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rfmcdonaldI just thought that I'd mention, since I've finished rereading it against in Google Groups' soc.history.what-if archives, that if you're a fan of alternate history stories you should read Dragan Antulov's "Just Another September 1939 ISOT" (parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 here).
"ISOT" is the SHWI acronym for "In the Sea of Time," drawn from S.M. Stirling's novel Island in the Sea of Time and sequels, which describe what happens the modern island of Nantucket is transported back in time to a point four thousand years before the present. Many posters on soc.history.what-if have proposed various ISOT timelines, studying, for instance, what might have happened if the EU circa 2002 and the candidate member-states went back in time to 1942. The problem with ISOT timelines, at least from the perspectives of fans of alternate histories, is not only that they rely on deus ex machinas which can't be studied or analyzed very well (unlike "for want of a nail" timelines), but that they can be used by posters to express political views in The key example is someone's obnoxiously libertarian and Ameriphile Mars ("libertarian" meaning that all governments are evil, and "Ameriphile" meaning, well, Adam) transplanted from the early 26th century.
Dragan Antulov's story takes Yugoslavia as it existed on 1 September 1985--a stablish federation of six republics and two provinces, moderately prosperous but in economic decline, moderately politically plural but hamstrung by the constraints of post-Tito collective decisionmaking and the tensions between democratization and authoritarianism, militarily one of the most powerful neutrals in Cold War Europe--and transplants it 56 years in the past, to the very day that Nazi Germany invaded Poland and triggered the Second World War. Quite apart from the undeniable merits of his writing (a nice ironic style, an awareness of the personalities of Yugoslav and non-Yugoslav leaders, an enjoyable integration of Yugoslav pop culture into the narrative, a consideration of the strategic balance of power), the "Just Another September 1939 ISOT" timeline avoids the faults of most ISOT narratives. The country transplanted into the past is certainly powerful enough to change the course of 1939's events--Yugoslav GDP per capita in 1985 was on par with West Germany's a decade previously, for instance--but it isn't so powerful as to completely overturn the European balance of power, while its integration into said balance of power is convincingly and realistically portrayed. Besides, it isn't an ideological screed on the supremacy of Yugoslav-style communism.
Unfortunately, Dragan took "Just Another September 1939 ISOT" only to early October 1939, just in time for the reader to learn how a Macedonian music-video director might have been in just the right position to save Trotsky's life. It would be wonderful if Dragan picked the storyline up again, but even if he doesn't we've got his story preserved for eternity in the Google Groups archives.
Go, read.
"ISOT" is the SHWI acronym for "In the Sea of Time," drawn from S.M. Stirling's novel Island in the Sea of Time and sequels, which describe what happens the modern island of Nantucket is transported back in time to a point four thousand years before the present. Many posters on soc.history.what-if have proposed various ISOT timelines, studying, for instance, what might have happened if the EU circa 2002 and the candidate member-states went back in time to 1942. The problem with ISOT timelines, at least from the perspectives of fans of alternate histories, is not only that they rely on deus ex machinas which can't be studied or analyzed very well (unlike "for want of a nail" timelines), but that they can be used by posters to express political views in The key example is someone's obnoxiously libertarian and Ameriphile Mars ("libertarian" meaning that all governments are evil, and "Ameriphile" meaning, well, Adam) transplanted from the early 26th century.
Dragan Antulov's story takes Yugoslavia as it existed on 1 September 1985--a stablish federation of six republics and two provinces, moderately prosperous but in economic decline, moderately politically plural but hamstrung by the constraints of post-Tito collective decisionmaking and the tensions between democratization and authoritarianism, militarily one of the most powerful neutrals in Cold War Europe--and transplants it 56 years in the past, to the very day that Nazi Germany invaded Poland and triggered the Second World War. Quite apart from the undeniable merits of his writing (a nice ironic style, an awareness of the personalities of Yugoslav and non-Yugoslav leaders, an enjoyable integration of Yugoslav pop culture into the narrative, a consideration of the strategic balance of power), the "Just Another September 1939 ISOT" timeline avoids the faults of most ISOT narratives. The country transplanted into the past is certainly powerful enough to change the course of 1939's events--Yugoslav GDP per capita in 1985 was on par with West Germany's a decade previously, for instance--but it isn't so powerful as to completely overturn the European balance of power, while its integration into said balance of power is convincingly and realistically portrayed. Besides, it isn't an ideological screed on the supremacy of Yugoslav-style communism.
Unfortunately, Dragan took "Just Another September 1939 ISOT" only to early October 1939, just in time for the reader to learn how a Macedonian music-video director might have been in just the right position to save Trotsky's life. It would be wonderful if Dragan picked the storyline up again, but even if he doesn't we've got his story preserved for eternity in the Google Groups archives.
Go, read.
