Final Thoughts on The Man in the High Castle Season 1

Alana and I return to share our final thoughts on Amazon's The Man in the High Castle Season 1:

Sorry for not covering all the episodes as we promised, but we are going to do better for 11.22.63.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a Sidewise Awards for Alternate History judge. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the day when travel between parallel universes becomes a reality. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Learn how you can support his alternate history projects on Patreon.

Amazon Orders Full Season of The Man in the High Castle

If you don't follow us on Facebook or Twitter (shame on you) you would have missed the announcement that Amazon has ordered a full season of The Man in the High Castle. This does not come as a complete surprise to me, as the show was the most watched show on Amazon's pilot season and has been called "as compulsively watchable as conspiracy-minded The Americans with the supernatural trappings of Lost." Alternate historians rejoice!

According to Deadline, the full season will premier later this year in the US, UK and Germany and play into 2016. Check out my review of the pilot and this pivotal scene from the pilot below:

Good job, Amazon. You did the right thing. Just don't screw it up!

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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.

You Can Now Watch The Man in the High Castle Pilot For Free

Well today is the day. You can now watch the pilot for Amazon TV's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle for free. I believe the way Amazon's pilot season works is that the more positive reviews and ratings a show gets, the better chance it has to be picked up for a full season. Of course, I am not suggesting you rate this product well just for the sake of getting an alternate history show on the air. We don't need another Spike's Alternate History. If you do watch it, however, please take the time to give it a fair review.

There really is not much to say after that. I only request people please keep spoilers to themselves for at least a week so everyone has a chance to watch the first episode. I really hope it is good, especially with some calling it the next House of Cards and the effort the producers are going through to at least match the time period.

I plan to watch it as soon as I get home tonight so expect a review from me in the very near future.

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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.

Weekly Update #168

Editor's Note

Work is picking up at my day job, so expect less posts coming down the pipeline. That's all I got really.

And now the news...

The Man in High Castle Part of Amazon's Pilot Slate

The big news last week was Amazon announcing their new slate of pilots for 2015. Included among the seven new shows was their adaptation of The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick. Nothing much else to say other than that. We knew this was coming, but I am glad it is official now, although Sam Gutelle from Tubefilter pointed out the odds are against the show being a success. Let's hope he is wrong this time.

By the way, was Big Hero Six inspired by The Man in the High Castle?

Season 4 of Epic Rap Battles of History Begins

Season 4 of Epic Rap Battles of History has begun with their new episode below:

They changed things up this time by starting the season off without a Hitler/Vader battle. Admittedly I was iffy about the this battle when I first watched it, but it has grown on me. If you are interested in the behind the scenes, I got you covered:

Links to the Multiverse

Books and Short Fiction

Announcing the 2014 World Fantasy Winners! at Tor.
In Praise Of Pavane at Black Gate.
An Introduction to the Wonderful, Improbable World of Steampunk by Paul Roland at Tor.
Jane Austen's fashion history: 200 years of cover designs – in pictures at The Guardian.
Mining the Genre Asteroid: A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny at Skiffy and Fanty.
Novel ARABELLA OF MARS and two sequels sold to Tor by David D. Levine.
November 2014 Whispersync Roundup: Octavia Butler’s Dawn, Peter David’s Artful, Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan, and more at The AudioBookaneers.
Outlander Teaches Us How to Disempower Our Heroine by Oren Ashkenazi at Mythcreants.
Review: Harry Harrison, Harry Harrison: A Memoir by Harry Harrison at SF Signal.
SciFi Month: Alternative History Series Recommendation (and a plug for Literrater) by Wesley Hoffmann at Library Educated.
Ten Essential Steampunk Novels by Paul Roland at Tor.
These Six-Word Stories Are Dispatches From A Strange Alternate Reality at io9.
Turkish military forces to ban Game of Thrones at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist.

Counterfactuals, History and News

Alternate Histories: "Great Man" vs. "Currents and Forces" by Alex Petersonn at Elinor Diamond.
Alternate History: What If Lady Jane Grey Was Not Deposed? by AlexandriaIngham at Wizzley.
Behind the Campaign To Purge Textbooks of "Pro-Muslim Bias" in Texas by Mark Strauss at io9.
Catalan president facing prosecution after independence vote by Ashifa Kassam at The Guardian.
Cosmonauts Used to Carry Insane Machete Guns In Space by Mark Strauss at io9.
Counterfactual History: A Course Update by Timothy Burke at Easily Distracted.
Russia plans 'alternative Wikipedia' at BBC.
What if Archduke Franz Ferdinand had lived in 1914? by Bethany Bell at BBC.
What if Gandhi hadn’t been thrown off the train? by Shovon Chowdhury at Swarajya.

Film and Television

ELEVATOR PITCH – Time Keeper at Geek Syndicate.
Gallery: Rare Concept Art Courtesy of a New Harry Potter Book - The Creative Vault at Nerdist.
Meet the rejected characters and deleted scenes of 'Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope' by Emily Gera at Yahoo.
Review: Doctor Who, Series 8 at Ramblings of the Easily Distracted.

Games

Crusader Kings II – Charlemagne Diary: The History of What Ifs by Andrei Dumitrescu at Softpedia.
Everything You Need to Know About World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor by Matt Peckha at Time.
PS4 Getting 1920s-Themed Brawler, Speakeasy by Eddie Makuch at Gamespot.

Graphic Novels and Comics

Millar Maps Out His & Murphy's Time Travel Itinerary in "Chrononauts" at Comic Book Resources.

Interviews

Alison Morton at thewriterromantics.
Ian Sales at Confessions of a Book Geek.

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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.

Why I Am Optimistic about Amazon Studio's The Man in the High Castle

Those who regularly follow The Update probably know I have been less than thrilled by the announcement of Amazon TV's adaptation of Dick's The Man in the High Castle. I make no apologies about my concern. Some hold The Man in the High Castle as the book that kickstarted the modern alternate history genre, taking it out of its pulpy sci-fi status and maturing it into its own sub-genre more akin to historical fiction. Nevertheless, aesthetic choices and divergences from the book's plot made me anxious that the producers of the show were taking the story in the wrong direction. Now, however, I feel a little better.

The first assurance came from this article in The Columbian. In this article a Jay Greene discusses the staggering amounts of money Amazon is spending on original and controversial content. I found the quote Roy Price, the vice president who runs Amazon Studios, to be particularly enlightening: "We're not trying to be meek. We're trying to be interesting." Good, glad to hear that Roy. With all sincerity, I want producers to take chances on risky ventures. Sure you can make money by playing it safe, but taking risks is where the real wealth is to be found, both for the producers and the fans.

The second assurance came from another article, this time from an editorial in Northwest Asian Weekly. It was written by Johnny Pak, an actor who worked as an extra on the pilot. Pak's closing statement summed exactly what he felt about his small role in The Man in the High Castle: "This was one of the most interesting experiences I've ever had. It’s not often that there’s a demand for Asian actors in Seattle for a production of this scale. To feel like being a part of history and meeting new friends, it made for a very special day."

Is Amazon making history? Perhaps it is too soon to tell. That being said, I feel optimistic about their chances. By next year we should find out whether or not Amazon created a adaptation worthy of this classic of alternate history literature.

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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.

Rupert Evans Cast as Frank Frink in Amazon TV's The Man in the High Castle

Hot off the announcement about the casting of Alexa Davalos, Deadline is reporting that Rupert Evans (Hellboy) has been cast as Frank Frink in Amazon TV's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle. The press release describes the character as a "an artist and an intellectual with a secret", which is probably the fact that he is Jewish and trying to hide from the Nazis if they follow the novel. The character is one of the point of view characters and probably should have been the male lead, but apparently someone else got that role.

What do you think of the casting news so far? Let us know in the comments.

Alexa Davalos Cast as Juliana in Amazon TV's The Man in the High Castle

It was announced yesterday on Deadline, that Alexa Davalos (The Chronicle of Riddick, Defiance) has been cast as the female lead on Amazon TV's adaptation of The Man in the High Castle. She will star as Juliana, likely based on Juliana Frink character from the novel, but her role looks different from said novel.

In the television version, Juliana resides in Japanese occupied San Francisco and is an admirer of their culture until she witnesses her sister's death at the hands of a Japanese soldier. This inspires her to leave her comfortable life and join the resistance headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It was announced earlier that Luke Kleintank was cast as Joe Blake, the male lead, but not a character from the original story I believe.

The important thing to take away from this news is that book purists probably aren't happy to hear about the liberties they are taking with the source material. I don't think we are going to see a true adaptation, but I am holding out hope that it will be an interesting story and not just a cookie cutter action plot set in a bare bones alternate history. As long as they work in The Grasshopper Lies Heavy I will be happy.

What do you think of the casting choices and the direction they are taking The Man in the High Castle? Let us know in the comments below.

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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.

Amazon Studios to Produce Pilot of Philip K Dick's The Man In The High Castle

The big news from last week (since I don't have the time to write up a complete Weekly Update) was that Amazon Studios was creating a pilot for a series based on Philip K. Dick's Hugo Award-winning novel The Man in the High Castle.

For those who don't know, The Man in the High Castle is set in a 1962 where the Axis Powers were victorious in World War II. The United States is occupied between a Nazi East Coast, a Japanese West Coast (known as the Pacific States of America) and a neutral "Rocky Mountain States" lumped in a middle as a buffer between the two power blocs.

The novel is considered by some to be the precursor to the modern alternate history genre as it brought the what if game out of the pulpy tales of time travel, magic and parallel universes and allowed for a serious tale of alternate history without any ASBs (although the genre certainly has plenty of that still).

According to Deadline, The Man In the High Castle is a joint project of Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files) and Ridley Scott's (who also adapted Dick's Blade Runner) Scott Free Productions. The pilot will be written by Spotnitz and be directed by David Semel (Legends). The project originally was set up as a four-hour miniseries Syfy last year, but it looks like the cable channel passed.

While I am sort of happy Syfy won't get the chance to ruin one of the classic works of alternate history, I am still worried about how long this project is taking to get made. The longer a project languishes in development, the worse it is likely to be. That being said, getting rid of cable like I did a couple of months ago is looking like an even better idea.

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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.

60,000 Page Views!

[Editor's Note: This is old, we already surpassed 80k]

Last night, Alternate History Weekly Update surpassed 60,000 page views. What is more exciting is that we managed to break this barrier only a month after I announced our 50,000th page view.  With the current rate of a page views, I am debating waiting until every 20,000th page view to write a post like this.  Still these posts are good for giving readers an idea on how the blog is doing, so I will continue to report on every 10,000th page view as long as one month passes.

Moving on, I would like to thank the contributors, authors and fans for helping us grow. Check out the updated world map below:

World map of readers 4/26/12

World map of readers 7/12/12

[EDIT 7/17/12: Kazakhstan should be filled in, no idea why it is not.]

Now onto our social networking presence:

• We had 45 Google followers on 6/11/12, now we have 50 (Goal: 100 by 6/13).
• We had 127 Facebook fans on  6/11/12, now we have 143 (Goal: 300 by 6/13).
• We still have 57 members in our Facebook group.  If you are not a member, please join.  If you are a member, invite your friends. (Goal: 150 by 6/13)
• We had 110 Twitter followers on 6/11/12, now we have 143. (Goal 300 by 6/13)
• We have 7 Networked Blogs followers.  (Goal: 15 by 6/13)

Finally, the net worth of the blog, according to Freewebsitereport.org, is $310 USD.

Considering how fast this blog is growing, advertisers could profit from forming a partnership with Weekly Update.  Those interested should check out our Sponsors page for more details. If our readers like one of our advertisements I highly recommend that you click on it and help support Weekly Update.  Please check out our Amazon page as well to purchase a subscription for your Kindle (or Kindle app) or write a review. All proceeds go to help fund our upcoming podcast and a potential move to Wordpress

If you would like to contribute, I encourage you to contact me at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.  Weekly Update would not have grown to become what it is today without the help of the contributors who routinely submit articles to be enjoyed by you, the reader.  All contributors will be given the opportunity to promote their current projects, plus a link to their website(s) in the "Our Favorites" section on the left had side of the blog.

Thank you once again for being a fan of Weekly Update and I hope that we can continue to provide top quality content for years to come.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a volunteer editor for Alt Hist and a contributor to Just Below the Law. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and his own writing blog. When not writing he works as an attorney and enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana.