Weekly Update #221! Mitro Reacts to the Parallel Worlds Summit and More.

Editor's Note

I have said it before and I will say it again: the Monday after the Super Bowl should be a national holiday.

I hope you guys got a chance to read Dale Cozort's article on the butterfly effect that I posted on January 28th. It actually generated some buzz, with author SM Stirling commenting on it and Tyler Bugg of (Alt)History Inc. writing a rebuttal to it. Now Dale has sent me a response to Stirling and Bugg's comments, which I plan to post later this week, so everyone has that to look forward to.

If you, however, want to submit a guest post that may be commented on by some of the biggest names in our favorite genre, you can send it to ahwupdate at gmail dot com for me to look over.

And now the news...

The Onion Covers The Parallel Worlds Summit

Stop what you are doing right now and go read "Parallel World Leaders Meet In Washington For Interdimensional Summit" on The Onion. Just as it sounds, it covers the opening day of a summit of world leaders from several alternate histories. Its hilarious and surprisingly intriguing. As Marco Scognamiglio put it on Alternate History Online: "It could be a hint for a Sci-Fi-Comedy-Douglas Adamesque Novel/film/series."

Here are just a few parts of it that I really liked:

• "[A] hooded group of unspeaking figures known only as “the Council.”: I honestly wanted to know who these guys. Personally I am picturing alien space bats in disguise.
• "[A]nd confronting the Roman Empire’s continued tyranny across much of the infinite set of possible world histories.": When I read this I immediately imagined a Roman Empire that had never fallen and stumbled upon the technology to travel between timelines, probably after capturing a clumsy sideways traveler. They now conquer the infinite Earths in an effort to steal advanced technology that they can't produce on their own.
• "[F]ind ways to manage our respective Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.”: Cute, although I wonder if there are also Israeli-Ugandan conflicts, Israeli-Malagasian conflicts, Israeli-Alaskan conflicts, etc.
• "[D]istinguished leaders who could not be here in person because they cannot exist in fewer than 27 dimensions.": Those few articles I have read that discuss the theoretical multiverse have suggested that the laws of physics may be so different in them that we couldn't even survive in them if we ever managed to travel there. I liked how the author worked that into this story.
• "Adams, D.C.": I wonder if there were any leaders from "Debs, D.C." as well.
• " [L]iberate millions from beneath the draconian boot heel of the Swiss.”: That's funny. I like to think that our Swiss are an outlier in the greater multiverse, while the rest are brutal imperialists.

I really do want to see someone writer a bigger story based on this idea. It could easily be The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for alternate historians.

Video of the Week

Red Dead Redemption was one of my favorite all time Xbox games and I was really interested in hearing what History Respawned had to say about it:
I also like there new title cards.

You should also check out...

• These 8 alternate histories Alicia Blowers of Teen Services Underground recommends for teen readers.
• The board game Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu where you can fight evil cultists in the Jazz Age.
• V. E. Schwab's (A Gathering of Shadows) article on fictional languages.
• This subway that the city of Cincinnati never used (via Atlas Obscura).
• This Spanish plan to invade Australia in the 1790s (via The Telegraph).

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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.

Map Monday: Dutch's America by Bruce Munro

Last week introduced me to one of the most bizarre, yet still ingenious, scenarios ever crafted by an alternate historian. The year is 1950 and this is the world that Dutch made:

This scenario, originally written by Bob Mumby and turned into a map by Bruce Munro, is actually based off the video game Red Dead Redemption and presents an alternate history of that game's story that seems to center on the game's protagonist, John Marston, making some very different decisions. In this timeline the main bad guy from the game, Dutch van der Linde, led a "anarchist/anti-urban western revolt" that broke the United States and saw much of the west and south become part of the "American Popular Union". This Smith-esque North American Confederacy, however, soon turns into a military dictatorship that uses its ideology to enrich its leaders and punish those who oppose it. Meanwhile the rest of the world becomes divided into various blocs each defined by a different ideology.

Its maps and scenarios like these that really highlight the creativity found among alternate historians. If I had one major complaint, however, its the excessive annotations on the map. I realize that is part of Bruce's style, but even I though it was rather much. Nevertheless, still a really good map that shows no fictional world can't be diverged into something even more fantastical then it already was.

Also if this post looks different to you from when it was first posted, its because it is. I learned on Tuesday that it was actually Bob who came up with the original scenario and I would like to take this time to apologize for not noticing and remarking on his contribution earlier.

Don't forget to check out the map of male circumcisions and the GDP of the Roman Empire from Brilliant Maps. Plus you can check out the most popular cartoon character from each country. If you want to submit a map for the next Map Monday, email me at ahwupdate at gmail dot com with your map attached and a brief description in the body of the email.

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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.