I am generally intrigued with the idea of ISOTs. The idea of taking some political unit from the future and moving it to the past? Wow. Now that is a great idea. Anything can happen--wankfest, human extinction, whatever. And it's obviously a popular gimmick around here, too. I love reading any ISOT thread I can find. Fun stuff.
What frustrates me, though, is the glacial pace at which these things move. Take this particular trope's literary namesake. Three books and we're really not past the first generation of ISOTed people? Is their story really that compelling? Maybe for some. Personally, I scan alt history books mainly for interesting tidbits of allohistorical trivia. Unless the author can actually write, I don't care all too much for the actual story...and as far as I'm concerned, Stirling is no Charles Dickens. Stirling is no Stephen King, either. Stirling is no James Patterson, for that matter. Stirling is, well, not much better than the average poster here, frankly. And even that may be a serious underestimation of some posters' abilities.
You can say what you want about the story, the cardboard characters, whatever--but the basic idea is sound. But I don't care what happens to individuals on Nantucket who have been thrown back into time; I want to get a glimpse into the far future of the world Nantucket traveled back to. Does the world unify under one government? How do religions develop? What is technology like?
Anyone care to venture some guesses?
What frustrates me, though, is the glacial pace at which these things move. Take this particular trope's literary namesake. Three books and we're really not past the first generation of ISOTed people? Is their story really that compelling? Maybe for some. Personally, I scan alt history books mainly for interesting tidbits of allohistorical trivia. Unless the author can actually write, I don't care all too much for the actual story...and as far as I'm concerned, Stirling is no Charles Dickens. Stirling is no Stephen King, either. Stirling is no James Patterson, for that matter. Stirling is, well, not much better than the average poster here, frankly. And even that may be a serious underestimation of some posters' abilities.
You can say what you want about the story, the cardboard characters, whatever--but the basic idea is sound. But I don't care what happens to individuals on Nantucket who have been thrown back into time; I want to get a glimpse into the far future of the world Nantucket traveled back to. Does the world unify under one government? How do religions develop? What is technology like?
Anyone care to venture some guesses?