THE TONY JONES
ALTERNATE HISTORY PAGE

Alternative history is a sub-genre of science fiction that has interested me for quite some time. For those who are not familiar with it, alternative history is something which looks at the 'what ifs' of history, looking at things that could have happened at various points in history - events that could have gone a different way to how they did in reality - and seeing what sort of world, and what sort of history, grows out of those changed events.

An example of this sort of thing is the question 'What if Napoleon had won at Waterloo?' What would that victory have implied for Europe, and the world? And what would the world be like today if Napoleon had won there? Probably something very different to the real world, but how different, and in what ways? Most alternative histories concern human history, but there are also examples of alternative natural histories too, making changes in geology or ecology and seeing where they lead.

I have written a number of alternate histories over the years, and that is the main reason that I have created this page. Many of them were created in relation to various of the roleplaying games that I run. Some of them, particularly ones involving the appearance of superhumans in the world at some point, are very specific to those games, or types of games, and as such are included there, rather than here. Others are more generic, and they are the ones that I have included here.

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Please note the following disclaimer.

Send any comments to me at tony {dot} website {at} clockworksky {dot} net.

Also, be aware that this site is constantly under construction, so it is entirely possible that things will be changed or added to without warning or notification (though it will be very rarely that anything is actually removed).

MY ALTERNATE HISTORIES

• Clive-Less World : An alternate history where Robert Clive (Clive of India) committed suicide before forcing the French from India, leading to a French-dominated world with a different path of political and scientific development.
• Gurkani Âlam : An alternate history where the Mughal Empire remains strong, leading to a world dominated by the nations of India and Europe, with somewhat more rapid technological development than in the real world.
• Monarchy World : An alternate history where there are three superpowers, the British, Russian and Chinese Empires, engaged in a three-way nuclear balance of power.
• Puritan World : An alternate history where the powers of Europe are threatened by the totalitarian and theocratic Puritan New Commonwealth of the Americas.
• Superpunk : An alternate history where the Axis won W.W.II, and where the current year is 2127.
• Tellus : A history in which the Roman and Chinese Empires met in 100 AD, leading to a much earlier industrial revolution and a catastrophic world war in 1475 AD.
• Wolfworld : An alternate history where the last ice age never ended.

All of these either would be or have been suitable settings for roleplaying games.

OTHER THINGS

• The Fractions of Perceptibly Different Alternate Timelines : Some thoughts on how many alternate timelines will be the same, from a human perspective.

LINKS

To various things that have been very useful in the creation of my alternate histories.

• Sea Lion Press, a publishing label dedicated to alternate history, publisher of my novel.
• AlternateHistory.com, a massive resource of alternate histories, including an active Discussion Board.
• The Alternate History Wiki, which is what it says, really...
• Changing The Times, an Alternate History Electronic Magazine.
• Alternate History Fiction, Grey Wolf's alternate history site.
• Richard Brown's Alternate History Site.
• Wikipedia on Alternate History.
• The FAQ of the Soc.History.What-If Newsgroup, which explains quite a lot about alternate history in general and the newsgroup in particular.
• Today in Alternate History. News from alternate realities!
• Tilt!, a 'series of alternate Earths, playing with climatology, evolution, and cultural geography', by Chris Wayan. This fantasically detailed site sees what might happen if the axis of rotation of the Earth was located differently.
• The Speculative Dinosaur Project. What if the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs ... missed?
• Uchronia, an annotated bibliography of over two thousand alternate-history-related items.
• Edgar Governo's Page, containing many, many timelines.
• Footnotes to History,'an overview of ephemeral states, micronations, secessionist states, and every other kind of country you never heard of in high school', and as such quite a useful source for Alternate History ideas.
• Flags of the World, a site that is very useful for creating the flags of alternate nations.
• Wikipedia In General.