„The present book is based on the doctoral thesis with the same title. The main aim of the thesis was to demonstrate that all the authors mentioned in the title resorted to scientific tropes and the discoveries of the day in order to be able to cope with some forms of trauma, and that either the parallel universe or the multiverse opened a door leading to a better world in which these traumatic events never happened. Or, on the contrary, they opened a door into a world in which the unthinkable happened. They did so to warn us and keep this world sane. The thesis, and now the book, is divided into three major chapters preceded by an introduction – an opportunity to get acquainted with some New Physics theories and interpretations. It is also here that we explain the importance of the interdisciplinary approach alongside the New Historicist one, as this kind of fiction does not belong to the classical historical tradition but to virtual or alternate history.” (from the introduction)