Reds fanfic

[The_Red_Star_Rising]

Hey, I started up a thread on SV where if anyone's interested, they could take up the reins of playing as the UASR in a grand strategy role play.


Also on the subject of obesity, southern cuisine is rather unhealthy yo.

 

[E. Burke]

Here's my theory about comic book continuity/shared universe:

Without capitalist intellectual property it becomes difficult to create and maintain control over character. I don't think you will be able to create liscensed characters or stories. You can trademark a specific work but not its characters/tropes/setting. So I can't publish Harry Potter in my basement, but I can write and publish stories about Harry or set in Hogwarts as long as I don't just change a few words and call it my own. For comics, which encourage shared universes and characters this will mean it develops into something like DnD. There are official company supported continuities (Dragonlance), sanctioned but not published continuities (home brew settings that get company recognition) and completely unsupported settings floating around (whatever bullshit setting your DM made up last week). There are published guidebooks for writhing and creating in these settings (players handbook/dungeons masters guide)

 

[Miss Teri]

Would it be possible for a "Red Dawn" style film being made in the FBU, about a communist invasion, and an intrepid group of students from a small English village working to fight them off?

 

[The_Red_Star_Rising]

Here's my theory about comic book continuity/shared universe:

Without capitalist intellectual property it becomes difficult to create and maintain control over character. I don't think you will be able to create liscensed characters or stories. You can trademark a specific work but not its characters/tropes/setting. So I can't publish Harry Potter in my basement, but I can write and publish stories about Harry or set in Hogwarts as long as I don't just change a few words and call it my own. For comics, which encourage shared universes and characters this will mean it develops into something like DnD. There are official company supported continuities (Dragonlance), sanctioned but not published continuities (home brew settings that get company recognition) and completely unsupported settings floating around (whatever bullshit setting your DM made up last week). There are published guidebooks for writhing and creating in these settings (players handbook/dungeons masters guide)

Me and Jello talked about this and how it might end up leading to British IPs dominating because they are so much less fragmented and more able to swamp media with coherent advertisement and presence. So instead of Greyhawk becoming the default Fantasy setting, you'd instead see Warhammer Fantasy Battle take up that role.

 

[tuxer]

Me and Jello talked about this and how it might end up leading to British IPs dominating because they are so much less fragmented and more able to swamp media with coherent advertisement and presence. So instead of Greyhawk becoming the default Fantasy setting, you'd instead see Warhammer Fantasy Battgle take up that role.

Wouldn't RPGs be extremely popular in the UASR thanks to the fact that the foundation of role-play is, to large extent, teamplay? And MMORPGs would also be even more popular as they would focus more on role-play and social aspects instead of the competition-driven PVP. This of course would mean that the MMO community would be far nicer and gentle compared to the nastiness of OTL.

 

[eliphas8]

Me and Jello talked about this and how it might end up leading to British IPs dominating because they are so much less fragmented and more able to swamp media with coherent advertisement and presence. So instead of Greyhawk becoming the default Fantasy setting, you'd instead see Warhammer Fantasy Battle take up that role.

Really, Middle Earth probably remains the default British fantasy setting, but I'd be interested to see where UASR's fantasy goes and if it radically diverges. Given the conservative ideology inherent to that setting and it's offshoots. I'd be interested to see something like Bas Lag (if you haven't heard of it, look up Perdido Street Station, The Scar, And Iron Council) become the standard fantasy setting of the UASR. Essentially, settings more informed and influenced by a Marxist understanding of the world and which visually smack more of steampunk and the 17th-18th centuries than they do the idealized medieval world of most fantasy.

Also, I think that the cold war may mean a very serious divergence in the fantasy genre between Britain and America. Like on the level that in America the distinction between Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Horror aren't adopted. "Weird Fiction" might well retain it's unified character and the stories could combine elements of any of those genres mixed and matched. To an extent the walls are breaking down between the genres now, and in this timeline I think the initial divergence might be averted because the cultural environment is drastically different. "Genre fiction" is likely to be defined far less by it's mass market and niche focuses, and a cross polination will hopefully take root (I personally like this idea).

 

[E. Burke]

Me and Jello talked about this and how it might end up leading to British IPs dominating because they are so much less fragmented and more able to swamp media with coherent advertisement and presence. So instead of Greyhawk becoming the default Fantasy setting, you'd instead see Warhammer Fantasy Battle take up that role.

I was talking about comics and using DnD as an example lol

 

[Time slip]

Really, Middle Earth probably remains the default British fantasy setting, but I'd be interested to see where UASR's fantasy goes and if it radically diverges. Given the conservative ideology inherent to that setting and it's offshoots. I'd be interested to see something like Bas Lag (if you haven't heard of it, look up Perdido Street Station, The Scar, And Iron Council) become the standard fantasy setting of the UASR. Essentially, settings more informed and influenced by a Marxist understanding of the world and which visually smack more of steampunk and the 17th-18th centuries than they do the idealized medieval world of most fantasy.

Also, I think that the cold war may mean a very serious divergence in the fantasy genre between Britain and America. Like on the level that in America the distinction between Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Horror aren't adopted. "Weird Fiction" might well retain it's unified character and the stories could combine elements of any of those genres mixed and matched. To an extent the walls are breaking down between the genres now, and in this timeline I think the initial divergence might be averted because the cultural environment is drastically different. "Genre fiction" is likely to be defined far less by it's mass market and niche focuses, and a cross polination will hopefully take root (I personally like this idea).

How the fantasy genre in UASR may develop is an interesting topic. I could see writers who don't want to write pseudo-Medieval European settings potentially drawing inspiration from sources like American folklore (like tall tales and fearsome critters) and the Western genre instead. I'd agree pre-20th century inspired industrial and urban settings could be popular as well.

You would also have the beginning of the Sword and Sorcery subgenre not long before the Civil War with the appearance of characters like Robert E. Howard's Kull the Conqueror (1929) and Conan the Barbarian (1932), so perhaps some writers not interested in following the lead of British writers end up being drawn to that subgenre for a time.

 

[The_Red_Star_Rising]

Really, Middle Earth probably remains the default British fantasy setting, but I'd be interested to see where UASR's fantasy goes and if it radically diverges. Given the conservative ideology inherent to that setting and it's offshoots. I'd be interested to see something like Bas Lag (if you haven't heard of it, look up Perdido Street Station, The Scar, And Iron Council) become the standard fantasy setting of the UASR. Essentially, settings more informed and influenced by a Marxist understanding of the world and which visually smack more of steampunk and the 17th-18th centuries than they do the idealized medieval world of most fantasy.

Also, I think that the cold war may mean a very serious divergence in the fantasy genre between Britain and America. Like on the level that in America the distinction between Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Horror aren't adopted. "Weird Fiction" might well retain it's unified character and the stories could combine elements of any of those genres mixed and matched. To an extent the walls are breaking down between the genres now, and in this timeline I think the initial divergence might be averted because the cultural environment is drastically different. "Genre fiction" is likely to be defined far less by it's mass market and niche focuses, and a cross polination will hopefully take root (I personally like this idea).

Lord of the Rings isn't quite the default fantasy setting, Lord of the Rings as seen through the lens of Gary Gygax's Greyhawk however is. It's this setting that became copied for the game industry which is the general mover of medieval high fantasy. ITTL, it might be warhammer and its rules for magic, its aesthetics (including the usage of gunpowder), its general ideas and the nature between the gods and man that take this place in gaming however.

 

[eliphas8]

Lord of the Rings isn't quite the default fantasy setting, Lord of the Rings as seen through the lens of Gary Gygax's Greyhawk however is. It's this setting that became copied for the game industry which is the general mover of medieval high fantasy. ITTL, it might be warhammer and its rules for magic, its aesthetics (including the usage of gunpowder), its general ideas and the nature between the gods and man that take this place in gaming however.

Yeah. But I think that the UASR to have an initially very different gaming scene precisely because of the different initial fantasy and science fiction genres. Actually, this just made me think we could see the American game scene dominated by RPGs early on, and the British by war games where Warhammer would dominate. So there might not be a "default" fantasy setting, beyond the RPGs set in a Bas Lag like setting, and war games more like Warhammer.

 

[Marisa Kiridifferent]

Trying to contribute a firearm for the Entente.Feel free to suggest/criticize/add up,first time trying to write something in this forum lol.Opening part are copied directly from Wikipedia's FN49 entry because i'm lazy.

FN Model 1939/1941/Rifle,Self-loading, No.5
Type Self-loading rifle
Designer Dieudonné Saive
Designed 1938-1939
Manufacturer Fabrique Nationale (FN)(Belgium)
Royal Small Arms Factory,
Birmingham Small Arms Factory(United Kingdom)
John Inglis and Company(Canada)
Lithgow Small Arms Factory(Australia)
Produced 1939–1958
Number built 1.056,000+
Weight 4.31 kg (9 lb 8 oz)
Length 1116 mm (43.5 in)
Barrel length 590 mm (23.2 in)
Cartridge .303 British
7.92×57mm Mauser
7.65×53mm Argentine
Action Gas-operated short-stroke piston, tilting bolt
Feed system 5-round,later 10-round fixed box magazine,
10-round detachable magazine(postwar variants)
Sights Iron sights,scopes attachable


Dieudonne Saive, Fabrique Nationale's then-chief firearm designer, experimented with a number of recoil-operated rifle designs in the early 1930s. While little came of these experiments, they would become the basis for a gas-operated semi-automatic rifle, which he patented in 1936 and prototyped in 1937. FN's new rifle was still in development in late 1938 – early 1939, and a version with a 5-round magazine was about to be marketed.This was FN Model 1939,the early variant trialed by the Belgian,French and British armies.With the war unfolding in the Soviet Union,Entente observers watched as German infantry,despite victorious at first,their bolt action Karabiner 98 put them at disadvantage against Comintern infantry equipped with the semiautomatic SVT-38 and M1 Garand rifles.Samples of captured Comintern rifles purchased by FN spurred improvements for the M1939,primarily the short stroke piston,tilting bolt and the 10-round magazine , inspired by the Soviet SVT series rifle.The “definitive” variant,Model 1941,was delivered in small numbers to the Belgium and Great Britain who was interested to replace their Lee-Enfield rifles.License was sold to Great Britain by mid-1941 to began production as the Rifle No.5.FN was also worried of the possibility of German hostile takeover,and began evacuating several of their assets to Canada and preparations to sabotage the factory.


By the outbreak of the war in 1942 however,they have not supplanted the Lee-Enfield yet in production.Mostly used by elite frontline units garrisoned in the Canadian border,the average British infantry units used a mix of the new No.5 and the older Lee-Enfield,a similar situation with their German adversaries.Only by 1944 the rifle was largely used by Entente troops in the west,and with few exceptions of the small amounts manufactured in Australia British troops in the Far East still used the Lee-Enfield rifle.Although it never reached the widespread level of Comintern’s self-loading rifles,the FN39 series is influential in the development of the infamous FN FAL assault rifle*,”the right arm of the Capitalist world”,and as exported surplus to FBU-friendly regimes in Africa and Asia in the Cold War era.Captured examples from the Ethiopian Army was praised by the American advisors as a “highly accurate weapon”.In the Second World War,a handful of Belgian stocks fell to Wehrmacht hands(designated the Gewehr 244(b)) and captured British ones(the Gewehr 245(e)).


*I imagine the AFS might be using the .280 British instead with no (OTL)US pressure

 

[Miss Teri]

From AH.Com Non-Pol Discussion "Good Fiction Books on the post-Revolutionary, Pre-War Period

My World Literature Class is doing a unit specifically on the American Revolutionary Period. The period after the Second Civil War and before the war. We need to find and recommend works to read in our class. Not being overly familiar with American literature, I decided to ask the American members of the board if they had any recommendations.

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Respond as needed

 

[tuxer]

Originally Posted by TheThirdMan
My World Literature Class is doing a unit specifically on the American Revolutionary Period. The period after the Second Civil War and before the war. We need to find and recommend works to read in our class. Not being overly familiar with American literature, I decided to ask the American members of the board if they had any recommendations.

-----------

Respond as needed

I decided to write a reactionary right-winger because it would otherwise be boring if everyone was lefty.

Originally Posted by UnionBoss

I propose The Path to War which describes the political development in France and the UK throughout the 30s.

It initially describes the attempts to deal with the Great Depression but takes a different course by analysizing the reactions from the politico-economic class to the Second American Civil War and the establishment of a left-wing dictatorship in America. The book is good because it makes a analysis of the communist fifth column and the history and ideological differences between the British non-marxist socialism and the anarchist socialism of France.

The last four chapters deal with the collapse of the French Popular Front, the diminishing of the Labour Party's power in favor of the Liberals and the shameful Franco-British support of Nazi-fascism.

 

[Time slip]

Good Fiction Books on the post-Revolutionary, Pre-War Period

Originally Posted by RabbitHole

Erskine Caldwell's God's Little Acre might be a good pick, given it's depiction of Southern workers and farmers on the eve of the Second Civil War. It was one of the more popular American novels published in the years after the formation of the UASR, to the point that it received an also quite successful film adaption in the late 30s.

 

[bookmark95]

What are press freedoms like in the post-war period?

In the FBU, I imagine there would be a free press, but with major newspapers sometimes being leaned on by the government to avoid printing anything "subversive".

My guess is that the UASR has a very free press, except for one detail. The USSR and the UASR are apparently allies, but the USSR is still a country that locks up political dissidents and lies about living standards. The UASR, however, has an unofficial gag rule about reporting the oppression inside the Soviet Union. This rule applies to any of America's other socialist allies.

One of the scandals I can see playing out is when an American journalist defies the gag rule and actually reports on conditions in Russia.

I write this after reading about the OTL story of Charles Horman, an American journalist who was killed by the military junta in Chile, allegedly with the connivance of the US government. I imagine that stories like that would still be true as the UASR tries to bring "revolution" wherever it goes.

 

[Miss Teri]

Good Fiction Books on the post-Revolutionary, Pre-War Period


[QUOTE="NestorMakhno] On the topic of Southern literature, there is also Harper Lee's classic "To Kill a Mockingbird," an excellent look into persisting racial and class tensions in the South, and the fact that the Revolution hadn't automatically changed the minds of some Southerners.
There is also "Rainshadow", about Mexican farmers in Arizona, during the process of collectivization there. It's actually very complex morally, while many of the farmhands have improved living conditions, many of the Mexican farmers are reluctant to give up their land to the collective.
Or if you want a different take, "The Adventures of the Escapist" by Michael Chabon is a good one. It's about two comic creators (one a Czech refugee among those who was transported to the US) during the earliest part of the so-called "Golden Age of Comics", as they create a Superhero called the Escapist, and deal with the tribulations of post-revolutionary life. [/QUOTE]

 

[Miss Teri]

Good Fiction Books on the post-Revolutionary, Pre-War Period

[QUOTE="TheThirdMan] So, something interesting happened in my World Lit class. First off, after reviewing the choices, I decided to go with "God's Little Acre", and "Rainshadow". However, just after I proposed the books in class, this kid began to rant about how the IB program was attempting to indoctrinate Soviet schoolchildren into accepting American "social imperialism" by teaching these texts. (The school is an International Baccalaureate school, for context) He got about 5 minutes in, before he was asked to leave. Apparently, his parents were actually members of the Bolshevik Party, and buy into those ultra-patriotic conspiracy theories. His ramblings remind of Cheka, who I've seen in the Soviet Politics thread, but never really talk to, because I don't engage with such characters IRL, let alone online. [/QUOTE]

 

[teg]

What are press freedoms like in the post-war period?

In the FBU, I imagine there would be a free press, but with major newspapers sometimes being leaned on by the government to avoid printing anything "subversive".

My guess is that the UASR has a very free press, except for one detail. The USSR and the UASR are apparently allies, but the USSR is still a country that locks up political dissidents and lies about living standards. The UASR, however, has an unofficial gag rule about reporting the oppression inside the Soviet Union. This rule applies to any of America's other socialist allies.

One of the scandals I can see playing out is when an American journalist defies the gag rule and actually reports on conditions in Russia.

I write this after reading about the OTL story of Charles Horman, an American journalist who was killed by the military junta in Chile, allegedly with the connivance of the US government. I imagine that stories like that would still be true as the UASR tries to bring "revolution" wherever it goes.

I imagine the FBU will allow the consolidation of the press to go even further than in OTL with perhaps even papers such as the Guardian and the Independent folding or driving to the right. On the other hand, I expect the BBC will survive, although it might shrink to just the more intellectual/un-economic parts that appeal to the middle classes, with populist and succesful shows such as Eastenders, Robot Wars and Doctor Who being sold off.

teg

 

[eliphas8]

I imagine the FBU will allow the consolidation of the press to go even further than in OTL with perhaps even papers such as the Guardian and the Independent folding or driving to the right. On the other hand, I expect the BBC will survive, although it might shrink to just the more intellectual/un-economic parts that appeal to the middle classes, with populist and succesful shows such as Eastenders, Robot Wars and Doctor Who being sold off.

teg

I think think the FBU is likely to go through a shift where independent for profit press is going to be Alligned to various factions of the Popular Party while the press of the parties on the left itself is going to be pretty major. The British Labour Party is merging with the SFIO, which probably means that Le Humanite is going to get an English edition. Similarly the Daily Worker is probably going to rebrand itself for a more widespread public. I also wouldn't be shocked if the power of the Popular party over independent journalism leads to the Labour Party and SFIO creating their own radio and television stations, not actually unprecedented for partied of the second international, they owned opera houses and plenty of cultural centers historically, and their newspapers were often dailies which were on par with all their peers.

 

[E. Burke]

Good Fiction Books on the post-Revolutionary, Pre-War Period

I'm not sure if alternate history counts, but C. Blair's Bloody May is a pretty good. Most of the Party Leadership, including Reed Browder and Trotsky are killed in the initial coup. While this initially hurts the revolutionary cause, ultimately it is not the leaders but the mass of revolutionary workers who are the heart of the revolution. It does a good job of demonstrating that the revolution wasn't the work of a few leaders but the masses. The authors anarchism is very blatant, America becomes a decentralized socialist federation and is able to bring both Canada and Mexico into a unified North American Socialist Federation. IMHO its a massive Anarchowank, but it really captures the revolutionary spirit of the period.


Another good one is The Thunder of the People by Mildred Taylor, it is a fictionalized account her own experiences growing up in the revolutionary south. It paints a vivid picture of the period, especially the heroism of the black sharecroppers who took up arms to destroy the Plantation System. The brutality of the Klan remnant is truly shocking, the massacre scene is one of the most traumatizing in all of American literature. It is deeply critical of the compromises made by the WCP leadership with the plantation elite, the willingness of the white majority to turn a blind eye to the Jim Crow revivalism. It was one of the most influential texts on during the Second Cultural Revolution. It is a good explanation of one of the biggest failures of our founding generation.