Weekly Update #244! Motherland is a Military Fantasy where the United States uses Witches to Fight Terrorists

Editor's Note

I'm writing this the morning after seeing Let's Play Live at the Chicago Theater. For those who have no idea what I am talking about, its like a concert for video game players, with an intentionally bad variety show thrown in to fill time when they are setting up their systems for the next game. It was fun...but surreal. I sat for several hours and watched people play video games and put on absurd skits. I definitely recommend checking it out if you like gaming.

Don't forget to check out my review of "Discards" by David D. Levine on Amazing Stories. It was enjoyable short story to read and a good place to start if you want to get into the Wild Cards universe.

Also the winners of Sidewise Awards were announced this weekend at WorldCon in case you missed it.

And now the news...

Motherland is a Military Fantasy where the United States uses Witches to Fight Terrorists

If that title sounds weird to you...you're correct, but most alien space bat timelines can be.

Freeform, formerly ABC Family, is producing a new one hour drama called Motherland. It will be produced by Gary Sanchez Productions, with Adam McKay, Will Ferrell and Kevin Messick executive producing. Eliot Laurence (Welcome to Me, Claws) is listed as the writer. According to Deadline:

Motherland is described as an epic military fantasy set in an alternate America where witches ended their persecution 300 years ago by cutting a deal with the U.S. government to fight for their country. The project is set in contemporary times where young women conscript at 18 and receive basic training in combat magic at a base called Fort Salem. The show follows three young women from basic into early deployment. In this world, the traditional roles of gender and power are flipped. Women are on the front lines fighting looming terrorist threats that are familiar to our world, but their tactics and weapons are supernatural.

So do you think this story can work? Using witches in the military or law enforcement isn't a ridiculous idea. Richard Matheson published "Witch War" which follows a similar concept and then there is Lou Antonelli's "The Witch of Waxahachie". But can the story work on the small screen? I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Video of the Week

Gladiator, the unintentional alternate history film, gets the Honest Trailer treatment:


Congrats also to the Honest Trailer guys for getting an Emmy nomination. If you want more alternate history videos, don't forget to check out my recent video on this upside down map of Africa:

You Should Also Check Out...

• Alternative Magazine Online's interview with Ben Winters, author of Underground Airlines.
• Will Chase, who played Luke Wheeler on Nashville, has joined the new ABC drama Time After Time. (via EW)

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger for Amazing Stories, a volunteer interviewer for SFFWorld and a Sidewise Awards for Alternate History judge. When not exploring alternate timelines he 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, Tumblr and YouTube. Learn how you can support his alternate history projects on Patreon.

Weekly Update #243! George RR Martin's Wild Cards Are Coming to Television

Editor's Note

A quick recap of last week's post. First up, go learn more about Tales From Alternate Earths and the recognizable names you might find on Weekly Update. Next up, do you like alternate maps of Liberia? Then you may want to check out "And Mighty Be Her Powers" by SRegan. Also, check out how Brooke Johnson's rewrites history for your entertainment in her guest post to promote her new novel, The Guild Conspiracy.

Also don't forget there were a lot of new alternate history releases last Tuesday. If you see anything you like, please click on the links provided when you go to buy it and support The Update.

And now the news...

George RR Martin's Wild Cards Are Coming to Television

On his official website, George RR Martin announced that Universal Cable Productions (UCP) had acquired the rights to adapt Wild Cards for television. For those who don't know, Wild Cards is a long running series of anthologies and mosaic novels that is contributed to by multiple authors, including Martin. It is set in an alternate timeline where history changed in 1946 when an alien virus was released over New York City, killing many and also mutating others into hideous, deformed creatures called "Jokers". A few lucky "Aces", however, were granted superpowers.

It combines the realism that people love from A Song of Ice and Fire/Games of Thrones with the superhero genre. In fact the first volume of Wild Cards lost the 1986 Hugo Award to Watchmen, another superhero work known for its gritty reimagining of the cape and cowl crowd. Its odd how deconstructing superheroes was so popular 1980s.

Anywho, according to Martin, there will be several interlocking series. Melinda M. Snodgrass, a long time Wild Cards editor and contributor, is attached as an executive producer on the project, together with Gregory Noveck (who previously attempted to adapt Wild Cards into a movie). At the moment we don't know which characters or stories will be adapted, but with such a large volume of works to pull from (I believe there are 22 volumes as of now) I am sure they will never run out of tales to tell.

Martin, however, did assure us we will see Croyd Crenson. Known as "The Sleeper", every time Croyd fell asleep, he awoke with a new body and powers...but these changes aren't always welcomed developments. I am curious to see what they will do with this character. Since you would essentially need to cast an entirely new actor every time Sleeper changes, this could be an ingenious way to get well known actors to guest star on certain episodes.

That being said, Martin will not be involved in the production, since he has an exclusive deal with HBO and is busy writing The Winds of Winter. As much as I would like to see him involved in the project...I want him to finish The Winds of Winter. GOD DAMN IT GEORGE! I NEED MY FIX!

Excuse me...not sure what came over me there. Anywho, well I am excited about this news. I haven't read all of the Wild Cards volumes yet, but what I have read I have enjoyed immensely. If you love comics or just like realistic takes on popular tropes, then you should definitely check out the series. Here is hoping Hollywood pulls through and brings Wild Cards to the small screen.

You Should Also Check Out...

• Why Brooklynites are upset about a statue of Captain America. (via NY Post)
• Alex Wallace's interview with alternate cartographer Rvbomally. Also, stay tuned for today's Map Monday for some more Rvbomally. (via Odyssey Online)
• This record Michael Phelps tied last week that sounds like it should have happened in an alternate history. (via Deadspin)
• That season 2 of The Man in the High Castle will premier on December 16. (via IGN)

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger for Amazing Stories, a volunteer interviewer for SFFWorld and a Sidewise Awards for Alternate History judge. When not exploring alternate timelines he 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, Tumblr and YouTube. Learn how you can support his alternate history projects on Patreon.

Why Are Alternate History Adaptations So Poorly Made?

Guest post by Josh Weiss.

I recently re-read Robert Harris’s classic 1992 alternate history novel Fatherland in which a homicide detective in the Reich Kripo (Kriminalpolizei) attempts to solve the murder of a Party big-shot in a somewhat dystopian version of 1964 in which Germany won WWII. It’s a tour-de-force of a book that works on several levels as noir murder mystery, science fiction story and history lesson about Hitler’s “Final Solution” for the Jews and other European groups considered sub-human by the fascist ideology of National Socialism. Two words: Wannsee Conference.

Sounds like it would make a great movie, right? Of course and as it so happens, an adaptation of Fatherland was made by HBO only two years after the book’s publication, starring Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner) in the main role. However, the only problem is that the made-for-TV is so abysmal that it’s hard to watch … like extremely hard to watch, especially if you had just finished the book right before watching it like I had.

For one thing, not a shred of what makes the book great is contained within the almost two-hour movie that is just plain bad, even for a ‘90s feature. The plot is stripped of its integrity. Neither the dread nor the paranoia of a police state monitoring one’s every move. Not to mention the gaping absence of the ethical twist of the book’s big reveal for the characters. Horrible acting, the miscasting of every single major character and the trashy quality of the movie itself all work together to tarnish the good name of Robert Harris. Not even the presence of a younger Peter Vaughan (Maester Aemon on Game of Thrones) or seeing a Hitler impersonator with a greying moustache can save this sad excuse for a film.

Stick with the book and avoid it all costs. Now, you may be saying, “Well, it could just be an isolated incident in the world of alternate history adaptations.” Let me counter that with another AH scenario that would make another great movie.

One of the most notorious Nazi doctors of the Second World War—Josef Mengele—The Angel of Death himself--succeeds in making clones of Adolf Hitler with funds from a post-war SS network in the hopes of having the Fuhrer rise to power once more. A chilling sci-fi tale of intrigue and espionage, no?

Wish I’d thought of it, but that’s actually the plot of Ira Levin’s 1976 novel The Boys From Brazil. And again, it got a movie adaptation only two years after its publication. Like, Michael Crichton, Levin makes the science so believable, that you’ll be forced to concede that making clones of Hitler is downright easy. And so, the book involves a Simon Wiesenthal-esque Nazi hunter named Yaakov Lieberman trying to put a stop to the dastardly plot that never was. In reality, Mengele was never caught and lived out his years comfortably in South America with the occasional bother from Mossad agents attempting to bring him to justice.

So who was tapped to helm the Hollywood version of the book? None other than Franklin J. Schaffner, director of the sci-fi classic Planet of the Apes. So far so good. And who will act in it? Why two of the great thespians of the 20th century, Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier. Shut the front door! There’s no way this movie can fail!

Oh, but it did and still does to this day. Again, the sound plot and names of characters are bastardized for no discernible reason. Although great actors, neither Peck nor Olivier were right for right for the roles in which they were cast:  Mengele and Lieberman respectively. Gone is the intrigue and race against the clock, the true evil of the plan. The acting is hammy and the direction is non-existent and the entire thing is as forgettable as a transitory case of amnesia.

So why has the butchery of great works of alternate history literature occurred in their translations to the screen? Personally, I blame it on the time periods between publication and production. In both instances, only two years passed between the book coming out and the release of a feature-length film adaptation. It’s sloppy is what it is. You can’t rush greatness and in these cases, stories that should have matured over time and become classics in their own right were plundered for cinematic gain.

Look at Amazon’s take of Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. The book came out in 1962 and 54 years passed before anyone decided to try and make it work as a television show. And with today’s superior effects and budgets, that kind of world building is not only more believable, but more enthralling.

Just like history cannot be alternated until it’s already happened, so too, a book, especially one about AH, cannot be adapted until it has come into its own.

TL;DR: Stick to reading an alternate history book and avoid the movie at all costs.

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Josh Weiss is a senior at Drexel University in Philadelphia, studying Communications with a concentration in Public Relations. As a die-hard lover of pop culture, he loves reading and writing about movies, superheroes, Lovecraftian horrors, hard boiled noir mysteries and, of course, alternate histories. As a lover of music, he collects vinyl and listen to the music of a bygone era like swing and disco. He's also thinking of picking up the ukulele. 

TV Review: The Man in the High Castle S1:E3: The Illustrated Woman

Alana and I return to share our thoughts on Episode 3 of Amazon's The Man in the High Castle: "The Illustrated Woman. Check it below:

In case you missed our earlier reviews, here is the list so far:

• Episode 1: "The New World"
• Episode 2: "Sunrise"

Stay tuned for another review later this week. Hopefully we can get these all filmed and uploaded before I take my usual holiday break.

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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.

TV Review: Outlander Season 1, Episodes 1-8

When I bought my wife, Alana, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon as a gift, I didn't expect her to fall in love with the series. To be honest I had little interest in reading the books myself, not because I thought they would be bad, I just wasn't interested. Watching the Starz adaptation, however, now that was something I was cool with. So over the last few weeks Alana and I sat down to watch the first eight episodes of Starz's Outlander and here I am now to share with you my thoughts on the series so far.

Outlander tells the story of Claire Randall, a WWII nurse who goes on a second honeymoon to Scotland with her husband, Frank, in an effort to reconnect with him. While there she accompanies Frank on his journeys to dig up more information on his ancestor, Captain Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall, who served in Scotland during the 18th century. Things seem to be going well, but Claire appears troubled and her relationship with Frank at times seems strange. Marital problems take a back seat, however, when a trip alone to see the standing stones at Craigh na Dun send Claire back in time to 1743 where she almost immediately runs into Black Jack who looks surprising like his descendant, but lacks the same good manners when he tries to rape Claire.

Rescued by a group of Scottish highlanders, Claire becomes a guest of Clan MacKenzie, but she soon finds herself held against her will because the Scots believe she is an English spy. While spending her time working as a healer in the castle, Claire decides she must either earn the trust of the MacKenzie's or escape so she can make it back to the standing stones in hopes that whatever brought her to the past can be reversed. Escape, however, goes further and further from her mind as she develops a relationship with the young Jamie Fraser.

Alternate history content is minimal in Outlander. Claire is afraid of telling anyone she is from the future in fear they will declare her a witch. She does learn, however, that the MacKenzies are supporters of the Jacobites and in a few years many would die at the Battle of Culloden, with the Highlander culture being suppressed by the English in order to break the power of the clans. She tries to warn them without giving away how she knows they will lose, but no one really cares because either they are sure they will win or else they don't see the possibility of defeat as a deterrent to their cause. This gives the entire tale a level of tragedy that makes it sad, but also entertaining, because some of the best stories out there don't have happy endings and I have feeling neither will Outlander.

Overall I found Outlander enjoyable to watch. It has drama and action to lighten the mood, but maybe could have done with a little more, although I have been told things will start picking up in later episodes. I should talk about the "female gaze" of the show. Unlike Game of Thrones, which is perhaps Outlander's main competition, more time is spent admiring the male rather than the female figure. You would think that takes me out of their core demographic, but it really isn't as excessive as you think. I am just saying don't start thinking Outlander is for "chicks".

Claire is a "strong and independent woman", even for her own time, but she is allowed to be weak, scared, wrong and helpless as well. More importantly, unlike other female protagonists that people fawn over (i.e. Bella from Twilight), Claire actually does things. She is a battlefield nurse, well-educated and in her own way she can be quite fearless. She can still be rescued, but sometimes she rescues herself or others as well. In short, she is allowed to be human and not a cliche.

The Scottish characters are also complex and even the scoundrels have their moments. I just wish they put more effort in the English characters. Most come off either as pompous, sadistic or spineless. I am reminded more of the British from The Patriot then what actual mid-18th century Englishmen were like. Black Jack is really difficult to watch as well. Yeah I know he is the bad guy, but they play up how evil he is so much that he becomes cartoonish in some scenes. Perhaps this is because the show (and possibly the books as well, but again I didn't read them) does tend to romanticize Highlander culture. This isn't bad per se, but after doing so well in so many other aspects of the show, its a shame they decided to phone it in with the non-Scottish characters.

One last thing: having not read the books, I don't known when the show diverges from the source material. My wife, however, was happy to point out some of these moments to me, like in one episode where we see Frank who has been spending weeks searching for his missing wife and is beginning to believe that she ran off with another man, due to his sighting of a mysterious Highlander staring at her through her window one night. I thought it was a nice human touch for the show and as the episode skipped between the past and present, I noticed the coloring was different. Things were brighter in the past, especially the greens, while things in the present seemed more subdued. A nice touch by the producers if I do say so myself.

All and all I can certainly give the first half of Season 1 of Outlander a passing grade. Its not perfect, but when it does something right, it does it very well. While I don't hold out hope to see any alternate history, I do expect to continue to be entertained and educated about a time period I know little about.

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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.

Review: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Episode 1, "The Friends of English Magic"

I've been talking non-stop for months now about BBC's adaptation of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and now the first episode is here. Not on TV, of course. Who uses such an antiquated device? If you don't have BBC America here in the States you can watch it instead on BBC America's YouTube channel.

The episode begins with John Segundus asking why magic isn't practiced anymore in England. After being laughed out of his club of "theoretical" magicians, he tracks down the person who has been buying up all of the books of magic in York. He meets Mr. Norrell who admits to being a practical magician, but the other "magicians" of York don't believe him. Demanding he prove himself, Mr. Norrell makes all of the statues in the York Minster come to life. After proving he can do magic, Mr. Norrell travels to London to offer his services toward the war effort against Napoleon, but he is blown off by the ministers until one of their number's wife dies and Mr. Norrell decides he may have found the right bit of magic to perform to change their minds...

Meanwhile, Jonathan Strange is madly in love Arabella, but she is not interested in marrying him until he finds a job (women, am I right?). Jonathan has no idea what he wants to do with his life and his father is a of little help since he is a mean, old man who thinks Jonathan is a complete screw up. Lucky for Jonathan, his father dies the next day. Jonathan, wasting no time grieving (and who would with a father like that), travels to see Arabella in hopes that now that he has inherited his father's estate, she would agree to marry him. On the way, however, he happens upon a street magician named Vinculus who claims Jonathan is one of two magicians prophesied to bring magic back to England...

Enough recapping, what did I think of Episode 1? Well I am happy it cut out a lot of the details of early 19th century English society and cut straight to the magic while still managing to hit all of the important plot points. It had a very Gothic atmosphere and I thought the casting of Enzo Cilenti as Childermass was near perfect, but I admit casting Vincent Franklin as Christopher Drawlight was less so. Vincent just seemed to be playing the character way too over the top for me.

The CGI wasn't great, but it made up for it with a couple jump scares early on. In fact I found the "the gentleman with thistle-down hair" to be quite creepy and came off more like a demon than a fairy...but then again, in some stories its hard to tell one from the other. Despite its dark tones, the show could be funny at times, although the humor was rather childish.

So all in all, not a bad first episode, but there is room for improvement. I have some time to wait before episode 2, but if you haven't watched it already I would go check out episode 1 as soon as you have the free time. Its entertaining and (more importantly) its free.

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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.

Teaser Trailer for BBC's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Magic returns this summer according to BBC. The trailer for their adaptation of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was released a few days ago. Check it out below:

Although it is a very short video, it looks pretty damn good. I am actually excited about this show. If you haven't read the book, I highly recommend you pick up a copy and I hope you join me in catching the first episode this summer (unless UKIP shuts it down).

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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.

You Can Now Watch The Man in the High Castle Pilot For Free

Well today is the day. You can now watch the pilot for Amazon TV's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle for free. I believe the way Amazon's pilot season works is that the more positive reviews and ratings a show gets, the better chance it has to be picked up for a full season. Of course, I am not suggesting you rate this product well just for the sake of getting an alternate history show on the air. We don't need another Spike's Alternate History. If you do watch it, however, please take the time to give it a fair review.

There really is not much to say after that. I only request people please keep spoilers to themselves for at least a week so everyone has a chance to watch the first episode. I really hope it is good, especially with some calling it the next House of Cards and the effort the producers are going through to at least match the time period.

I plan to watch it as soon as I get home tonight so expect a review from me in the very near future.

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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.

First Clip of BBC's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

The teaser trailer for BBC's seven part adaptation of Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell has been released. Let's check it out:


So what do you guys think? Katharine Trendacosta from io9 said "Bertie Carvel seem pretty perfect", but Patrick from Pat's Fantasy Hotlist said it looks "as sleep-inducing and atrociously boring as the novel." Some pretty divisive views, although Louisa Mellor of Den of Geek praised the source material, so perhaps that is just Pat's opinion.

I really need to get a move on reading this book.

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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.

First Look at the Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell BBC Miniseries

I was so quick to talk about BBC's adaptation of SS-GB that I completely missed the news yesterday regarding another BBC alternate history project. Above is our first look at the titular characters of the the BBC adaptation of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Set in England during the Napoleonic Wars, the novel tells the story of two rivals magicians in an alternate history where magic is widely acknowledged, but rarely practiced. Eddie Marsan will play Mr. Norrell (right) and Bertie Carvel will play Jonathan Strange (left).

The Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell will be a seven-part series that will premier sometime next year. More importantly, this news has got me asking the question: are we living at the start of the golden age of alternate history? Has mainstream media finally realized that there is value to these stories and it is ready to share them with a wider audience? Or conversely, has the splintering of media meant that producers are scrambling for content and throwing anything against the wall to see what sticks?

Either way, alternate history may actually be poised to make a major break in the mainstream in 2015, what with this, SS-GB, Amazon's The Man in the High Castle and Hulu's 11/22/63 coming out soon. I am very excited by these developments, but what do you guys think? Let us know in the comments.

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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.

J.J. Abrams Producing 11/22/63 Mini-Series for Hulu

With Amazon TV moving forward on their adaptation of Dick's The Man in the High Castle, it looks like Hulu has entered the alternate history arms race. They announced in a press release yesterday that Hulu has ordered a nine episode mini-series of Stephen King's 11/22/63 (review). I originally reported a year ago that 11/22/63 had been optioned by Abrams, but now Hulu has finally given them the green-light.

“If I ever wrote a book that cries out for long-form, event TV programming, 11/22/63 is it,” King said in the press release. “I’m excited that it’s going to happen, and am looking forward to working with J.J. Abrams and the whole Bad Robot team.”

For those who haven't read the book, 11/22/63 is about a divorced English teacher who travels back in time to 1958 and decides to prevent the Kennedy assassination. The novel is mostly a time travel story as the actual alternate history content is quite minimal. Nevertheless I enjoyed the book and look forward to seeing what Abrams and Hulu have to offer. King will also have producer credits, along with Bridget Carpenter who will be writing the script.

“I've been a fan of Stephen King since I was in junior high school,” Abrams said. “The chance to work with him at all, let alone on a story so compelling, emotional and imaginative, is a dream." Considering Abrams tried to turn The Dark Tower into a film in 2007, I think he has proved his King fan cred. With Star Wars still being filmed, however, its safe to assume J.J. won't be very active in this project.

No release date yet, but I will keep you posted on any new details as they are announced.

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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.

Could Eric Flint's 1632 Series Be Coming to Television?

Hot on the heels of Amazon's announcement that they are producing an adaptation of Dick's The Man in the High Castle, author Eric Flint had this to say on his blog and Facebook:

Mammoth Screen is renewing their option on the 1632 series for another year. They've hired a well-known screenwriter and have the script for the first episode. They've also made a deal with ITV Studios for worldwide distribution. This is important because ITV is a big deal in the UK. We’re still a long ways from an up-and-running TV series, but things are looking good.

Fans of 1632 are no doubt happy about this news, but if you are unfamiliar with the series, 1632 is about a small mining town in West Virginia that is transported to the middle of Germany during the Thirty Years War. If you think this sounds similar to Stirling's Island in the Sea of Time, you are not far off, but ISOT does predate 1632.

A strength (and weakness) of this series in regards to television is that it has a large canon and a diverse cast of fictional and historical characters to draw from. Unlike Stirling's Nantucket Trilogy, Flint opened 1632 to both professional and amateur authors who have contributed numerous novels and short stories. From a literary point of view its easy to get burned out on this series (I personally stopped at 1635: The Cannon Law), but I still highly recommend 1632 for its plausibility and humor.

Having such a complex (and growing) canon, however, could be a detriment to the series, especially if the producers want to take the show in a different direction than what is in the books or cut fan favorite characters from the show. With the 1632 show still in the early stages of its development, only time will tell about how the final product will look...if it even gets made in the first place.

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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.

Amazon Studios to Produce Pilot of Philip K Dick's The Man In The High Castle

The big news from last week (since I don't have the time to write up a complete Weekly Update) was that Amazon Studios was creating a pilot for a series based on Philip K. Dick's Hugo Award-winning novel The Man in the High Castle.

For those who don't know, The Man in the High Castle is set in a 1962 where the Axis Powers were victorious in World War II. The United States is occupied between a Nazi East Coast, a Japanese West Coast (known as the Pacific States of America) and a neutral "Rocky Mountain States" lumped in a middle as a buffer between the two power blocs.

The novel is considered by some to be the precursor to the modern alternate history genre as it brought the what if game out of the pulpy tales of time travel, magic and parallel universes and allowed for a serious tale of alternate history without any ASBs (although the genre certainly has plenty of that still).

According to Deadline, The Man In the High Castle is a joint project of Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files) and Ridley Scott's (who also adapted Dick's Blade Runner) Scott Free Productions. The pilot will be written by Spotnitz and be directed by David Semel (Legends). The project originally was set up as a four-hour miniseries Syfy last year, but it looks like the cable channel passed.

While I am sort of happy Syfy won't get the chance to ruin one of the classic works of alternate history, I am still worried about how long this project is taking to get made. The longer a project languishes in development, the worse it is likely to be. That being said, getting rid of cable like I did a couple of months ago is looking like an even better idea.

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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.

SyFy Adapting Pax Romana and Other SF&F Properties

Deadline Hollywood is reporting that the SyFy channel, notorious for their B-movies starring Tara Reid, has made an announcement that has redeemed them a bit in this blogger's eyes. They will be creating a mini-series based on Pax Romana by Jonathan Hickman, along with other adaptions of famous SF&F comics and books.

For those who don't know, Pax Romana is a politically charged graphic novel where the Vatican develops time travel in a future where Islam dominates Europe and the West has rejected monotheism. They decide to send an army of Cardinals and special forces soldiers to 312 AD, during the reign of Constantine, to change past and save the future. Things, however, don't go as planned as different factions vie for control over how to fix the timeline.

Pax Romana is being adapted by writers Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia (Warehouse 13), with David Alpert of Circle of Confusion (The Walking Dead) acting as executive producer, along with Federman, Scaia and Hickman. I have to say its a good sign when the creator is involved in the adaption (it works for Game of Thrones).

More importantly, we may get a chance to see some alternate history on the small screen. Casey Douglas at Geek Syndicate, however, summed exactly what we should all be thinking: will the end product live up to the original work? Only time will tell, but I will be praying for a successful production.

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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.

Review: Sherlock Series 3, Episode 1: The Empty Hearse

I never really started enjoying the Sherlock Holmes universe until I watched BBC's Sherlock. Although I read a couple of the short stories myself, it wasn't until I saw the modern day retelling that I finally began to seek out more Sherlock to consume. I read Doyle's entire body of work on Sherlock and sought out old movies featuring the detective (Peter Cushing is currently my favorite actor to portray him).

So why am I reviewing the most recent episode to premier in America here? Sherlock might not exactly be alternate history, but it features several tropes that make it appealing to alternate historians. The character of Sherlock Holmes lends itself to alternate fictional histories and steampunk stories like Anno Dracula and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, while the modern retelling of the famous detective implies a very different career for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at the very least. Even fans of the genre have been drawn to him, even when others speculate on whether he is really a him.

The show itself is amazing and really highlights Steven Moffatt's skill as a writer. The gritty realism combined with the efficient use of modern technology in the show and the film like quality of the episodes (each series has three episodes usually an hour and a half long) makes for gripping television. So as you can probably guess I was eagerly awaiting the premier of Series 3.

Titled "The Empty Hearse", the show begins with Sherlock returning home to Britain after spending the last two years dismantling Moriarty's criminal network. Although we saw Sherlock fall to his death at the end of Series 2, we also inexplicably saw him watching John Watson mourn at Sherlock's supposed grave. We quickly learn that Sherlock faked his death to protect Watson and his friends from reprisals, but now his brother, Mycroft, needs him back to uncover a terrorist threat to London.

Sherlock, however, first seeks out Watson who has moved on with his life and is on the verge of proposing to his girlfriend, Mary, when Sherlock surprises both. Now in the original stories Watson faints upon discovering Sherlock is still alive, but in this modern retelling he reacts more naturally by physical assaulting his resurrected friend...multiple times. With tensions still high between the two former friends, Sherlock works to uncover who is behind the terrorist threat and how to stop them before it is too late.  Meanwhile, Watson struggles to come to grips with his friend's return and whether or not he wants him back in his life.

To begin, it was great to see the characters again. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are still excellent playing their versions of the crime fighting duo (no...not the one with the tights) and the camaraderie between the two is very believable. I also liked how the writers trolled the fans by featuring multiple theories on how Sherlock survived his fall, without actually telling them what really happened. This doesn't bother me because in the long run it is not important how Sherlock lived, but why he chose to "die". We all have to make sacrifices for the ones we love and it is important in Sherlock's character arc to see that there are people who he would give up years of his life to save.

All that being said, overall I did not enjoy this episode. The pacing was surprisingly fast compared to older episodes. Cinematography was chaotic with multiple jumps to other scenes and unnecessary slow motion. Even the plot wasn't very and seemed to borrow (or stole) from V for Vendetta. Spoiler alert: turns out the terrorists were going to blow up Parliament using a train covered in explosives on Guy Fawkes Day. Really?!?! That is the best you can do? Out of all of the books, short stories, comics, games, etc., created around Sherlock Holmes you go with an already used idea that has nothing to do with the character? Not exactly the best way to reintroduce a character we have not seen in two years.

Frankly, I was disappointed by the series premier, especially when you factor in the long wait. My wife, who also became a fan of the series through me, found it so boring she fell asleep midway through! I can only hope the remaining episodes in the season make up for such a weak premier.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. His new short story "Road Trip" can be found in Forbidden Future: A Time Travel Anthology. 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.

Military Channel Will Air Documentary on an Alternate History of the Cuban Missile Crisis

Hot on the heels of ABC's announcement regarding The Thirteen, a drama about a failed American Revolution, comes the Military Channel's special on an alternate Cuban Missile Crisis called What If...? Armageddon 1962.

Most Americans aren't aware that a deranged political fanatic named Richard Pavlick plotted to murder JFK with a suicide bomb in Palm Beach, Fla. Pavlick came within seconds of carrying out his plan just weeks before President-elect Kennedy was to take office. The Military Channel (in collaboration with NBC News' Peacock Productions) asks what if Pavlick had carried out his plot to assassinate Kennedy? What If...? Armageddon 1962 will premier on Tuesday, October 22 at 10/9c.

"In What If...? Armageddon 1962, the Military Channel shines a light on what is arguably the most important political event of the 1960s -- the Cuban Missile Crisis -- and how, with different leadership, much of the world might have been destroyed in a nuclear war," said Henry Schleiff, Group President, Investigation Discovery, Military Channel, and Destination America. "The film is a departure from the typical conspiracy theories that exist around the assassination of John F. Kennedy, resulting instead in a very plausible 'what-if' scenario that truly illustrates the pressure cooker of an unprecedented international crisis and its potential consequences for life and death."

The documentary (which will use archival film footage and photos) will focus on what might have happened if Lyndon B. Johnson was in office instead of JFK during the Cuban Missile Crisis. If this scenario sounds familiar to anyone, you are right. It is actually based off of one of the short stories in Sidewise nominated author Jeff Greenfield's Then Everything Changed. Greenfield will also provide commentary during the documentary along with historians John Gresham and Timothy Naftali, plus Sidewise winning author, and friend of The Update, Eric Swedin (author of When Angels Wept).

Wait a second...are they actually using alternate history writers in their alternate history documentary instead of the guy who founded Wikipedia?!?! Holy crap! This is the real deal. Everything I have been complaining about seems addressed by this single documentary. Excuse me for a second, I need to check to see if my cable provider gives me the Military Channel...

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. His new short story "Road Trip" can be found in Forbidden Future: A Time Travel Anthology. 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.

ABC's The Thirteen Set in a World Where the British Won the America Revolution

This has been a banner year for alternate history television projects. There are plans to adapt The Man in the High Castle, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, 11/22/63 and How Few Remain for the small screen. Those examples, however, are all based on books. No one, as far as I know, is working on an original idea.

Until now.

ABC will be running an alternate history show, called The Thirteen, where the American colonies lost the American Revolution. It will be a contemporary drama with Americans still fighting the British for freedom. Lionsgate TV and Allison Shearmur are the producers with Jim Agnew and Sean Keller are writing it (and they also wrote an upcoming Nicolas Cage film...groan).

So I have some issues with this premise. To start, the idea that Americans are still fighting for their independence seems implausible. Its not like the Scots still paint themselves blue, scream FREEDOM and attack any limey they see. No, they instead hold a referendum for independence. So after centuries of British rule following a failed rebellion, why are the Americans still fighting? How bad can the British be in this world? I fear we are going to be seeing British characters who have more in common with the villains from The Patriot than the OTL British who abolished slavery in 1833 (while it took Americans three and a half decades more and bloody civil war to end the practice).

And what about the rest of the world? Sean O'Neal of the AV Club asked, among other things, whether the rest of the British empire is still around. That made me wonder: why are the British trying to hold onto their American colonies well into the 21st century when they were willing to give increasing self-governance and eventual independence to their dominions, like Canada and Australia, in OTL? Are we going to see a British-wank with the Union flag covering the world?

Personally I am not that impressed by what I have learned so far about The Thirteen. With cable having such a renaissance lately, I would rather see a show like this on a smaller network that does not have the budget for anything flashy. Still not everyone is as pessimistic as me. Counterfactual historian Gavriel Rosenfeld feels the show could be a success if it is used as vehicle for some social commentary, much like The Two Georges was, but how likely will we see Sir Martin Luther King? I'm not sure I agree that a network like ABC will go that route, but one can hope.

That is pretty much all we know about the show. A ballsy concept, a lot of room to screw up, plenty of speculation and this blogger trying not to get to over excited.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. His new short story "Road Trip" can be found in Forbidden Future: A Time Travel Anthology. 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.

The Confederat​ion Web Series Kickstarte​r

An intriguing new Kickstarter called The Confederation has caught my attention. It is a proposed web series set during the 1960's in a world where the South won the American Civil War. The story follows a squad of Confederate female snipers fighting in the Cuban War and a group of former slaves. You can check out the trailer here.

The point of divergence for this timeline is the Battle of Puebla in Mexico, May 5th 1862. In our timeline, the Mexicans win the battle, but in The Confederation timeline, the French win the battle, setting off a chain reaction that unintentionally alters the course of the American Civil War. The producers picked Puebla because it had, at least on the face of it, no influential role in the outcome of the American Civil War. They are firm believers in the butterfly effect, which is refreshing.

The producers hope to raise funds in order to produce the first season of the series and they are asking for $50k, which will be used to cover costs involved with creating and distributing the series, including travel and lodging expenses, paying the cast and crew, location fees, advertisements and equipment.

They plan to create at least eight episodes that will be distributed on Blip.tv, which is home to shows like  Red vs Blue. Each episode will be between 10 to 15 minutes long. The series will be in black and white, but will have some items (ex. flags) in color, similar to the style of Robert Rodriguez's Sin City or Gary Ross' Pleasantville.

$50k certainly sounds like an ambitious goal, but I am curious to see this web series get made. With so much alternate history television being made in the UK, it would be nice to watch a show that us Yanks can access. Good luck to the producers and as for the rest of you, go check out their Kickstarter.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a volunteer editor for Alt Hist magazine. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and The Were-Traveler. 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.

Abrams to Adapt Stephen King’s 11/22/63 for TV

Last Monday I shared an important headline for all alternate historians: J.J. Abrams wants to adapt Stephen King's 11/22/63. For those who don't know, here is the description from Amazon:

Dallas, 11/22/63: Three shots ring out. 

President John F. Kennedy is dead. 

Life can turn on a dime—or stumble into the extraordinary, as it does for Jake Epping, a high school English teacher in a Maine town. While grading essays by his GED students, Jake reads a gruesome, enthralling piece penned by janitor Harry Dunning: fifty years ago, Harry somehow survived his father’s sledgehammer slaughter of his entire family. Jake is blown away . . . but an even more bizarre secret comes to light when Jake’s friend Al, owner of the local diner, enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination. How? By stepping through a portal in the diner’s storeroom, and into the era of Ike and Elvis, of big American cars, sock hops, and cigarette smoke. . . . Finding himself in warmhearted Jodie, Texas, Jake begins a new life. But all turns in the road lead to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald. The course of history is about to be rewritten . . . and become heart-stoppingly suspenseful. 

In Stephen King’s “most ambitious and accomplished” (NPR) novel, time travel has never been so believable. Or so terrifying.

Originally it had been reported in August 2011 that Oscar-winning director of The Silence of the Lambs, Jonathan Demme had picked up the film rights to novel before it had even hit the shelves. King was even set to produce until in December 2012 when Demme announced he had backed out of the project citing creative differences with King.

The project seemed doomed until Abrams (director of the Star Trek reboot, Mission Impossible III and the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII) announced his production company Bad Robot is in negotiations with Warner Bros to adapt the book for the small screen. Now I know I originally said film on Monday and I apologize, but we can confirm it is now for television and could either be a series or mini-series.

This is actually better news then the book being adapted into a film, especially coming on the heels of BBC America's adaptation of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and the airing of "Snodgrass" on SkyTV. It is insanely difficult to make a faithful adaptation on film, but television gives you a lot more time and space to get it right (i.e. Game of Thrones). Also several people expressed concern on Monday that Abrams was taking on to many projects after I mistakenly called it a film . Now its likely he will be more of an overseer rather than boss, offering creative ideas but leaving the nitty-gritty work to others.

The only downside is the story itself is mostly a time travel/weird fiction tale than alternate history. You don't get a glimpse of the alternate world Epping creates until the end of the book. Expect a lot of "fish out of water" moments as Epping adjust to the past, some vaguely horror scenes as we visit old King haunts, battles with the obdurate past and an ongoing mystery surrounding the "Yellow Card Man" who might have a larger role to remind the audience they are not dealing with historical fiction. We probably won't see the alternate history until the end of the series.

Of course this is all assuming they make it a mini-series and not a full series. We will just have to wait and see. In the meantime, I promise to keep you posted on all further developments.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a volunteer editor for Alt Hist magazine. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and The Were-Traveler. 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.

Preview: Snodgrass and Other Illusions by Ian MacLeod

If you guys liked Ian MacLeod's Sidewise Award winning Wake Up and Dream, you might be interested in his new title: Snodgrass and Other Illusions.

Ian MacLeod’s short story "Snodgrass" is a retelling of the life of John Lennon, is now available in a new anthology coming out next Tuesday. Here is the description from Amazon:

After spending his adolescence like so many others had, playing in a band with friends, John Lennon knows it’s time to grow up. Skipping out on the Beatles before they would go on to become one of the greatest rock groups of the twentieth century, John moves to Birmingham. As he watches the exploits of friends Paul, Ringo, and George, John grows older and lives an ordinary life . . . and he is left wondering “what if?”

With “Snodgrass” as its anchor, this collection of eleven stories also includes “The Chop Girl,” inspired by the infamous Dresden bombing raids; “Past Magic,” a futuristic account of parents cloning their children who have passed away; “New Light on the Drake Equation,” inspired by a man’s journey as he searches for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence; and seven more tales that showcase MacLeod’s breadth as a writer.

"Snodgrass" has also been adapted for the small screen and will air on SkyTV in the UK April 25th. The show focuses on the story of a John Lennon who quit the Beatles and ends up living on government assistance. When the band play a gig down the street, suddenly there is a chance to make things right. Hopefully we will get a chance to see the show in the States because there are so few good shows for alternate historians but the Brits are at least heading in the right direction.

Nina Lassam from Open Road Media was kind enough to send me a review copy so stay tuned for the review, although I am not positive whether I will post it here or at Amazing Stories.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a volunteer editor for Alt Hist magazine. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and The Were-Traveler. 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.