Sideways in Time Paper Update 2/5/15

So I haven't posted many of these recently for the very important reason that I have been too busy writing the damn paper. In fact I completely lost track of all the new research I have been doing so there is not much to report accept for these three points below:

• I forgot about this article in The Independent that discussed Wikia as the future of fandom. They actually mentioned the AltHistory Wiki and referenced the timelines "1983: Doomsday" and "Hail Might Joan".
• Thanks to Evelyn Leeper for finding me a copy of Matthew Schneider-Mayerson's "What Almost Was: The Politics of the Contemporary Alternate History Novel" along with some interesting commentary from Steven H Silver. Funny enough Matthew actually emailed me shortly thereafter with another copy so it seemed like I was destined to read this article. Although far from the subject of his paper, Matthew had a lot of intriguing things to say on the online community that I plan to reference in my work.
• Found this great article on the Sidewise Awards at the Science Fiction Awards Database. Really helped with the chronology of the Awards and the judges who participated during its run.

Now that I got that business out of the way, I am happy to report that my paper (Warping History: An Overview of Fans and Creators of Alternate History in the Internet Age) was accepted by the Sideways in Time organizers. I am going to Liverpool at the end of March and will even get a chance to spend a couple days seeing the sights in London. My wonderful father was kind enough to help me finance the trip and will be joining me to offer moral support. Dad, you have always been supportive of my dreams and I can't think of anyone better I want at my side during this journey.

Well guys not sure when the next paper update will be posted. I think I will be putting all my energy into finishing it before the conference. Expect a retrospective of the conference and maybe even an excerpt of the paper later in April. In the meantime, wish me luck!

* * *

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.

Sideways in Time Paper Update 10/30/14

Europe in 1925. From Królestwo Kongresowe.

Since my last Sideways in Time Paper update, I found a lot of new research leads. Let's take a look:

• Did you get a chance to read my interview with Sidewise judge and Uchronia contributor Evelyn Leeper? I hope you all enjoyed it because it may be a while before my next interview. I had to postpone my interview with Sidewise judge and Point of Divergence founder Jim Rittenhouse, but I am following up leads with other notable alternate historians in the meantime.
• I have been perusing the The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction for any useful information information. They do have an article on Hitler Wins scenarios, but not much on our slice of fandom. I will keep looking.
• Does anyone speak Italian? Uchronia links to several articles in the Italian language magazine Delos on alternate history. Google Translate, however, is not the best translation software. If anyone may be interested in reading and describing these articles to me that would be great.
• I think I need to comb my own blog's archives for this paper. After I rediscovered the Did Steampunk Kill Alternate History? article, which was useful in helping to explain alternate historians' relationship with the steampunk culture, I got to thinking I may be sitting on a gold mine of information. Going to take a lot of time to sift through over three years of content...
• Can anyone score me a copy of What Almost Was: The Politics of the Contemporary Alternate History Novel by Matthew Schneider-Mayerson. Based on the abstract, this article seems the closest to what I am trying to write that I have ever stumbled upon and I would really like to read it. Sadly, I am not a student anymore and thus I am not part of any institution with access to Project MUSE.
• During one of my random searches through the AlternateHistory.com Wiki, I came upon this list of Non-AH.com timelines including many from different eras of the larger community's history, such as the SHWI era. I even found this interesting Polish-language collaborative timeline, which is great because you don't many of these outside the English language. 

I am still looking for anyone who can provide me with more information on the Geocities era, the Tarrantry Saga and any other gathering or work of alternate historians you think I should include in the paper. If you can help me or know someone who can, please email me at ahwupdate at gmail dot com. Any new avenues of research will be greatly appreciated.

* * *

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.