The Gate of Worlds

Lore & Background

The protagonist is eighteen-year-old Dan Beauchamp, who travels from impoverished England in 1967 to seek his fortune in the Aztec Empire. He is accompanied by Aztec sorcerer Quequex. The novel explores a multipolar world where non-European powers have emerged and international relationships are reshaped by the absence of European dominance.

Reader's Guide

The Gate of Worlds is significant as an early alternate history novel that systematically reimagines global power structures by altering a single historical event—the severity of the Black Death. It presents a world where Europe is marginalized and non-European civilizations such as the Aztecs, Incas, Russia, India, and Japan become major players. The novel's legacy includes inspiring a thematic sequel, Beyond the Gate of Worlds (1991), edited by Silverberg, which contains three short stories set in the same universe. The work is often compared to later novels like Kim Stanley Robinson's The Years of Rice and Salt and Harry Turtledove's In High Places, which use similar premises of a plague-weakened Europe. Silverberg's novel remains a touchstone for discussions of how alternate history can challenge Eurocentric narratives and explore the consequences of demographic catastrophe.

Did You Know?

• The novel was first published in the United States by Holt, Rinehart & Winston in 1967.
• In the alternate timeline, the Ottoman Empire conquered Paris in 1460 and invaded the British Isles in 1490.
• William Shakespeare's works in this timeline are written in Turkish and set in the Ottoman milieu of England.
• A thematic sequel, Beyond the Gate of Worlds, was edited by Silverberg in 1991 and includes stories by John Brunner and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.