The Worst Alternate History Never Written

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Have any of you guys read that book Anatomy of a Miracle. Its set in an Azania where there was no 2001-2005 civil war. In it the author says the Afrikaner government of the then South Africa voluntarily starts negotiating with the ANC in 1990. And there are relatively peaceful, free and fair elections barely 4 years later! The author then speculates that the country would have become a relatively mature liberal democracy, following market friendly economic policies! Firstly to think that the Afrikaners would voluntarily give up power to the black majority. And then that there would be no mass retribution against against the white population! And that the communist ANC would not follow Stalinist principles once they were in power. This is the biggest ASB nonsense that a person could read. Avoid, avoid, avoid. Its up there with that other ASB AH, The Tiger of the East about an India that stays unified after independence, with only one country, called Pakistan or something, seceding after independence. I like AH as much as the next guy, but this kinda ASBness just pisses me off.
 

~The Doctor~

Surely, the Celts would have defeated them soundly if they even tried to expand beyond the peninsula...

This is where it gets even more stupid. Early in the history, Rome actually falls to the Celts! And the Romans pay them to go away!:mad:
 
Willard Scott has one which is just a bunch of weird idea strung together. It has some funny and imaginative stuff, but no real thought went into it. Apparently, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz never went into politics. Instead, they stayed in show business and starred in a long-running sitcom which had a great impact on popular culture.

Lucille Ball starts her own studio, Desilu, which produces a hugely popular sci-fi series which gives rise to tons of spinoffs and merchandising. Does she appear in it and support it? No, she sells the studio instead, and fades into obscurity, doing a few other minor sitcoms. So why didn't she do the merchandising for her own sitcoms? Why didn't she start another studio?

The author describes this sci-fi series as a "classic" with "attention to scientific detail" but then gives us examples of episodes which...well, I don't feel like describing episodes with titles like "Gamesters of Pentathlon". :rolleyes:

I'll leave it at that. The author should stick to writing about the real world.
 

sanusoi

Banned
Running man - The story of a man from Central Asia, pulling loads of tribes together and then *suspense* sending them out to conquer most of the known world. The story ends with *spoilers* the great Khan dropping dead becuase he was assinated in his own tent before he made it to Vienna to conquer the lands of the West.

Harry Turtledove has really gone down the gutter this time, that trash for a novel should have never been written. Then again that's why I live in a government that run by five kings and a rook.

There's that other series to that was written by Isomorph P.T Riok Dauphistin A man that comes through time to save the Empire of Novogrod from complete destruction. Well, there are books in the series that I can't be bothered to write up on. To put it short, the whole series is tarnished with the ideas that a hundered men can change the lives of a few hundered thousand. On top of that, there's the crazy idea of Novogrod uniting the Rus people and then taking over Europe and defeat the * Evil Chinise Kwong*

Now I have no problems with this author writing his books. However, when someone decides to bring out a series that makes no sense and only appeals to idiots, then it makes you wonder what else has happened to this world. Espically the United Kindom Of Gread Scotland And Nothern France.

Well that's of my head, it's time for me to go and celebrate the great day of St Patrick the Christmas Solider.
 
a while ago I read this ridiculous book about the spanish Netherlands becoming independant after something called "the eighty years war". then they become one of the most powerful countries in the world. they even have some big shot admiral names de Ruyter, who manages to defeat the mighty royal navy of Britain.

also; did anyone read that book called "Midway"? it's about the US actually winning the battle of Midway in 1942, and by 1945 Japan is defeated. No Russian invasion of Japan, no splitting up of Tokyo. Absurt!
 
have you heard of the rise of the british empire books? worst series ever and a wast of 6 books, about as worse as the red motherland, which is filled with cliches in which the red revolution occurs and germany turn evil. the ending suck too.
 
(From Turtledove-verse)

A German wank called variously Timeline 1870, Great War, German Empire, and Paying The Bills. It mirrors the CSA's history so closely the author just had too look the wars up in an encyclopaedia and change the names. It's so predictable there's no suspense at all.

In it, the Prussians under Bismarck manage to defeat the Austrians and the French and become the greatest power in Europe. How would they have won a war against such superior powers, you might ask. And how did the Junker economy develop an industry anywhere near competitive? It's entirely unreasonable.

Didnt that happen in the Turtledove-verse anyway?
 
also; did anyone read that book called "Midway"? it's about the US actually winning the battle of Midway in 1942, and by 1945 Japan is defeated. No Russian invasion of Japan, no splitting up of Tokyo. Absurt!

Had anyone here wrote a story like Midway it would have been sent to the ASB-section after the first US strike
 
  • The Years of Beer and Pudding, by S.R. Kim. A thoroughly ridiculous book in which European nations like Angland and Franx somehow recover from the Black Plague and -- despite not discovering hygiene for another 500 years -- somehow go on to colonize the New World, conquer most of Africa and Asia, and invent industrialization.
  • Guns, Germs, and Gold by Big Valley Diamond. A perfect example of trying too hard. The POD is pretty neat -- due to some minor changes in climate and pre-history, the "Americas" and "Indonesia" have almost no native domesticable animals, and so get passed up by Eurasia. But here's the weird part -- the whole thing is written from the perspective of a scholarly treatise in this alternate world, and you have to pick up the whole backstory from these random clues in the text (like references to "Japan" and "Los Angeles").
  • Titanic. Can you believe they spent $300 million on a movie about a "famous" tragedy that never happened? Why not just call it fiction -- and spend a little less on useless CGI?
 
Has anyone read In the name of Allah? It's basically how the Ottoman Empire somehow gets pushed out of the European continent, loses territory in northern Africa, and worst of all breaks up into the Republic of Turkey... TURKEY! what kind of name is that? I was expecting them to call themselves Anatolia. Even more unbelievable is the Britain and France end up controlling territory in the middle east and when they leave the whole region becomes a hot bed of war and violence. it's almost like the author has something against middle easterners.
 
Has anyone read In the name of Allah? It's basically how the Ottoman Empire somehow gets pushed out of the European continent, loses territory in northern Africa, and worst of all breaks up into the Republic of Turkey... TURKEY! what kind of name is that? I was expecting them to call themselves Anatolia. Even more unbelievable is the Britain and France end up controlling territory in the middle east and when they leave the whole region becomes a hot bed of war and violence. it's almost like the author has something against middle easterners.
OOC: Actually not all that strange -- the Turks call themselves Türkler, not Anatolians, and the term Turk was well established by the time that your POD would make sense (that is, by the time that the Ottomans had a seemingly stable hold on SE Europe and N Africa).
 
Rumor is that he's doing a sequel series. Something about a 'cold' war (his term) between the US and USSR. Apparently both sides arm to the teeth then fight a series of proxy wars around the globe. Insane! If they have these Wellsian super bombs, how would you fight any war without wiping everything out? :confused:
These books just get worse and worse.:mad:

So, it's the Cold War, only turned in nationalist American propaganda?
 
There is a series of books by some guy from USSA, about capitalist (!) United States fighting in so called "cold war" against a state called Soviet Union (think of Russian Empire ruled by some bureaucrats calling themselves "communists"). Of course American always win, cause they have better technology and are smarter.
It would be a waste of time to name all the reasons those books are ridiculous, so here you have only a few of them:
- United Socialist States of America as capitalist superpower. Please, could anyone believe that? People came to America to find freedom and peace. Do you really think they would have agreed to live under yoke of some plutocrats? Or fight in any war outside their country?
- Soviet Union - even the name is laughable. Soviet in Russian means "council", but it seems they have only one council at all, called "Politbiuro" (Political Bureau). A "communist" Russia, that's so stupid it's actually funny. As if anything could have moved the tzar from his throne. Besides, Marxist revolution is possible only with strong proletariate, and we all know Russia is mostly a land of peasants.
- "Hunt for Red October" - title of one of those books. Can you believe that "Red October" is a name of a ship? Why no call it "Pink Novemeber" or "Black September"?
Those books are so stupid even the Bureau of Purity allowed to publish them without a single commentary, claiming nobody could take that trash seriously.

The funniest part is how much the Tsardom was screwed in the books. First they got Alexander III instead of Nicholas II, and Alex was all reactionary because the author wanted him to be reactionary. As if the son of the father of Russian democracy could be so authoritarian! Then we get alt Nicholas II, who the author designed to be as stupid as possible. I mean, some of Tsarina Catherine's sons are kind of dumb, but come on, I don't think anyone could be as dumb as Nicholas.
 
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