I have always defined ASB as whatever is flat out impossible, such as magic or comic-book superheroes. For different reasons I also consider ancient astronauts to be ASB, however a future timeline revolving around first contact with non-human sentient life, not necessarily so.
Wasn't the whole "Dark Age" thing sort of a natural result of the Comics Code finally starting to go away? Had there never been a Code to begin with the comic book ecosystem may well have been much better over all in terms of both quality and diversity.*
*And by "diversity" I mean "not just...
Really? That is one of the things which attracted me to it early on, that feeling of being placed in a very alternate earth. I got the same vibe from LotR, though to a lesser extent. Well, to each his own.
One gets that historical feeling most strongly in the early books. For me it tends to fade as the story goes on and events become increasingly apocalyptic.
Even here, Martin handles the elements of magic and whatnot with the kind of restraint you don't often see in fantasy. Magic especially...
All this talk of Tolkien, high fantasy and shades of gray yet no mention of Martin's masterful Game of Thrones? For shame!
Mind you, GoT is more bottom-of-the-mineshaft pitch black than gray, but still...
Hmmm. One wonders how Bismarck plans to lure alt-France into a war in this TL. Or will butterflies take care of all that? Either way you have me interested.
1) Scenarios where X is changed at Y point in history and yet all the same people and events keep happening on time as though the author had never heard of the Butterfly Effect
2) Endless ACW
3) Endless WWII
4) The idea that National Socialism and Fascism belong on the Left end of the...
I posted this scenario once several years ago but I couldn't really come with with a proper POD. I suspect that for football to become as big Stateside as it is in the rest of the world one of the big three - basketball, baseball or (American) football - has to somehow fail to catch on over...