Weekly Update #196

Editor's Note

I really want to make an important announcement today, but I am not sure if I am allowed too yet. So you guys are stuck with this teaser for now. Nevertheless, I am very excited and can't wait to share the good news.

I hope everyone had a fun Father's Day weekend. Due to all the fun I had with my Dad and family, I didn't have as much time as usual to write for The Update. So my apologies for any days where I have nothing to post.

And now the (just okay) news...

Update: A Man Lies Dreaming by Lavie Tidhar

Lavie Tidhar's A Man Lies Dreaming is one of the winners of the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize. For those who don't know what A Man Lies Dreaming is, here is the description from Amazon:

Deep in the heart of history's most infamous concentration camp, a man lies dreaming. His name is Shomer, and before the war he was a pulp fiction author. Now, to escape the brutal reality of life in Auschwitz, Shomer spends his nights imagining another world - a world where a disgraced former dictator now known only as Wolf ekes out a miserable existence as a low-rent PI in London's grimiest streets. An extraordinary story of revenge and redemption, A Man Lies Dreaming is the unforgettable testament to the power of imagination.

As for the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize, it is an annual prize fund of £40,000 divided between eight British authors. Lavie's novel was the alternate historian represented among this group and our hearty congratulations go out to him.

What you may have missed...

Three articles shined across social media last week. First up, Mark Johnson wrote a long article on the "alternate history aesthetics" in the Command & Conquer: Red Alert series. Its a cool article featuring a combination of concept art and in-game footage. Fans of perhaps the most well-known alternate history RTS should definitely check it out.

Next up, ever wondered what the plan is in case an asteroid is ever on a collision course with the Earth (you know, besides panicking and looting)? Well now we know thanks to David S. F. Portree who shared with us how a group of MIT students tried to prevent exactly that. Thanks also to David for not treating me like a complete idiot when I originally said "meteor".

Finally, if you ever worried about what to do in case you accidentally traveled back in time or stepped into a parallel timeline, here is some good advice from Mallory Ortberg of The Toast.

Video of the Week

Didn't I say I would be doing a video of the week? For our inaugural video of the week we have Part Two of How the Avengers: Age of Ultron should have ended:

I am surprised it took me this long to start sharing videos from How It Should Have Ended (HISHE). Granted its alternate fictional history, but we have all wondered at some point about what if our favorite characters made different choices.

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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.

Map Monday: Red Alert by rvbomally

One of the first real-time strategy games I ever played was Command & Conquer. The game featured a multi-national taskforce fighting against a militant cult for control over Tiberium, a resource of extraterrestial origin that can be used to build various weapons. The main villain, Kane, actually appears in the alternate history prequel which was called Command & Conquer: Red Alert. This turned the entire series into an alternate history epic that all began after Albert Einstein went back in time to stop Hitler, but inadvertently caused World War II to be fought between the West and the Soviet Union.

With Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, however, EA created a different timeline when the defeated Soviet leadership go back in time and kill Einstein in 1927. The now altered future features the Soviets on the verge of conquering Europe, but now there is a new faction: Japan. This new timeline got generally positive reviews, but I still think I liked rvbomally's (author of "Ad Astra Per Aspera") version of "Red Alert" featured on this map:

Removing the alien space bats, rvbomally's "Red Alert" is set in a world where Hitler dies in World War I and Stalin changes his mind about "socialism in one country" and goes on to conquer Europe while ally-in-name-only Japan swallows up East and South Asia. The United States rallies the rest of the free world around itself making the map look surprisingly familiar.

What I liked more about the map and the scenario that rvbomally crafted is that it really does fix the implausible elements of the Red Alert series, while still keeping some of the common tropes associated with the game. It is a good example about how a fan with some smarts can do a better job with a world then the people are paid to create it.

Honorable mentions this week go out to "Republica Portuguesa" by Reagent and these maps on what Russia hopes Europe becomes in the next couple of decades featured on io9. 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.