Europeans incapabale of curing polio...
Harry Harrison's Stars and Stripes series, good for a brief romp but make sure your brains are turned off while reading it
1 was not so bad. 2 was slightly plausible until 1/2 way through. 3-What?
Frankly unreadable if your British; rather like the 'War That Came Early'. Seriously this stuff is about as plausible as having the Japanese advancing from Pearl Harbor to Washington conquering all in their path; with the help of Godzilla.
I'd like to submit my first ever timeline from 4 years ago. The intro is a cringe inducing disaster, and of course the religious Belgian civil war is a great exercise in Alien Space Bats.
In my defense, I was 12
There are quite a few sloppy timelines on the board that I've read.
This is perhaps the worst alternate history out there. I saw there terrible reviews it received, and thought perhaps I might read it (maybe it'd turn out to be AH's Eye of Argon-something so bad it's good). Anyway, after reading, I concluded that it was the worst book I ever read. The writing was dreadful and the alternate history nonsensical. Avoid like the plague.
Cripes how rank. No wonder Newsweek went bust.
Another self-published stinker was A Damned Fine War by Bill Yenne. Apparently Bill Yenne is a key member at the Patton Historical Society, but that didn't stop his novel about Patton fighting WW3 from stinking up the joint.
Where to begin? I'll start with how Yenne had no idea how to differentiate his characters except through their names. It's damning for the entire Patton Historical Society when a novel they backed up to the hilt was written by a guy who apparently wasn't even slightly familiar with the mannerisms and style of the most bombastic American leader of the war. Ditto for Stalin. "Wooden" doesn't describe it; try cardboard..
How about the alternate history for Muv Luv? It involves a peaceful transition from the Shogunate into the Japanese Empire, and yeah, I don't know where to continue.
The "What If" books I found very useful in their study of the background to events and the positing of a PoD. What I did not find so useful was in their alternate histories, especially as so many of them have MASSIVE CHANGE and then everything turning back to happen more or less how it did in OTL - maybe the Doctor would like that, but I don't think the butterflies would
Best Regards
Grey Wolf
*sigh* The War the Came Early....I have The Coup just staring at me on my bookshelf. There are characters in there that I like, and want to see the end of their stories, but....eeesh.
1958: Lee Harvey Oswald was Killed by The Police in Texas
June 10 1961 Neil Armstrong Meets John F. Kennedy for the Man on the Moon
June 12 1961 Neil Armstrong Departs in the Space Ship to Moon
Jun 14 1961 Neil Armstrong Landed on the moon Put the USA Falg on the Moon and Returns to Earth
Jun 16, 1961 Neil Armstrong Returns to Earth
Feb 4 1963 JFK Vists England, France, Spain, Holland, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Albania, Turkey, Japan, Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Austria, Switzerland and All of Europe and JFK is Also a First US President to Visit Albania and Hungary
Nov 22 1963 JFK Visits to Dallas, Texas and No Lee Harvey Oswald and no Assasination of John F Kennedy Because Le Harvey Oslwald is Already Dead for 5 years
Europeans incapabale of curing polio...
Now that I think of it, the universe of "CSA: the Movie" counts, too: no way could the C.S.A. have conquered the entire north, then Mexico, and THEN most of Central & South America, and have been able to survive to the present day, especially with slavery never having been phased out. Kevin Willmott's concept was an interesting one but not that plausible when it comes down to it; Turtledove's "Southern Victory" was much better by far.
I remember there was a TL put out by I believe the Daily Mail which had the USSR successfully invade Britain in the 70s.
As a Titanic researcher, I consider this to be one of the worst AH's I've ever read:
http://blog.timesunion.com/chuckmiller/if-titanic-didnt-hit-the-iceberg/12749/