What Series Would Make for a Nice Fan Project?

Strategos' Risk · Aug 2, 2005

I'm talking about extending the story beyond a book with fanfiction, kind of like how the SHWI people created For All Nails to extend Robert Sobel's For Want of a Nail. It's the same reason why, though I've never heard of it, apparently there's a lot of fanfiction on the Tarrantry series on the Alternate History Directory.

What alternate history universe do you think a lot of AH.com people could work on together to add stories too? Again, this doesn't have to be the best ATL, just the most interesting.

I'd say The Peshawar Lancers has a very nice universe, full of swashbuckling adventures and cloak and dagger. We could write fanfiction for it.

Psychomeltdown · Aug 2, 2005

I always wanted to know what happens in America after the World War series. Sure they kicked the Race's ass, but after nearly the whole country was basically torn apart. Or there could be more POVs on the war in other areas, such as the Eastern US etc.

Strategos' Risk · Aug 4, 2005

I guess that no one's interested in a collaborative project.

Romulus Augustulus · Aug 4, 2005

Instead of a fan series, why not think of a POD, then collaboratively expand on that? Let's have a surviving USSR or something...

Codeman · Aug 4, 2005

the worldwar fanfic one sounds cool

Diamond · Aug 4, 2005

I like the idea of writing a fanfic set in The Peshawar Lancers, but this is a better thought:

Romulus Augustulus said:
Instead of a fan series, why not think of a POD, then collaboratively expand on that?

Psychomeltdown · Aug 4, 2005

Diamond said:
I like the idea of writing a fanfic set in The Peshawar Lancers, but this is a better thought:

Yeah, but what POD and TL? Then there's the whole logistics of thinking it out, whereas in a fanfic you already have the universe set and you just add to it, but still staying in the 'set rules'. well, in most fanfics.

Strategos' Risk · Aug 5, 2005

That's my point, exactly. If it wasn't a "fan" project, it'd just be a general, everyday alternate history project.

As for Worldwar- maybe, but then I need to read all of the books. I wanted The Peshawar Lancers or something like that because it's a single, one-shot book, followed by a novella that I still need to read, but is nevertheless not thousands of pages long combined.

And besides, TPL seems to be a good adventuring ATL with unknown discoveries and supervillains and interesting hybrid-cultures (I haven't seen any hybrids in new AH in a while), wheras WorldWar is war, which isn't as adventurous.

Adam · Aug 5, 2005

How about this timeline from GURPS: Time Travel?

Macedonia-Weird
The existence of this Quantum 3 timeline offers proof that history and humanity can take some very strange paths. Here, Alexander the Great survived malaria in 323 B.C. and went on to conquer Rome, Carthage and China. His descendents colonized the Americas, unified the Amerinds, wrote the ultimate encyclopedia and built steam-powered vehicles. By 1400, a world Macedonian state existed.

It was about 1500 that things started getting weird. A cadre of officers took over the Macedonian moon colonies in that year and seceded from Earth. The development of near-sentient computers in the 1540s resulted in the formation of an illegal underground organization called the Technos Legion, dedicated to a rule by scientists. The similarity of the Legion to the rulers of Centrum is frightening. An eccentric genius, Arelo Destos, reputed to be a member of the Alexandrian royal family, achieved an engine capable of pushing a spaceship to three-fourths the speed of light in 1589, and the Great Colonization began. Hundreds of thousands of Earthlings colonized hundreds of worlds, enlarging the Macedonian Empire to a mind-boggling size. This in turn led to the Earth-Jazdan War of 1620-1642, an interstellar war with the fascist Jazdan Empire, a race of insectoid aliens. The war ended with a cease-fire. A new complication to a very complicated culture was added in 1710 with the founding of the Institute for Psychic Studies Ð a school that taught its students how to harnass psychic and psionic powers. By 1740, thousands of people were using psi powers.

By 1805, the Macedonian civilization was at Tech Level 13 and very aggressive under its arrogant ruler, Alexander XXXX. That was the year the Lunar Republic, aided by the Jazdans, nuked Earth with over 400 nuclear warheads. Civilization was destroyed and the Lunans and Jazdans divided the planet between them, each planning to betray the other when expedient. The Jazdans were wiped out with a genetically engineered virus in 1866, leaving the Lunans in control of the Earth. Today Ð the current year is 1996 Ð Earth is a wasteland inhabited by mutants, psi-powered descendents of survivors, animals evolving sapience and the still-extant Technos Legion. Current Tech Level for the Earthlings is 5, the Lunans, 13.

Needless to say, this timeline is off-limits to everybody but the highest echelons of Infinity and the I-Cops. If any of the disparate peoples of Macedonia- Weird get hold of a conveyor, they would have their own within a year. What's more, some of the mutants and psis might develop world-jumping powers. This Quantum 3 timeline is a major headache for Homeline.

luakel · Aug 5, 2005

GURPS

What are some of the more modern (19th-21st Century) GURPS timelines? There could be some good ideas in some of them.

Bulldawg85 · Aug 5, 2005

GOTS

Perhaps extending the GOTS ATL or Worldwar. Or if nobody wants Turtledove perhaps Stirling's "Island in the Sea of Time" trilogy.

Diamond · Aug 5, 2005

I very much like the idea of doing fanfic for Peshawar Lancers, but I've only read the book once. Is there a site somewhere that goes more in-depth on the world and its background? We would need some solid info to base everything on.

Romulus Augustulus · Aug 5, 2005

Maybe we could start at January 1st, 1900 AD, and then add entries a month long each, just letting the century go as it pleased and where our minds directed it?

Midgard · Aug 5, 2005

Romulus Augustulus said:
Maybe we could start at January 1st, 1900 AD, and then add entries a month long each, just letting the century go as it pleased and where our minds directed it?

Sounds almost like Mosaic Earth without an ISOT being involved. Definitely rather interesting.

Strategos' Risk · Aug 5, 2005

Bulldawg85 said:
Perhaps extending the GOTS ATL or Worldwar. Or if nobody wants Turtledove perhaps Stirling's "Island in the Sea of Time" trilogy.

I tried GOTS extension. A long thread ensued, but no one was interested in actually contributing for a project.

Diamond said:
I very much like the idea of doing fanfic for Peshawar Lancers, but I've only read the book once. Is there a site somewhere that goes more in-depth on the world and its background? We would need some solid info to base everything on.

No, but I'm going to ask Stirling if he can post his notes and appendices of the book. Or I'll have to type it all up.

midgardmetal said:
Sounds almost like Mosaic Earth without an ISOT being involved. Definitely rather interesting.

Interesting project, but it's not the fanfiction based on already published AH I'm thinking of.

Justin Pickard · Aug 5, 2005

Romulus Augustulus said:
Maybe we could start at January 1st, 1900 AD, and then add entries a month long each, just letting the century go as it pleased and where our minds directed it?

I like that idea. Start a thread.

Mr_ Bondoc · Aug 5, 2005

Some Weird Ideas...

I have had some weird ideas for some stories that might be off interest to the group...

A) Serve And Protect - An elite group of intelligence agents is sent from the year December 31,2050 to January 1, 1900. There mission is to infiltrate the governments of the time period (Great Britain, United States, Russia, Germany, Japan, China, and India) and eliminate with "extreme prejudice" any selected targets (e.g. Hitler, Stalin, Mao). They only came back with laptops with an interactive DVD which tells a record of the past 150 years of world history. The idea is that they have come back to prevent he apocalyptic war of their period. They have blackmail information on every major leader (e.g. the affairs of J. Edgar Hoover). Just add in whatever historical alterations you would like....

B) Aftermath- Similarr to the "Mosaic Earth" storylines and the "Sideways In Time" story by Murray Leinster. Try to imagine an ATL wherein World War III took place. The trick is that due to the development of Tesla-based shields, rather than causing a massive death and destruction, a weird side effect took place. Outside of the "shielded regions" of major cities, portions of alternate timelines appeared. While many are grateful that they were not irradiated,people across the world find themselves next door to inhabitants of alternate timelines, complete with whole towns and cities. No GURPS or licensed ATLs are allowed... But the main timeline is based on ours, with as many minor details changed as possible (e.g. names of city mayors, governors, military leaders, actors, singers, et.al).

RealityBYTES · Aug 5, 2005

Can anyone provide links to well-known GURPS sites that focus on ATLs? I did a Google search and got indunated, even after refining my search.

RealityBYTES

Diamond · Aug 5, 2005

Strategos' Risk said:
No, but I'm going to ask Stirling if he can post his notes and appendices of the book. Or I'll have to type it all up.

Those appendices are nice and do provide a lot of info, but they still don't delve too much into the current state of affairs in most of the world. There's just not enough to go on. We'd be better off just taking the same POD and building our own world from there. At least we'd know our info was correct.

If we started out with three or four fanfics set in this world, from different times, we could then go back and fill in the blanks, flesh things out, and write a second round of stories based on the new info.

What about Draka fanfics? God knows there's enough floating around in publication and the internet to build on.
*waits for shouts of outrage from board*

Othniel · Aug 5, 2005

Acualty there are pleanty of timelines here that we could write fanfiction for...

I want to say Washington's Warlocks. I want to write a fanfic based in starting in 1850 where the magic is wiped away and we watch as the world goes back to normal. Thought about calling it anullment.