The Cleansing Fire of God

[Michael E Johnson]

Deleted at Michael's request due to copyright issue

[tom]

Doesn't this belong in the fiction board?
Good read anyway!

[Norman]

I like it, clearly ATL, very interesting. This is published where?

[tom]

Should have looked closer, I thought it was yours

[Landshark]

I've read this before somewhere in the last six months but I can't remember where.

[Michael E Johnson]

I found the link to the story at Uchronia.com but the actual site is-


http://www.strangehorizons.com/

[David Howery]

nicely written, but kinda hazy... what's the POD here? the Reformation gone wild? and there are two sides racing to get to the moon for.... some weird fiery disturbance?

[sunsurf]

I went to the site...

Uh-oh...

All material in Strange Horizons is copyrighted to the original authors and may not be reproduced without permission. Violators will be prosecuted.

[tom]

Well, I tried google and other search engines on a January post to this site, and got nothing, so I hope you don't get caught. But maybe you better get Ian to delete this before you get in trouble, if only for your peace of mind.
You might also want to change your profile, if you can't get it deleted.

[Michael E Johnson]

Thanks Ian.

[jlake@jlake.com]

Hey there, guys. I'm the author of "The Cleaning Fire of God." The story can be read at http://www.strangehorizons.com/2003/...ing_fire.shtml for those who are still interested in seeing it. I thought I'd drop by and make myself available for questions about the AH thinking behind the story -- there was a more complex draft with additional POVs/cultures directly within the narrative that opened some more of the AH.

Also, I have another AH-qua-steampunk coming up soon in the Canadian specfic magazine Challenging Destiny, called "Benedice Te", which is not in the same continuity as "The Cleansing Fire of God." I'm also shopping around a more ambitious AH right now about the Cuban missile crisis where the Pope has the nukes.

Thanks for your interest in the story!

Jay Lake, SFWA
Portland, OR

[G.Bone]

so what's behind america being pronouced amorica? is there a map of these states? do you find it easier to write of a story set in AH or in normal fiction setting?

[Duncan]

Originally Posted by G.Bone

so what's behind america being pronouced amorica?

One presumes the continent was discovered by the Bretons.

[jlake@jlake.com]

Originally Posted by G.Bone

so what's behind america being pronouced amorica? is there a map of these states? do you find it easier to write of a story set in AH or in normal fiction setting?

That's sort of a James Joyce joke, from the opening of Finnegan's Wake. Given that the Italians are pretty much nonfunctional in this world line after the 1240s, Amerigo Vespucci wasn't in the picture to lend his name to map-making. Neither was Columbus, so Columbia wasn't really in it either.

No, no map, since I was only using Baltimore, Cape Kennedy and a few other mentions (Atchafalya for Louisiana). I didn't need one. If I had, I certainly would have developed it -- I have done so for other projects.

As for AH vs normal fiction, I write mostly fantasy, science fiction and horror -- speculative fiction. A lot of specfic (of all three genres) is either secret history or future history, which from a writer's perspective isn't much different from alternate history. The rules by which you develop the worldline vary in flexibility depending on whether you're writing strict AH or not, of course. I like AH because it gives the reader a set of grabhandles to work with. I write a lot more stuff that isn't AH, for a variety of reasons, but the work of presenting the background and worldbuilding is a little different.

Even on fantastic stories (as opposed to AH which usually attempts to work within "real" world possibilities, as opposed to introducing angels or something) there can be a point-of-departure which will be of interest to readers. I've written some Old West fantasy where the POD is an event during the Lewis & Clark expedition, and some of my critical readers have gone batty trying to find the POD in the stories within continuity where it's only deep background.