate histories.
If not handled carefully, a “Star Trek” kind of story can wander into ‘planet of hats’ situations, but when done well, the result can be acclaimed “Star Trek” episodes such as “Darmok.” The real weakness of “Star Trek” storytelling is related to production costs — it makes no sense that all these alien races are basically humans with funny ears, noses or foreheads, close enough to interbreed. At the same time, the fact they do resemble humans is part of the strength of these stories, because these exotic cultures can clearly reflect on the human condition.
In contrast, a weakness of the “Sliders” kind of story is that multiverses are potentially composed of an infinite number of parallel worlds. It’s overwhelming, and if anything can happen, then everything can seem boring. There are, of course, ways that writers have found to deal with this concern, but it remains a challenge.
The milieu of “By the Will of the Gods,” in which I hope to set many more stories, aims to take what’s best about both “Star Trek” and “Sliders” stories. In this milieu, countless worlds across the Milky Way were seeded with humans, and each of these human lineages was made unique in some way. At times these differences are relatively minor, such as having two moons in the sky instead of one; at times they are major, such as everyone being immortal.
As such, you get the potential for stories like “Star Trek,” except it makes sense they are all human. And you can get “Sliders” kinds of stories, without getting swamped by infinite possibilities. Of course, you have to deal with questions such as who scattered all these different human lineages across the galaxy, and why, but that can lead to interesting stories as well.