100 Alternate History Writing Prompts is book 2 of 14, in the Science Fiction Writing Series. Combat writer's block with 100 Alternate History Writing Prompts. This book is useful for writing contests, short story inspiration, writing groups, NaNoWriMo, and writing workshops.

This important collection of essays acknowledges the long and distinctive history of the alternate history genre whilst also revelling in its vitality, adaptability, and contemporary relevance, with many of the chapters discussing late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century texts which have previously received little or no sustained critical analysis.

Are you seeking fantasy writing ideas? Perhaps you’re already a successful fantasy writer or maybe you’re at the initial aspiration stage. Fantasy fiction is enjoying an immense and growing popularity. The blockbusters and bestsellers just keep coming to feed an audience hungry for more and more. And within you there are fantasy worlds waiting to happen! This title taps into the creative force within and goes far beyond quick general fantasy fiction writing prompts. It offers rich and fun longer descriptions of fantasy writing scenarios, inspirations and story starters. Enjoy reading through possible medieval writing ideas, urban and dystopian fantasy scenarios, sci-fi writing suggestions, alternate history possibilities, fantasy governments and social systems, enchanted realms that have never existed before, as well as “almost” earth-like societies with magic that lies just beneath the radar. Embedded within the 100 entries, you will also find possible fantasy book title name ideas, fantasy character names, fantasy creatures, and more. You might take any individual entry and run with it, or mix and match elements from several entries. Fantasy fiction has a way of reminding us of universal truths as it bypasses the critical left brain hemisphere and takes us on a journey of wonderment, suspense and new possibilities. Here’s to your enjoyment and success as a fantasy fiction writer, and to the birth of brand new fantasy fiction worlds!

What if, on September 11, 1814, the United States had lost the close-run battle that Winston Churchill called the "most decisive" of the War of 1812? With a victory at Plattsburgh, would the British have eventually been able to regain control of their former colonies? Only one fleeting moment on Lake Champlain might have been needed to forever alter the young country's history and return it to the grip of King George III. Redcoats' Revenge brings the most successful field commander in history, the Duke of Wellington, to North America in 1814. A coalition of eight European countries has recently defeated Napoleon. With the emperor's threat to England eradicated, Wellington releases the most powerful military juggernaut for service in the Western Hemisphere. His audacious plan sends him and his avenging veteran redcoats plunging straight south from Lake Champlain toward New York City. In Washington, the streets crackle with tension at the news of British ships on the Chesapeake. The White House is promptly evacuated and the capital left undefended when a diversionary force approaches the city and chokes off Baltimore. President James Madison must now decide which of his generals is capable of successfully facing off with the Iron Duke. No friend of the tyrannical Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson, Madison finally agrees that he may be the only commander with any hope of matching Wellington. Redcoats' Revenge is a vivid montage of the personalities and battles--real and quite possible--of the War of 1812. With its clever and compelling premise, this exciting alternate history will enthrall readers and reveal just how close the United States was to becoming a British colony once again.

With the same unique vision that brought his now classic Mars trilogy to vivid life, bestselling author Kim Stanley Robinson boldly imagines an alternate history of the last seven hundred years. In his grandest work yet, the acclaimed storyteller constructs a world vastly different from the one we know. . . . “A thoughtful, magisterial alternate history from one of science fiction’s most important writers.”—The New York Times Book Review It is the fourteenth century and one of the most apocalyptic events in human history is set to occur—the coming of the Black Death. History teaches us that a third of Europe’s population was destroyed. But what if the plague had killed 99 percent of the population instead? How would the world have changed? This is a look at the history that could have been—one that stretches across centuries, sees dynasties and nations rise and crumble, and spans horrible famine and magnificent innovation. Through the eyes of soldiers and kings, explorers and philosophers, slaves and scholars, Robinson navigates a world where Buddhism and Islam are the most influential and practiced religions, while Christianity is merely a historical footnote. Probing the most profound questions as only he can, Robinson shines his extraordinary light on the place of religion, culture, power—and even love—in this bold New World. “Exceptional and engrossing.”—New York Post “Ambitious . . . ingenious.”—Newsday

Slavery is back. America, 1962. Having lost a war, America finds itself under Nazi Germany and Japan occupation. A few Jews still live under assumed names. The 'I Ching' is prevalent in San Francisco. Science fiction meets serious ideas in this take on a possible alternate history.

No matter what you teach, there is a 100 Ideas title for you! The 100 Ideas series offers teachers practical, easy-to-implement strategies and activities for the classroom. Each author is an expert in their field and is passionate about sharing best practice with their peers. Each title includes at least ten additional extra-creative Bonus Ideas that won't fail to inspire and engage all learners. _______________ Part of the best-selling 100 Ideas series, this book offers teachers quick and easy ways to engage students, convey complex knowledge, and build history-specific thinking skills. The activities in this book aim to embrace what is mind-boggling, bizarre and extraordinary about history and tap into students' innate curiosity and wonder, while still catering to the twin pressures of exam results and observation. With these criteria in mind, there are plenty of tips on demonstrating progress, ways of differentiating, preparing students for history assessments and examinations – while still having fun.

In July of 1863, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia scored a narrow victory over the Union Army of the Potomac in the Battle of Gettysburg. Soon after, President Abraham Lincoln was killed during a Confederate raid on the outskirts of Washington. With the war at an effective stalemate, rising opposition at home, and the growing threat of European intervention, the United States was forced to recognize the CSA as an independent nation. This victory, however, carried the seeds of disaster. Within a decade of their independence, the Confederate States began to tear themselves apart over many of the same divisive issues that had led to their breaking from the Union. By the 1970s, the former CSA is a patchwork of minor countries, often clashing with one another over resources, territory and ideology. Many blacks in these nations, seeking to escape the discrimination and subjugation they have endured since slavery's grudging end in the 1880s, have turned to guerrilla warfare, under the banner of the Brotherhood Liberation Army. The United States has largely avoided becoming involved in this and other Southern conflicts, preferring to prop up or engineer the fall of this regime or that, seeking to maintain its influence and dominance over these former states without provoking another war against the entire South. Nation reporter Terry Garrison-descendant of discredited abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison-knows this history all too well, and what it has done to him and his family. Sent to cover a momentous peace accord between the Republic of Mississippi and the BLA, he views the assignment as pointless: one more doomed attempt to bring peace to the fractious South. Then he stumbles across a soldier with an earth-shaking secret-one that could not only destroy the fragile peace in Mississippi and the Delta region, but potentially set off a new conflagration across the entire continent. But there is more to this secret than even Terry can guess. And there are those-South and North-who will stop at nothing to keep it buried... Mark Ciccone is a writer from the American Midwest, specifically Wisconsin. He writes alternate history, soft science fiction, and historical fiction. This is his first novel-length work.

A comprehensive guide to the speculative sub-genre of alternate history fiction, this book maps the unique terrain of this vibrant mode of storytelling and then explains how to write it. First giving a concise conceptual overview and the critical tools to differentiate the different forms of counterfactual fiction, Jack Dann lays out the 'tricks of the trade' such 'Heinleining', how to create recognizable 'divergent points' and how to employ paratextual elements and 'layering' to overcome readers' unfamiliarity with invented counterfactual events and cultures. Alongside this, Dann takes you step-by-step through a complete short story to demonstrate, line-by-line, how alternative history fiction works. As well as Dann's exacting methodology for writing professional quality alternate history stories, this book also features a live-on-the-page Q&A with some of the most esteemed alternate history writers working today, including Kim Stanley Robinson, John Birmingham and Lisa Goldstein among many others, who will detail their own particular hacks, theories, processes, methods and strategies. Combining extensive and deep knowledge of the field with accessible writing advice, this is the ultimate guidebook to the broad and complex sub-genre of counterfactual and alterative history fiction.

This anthology collects seven of the top stories in the alternate military-history genre by writers Harry Turtledove, Kim Stanley Robinson, John Mina, William Saunders, Michael F. Flynn, and editor Mike Resnick and submits them to scrutiny by seven eminent historians to find out just how probable the events they describe really are. Addressing pivotal historical events—including the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan, the Battle of New Orleans, radical politics and Southern strategy in the mid-20th century, the Napoleonic wars, Alcibiades's sack of Syracuse, the American Civil War, and Kenya's fight for independence from Britain—this book seeks to find out how different circumstances could have affected world history. Historians present intriguing questions about these events, such as: Could our atomic bomb policy really have been changed by one faulty screw? What if Napoleon had become emperor of the United States, leading such heroes as Crockett and Houston in the Battle of New Orleans? Would Admiral Nelson's defection to France really have altered the course of the Napoleonic wars? Would President Lincoln's assassination during the Gettysburg Address have left the Confederacy as a separate country? From one end of the historical spectrum to the other, this book looks at what didn't happen in military history to gain a richer understanding of all that did.