Jim Rittenhouse

This may be me being stupid, but there’s a name above the alternate highwayman. If he is the real author, my grovelling apologies.

Comments – re your remarks on Turtledove’s work, I suspect that many of them should be read as alternate world rather than alternate history. A fine distinction, to be sure, but an important one. In the great war/American empire, the AH is far enough from our OTL that it’s a glorified adventure/war story.

The British were suffering from supply problems in the Falklands, so a stronger argentine defence might slow the war down a bit.

Domination Review – I enjoyed reading this a lot. I tend to think that the explorers would have some extra advantage in the disease problem simply by having more of them and better equipment. Even if there are a few unaffected white men, they’ll be able to care for the others, as well as building better facilities. A 1800s town would be a disease-free environment compared to the dark Africa.

I found it quite plausible that the domination would be only nominally attached to the British Empire. In OTL, Canada and South Africa did try to hold a balance between themselves and the home islands.

One AH idea that some of you may like to explore would be a worse disease in Africa, such that every white man who goes below the Congo is at severe risk of his life.

Dale Cozort

Scenario seeds – I don’t have the knowledge to comment intelligently on all of them, but I’ll do my best:

3 – a falling out between Germany and Vichy France won’t happen while the Germans are still deep within the Soviet Union. I suspect that the Germans would have demanded the French produce them for Germany as well, which might make a difference in the east. On the other hand, if it does come to blows, it might stop Hitler from continuing towards Stalingrad, while upsetting the plans for operation torch. In 1940, I suspect that if they were in French hands they would have made the German’s tanks far more vulnerable. If the Germans lose enough tanks, Hitler might settle for Alsace-Lorraine, or be defeated completely. One extra effect might be the faster development of personal anti-tank weapons, which would make the soviet army more vulnerable as well. The poor nations can’t build many tanks, but if they can knock out attacking tanks…

10 – it might have dragged in the allies early. After all, they’d agreed to honour the new Czech borders. If they don’t, however, why would the Czechs help the Poles? The Poles had taken one of their towns from Hitler, they’ll remember that.

Mars Looks Different – Looks good, but I can’t comment without seeing the other chapters. Any way you can put them online somewhere, or even a synopsis? Ditto Char.

Magic and Religion – Heh, funny story. I’ve often wondered what a version of myself from an alternate world would be like, so poor Johansen.

Neanderthal Britain – My suspicion (based upon very little knowledge) is that the Neanderthals are still in a dead end. If they can interbreed with the newcomers, they’ll be integrated and eventually absorbed by the society. If they can’t, the newcomers will eventually overwhelm them. If the Neanderthals are common enough, however, it might be a bit like the settlement of America after Cortes. The new humans would land, try to trade (could they understand each other?) and finally set up settlements. If the newcomers can’t see that the Neanderthals are intelligent, they might consider them apes, like some of the KKKers still do for blacks, and with far more evidence.

Flintstones – It’d be very interesting to read a story on this, although I could see raptors greedily licking their chops after finishing them off.

French in North Africa – RBNC, or at least not yet. My one note is that this TL won’t have a Vichy France, De Gaulle will be less important and the French will have a significant role in the desert war. With what the French had in Algeria, the Italian colonies could be knocked out before the Germans could ship in reinforcements.

Alternate Columbus – I suspect that the initial push to occupy the new world was caused by the gold-runs after Cortes. Remove that and the crowns will be much less interested. That would leave the new world open to settlers of a different sort; dissident minorities, religious exiles, religious orders eager to convert the natives, etc. I agree that disease would have damaged the Aztec empire, but would it have been so bad without Cortes and Co shovelling fuel on the fire? A strong emperor might have held it together.

Another possibility is an Irish discovery. Let’s say that an Irish fishing boat somehow gets to Iceland (when was that discovered?) and discovers the fishing grounds there. (for real fun, lets have that in the time of Robert the Bruce.) The Irish get home and tell their tale, promoting fishers from Ireland and Scotland to head their for their fish, eventually settling Iceland and then Greenland and Canada. If all there is is just empty lands and gold-less natives, the other European powers may not waste their time colonising.

Ruled Britannia – I enjoyed reading this book too. My main grip is that Turtledove does not show us any of the aftermath of the Spanish occupation.

Others – I enjoyed the bit you wrote on the X-prize. An interesting possibility would be someone developing a SSTO spaceship that was easy and cheap (say about $50’000 per craft) to build – and then sharing the plans with everyone. Given the massive tactical advantage space gives the US, I’d expect every nation in the world with even a limited aircraft industry to start building. Assuming that there are no disasters, that should put us in space – to stay.

Anthony C. Domino

I found the first few pages a little confusing - I suspect because I don’t have copies of every issue.

Victoria might well have been able to pull off not getting married. She could claim to be following in good queen Bess’s footsteps. It might be interesting as republicanism was getting hot then and I could see Gladstone working towards her being the last monarch. OR – one of the possible claimants to the throne would be Wilhelm II of Germany, which might be very interesting.
Re Ethiopia, what if the Ethiopians had managed to defeat Italy in 1936? That would have made them the only African nation that had kept its independence and it would have a massive role to play in the future as the Europeans left.

Re Elisabeth being born as Edward. This would mean that Henry has a relatively healthy heir instead of the sickly Edward, with Mary waiting in the wings.

Presumably, Henry would appoint the healthy Edward his heir. Edward would need to keep the separation between England and the Pope, as recognition of the Pope would bring his legitimacy into question. There would, however, be some other interesting effects:

-Edward would be free to marry without political problems, which would a) not allow James to inherit and b) align England with another power.

-Kings tend to be more land-grabbing and aggressive than queens, though I’m not sure how often there have been enough powerful queens to provide a decent sample. Chances are that Edward would be more aggressive with Spain and take the throne of Holland when it’s offered.

-Mary would probably end up married to some poor Englishman or a foreign prince. If a) there’ll be a contender for the English throne in the wings, if b) there might be a foreign heir as well.

Tom Cron

If the US needed the unanimous consent of the people, nothing would get done. In such a situation, I could see the new state collapsing for lack of taxes or equipment.

Dale Speirs

I enjoyed your comments and speculations, particularly the alchemists and cheap energy. (Is there anyway you could send me a copy of the ‘dammed if you don’t’ article?) My comments on star trek transporters include the observation that its possible to jam one with comparatively primitive equipment (see ‘The Eugenics Wars, book 2) and guarding the important points would be fairly easy. What that might do for their introduction I leave to the imagination.

Re your comments on spam, I wonder if that does not have a anti-sales effect. A letter though the door costs the spammer something, but an email shufflers all the costs on to the recipient, who would be understandably annoyed. If I got spammed by the ‘great books co’, I would seriously consider buying my books from a rival, even if I lost a pound or so out on the deal.

Come the Revolution The death of Lenin and Co would probably be very important, Lenin was the driving force behind the takeover and was opposed by almost all of his colleagues. But, the provisional government was extremely weak and someone would have tried for power at some point – the German 1918 drive would have exposed that government as a straw tiger. One possibility would be a complete collapse – the armies collapse and desert, the villages stop sending food, mass die-offs… One thing is certain, if there is no strong central authority in the USSR-region, Hitler will win the war as there will not have been a massive build-up by Stalin.

Day of Infamy This might have the effect of reserving the hatred many US citizens felt for the axis. Instead of hating the Japanese and disliking the Germans, they may hate the Germans and dislike the japs, perhaps letting them off lightly. A greater US concentration on Germany would probably mean a 1943 invasion of France and a quicker end to the war.

Ladytron

Your Comments: Not very detailed as I don’t have copies of the AHs in question

The Turks might have been willing to be more ruthless about suppressing Arab nationalism.
It would be interesting to see a POD in which the Cathars survive the crusade. Perhaps if Simon was to be defeated earlier…
If Italy stays out of the war, the British will have more troops to send to the Far East, which might make Singapore holdable.
I liked Watchmen too and I’ll do a review of it for my site at some point. My one quibble is that the story is too big – What’s Manhattan doing there? It could have been a simple story about batman-style heroes or the ‘save the world’, putting them together seems a little slanted.
What if the Irish emigration was to be redirected to Africa? South Africa? Kenya? Somewhere to increase the white population? Or what about Canada? Send a few extra thousand Irish there and the invasion of 1870 (?) might succeed.
What if the beetles pushed a different message? Like head for the skies and encouraged the space program?
If the British are united with the Dutch, the British will need to assume some responsibility for their defence beyond OTL.
The British might well consider attacking the German population. It would be really interesting if the Germans had no idea what happened to them.
I’ve considered the possibility of super-powered beings in real life before. Chances are they’ll be snatched up by the military and intelligence services. Wouldn’t it be interesting if they were all black or Chinese?

David Johnson

Rex Mundi looks interesting, but no other comments

Robert Gill

I can’t remember any mention of US involvement in Japan’s modernisation. Britain did the navy and the French started with the army, but were dumped in favour of the Germans after the Franco-Prussian war.

LXG reality seed: I can’t see any major difference out of it, unless the French people get the heroic-Pole bug and start supporting polish freedom fighters.

I’d like to see a timeline in which the Shah stays in power, but it would need to start earlier than that. Perhaps if the US prevents Britain and Russia from occupying the country in 1941, which leaves a strong shah and a strong army. Could have a compromise in which a US battalion is stationed in the nation just in case of a German coup. Iran declares war on the axis and is put in the lend lease program.

If Iran was stronger, however, they might consider a union with the largely Shia Iraq. This could lead to Saudi and Iran dividing Iraq up between them.

Wesley Kawato

I liked the story about the timeship and the angel, but I’d really need to read more of them before I can comment intelligently.

Kurt Sidaway

I liked the amount of comments you wrote, please do that for me. <Puts on begging face, but is forced to stop kneeling as legs have given out.>

Robert Alley

I liked your comments about a different British political scene. I should just note that the conservatives have been lukewarm on Europe, preferring the US or an independent foreign policy. That said, if the French were weaker in the EU, you’d get the Germans becoming a third power very quickly. Might be a German dominated Europe. Imagine; the EU with German efficiency instead of French bloody-mindedness+burocraticy. On the other hand, the Germans might try to set up the EU as a superpower.

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