This edition of Videos for Alternate Historians actually has a theme. That theme is popular alternate history tropes. Lets start with airships by watching the Game Grumps play Guns of Icarus:
Next up we have the 51st (or more) stateby looking at what Test Tube has to say about Puerto Rico becoming an American state:
We continue with another popular trope: balkanization. For this one we look to Test Tube again to ask what if the European Union falls apart:
And we finish with the mother of all alternate history tropes...DESERET! What handsome and talented alternate historian will share his wisdom on this trope?
O yeah.
Got any videos or YouTube channels that you want to recommend? Let us know in the comments or at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.
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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.
Got our first visitors from Sri Lanka and Ethiopia. Welcome! I really need to post a new reader map soon.
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Turns out YouTube actually keeps track of the videos I post on this blog. If you want to find all of the videos we link to on Weekly Update, then subscribe to our feed on YouTube. Perhaps one day we will even have our own channel...
And now the news...
43* by Jeff Greenfield
Big news last week was the publication of a new short story by columnist and author Jeff Greenfield (Then Everything Changed). The story is called 43* and asks a "what if" many liberals I assume ask themselves a lot: what if Gore won the presidency in 2000? What if Gore was president during 9/11? What would he have done differently? You can read excerpts from the short story at Yahoo and at the publisher's website. You can also watch Jeff discuss his story on msnbc.
ABC Developing Steampunk Drama Gaslight
ABC made waves last month among speculative historians by announcing a steampunk detective series featuring Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. ABC has done it again when last week they announced a new steampunk tv series called Gaslight. It has been described as a "soapy drama set in a modern steampunk San Francisco where three rival families battle each other for control." The show will be produced by Ian Sander and Kim Moses of Sander/Moses Productions and written by Michael Cooney. Not everyone, however, is pleased by this announcement. Margaret Lyons over at Vulture said "Oh, lord. A steampunk San Francisco? Can't we just let Burning Man be Burning Man?"
Nevertheless, I am excited, especially if this alternative San Francisco actually has a different history. What do you think?
Guns of Icarus Online Ready for Pre-Order
Guns of Icarus, the online dirigible combat game, is now available for pre-order through Steam. Set in a steampunk inspired, post-apocalyptic wasteland, this team-based co-op game allows you to play as one of three character classes: Captain, Gunner and Engineer. The Captain steers the ship, the gunner keeps enemies at bay and the engineer keeps the ship flying. There are a variety of missions to perform and air pirates are as thick as flies to keep things exciting. Good news, there will be no subscription fee, just a one-off retail purchase with in-game monetization elements. Guns of Icarus will launch October 29th. You can check out the trailer below:
More on NBC's Revolution
By now most of you read Seb's excellent review of Revolution (spoiler alert: he didn't like it). Despite Seb's review, Revolution actually did well on its opening day. It had the best debut of any new drama in the last three years according to Pat Hauldren at Examiner.com who believes the SF/drama elements and the strong female lead have made it a hit among audiences.
Nevertheless, like Seb, most reviews of the show have been poor with some reviewers either lambasting the ridiculous premise, bad acting or reminding everyone that S.M. Stirling wrote a better story with the same premise. Yet Charlie Jane Anders at io9 still remains optimistic about the show pointing out the excellent actors in the show, the potential medieval action sequences and a Lost-esque plot development.
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.
Mitro is founder, editor and contributor of Alternate History Weekly Update. When he is not busy writing about his passion for alternate history, he spends his time working as a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois and dreams of being a published author himself one day.
Mitro is founder, editor and contributor of Alternate History Weekly Update. When he is not busy writing about his passion for alternate history, he spends his time working as a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois and dreams of being a published author himself one day.
The above is a trailer for the steampunk, MMO airship co-op game by Muse Games called Guns of Icarus. So even if you cannot get your hands on a real airship, there is a digital one waiting for you.
The Argus One, an unmanned drone "sky worm" that has the flexibility to quickly change its flight path as it slinks through sky and can carry 30 pounds of surveillance sensors or cameras. Recent test flights of this strange looking airship were successfully completed without air fish trying to eat the bait...I mean airship.
