The Sloppiest Alternate Histories Out There...

Greetings,

I thought I share what I think are just sloppy and lazily constructed alternate timelines made for various medias. Two come to mind...

Rex Mundi - this is a shame, because I heard good things about this supernatural/Da Vinci Code-ish comic book series. But the divergence point for this world is that Martin Luther was assassinated by the Church before the Reformation could really take hold; however, Europe looks too much like OTL 1900s Europe and there is even a Confederate States of America and Federal Republic of America in this timeline. How can 19th century United States exist in a world where protestantism didn't take hold in England?

Code Geass - This is everywhere on the map. There are three distinct divergences; first when the Britons repelled the Roman Empire, second when Elizabeth I had a son to call an heir, and third when the American Revolution was crushed by the British. Then there's Napoleon chasing the absolutist British royal family from the British Isles to the Americas, or "Britannia". This seems rather implausible. But not as much as Ben Franklin being bribed with an earldom; it doesn't matter what he's like in real life, he would never be that big of a douche.

What you you call sloppy AUs? :)
 
Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln - Big problem with plausibility in the premise -- there is simply no way, bar none, that any President, Lincoln included, is going to be impeached by his own party, much less one so young to power as the Republicans were. Since, from my cursory glance, the novel doesn't change this situation (Wade is President Pro Tempore, for example), I can only assume it's ASB, politically speaking.
Code Geass - This is everywhere on the map. There are three distinct divergences...

Given the fantastical elements of the world, I'd say it's actually just one PoD with a pretty spotty butterfly effect. In either case, it's still an awesome show.
 
I'll second that, and raise you. On top of the very premise being ludicrous, it is really just the background for a courtroom drama with a simply ridiculous protagonist. Plenty of ink has been spilled over just how unrealistic the actions of Abigail Canner, the black legal aide, were. Frankly, I don't think you can know anything about the history of race relations in this country and find Canner even remotely believable.

The idea of a young black woman working basically as a paralegal in 1860s Washington? OK... there were black judges and officials under Reconstruction. That's all well and good. The many things she runs around doing? NO WAY.

Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln - Big problem with plausibility in the premise -- there is simply no way, bar none, that any President, Lincoln included, is going to be impeached by his own party, much less one so young to power as the Republicans were. Since, from my cursory glance, the novel doesn't change this situation (Wade is President Pro Tempore, for example), I can only assume it's ASB, politically speaking.


Given the fantastical elements of the world, I'd say it's actually just one PoD with a pretty spotty butterfly effect. In either case, it's still an awesome show.
 
1 was not so bad. 2 was slightly plausible until 1/2 way through. 3-What?

I think #2 was the most implausible one. First of all, both the Olympic and Britannic were requisitioned by the Admiralty during WWI - if the Titanic hadn't sunk, it's likely she would've been as well. Second, the Romanov's would probably have fled to Britain, not the U.S.A. Third, he completely ignores the Russian Civil War and has the infant Bolshevik government invade the U.S.A., regardless of how militarily deficient they were in 1917. Even at the height of its power, the U.S.S.R. couldn't have invaded the U.S.A.! Worst of all, it is implied that World War I was not taking place when the Romanov's were taking their trip to America, yet the Bolsheviks somehow seized power. The only reason they came to power in the first place is because of Russia's involvement in the First World War!
 
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count palatine said:
Code Geass - This is everywhere on the map. There are three distinct divergences; first when the Britons repelled the Roman Empire, second when Elizabeth I had a son to call an heir, and third when the American Revolution was crushed by the British. Then there's Napoleon chasing the absolutist British royal family from the British Isles to the Americas, or "Britannia". This seems rather implausible. But not as much as Ben Franklin being bribed with an earldom; it doesn't matter what he's like in real life, he would never be that big of a douche.
Yeah, the Background of Code Geass is pretty implausible.
John Fredrick Parker said:
In either case, it's still an awesome show.
True indeed: one of the best anime I've seen.
kingbaldrick said:
As a Titanic researcher, I consider this to be one of the worst AH's I've ever read:

http://blog.timesunion.com/chuckmill...iceberg/12749/
These three are a serious case of Did Not Do the Research.

I can't believe in the #1 scenario for the simple reason I don't know how people would know about the Titanic transporting Ammunitions so easily. Hell, OTL the Lusitania was under those suspicions (which is why he was on the targetted) and was sunk by a German submarine but that didn't stop the Americans from joining the Allies two years later. Then, as you said, there are huge chances the Titanic would have been requisitionned by the Admiralty for the war given his sister-ships were: the Olympic carried troops and supplies (and managed to sink a sub) while the Britannic served as a Hospital Ship (and was sunk by a mine).

Second Scenario's first half is somewhat plausible if you manage to get an earlier October Revolution, in which case I can buy the Tsar being on a cruise on the Titanic for a trip to the US and the Bolsheviks taking over while he is away. The second half... is messed up: the Soviets would have to stabilize the country first and create the Red Army before declaring any sort of war. And nothing says there wouldn't be an ATL Russian Civil War.

The third half is a WTF. Captain Smith was an experience seaman and, last time I checked, he wasn't a drunkard. And I don't see any form of celebration before Titanic is docked in the Harbor.
 
*Ahem* Truly awful, a complete farrago of wank, handwavium and US-screw.

Slightly more seriously was browsing Peter Tsouras' Battle of the Bulge: Hitler's Alternate Scenarios this morning in the library which is made up of a number of scenarios written by him and a number of other writers, and whilst I wasn't reading in-depth they didn't seem all that great. Most of them seemed a bit iffy, a couple just left me scratching my head, and the one about FDR dying from a heart attack brought on by a successful Ardennenoffensive with Henry A. Wallace and the Progressive Party, who are working for the Soviets, attempting a quiet communist takeover... well the less said about that one the better.
 
Children of Apollo by Mark Whittington. I found it in the used bookstore. I couldn't finish it, and it was the extremely rare example of a book I put in the trash rather than taking back to a used bookstore or at least handing over to Goodwill.

The premise is nifty enough -- what if the American space program had continued with meaningful goals after Apollo.

The result was awful. Riddled with basic grammatical and spelling errors. Major factual errors, most damningly on the technical side of Apollo -- those mistakes reveal an author who not only lacks basic knowledge of modern history, but has no business writing about the American space program whatsoever.

Finally, the main business Whittington pursued in his novel was rehabilitating the reputation of Richard Nixon and trashing Democrats -- all Democrats, which is weird when you realize JFK was the father of NASA. I mean, think about the fact that the main audience for this book should be space exploration geeks, think about the political persuasions for most of those folks, and then consider the idiocy of a writer that deliberately alienates the clear majority of his audience with obnoxious, blatant partisanship.

Whittington put this out before the days of cheap Print on Demand, back in 2003. It's the sort of book that gives modern indie publishing a very bad reputation.
 
*Ahem* Truly awful, a complete farrago of wank, handwavium and US-screw.

Slightly more seriously was browsing Peter Tsouras' Battle of the Bulge: Hitler's Alternate Scenarios this morning in the library which is made up of a number of scenarios written by him and a number of other writers, and whilst I wasn't reading in-depth they didn't seem all that great. Most of them seemed a bit iffy, a couple just left me scratching my head, and the one about FDR dying from a heart attack brought on by a successful Ardennenoffensive with Henry A. Wallace and the Progressive Party, who are working for the Soviets, attempting a quiet communist takeover... well the less said about that one the better.

To be upfront, I came on this thread with the express purpose of seeing if anyone would use it to bash another thread on the board, which I think is incredibly inappropriate. Still, I've undercut my moral high ground by basically rubbernecking, so I guess I'll just leave.:p
 
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