Our 3rd Anniversary!

The state of TIAH

May 27th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Three years ago, I put up a few hundred words on Blogger that disappeared when I tried to edit them. So, the next day, I added a few more hundred words and reposted what I'd written before. A few days later, posters at Metafilter and BoingBoing brought a deluge of visitors to the site, and I was suddenly having to deal with the thought of having readers. Since that time, we've had enthusiastic fans set up web sites that pull our feed, (although the new Blogger caused them to stop working for a long time), clueless readers who are really unclear on the concept, our own explainer, and guest historians who mean the world to us. We turn today's post entirely over to them. Thank you all for a wonderful three years!

in 2004, the website "Today in Alternate History" begins. Almost immediately, its creator begins recieving odd e-mails: "How about an alternate history where Abraham Lincoln was the President, and John Wilkes Booth the shooter, instead of the other way around?" "Make an alternate timeline where the Beloved Fuhrer was killed by malcontents before he could install the Third Reich!" "Abejduc ei qpgeixu t kiiii querl euido xhe dix eiweoid yhzl xoi!"

Soon, the truth becomes apparent: this website now exists not only in the timeline its creator knows, but in every other timeline as well, all at once. As much fun as it is to peek into some timelines ("Emperor Robbie, Ruler of All Creation"? Hmmmm...), others give glimpses into disturbing possibilities that are hard to even think about, let alone comprehend. Ah, well, at least there's no shortage of material... Anniversary entry by LeaperBP

in 2004, on this day, seven years to the day after the Jarrell tornado, College Station TX is struck by a cluster of tornadoes at precisely 3:50 PM. Rescue workers from neighboring towns could find no survivors; in fact they found no deceased either. One man, who had been away from town on business, starts a website dedicated to the disappeared. Mr. Taylor appears to have become delusional, though, as his weblog advocates strange theories on where - or WHEN - the residents of College Station may have gone. Anniversary entry by Lance Lavandowska

After nearly 90 years, Ford Motor Company stopped producing the finest car ever, the Model T. After a few modifications in the years following 1908, the Model T had continued nearly unchanged; for who could improve upon such an excellent example of modern engineering.

The telegraph to the nation was sent from Henry Ford's descendant, Edsel B. Ford the Second: "My Great-Grandfather said 'I will build a motor car for the great multitude, constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise ... so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one--and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces'. And in that tradition, today I announce the Model A!" Anniversary entry not about our anniversary by Lance Lavandowska

Winston Churchill	"Why does the memory of Winston Churchill refuse to be exorcised? Why, forty years after his death and the end of World War II, do we have Churchill Victorious, an anthology of eleven stories set in various alternative worlds in which the, uh, Bulldog spirit of Imperial Britain did not end in the rubble of the Dollis Hill Bunker in North London?" ~ Norman Spinard
UK War Leader

Benford & Greenberg present a whole series of futures made possible by the plausible premise of a victorious Thousand-Year British Empire & Commonwealth The Amazon Review is available at Amazon.com Review

~ quotation by Guest Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

In 1919, Uncle Alf wrote - My very dear Angela, my circumstances are desperate. The Pomeranian doctors in this field hospital have diagnosed a severe mental disorder, attributed to shell shock from the front. I have told them of the evening when strange men burst into the ward and injected your Uncle with the madness of lycanthropy, yet none believe me. I send you many kisses, and wish I could give them to you in person. With much love, I remain your Uncle Alf.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Harry S Truman	In 1947, US President Harry S Truman stared out of the Oval Office window in the White House with his hands clasped neatly together behind his back. Incredible! he whistled through his teeth, Incredible! Returning to the Resolute Desk, he said to Generals Sir Bernard Montgomery and Dwight David Eisenhower: But ..
.. will it work? Yes sir they replied as if in stereo.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1989, events in the overthrow of the House of Stuart headed towards a climax. Buckingham Palace announced that the coronation of King James IV, the seventh in line to the thrown, would be scheduled in two weeks time, after a suitable period of mourning had passed. James IV was a playboy party-animal of a Prince who would ..	King James IV
.. think mourning was the hangover lie-in time of day. The mourning never happened. The coronation never happened either.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Diana, huntress	In 2001, at last after three bitter and frustrating years of searching the huntress was hunted. Finally, he had located the lady described by her brother as 'the unique the complex, the extraordinary and irreplaceable Diana'. That was the easy bit. Now he had to tell his boss. And there was something else. Dread.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1813, American forces capture Fort George in Canada, during the War of 1812. Napoleon Bonaparte and La Grande Armée were hot on their heals, determined to protect the sovereignty of French North America. It was the last campaign for the Little Corporate. He died on the bitter retreat from Yorktown (Toronto), defeated by ..	Napoleon Bonapa..
.. Generals December and January - the cruel Canadian winter.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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