Here we have the beginning of a new informative article series looking at a tragically misunderstood genre of historical fiction - alternative history. Throughout this series I'm going to be looking at notable online works of alternate history.

What is Alternate History?

Well, it's certainly not the history equivalent of "alternate facts". No, alternate history is a genre which consists of stories in which one or more historical events go differently. This is a very simple description, but alternate history has a fair bit of varieties:

• ISOT: "in the Sea of Time". In this genre, a large body of land, such as an island or country, is sent backwards or forwards in history. The plot of such stories frequently revolves around the world, and the country brought backwards or forwards, dealing with the aftermath of that event.
• ASB: "Alien Space Bats". This brand of alternate history involves an impossible timeline, or one so ludicrously unlikely it would require divine intervention, or the interference of Alien Space Bats.
• DBWI: "Double-Blind What-If". This unique brand of alternate history, generally playing out as a role-play thread, is set inside of a fictional alternate history universe, a citizen of which asks the question "what if X had got as it did in reality?"
  • One prominent example of this dating to before the Internet emerged is a story by Winston Churchill - yes, that Winston Churchill - written from the point-of-view of a historian in a world where the Confederacy won the Civil War wondering what would've happened had the North won.

Besides these, of course, there are also others without handy acronyms. Tales of time travel, going between universes, steampunk variations, fantasy, sci-fi, and even future history.

Some Common Terms in Alternate History Fiction

• AH: "Alternate History".
• POD: "Point of Divergence".
• OTL: "Our Timeline".
• ATL: "Alternate Timeline".

An Unfortunate and Undeserved Reputation

For many, alternate history is seen as a cheap genre, as "fanfiction about reality", the home of poorly-written dystopias in which the Confederacy won the Civil War or the Nazis won World War II. (Those are just two of the more popular scenarios in alternate history.)

But this reputation is, in fact, undeserved. There are many talented writers working in the field of alternate history and there are many fascinating alternate histories. Part of the fun for readers is trying to guess how the world will go after the changing of an event. Many of these timelines are incredibly long and detailed.

Alternate History.com

This series will specifically focus on drawing a highlight to works of alternate history on the AlternateHistory.com forum. I will mainly be focusing on complete timelines, but as the series draws to a close I may shine the spotlight on some in-progress ones. Links will be provided to the timelines, of course, so that the reader of these articles can enjoy them.

(This series will not be covering timelines that can not be found on the forum, such as those novels by Harry Turtledove or Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle. It will not be covering film, television, or videogame alternate histories of any kind. The focus of this series is exclusively on those found on the Internet, in particular those found on AlternateHistory.com)

(Nor will this series cover any ISOTs, ASBs, or DBWIs, nor will it cover future history.)

A word of warning: a majority of the timelines I will be spotlighting have a central focus on the United States. This, I think, is due to the popularity of 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century PODs, and the U.S. has played a major role, often a central role, in world history in many events. I suspect also that it may be down to the simple fact that, in all likelihood, the majority of alternate history writers are American.

AHO: When to Expect the First Article

Please expect the first article to come sometime in the coming couple of months. Due to the length of the timelines and the thoroughness with which I typically write my articles, they make take some time. However, I will attempt to ensure I have a backlog of complete or in-progress articles so that there's never too long of a wait between them.

What of Music Reviews?

I must apologize for the long wait. Yes, the Quintet Quintet is still on. Please expect the review for The Granstream Saga's score sometime in the next couple of weeks. I had trouble digging up the soundtrack - I finally found a YouTube playlist for it, which I have transferred over to my own playlist which puts all the tracks in the correct order.

Even while AHO is running, please still expect soundtrack reviews. I have no intentions on totally changing the focus of this account, I am merely expanding it. As I said in my introductory post, I will be covering all sorts of things.

What Would You Recommend?

In the mean time, while I prepare the first article, are there any (complete or notable but incomplete) alternate histories on the forum which you yourself enjoy, and which you think should be spotlighted? Are there notable timelines which do not take place in America that you enjoy and feel should be spotlighted?

Or do you simply want to talk about an alternate history you enjoy? Thank me for introducing you to it? Tell me about why you think it's such a great genre? So long as it has even a thin connection to the subject of alternate history, please do write in the comments. I love hearing from readers and I make a point to respond as soon as I can.

As always, if you enjoyed, please upvote and follow, and if not, that's fine too.