I didn't want to end the week without posting about something related to alternate history, so lets watch some videos. First up, here are five facts on the steampunk game, The Order: 1886:
Next up, it may not be alternate history, but Game of Thrones (and the books they are based on, A Song of Ice and Fire) sure are inspired a lot from real history. Lets take a look at the wars that inspired them:
And finally, Thug Notes reviews Alan Moore's Watchmen:
Got any videos or YouTube channels that you want to recommend? Let us know in the comments or at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.
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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.
Mammoth sized Videos for Alternate Historians today since it has been weeks since I posted any videos on this blog. Let's begin with Lindsay Ellis breaking down all the versions of the Wicked Witch of the West:
Yeah not alternate history, but still a fun dissection of an iconic character and all of the adaptations throughout history. Next up, Cody Franklin of the Alternate History Hub shares with us the lore of Max Brooks' World War Z:
Want to know how long it has really been since I made an article like this? It was so long, Cody actually posted another video! That is almost unheard of. Anywho, check out what would happen if Pangea still existed:
Moving right along, for those who like war games, lets learn about five facts about Battlefield 1943 from the guys at Achievement Hunter:
And lets spend even more time with those guys as they playZombie Army Trilogy:
In case you didn't realize it, I really like Rooster Teeth and all their projects. Check out the Patch Game Club discuss Valiant Hearts, the World War I video game:
Although I do find How To with Joel and Adam to be hit and miss at times, I thought their commentary on The Order: 1886 was fantastic:
This whole post has been heavy on video games, but we only have one more left, the honest trailer for Bioshock:
And if you missed it, don't forget to check out my presentation at the Sideways in Time Conference about the online alternate history community:
Got any videos or YouTube channels that you want to recommend? Let us know in the comments or at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.
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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.
Got some more alternate history videos for you guys to enjoy. First up, long-time contributor to The Update, Sean Korsgaard, posted a recording of the "What If" Moments in History panel from Mysticon 2015. You can see part 1 here:
And you can find the rest here. Moving right along, we can now watch the trailer for the upcoming mystery drama Mr. Holmes:
I realize some people might not be interested in watching Sherlock Holmes go senile, but I still think this movie has potential. Next up, check out the trailer for Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, the prequel to Wolfenstein: The New Order:
I honestly laughed at the ending to this trailer and I think you will too. Finally we finish up with a Zero Punctuation review of The Order: 1886. This is the first time I tried embedding a video that was not from YouTube so let me know if something isn't working:
Got any videos or YouTube channels that you want to recommend? Let us know in the comments or at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.
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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.
Thanks to everyone who watched, commented and liked the trailer for my new YouTube channel. Of course, if you want to see more talented people make videos then I have some offerings for you today that will more than satisfy that need.
Up first, a look at one of Hollywood's most historically inaccurate film from the guys at Cinema Sins:
Seriously the history is so bad in Gladiator that it is amazing this movie is not considered an alternate history film. Next we have the world's worst werewolf hunter, McKinley:
I know this wasn't Rooster Teeth's intention, but this video certainly sums up most people's feeling about The Order: 1886. And now we end, as we often do, with a look at the newest episode from the Alternate History Hub. This week, Cody Franklin asks what if the United States manufactured a reason to go to war with Cuba:
Got any videos or YouTube channels that you want to recommend? Let us know in the comments or at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.
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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.
Editor's Note So I was at Capricon this weekend and to be honest, it was kind of a disappointment. I wasn't interested in the panels that were offered and attendance at the panels I was on, even from the panelists, was low. O well, maybe it will be better next year.
And now the news...
Preview: The Diabolical Miss Hyde: An Electric Empire Novel by Viola Carr
A new book that is making the Internet rounds is Viola Carr's The Diabolical Miss Hyde. Here is the description from Amazon:
Forensic science, magic, mystery, and romance mix in this edgy steampunk fantasy—a retelling of the horror classic, in which Dr. Eliza Jekyll, daughter of the infamous Dr. Henry Jekyll—pursues a dangerous murderer in an alternate Victorian London. In an electrified Victorian London, Dr. Eliza Jekyll is a crime scene investigator, hunting killers with newfangled technological gadgets. She will need every advantage available to catch a terrifying new psychopath splattering London with blood. Hidden in the grimy shadows, the fiendish murderer preys on beautiful women, drugging them before slicing off their limbs. Finding the “Slicer” can make Eliza’s career . . . or unmask her darkest secret. Like her father, she has a hidden second self that emerges when she drinks his forbidden magical elixir. Just a few sips, and a seductive and impulsive Lizzie Hyde is unleashed. The members of the Royal Society do not trust Eliza, and they send their enforcer, the mercurial Captain Lafayette, to prove she’s a dangerous sorceress. The careful doctor knows that one wrong step can make her prey to the clever Lafayette, a man who harbors an evil curse of his own. No matter how much she craves the elixir, she must resist. But as the Slicer case draws her into London’s luminous magical underworld, Eliza will need the potion’s power to help her . . . even if it might attract the attentions of Lafayette. . Even if it means setting the wild Lizzie free. . . .
Carr has been doing a lot of promotion for her new novel. At SF Signal she wrote a guest post discussing magic and science and she stopped by The Qwillery to give an interview. If you happen to check out The Diabolical Miss Hyde, let us know what you thought in the comments.
Crusader Kings II Celebrates Its Three Year Anniversary
This weekend, Paradox Development Studio is marking the third anniversary of its medieval grand strategy game Crusader Kings II. Since its release in February 2012, Crusader Kings II has sold 1.1 million copies of the base game and over 2.5 million copies of its various expansions. If you include the cosmetic DLC for sale, that adds up to over 8 million add-ons for the base game. Over the last year of its lifetime, Crusader Kings II is still averaging over a hundred thousand monthly active users on Steam. Paradox also released this infographic of the game's history:
“We continue to be overwhelmed by the popularity of Crusader Kings II,” says lead designer Henrik Fahraeus. “For many thousands of people, this is their first Paradox game, and people continue to tell us about the rise and fall of their dynasties and empires. Our games at PDS have always been about stories, but Crusader Kings II gives you characters sometimes doing petty things on a grand stage. I think people like that.”
To celebrate this anniversary, Paradox is offering a week’s worth of special discounts on a selection of Crusader Kings II related products at the official webstore and select partners.
Videos for Alternate Historians We end the week as usual with some more alternate history videos. We begin with this video with Book Riot which recommends several books to read for Black History Month:
And we end with Kinda Funny checking out the the alternate history of The Order: 1886:
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.
Editor's Note I was so happy to get one of my two big announcements out of the when I revealed my Capricon 35 schedule. I plan to make the second this week, so stay tuned for some more big news.
Not sure if I talked about this yet, but I am going to be doing something different for the rest of the year. Occasionally I have experimented with "theme" months, but this year I am going to put a little more effort into it. You will learn more about what I am planning later either at the end of the week or next Monday.
And now the news...
What do the critics think of Agent Carter?
I know The Man in the High Castleis still on all of your minds and trust me I didn't forget about it. In fact I made another special link dump for it below under the Links to the Multiverse section. We still don't know when we are going to get a new episode, so if you need your alternate history television fix, why don't you check out Agent Carter?
According to Wikipedia: In 1946, Peggy Carter must balance the routine office work she does for the Strategic Scientific Reserve (S.S.R) while secretly assisting Howard Stark, who finds himself framed for supplying deadly weapons to the top bidder. Carter is assisted by Stark's butler, Edwin Jarvis, to find those responsible and dispose of the weapons.
Now I have always held that the Captain America films and their spin-offs, like Agent Carter, blur the lines of comic book universe and alternate history. Even if it is not a true alternate history, there is no denying it has a dieselpunk aesthetic to it (and if you want some unexpected dieselpunk, go watch The Grand Budapest Hotel). But is it any good?
Well so far the reviews I have seen have been positive. Liz Bourke of Tor said she is in love with the show, but she may be predisposed to liking to show because of her "pro-ladies-hitting-people-with-snappy-dialogue" personality. Meanwhile Vix from Geek Syndicate gave episode three a 4 out of 5 star review and praised the show for being a trailblazer in bringing more female leads to the Marvel universe.
Have you watched Agent Carter yet? Tell us what you think in the comments.
“El Dorado” Expansion for Europa Universalis IV Lets You Go For Gold
Yeah I didn't come up with that title, but I thought it was amusing. Anywho, Paradox Development is bringing the genocide adventure and politics of the Spanish conquest to life with the "El Dorado" expansion for Europa Universalis IV.
This expansion’s historical focus will be on the Central American and South American theaters. According to the press release, you can play "[a]s the Aztecs, [and[ subject the Mexican plain to your rule but make sure you have enough vassal kings to sacrifice to your angry gods. As the Europeans, push deeper into the jungles of the Amazon, following rumors of lost cities and magical fountains. Defer to the Pope as he intervenes to divide the New World among squabbling empires."
The centerpiece mechanic of "El Dorado" is the Nation Designer, a tool that let’s you customize your starting nation in a campaign. You choose your starting capital and neighboring provinces, modify your starting culture and leader and then play as this nation in the game. Sounds like a useful tool when crafting an alternate history scenario.
Learn more by watching the trailer:
Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado will be available on major digital delivery platforms for Windows, Mac and Linux next month.
Videos for Alternate Historians Its time for some more YouTube videos that bend the borders of reality. We begin with Game Theory's look at the Pokemon multiverse:
Learn more about the game's plot here and see how violent the game is here. And finally, we end by asking is time travel possible with some of the most seductive British accents Doctor Who can provide:
Links to the Multiverse Amazon's The Man in the High Castle
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.
Editor's Note Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day everybody!
So I am sure you guys are all waiting to hear my opinion on Amazon's The Man in the High Castle. I do have a review coming out on Amazing Stories and, spoiler alert, I liked it. In fact from all the reviews and commentary I have seen on the pilot, I am not alone in my opinion. There was just so many reviews and commentaries that I put off writing a summary and instead added a section on the show in the Links to the Multiverse below, so you can check that out if you want more details. It certainly seems like it is the hit of the Amazon pilot season, which is good news for alternate historians, but more on that later.
No Map Monday this week. I really didn't see a map I thought was good enough to feature and instead of blogging about a mediocre map just for the sake of content, I decided to skip this week and just take the hit in page views by not posting the next installment in my most popular series. I am sure that won't have any negative side effects.
I know I promised last week two important announcements, but I am still working out the kinks. Hopefully I can make at least one of them this week.
And now the news...
New Releases: The Last American Vampire by Seth Grahame-Smith
Vampire Henry Sturges returns in the highly anticipated sequel to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter-a sweeping, alternate history of twentieth-century America by New York Times bestselling author Seth Grahame-Smith. THE LAST AMERICAN VAMPIRE In Reconstruction-era America, vampire Henry Sturges is searching for renewed purpose in the wake of his friend Abraham Lincoln's shocking death. Henry's will be an expansive journey that first sends him to England for an unexpected encounter with Jack the Ripper, then to New York City for the birth of a new American century, the dawn of the electric era of Tesla and Edison, and the blazing disaster of the 1937 Hindenburg crash. Along the way, Henry goes on the road in a Kerouac-influenced trip as Seth Grahame-Smith ingeniously weaves vampire history through Russia's October Revolution, the First and Second World Wars, and the JFK assassination. Expansive in scope and serious in execution, THE LAST AMERICAN VAMPIRE is sure to appeal to the passionate readers who made Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter a runaway success.
If you want to learn more about the author you can see his interviews on Red Eye, Reddit and B&N.
Author Updates: Jo Walton and Greg van Eekhout Last week I talked about Jo Walton's The Just Cityand Greg van Eekhout's Pacific Fire. If you want to learn more about those books I highly recommend you check out the last Weekly Update. Nevertheless I would be remiss if I did not cover what people are still saying about both authors' works.
Joel Cunningham of the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog called The Just City a "richly written, deeply imaginative story" and also praised the author for her ability to write "amazing" books for almost every genre. One of those books was My Real Children, which was recently discussed on The Sometime Seminar podcast. And lets not forget about Greg. Paul Di Filippo, writing a review for Locus, praised the language of Pacific Fire and called the conclusion "highly satisfactory and resonant". If you want to learn more about the California Bones universe, check out this article these pictures and descriptions of the characters at Tor.
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.
Editor's Note
Merry Christmas everybody. This is the last Weekly Update of the year. I got a couple of more articles I will be posting, but in general I am going to be taking a long break to spend time with family over the holiday season. I will see you guys all again in 2015!
And now the news...
What do the critics think of Ascension?
Last week, SyFy premiered the SF mini-series called Ascension. It is a murder mystery set on a nuclear powered spaceship secretly launched in the 1960s to colonize a nearby star system to ensure humanity's survival in case we ever decided to nuke the Earth. The ship itself is inspired by the real life Project Orion, a program Mark Appleton covered in his articles on atompunk on The Update. So what did the critics think of this show? Well there have been mixed reviews and I will do my best to avoid potential spoilers (trust me there is a big one that was already ruined for me).
So the general consensus seems to be that Ascension made a great pilot, but mediocre mini-series. Personally I would rather watch a show featuring a Solar System that was explored and colonized during the Cold War using nuclear powered spaceships. What would 2014 look like in such a universe? Perhaps we would see a Soviet remnant state in the Asteroid Belt causing problems or some utopian communes out in the Oort Cloud. Nevertheless, I probably will check out Ascension in the near future so stay tuned for my review.
Author Updates: Charles Stross and Paul Levinson
Just a couple of updates on some alternate history writers. First up, we have Charles Stross, the author of the Merchant Princes series. Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing wrote a short review about the series, calling them "surprising and delightful, simultaneously zippy and fun and hefty and deep." Stross also mentioned he is working on a new trilogy of Merchant Princes books in a mini-interview done at The Boskone Blog. Next up we have friend of The Update, Paul Levinson, who has been sharing reviews of his two works, The Plot to Save Socrates and "Loose Ends" on his blog. I actually got a copy of "Loose Ends" when Paul offered it for free on Amazon and I hope to post a review in the near future. Speaking of Paul, you can check out his review of Ascension as well on his blog.
Coming Soon Due to a lack of new releases this week and wanting to keep Tuesday morning open for something else, I am bringing your New Releases to you a little early.
In the near future, America's worst nightmare has come true. With military adventurism overseas bogging down the Army and National Guard, the U.S. government mistakenly neglects the very real threat of anti-establishment militias scattered across the 50 states. Like a sleeping giant, Middle America rises up and violently pushes its way to the shining seas, coming to a standstill at the line in the sand--Manhattan or, as the world now knows it, the DMZ.
In this new DMZ hardcover, a new leader rises in the DMZ - but what will that mean for Matty Roth, a journalist who calls the zone home? After a near-tragic misadventure in Staten Island, Matty returns to find Parco Delgado in office as provisional governor of New York. Matty's first task under the Delgado regime? Tracking down the source of one of the DMZ's greatest urban legends.
Collects DMZ #29-44.
Videos for Alternate Historians Last week in videos begins as it usually does with another episode of Epic Rap Battles of History. Featuring a showdown between Steven Spielberg and Alfred Hitchcock (plus special guests):
Next up, lets take an in-depth look at The Order: 1886, PlayStation's exclusive steampunk game, on The Nerdist:
And finally, for those who like WWII tank battles, lets watch Joel, Adam, Matt and Jeremy play World of Tanksin this episode of How To:
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.
Editor's Note The Update had one of its best days in terms of page views last Tuesday. It began when a person named "seemoreglass" posted a link to One Way to Divide America: Ethnicity on MetaFilter. In that single day we got 4,837 page views and the link to the article spread to severalTumblrblogs. Pretty impressive for a one-mad blog in a niche market.
So what did I learn from the experience of going viral? Well I did see a slight increase in ad revenue, but barely saw any interest in any other articles on The Update or any surge in social media followers. Although there were a lot of comments on the actual MetaFilte page, I didn't read much of them, mostly because they started turning nasty early, but I did read some new comments we got on the article page itself and was not impressed by what I saw.
The oddest thing about all this is that it happened with an article I posted on February 8, 2012. That was more than a year ago and it only got noticed now. I guess we can write this off as one of those odd phenomenon's of the Internet. You just never know when something is going to become popular.
Barring any new entries into the DBWI writing contest, this week's post schedule is pretty much set in stone. New Releases return's to its regularly scheduled slot tomorrow and Wednesday, which happens to be the 2 year anniversary of The Update, I will publishing a short letter to the fans looking both into the past and future. Thursday we get to read Dimas Aditya Hanandito entry into the DBWI writing contest and Friday we get two articles on the Before Watchmenprequel series from Sean Korsgaard.
And now the news...
Tor UK buys interdimensional spy trilogy by Genevieve Cogman
I have to warn you that the rest of this Weekly Update will focus on video games since E3 happened last week. Since this is primarily a literary blog, however, I am going to start by talking about Pan Macmillan’s Tor imprint acquiring The Invisible Library by debut UK novelist Genevieve Cogman. Senior Commissioning editor Bella Pagan bought World rights in this novel and two others by Cogman from Lucienne Diver at The Knight Agency.
The concept behind these books has inspired comparisons such as “Doctor Who with librarian spies”. Here is how the story is described:
The redoubtable Irene is a secret agent for the ultimate inter-dimensional library, a covert organization that gathers knowledge from parallel worlds. Irene’s latest assignment posts her, and her enigmatic assistant, to an alternative Victorian London. Their goal being to retrieve an extremely dangerous book. But when she arrives, it’s already been stolen – and soon she’s up to her eyebrows in thieves, murderers and secret societies – with a dash of the supernatural in store.
Cogman said: “I’m incredibly excited that Tor will be publishing my books – I still can’t quite believe it’s true. I’m honoured to be in the company of authors such as Paul Cornell, Charles Stross, and other brilliant writers. I really hope that other people will enjoy this series, and be entertained by the Library.”
Pagan commented: “This book brings a new urgency to the term ‘must read’ – hugely entertaining, clever and a lot of fun. I just fell in love with the writing, which reminded me of Jasper Fforde by way of Gail Carriger’s Soulless, with the humour of Ben Aaronovitch.’
Still the concept sounds interesting and I think alternate historians, being the voracious readers that we are, might get a kick out of librarians battling it out across the multiverse.
The Order: 1886 Revealed at E3
Alright, I promised video games and lets start with the one blowing up the Internet: The Order: 1886. The game is being developed by Ready at Dawn and published by Sony Computer Entertainment which will be released exclusively for the upcoming PlayStation 4 (PS4), which sucks because I am an Xbox guy. Announced at E3, The Order is set in alternative Victorian Era London where the industrial revolution came about as an effort to win a centuries-old war against inhuman enemies (because humans just got tired of fighting each other, I suppose). Let us take a look at the trailer as it is revealed at E3 (the crowd sure does seem excited):
So the trailer gives us a glimpse at this steampunk, horror game featuring some epic mustaches and Victorian airships (at this point I am really upset with you Limeys for not inventing these earlier). We, of course, see the futuristic weaponry the genre is known for, including what looks like a Tesla coil gun, but whether it will be a poor copy of BioShock Infinite or a great game on its own remains to be seen. Exactly what gameplay is like is still unknown, although one commentator suggests the enemy may be werewolves and you will have to hunt them down in co-op. The game does not have a release date as of yet and in fact has been in development hell for years.
The next big game to come out of E3 for alternate historians is the steampunk, fantasy Black Gold. Being produced by Snail Games, it is an MMORPG PC game inspired by the myths and fairytales throughout Northern Europe. Black Gold combines the magic-filled world of fantasy with the mechanized, gothic world of steampunk.
The game setting itself is divided between six races, each on the side of steam or sorcery. Players will be able to trigger more than 3,000 dynamic events and actions that can change the game world. Additionally, characters will have the ability to change forms and drive giant armored mechs in combat (or elephants). Black Gold also features cross-genre gameplay, including both first-person (FPS) and third-person shooter (TPS) elements.
The game sort of reminds me of Arcanum, a game I have only a little experience with after playing the demo once. From the screenshots it certainly looks impressive, but the fantasy elements are not my thing. The Order is still on the top of my list, unless...
More on Wolfenstein: The New Order ...you let me kill Nazis in a timeline where the Axis won World War II.
Although I've talked about this game previously, for those who don't know, Wolfenstein: The New Order is an upcoming first-person shooter video game in development by MachineGames to be published by Bethesda Softworks for most platform. The New Order is the ninth installment in the Wolfenstein series and is set for launch later this year.
Also this is the last day to see a steampunk-ified version of Into the Woods at Lake City Playhouse in Idaho.
July 7: The Guildhall in Cambridge, UK will be host to "a world in which Victoriana and steam-powered inventions collide spectacularly with ideas of the future."
Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. His new story "The Enchanted Bean" can be found in Once Upon a Clockwork Tale from Echelon Press. 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.
