Best of 2015

Well its that time again for another "Best of the Year" post. As usual there is nothing scientific about how I choose what is the best alternate history of 2015. Sometimes it is something I personally liked and other times its whatever got the most page views. Anything I covered in 2015 on here, Amazing Stories or YouTube is eligible, so even if something was published years ago it can still be recognized for greatness now.

With the usual disclaimer out of the way, let us begin...

Best Novel

I am going to have to agree with the Sidewise Judges this year. The Enemy Within by Kristine Kathryn Rusch was an engaging political thriller that I couldn't put down. It really captured the paranoia of post-JFK assassination politics and I can't recommend it enough.

Best Anthology

It is certainly an old anthology, but Poul Anderson, Charles Waugh & Martin Greenberg's Time Wars was a fun look back at some early time travel/alternate history stories. It contained classics like Poul Anderson's "Delenda Est" and H. Beam Piper's "Gunpowder God", plus another enjoyable read from Harry Harrison, who has always been a personal favorite author of mine. Pick it up if you want to see how modern alternate historians were inspired to write.

Best Short Story

You would think I would have picked one of the short stories from Time Wars as the best of 2015, but that honor actually goes to "The Iron Shirts" by Michael Flynn. A web original recommended by Harry Turtledove himself, its a fun twist on the Age of Exploration that packs other surprises as well. More importantly, its a sign that you don't always need Amazon to find good fiction.

Best Timeline

I didn't review many timelines this year, but there are a couple I want to highlight for various reasons. The first is "Winged Hands of the Reich" by Alexander "SpanishSpy" Wallace, which remains one of the funnier timelines out there and a smart commentary on the alternate history genre as well. Then we have the Tarrantry Saga by its various authors. I always like highlighting old timelines that have become lost in the aether and the Tarrantry Saga deserves not to be forgotten.

Best Comic

I think The Manhattan Projects Vol. 1: Science Bad by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra is the only comic I actually reviewed this year, so it wins the honor by default. If you like secret history and weird, surreal scenes, then you will probably enjoy it (although I haven't picked up Volume 2 yet). I will try to make an effort to read more comics next year.

Best Television Series

Was there any doubt I would declare Amazon's The Man in the High Castle as the best? If you have been watching my series of reviews on YouTube, you know that I have issues with the show. That being said, it is still a visually stunning series with interesting character and, more importantly, its alternate history in the mainstream done well.

Best Film

Hmm...doesn't look like I reviewed any films this year. O well, I still had thoughts on some films that alternate historians might find interesting. Check out The Retro Future of Back to the Future Part II and Top 5 Dieselpunk Films, both on Amazing Stories, if you want to see me tackle alternate history cinema.

Best Podcast

I am giving the nod for this one to The World That Wasn't podcast. They are a newcomer to the scene who we haven't heard much from in months, but hopefully they will step back into the limelight in 2016. I enjoyed their use of music, sound effects and guest historians; and I think you will too.

Best YouTube channel

Although I didn't review any specific YouTube videos this year, I still need to give a shout out to Cody Franklin of the Alternate History Hub for doing a remarkable job as always. If you have a moment, check out his most viewed video of 2015:

Best Interview

Well there was that one time I interviewed the master of alternate history, Harry Turtledove. Do you know him? He's the prolific author of alternate history whose books introduced me to our favorite genre. So yeah, he is a pretty big deal. Definitely my favorite interview of 2015. No contest.

Best Non-AH

I thought Andrew Schneider's review of Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel by Dan Ephron deserved to get the nod in this category. Although technically a straight history book, I enjoyed reading Andrew's speculations regarding the implied counterfactuals the book contained regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. You should all check it out.

Best Map

This was a tough one. On one hand I can't ignore the impact that this map had on everybody:

It spread like wildfire and introduced more people to the concept of alternate history then any other work in our genre. That being said, I would have to pick "Premier Empire" by Lynn Davis as my personal favorite map of the year:

Its a great looking map from an always talented creator.

Best Guest Post

This was a difficult one as well, especially considering the next category was best guest contributor and I try to avoid giving too many awards to the same person. Nevertheless, I can't pick just one so I highly recommend you stop what you are doing and go read Alternate Nuclear Wars by Mark Appleton, Map Monday: Quantum Europe by Daniel Bensen and Historians talk about Rome all the time, but what if Ancient Egypt never fell? by Rebecca Stirling. They were some of the best articles submitted to The Update this year and you don't want to miss out.

Best Guest Contributor

One of the most prolific guest contributors of this blog is also the one who consistently produces top viewed articles. That contributor is Sam McDonald, whose The Audio File is one of the most successful recurring series of the year. The fact that he found a home for his work on Amazing Stories and elsewhere is testament to how much Sam has grown as a writer and I think we can continue to expect great things from him in the future.

Conclusion

Well as a stuttering cartoon pig once said: "That's all folks!" This is the last post of 2015. Next Monday we return to our regularly scheduled program, but I will be introducing a few new ideas just to keep things fresh. Until then, thank you for everyone who has read, watched, listened to and created alternate history this year. Go out and celebrate the new year with someone you care about and lets get ready for another year of warping history.

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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.

Best of 2014

Well another year has passed so its time to announce the best of 2014. As usual, this is a completely subjective selection by myself. Only works I covered on Alternate History Weekly Update and Amazing Stories in 2014 are eligible, so that could mean stuff published pre-2014 may get a nod. On the rare occurrence I mention something I wrote as one of "best" of this year, I promise to share something from one of the many guest bloggers we had this year.

So without further ado...

Best Book

You are going to hear variations of "this was a difficult choice" for a lot of these categories and it begins with the best book of 2014. There were just so many memorable books this year it is really hard to narrow it down. If I had to pick one overall, I would have to go with A Kill in the Morning by Graeme Shimmin. It was a fun spy thriller that also had another great story on how it actually got published.

I need to give honorable mentions, however, for Richard Ned Lebow's Archduke Franz Ferdinand Lives! (as the best counterfactual book I read this year) and Alan Gratz's The League of Seven (for taking me on a wonderful, nostalgic journey with a book similar to ones I read as a kid).

Best Short Story

I guess this honor goes to "Murder on the Orient Elite" by Larry Correia. Although it was an entertaining dieselpunk short story, it sort of won this category by default. I honestly didn't read any alternate history short stories or anthologies. I really need to be better about that in 2015.

Best Comic

I read several comics this year, but the one that really stood out was World War Kaiju by Josh Finney and Patrick McEvoy. It just had an interesting premise and it is a must read for anyone looking for some alternate history in their comics.

Best Film

The best film had to be War of the Worlds: Goliath, which both Sean and I watched and reviewed for The Update. It had action, good animation and I got to watch the Batman of American presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, blow up alien death machines. That all being said, I still need to give a honorable mention to Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Although I didn't cover it on The Update, it really was a great followup to the first Captain America film.

Best Television

So Sherlock Series 3, Episode 1: The Empty Hearse should win this by default...but I also didn't like that episode. It was a big disappointment after all the build up. So yeah very hollow victory for Sherlock, but 2015 should (hopefully) be better. I mean we got adaptations of SS-GB, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, The Man in the High Castle, 11/22/63 and 1632. Hopefully that will make up for my poor coverage of television this year.

Best Map

2014 was the year of the map. The Map Mondays and pretty much any posts with a map in it did insanely well when it came to page views. Picking just one, however, has proven to be a herculean task, so instead I narrowed it down to my three favorites. First up, Alan Gratz's Maps of The United Nations of America that gets the nod for the best map published in a book:

Next, the best map not posted originally on AlternateHistory.com goes to "American Quilt" by Jordan Penny:

Finally we end with the best map posted on AlternateHistory.com and that honor goes to "The Grand War" by PlatoonSgt:

Guys keep making great maps and I will keep talking about them on this blog.

Best Web Original

The winner for the best web original I read this year was Let's all go down the Strand - Images of 1984 reboot. I always loved 1984 fan fiction and both of Will's timeline are amazing works of dystopic reimaginings.  I highly recommend you check out both the original and the reboot.

Also a honorable mention to False Dmitri's Affiliated States of Boreoamerica, which I didn't cover this year (except for one Map Monday), but I still followed religiously for the past few months. Expect an article on it next year.

Best Interview

O please don't make me choose! I talked to so many interesting people this year. Well if you insist, hear are my top three.

First (and in no particular order), Thomas Wm Hamilton, because its rare when you talk to someone with an asteroid named after them.

Second, it was fun to talk with Ian Montgomerie, the mysterious founder and administrator of AlternateHistory.com, and here his opinions on alternate historians.

Finally, Paula Goodlett, for giving me a ton of info on the 1632 fan community. I never realized how much work goes into building that universe.

Best Article

This may sound a tad narcissistic, but I am really proud of my 6 Common Mistakes Every American Revolution Alternate History Makes article. It got a lot of views and feedback from a lot of people, although if I were going to be honest, my What If Wednesday: The Roman Empire Never Falls got even more of both. If I was going to be even more honest, I would have to give this to 1814: How Washington Was Saved (Part 1) by William Weber which is the single most popular article of all time on The Update. Check it out, I like it and I think so will you.

Best Contributor

This was a tough one, but I have to give it to Sam McDonald, a contributor known for his popular Flag Fridays and Twilight Histories covers. What I liked most about Sam's work is that you can tell he is a honest fan of the genre and his imagination reflects that. I look forward to seeing more from Sam in the future.

Conclusion

I won't lie, this was a tough year for me. A lot happened that made me want to quit and give up, but one of the things that kept me going was this blog. Writing for The Update kept me sane through some of my darkest moments and I have you guys to thank for it. Although 2014 is a year I sometimes want to forget, luckily I can remember some great times talking about alternate history with all of you.

Have a happy New Year and see you all in 2015.

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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.