Monday, October 6, 2014

Weekly Update #163

Editor's Note

So I was blocked from the AltHistory Wiki!

Well, not really. My old user name still works (after I remembered the password), but my IP address is blocked. So when I am not logged in, I can't edit anything. A little digging by myself discovered it happened after I corrected some bad grammar while I was not logged in...on an article I worked on extensively when I was still a member of the wiki. Now I am sure the admin did not know it was me, but it does seem a little ridiculous to undo a harmless edit and ban the person. Of course the wiki has had these issues in the past. I'm not trying to cause a stink, just suggesting a light touch next time when dealing with anon edits.

Maybe I will write a more thorough article on my thoughts on the Wiki, but I don't know.

Some more bad news. I downloaded and installed Crusader Kings II this weekend and discovered it doesn't work on my computer. It runs, but I don't have the minimal graphics capabilities on my Toshiba laptop. I may be in the market for a new computer with a better video card, preferably something with NVIDIA GeForce 8800, an ATI Radeon® X1900 or better. Any suggestions?

Some good news now. I broke my monthly page view record again. The final count for the month of September was 22,711 views. Thanks everyone!

Some more good news, my research paper on the alternate history fandom is progressing well. I read a lot of articles and took a lot of notes that helped flesh out the paper more. I even had a eureka moment where I remembered Stirling once commenting on people dissecting his Draka books online. Wish me luck that I can keep the momentum going (we all know what happened to my podcast).

Even more good news: part 2 of my conversation with Daniel Bensen of The Kingdoms of Evil podcast is up. So please check it out.

And now the news...

Videos for Alternate Historians

What? No major news? Or was I just being lazy? O well lets look at some videos. We begin with "4 U.S. Presidents Whose Lives Put Action Movies to Shame" from Cracked's Badassing Your Way Through History:
Next we have the trailer for Epic Rap Battles of History's new season:
G-g-g-g-ghost Hitler!!!! Anywho, lets go back in time and learn how hard it was to be a jouster on Culture Shock:
Man, A Knight's Tale made it look so easy. Oops, the time machine just sent us into the future...well to our old future. Let's check out Syfy's new trailer for Ascension:
And since I have been talking so much Paradox these days, lets finish with the trailer of Crusader Kings II: Charlemagne:

Links to the Multiverse

Books


8 Alternate History Books by Jonathan Melville at Scottish Book Trust.
COVER REVEAL- The Diamond Conspiracy by Philippa Ballantine at The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences.
Cover & Synopsis: CHRONICA by Paul Levinson at SF Signal.
David Brin, Bruce Sterling & Daniel Suarez – Manual for Civilization Lists by Mikl Em at The Long Now Foundation.
Gail's Steampunk Book Recs from Convolution by Gail Carriger.
Is It Science Fiction? Harry Turtledove and the Ways that the South Won the Civil War at Thatjeffcarter Was Here.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Reread: Introduction by Kate Nepveu at Tor.com
Recommended Reading by Professionals…with David Barnett at SF Signal.
Review: California Bones by Greg Van Eekout at The Skiffy and Fanty Show.
Review: Hive Monkey by Gareth L Powell at Sibilant Fricative.
Review: Wars to End all Wars edited by GL Lathian at Midlist Writer.
Stop the (parallel) Worlds – I Want To Get Off! by Alastair Savage at Amazing Stories.
Time Travellers at Hodderscape.

Comics

Review: World War Kaiju by Josh Finney and Patrick McEvoy at Nerd Binge.

Counterfactuals, History and News

An Adams family dynasty in the US? by Dale Cozort.
Alternate History: What If Anne of Cleves Refused the Terms of the Annulment by AlexandriaIngham at Wizzley.
(Arab-Jewish Reconciliation) Counterfactual Counter-history (Feisel-Weizmann Agreement) by Zachary Braiterman at Jewish Philosophy Place.
Bill Gates Wants To Change How We Teach History In High Schools by Peter Jacobs at Business Insider.
Colorado school board vote doesn't appease critics by Colleen Slevin at Yahoo.
Fox News Poll: Voters reveal which state they want kicked out of the union by Dana Blanton at Fox News.
If you haven’t noticed, counterfactual histories are *so* hot right now by Mian at History Mine.
JIMMY CARTER: 'I Could Have Wiped Iran Off The Map' by Hunter Walker at Yahoo.
Newly-Declassified CIA Document Says Ben Franklin Was A Security Risk by Mark Strauss at io9.
The Real-Life Letter Of Apology Written By The Salem Witch Trial Jury by Charlie Jane Anders at io9.
Why It's A Mistake To Call ISIL "Medieval" by Mark Strauss at io9.

Film and Television

It’s About Time: Bad Robot Gets a Series Order from Hulu for Stephen King’s ‘11/22/63’ by Nicholas Graff at ScienceFiction.com.
The Man in the High Castle: Lights, camera, action in Chinatown by Assunta Ng at Asian Weekly.
'Outlander' Recap: Starz Series Makes Strong Start, Plays the Niche TV Game at The Christian Post.
Review: Space Station 76 at Amazing Stories.
VIDEO: Archival footage of The Great Martian War of 1913-1917 at SF Signal.
Why Do I Love Historical-Fiction Sex So Much? by Allison P Davis at The Cut.

Games

The alternate history of Goku in Smash Bross by JC Fletcher at Tiny Cartridge.

Interviews

Gail Carriger at Tea and Jeopardy.
Leslie S. Klinger at The HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast (More Lovecraft than alternate history, although they do talk about some topics I think you would like.)
E. Catherine Tobler at Eating Authors.

* * *

Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. Check out his short fiction. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.

2 comments:

  1. Hi guys, thanks for the link! This site is pretty incredible. I need to really get researching counterfactual history. Ross (History Mine)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome. BTW, did I put the wrong author for the link? I think I may have.

      Delete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.