Map Monday: The World of Lord Roem's La Isla Blanca at the End of 2014 AD by Bruce Munro

You can't deny that Bruce Munro makes some of the best map covers of existing alternate histories. His "The World of Lord Roem's La Isla Blanca at the End of 2014 AD" is no exception:

This is based off of Jack "Lord Roem" Tindale's "La Isla Blanca", which was expanded into a 53 page e-book of the same name under the Sea Lion Press banner (although now that I look at it, $2.99 is a steep price for such a short "book"). A brief summary of the story: the Spanish Armada occupies the Isle of Wight and this severely alters the histories of both Spain and Britain. In fact, the "La Isla Blanca" timeline can almost be seen as the mirror universe to our own history. France has a 20th century similar to Germany's, which Russia/Middle East and Korea/Japan appeared to have switched places as well. There are a lot interesting references to today's geopolitical situation scattered throughout the map and part of the fun is trying to find them all.

As for the map itself, it is the Munroist style with tons of details and snarky humor. Really not much to say other than that. If you are not a fan of the style, you probably won't like this map, but I personally feel you would be missing out if that was true.

Honorable mention this week goes out to Rvbomally's "War Never Changes".

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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: Tindale's Standard Map of The Russian Republic by Lord Roem

I have always enjoyed a good timeline where Russia doesn't fall to communism at the end of World War I (which is why I am looking forward to posting my article on alternate Russian Revolutions soon). So I was excited when I ran across this gem on AlternateHistory.com:

It is from a timeline called "The Limpid Stream" by Lord Roem and from what I can gleam from my brief look at the story, it features a Soviet-free world, but Russia still remains relatively intact. Should be interesting, but the map itself is quite gorgeous if I do say so myself. I like it when map makers use the weathered look of real maps, complete with coffee stains, as if some scholar or spy has pondered this map for some time.

Honorable mentions this week go to Europe 1735 by PlatoonSgt and The State of Janszoon in 1700 by islander. I also have to give a shout out to this amazingly detailed map of the Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones universe that popped up on the Internet last week. It might not be alternate history, but the amount of work that must have gone into it must have been staggering and deserves praise.

If you want to submit a map for consideration 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.