I think it's time to remind the members of the alternate history community about the existence of Point of Divergence (POD), which is an amateur publishing association (APA) devoted to alternate history.
What does that mean?
POD is essentially an in-print writers forum and alternate history discussion group. Right now there are twenty-three members, which is about the usual number. Every two months, the members each print out their own "zine", a collection of their AH writings. It gets sent in to Jim Rittenhouse (the editor), collated together and distributed to all the members. Some pretty good stuff goes on in POD, and these days the issues run in the 250-400 page range. That's a lot of alternate history stuff. Some of it is composed of alternate history discussions and timelines, a lot of it is simply discussions about any topic related to alternate history. Sort of like this newsgroup, only better - there are no trolls, little fluff, no flamewars, and the responses are usually pretty intelligent because people have two months to think them over.
POD is also very useful for those of you out there who like to write AH fiction, because it also functions as a writer's workshop. You can send stories and stories-in-progress out to the membership to be read and commented on (and this doesn't count as publication so it doesn't impact your ability to sell the stories). The members are usually a fairly good audience for stories, and many of them are aspiring writers as well. Not all, though - many people who participate in POD do so only for the discussion, not because they want to be professional writers.
How do you get in on this fine action?
http://www.marmotgraphics.com/pod/index.html
or just email him at:
You can also contact me (Ian Montgomerie) with any questions at the following address, although Jim is generally the person you really want to talk to:
The web site hasn't been updated in a while, but the latest issue of POD (number 28) is about to go out as of February 9, 2001. That's right, POD has been around for over four years, although the last two are when it really got going. In order to participate, you need to do two things. First, you have to pay to have issues mailed to you. That's not much, although if you're in Australia or something it might cost over ten dollars an issue. Second, every second issue you have to contribute at least two pages of original material. You can NOT subscribe to POD, it is not a magazine. You need a minimum of two pages of original material (discussion, fiction, whatever) every second issue. Most POD members will submit a ten to fifteen page "zine" every issue or two. A few members are known for submitting a constant stream of monstrous 50+ page contributions, but that's not expected. I don't necessarily condone joining POD and just contributing the minimum 2 pages every 2 months average so that you can read it, but you definitely should know that the required minimum contribution is pretty low.
Who's in it?
Many of the POD members were soc.history.what-if newsgroup regulars at one time, or still are. Many of them also have little or no contact with the newsgroup. Some current members that may be recognizable are me, Dale Cozort, and Craig Neumeier.
Yeah, but really, what exactly is in it?
If you're interested, Jim is perfectly willing to send you a sample copy so that you can see for yourself what it's like.
Skimming through issue 25, we've got scenarios and commentary from various people on Communist vs. Nationalist China, more chapters in an AH-novel-in-progress from David Johnson, much discussion of what a "world without Christianity" would look like, an article on the relation of quantum mechanics to alternate history, various book reviews, and more.