Least favorite alt-history story?

[Jared]

Who knew you were Kasumigenx’s little brother this whole time? And please, Buddhist Roman Empire TL’s are cliched and boring. Make a Aztec England timeline instead.

More seriously, the idea I've been slowly working on is to explore the question of what would Buddhism develop into if it was adopted early in Greco-Roman history. It's not an exploration of a Buddhist Roman Empire per se, but what could evolve from an early interaction of the Greek philosophical schools with early Buddhism, and what flows from there. Any description of what happens to the Roman Empire would be almost incidental.

I've seen plenty of "lol Buddhist Rome" cliches turned out over the years, but only one I can remember that looked at what Buddhism itself might turn into. That was Answers for Milinda, a venerable timeline by Faeelin, and even then the focus was more on other areas. It also linked Buddhism with Stoicism, but I think that there is some potential for the exploration of what might happen if Buddhism became more closely linked with Epicureanism instead. I think that there's room for a fresh take on the alternate development of the religion (and possibly descendant religions).

Anyway, at this stage it's more of an idea. I've jotted down a few notes and short scenes, but not much that's coherent. It may or may not ever get turned into a timeline, depending on what I come up with about it.

 

[Matt]

More seriously, the idea I've been slowly working on is to explore the question of what would Buddhism develop into if it was adopted early in Greco-Roman history. It's not an exploration of a Buddhist Roman Empire per se, but what could evolve from an early interaction of the Greek philosophical schools with early Buddhism, and what flows from there. Any description of what happens to the Roman Empire would be almost incidental.

I've seen plenty of "lol Buddhist Rome" cliches turned out over the years, but only one I can remember that looked at what Buddhism itself might turn into. That was Answers for Milinda, a venerable timeline by Faeelin, and even then the focus was more on other areas. It also linked Buddhism with Stoicism, but I think that there is some potential for the exploration of what might happen if Buddhism became more closely linked with Epicureanism instead. I think that there's room for a fresh take on the alternate development of the religion (and possibly descendant religions).

Anyway, at this stage it's more of an idea. I've jotted down a few notes and short scenes, but not much that's coherent. It may or may not ever get turned into a timeline, depending on what I come up with about it.

Got a link?

 

[Jared]

Got a link?

Answers for Milinda is here. (Mine of course remains at the idea stage with nothing put up here or on AH.com yet).

 

[SenatorChickpea]

After watching the latest thread at the other site, I have decided that my least favourite alternate history story is any that gets people arguing over who gets Constantinople.

 

[Talwar]

Kids and their jibs these days...

 

[Coiler]

Having read a lot more technothrillers/AH aftweards, I've kind of softened somewhat on the later The Big One books since I posted about them here last year. The series is still bad, it's just not as uniquely or standout bad as I thought it was. In terms of plausibility and structure, it's not that much worse, if at all, than many technothrillers (especially later ones), and in terms of dryness, it's actually better than simple TLs in that it sincerely tries to have a true plot and characters.

 

[lordroel]

Having read a lot more technothrillers/AH aftweards, I've kind of softened somewhat on the later The Big One books since I posted about them here last year. The series is still bad, it's just not as uniquely or standout bad as I thought it was. In terms of plausibility and structure, it's not that much worse, if at all, than many technothrillers (especially later ones), and in terms of dryness, it's actually better than simple TLs in that it sincerely tries to have a true plot and characters.

So is it bad for me to have almost all of the books in the series, i like it, but think only one ore two A-bombs would have been enough to end the war instead of the overkill that is called The Big One.

 

[Coiler]

So is it bad for me to have almost all of the books in the series

Not at all, tastes are different and someone like me who read the entire Survivalist series and countless cheap thrillers is in no position to throw stones.

 

[Arthur_Phuxache]

Not at all, tastes are different and someone like me who read the entire Survivalist series and countless cheap thrillers is in no position to throw stones.

I've read Mack Bolan, Phoenix Force and Wingman novels so I don't judge either...

However, I have read this,

and I can't unread it....

 

[lordroel]

I've read Mack Bolan, Phoenix Force and Wingman novels so I don't judge either...

However, I have read this,

and I can't unread it....

Checked Amazon, think you are 100 % right, this is a E-book i will stay away from even if it was the only ALT novel we could buy.

 

[Arthur_Phuxache]

It's toe-curlingly awful. Not thematically bad, just riddled with inaccuracies and implausible situations.

 

[napoleon IV]

It's toe-curlingly awful. Not thematically bad, just riddled with inaccuracies and implausible situations.

On a scale from 1 to Hermann Goering, how sympathetic is the author to the Nazis?

 

[The Red]

On a scale from 1 to Hermann Goering, how sympathetic is the author to the Nazis?

From what comes across in the synopsis it doesn't seem to be sympathetic to the Nazis as much as a bizarre level of Wehrabooism and just a general lack of awareness. The failure of the Telemark raid leading to the Germans getting an H-Bomb by 1944 seems more like something out of a parody.

 

[Elektronaut]

From what comes across in the synopsis it doesn't seem to be sympathetic to the Nazis as much as a bizarre level of Wehrabooism and just a general lack of awareness. The failure of the Telemark raid leading to the Germans getting an H-Bomb by 1944 seems more like something out of a parody.

He might just have done the Bard32 equivalent of referencing Tora! Tora! Tora! as a historical source on Pearl Harbor, but with The Heroes of Telemark on nukes.

 

[The Red]

He might just have done the Bard32 equivalent of referencing Tora! Tora! Tora! as a historical source on Pearl Harbor, but with The Heroes of Telemark on nukes.

I love the ending of Heroes Of Telemark, where Kirk Douglas is on the ferry and is trying to save the children without raising alarm before it blows up.

"We're going to play a game on the deck, let's call it...lifejackets!"

It was like something from Chucklevision.

 

[RyanF]

I love the ending of Heroes Of Telemark, where Kirk Douglas is on the ferry and is trying to save the children without raising alarm before it blows up.

"We're going to play a game on the deck, let's call it...lifejackets!"

It was like something from Chucklevision.

Barry is playing Nearer My God to Thee on a kazoo as the ship goes down.

 

[Coiler]

From what comes across in the synopsis it doesn't seem to be sympathetic to the Nazis as much as a bizarre level of Wehrabooism and just a general lack of awareness. The failure of the Telemark raid leading to the Germans getting an H-Bomb by 1944 seems more like something out of a parody.

To be slightly fair, I can easily see someone with only a limited knowledge of WWII doing something like that. "I want history to diverge and the Germans to get a nuke-hmm, they sank something important, have that not happen [maybe aided by a sensationalist pop history book/TV show] - ah, there's the German nuke".

 

[Arthur_Phuxache]

On a scale from 1 to Hermann Goering, how sympathetic is the author to the Nazis?

About a seven.

 

[Arthur_Phuxache]

"I want history to diverge and the Germans to get a nuke-hmm, they sank something important, have that not happen [maybe aided by a sensationalist pop history book/TV show] - ah, there's the German nuke".

HMS Rodney, off Normandy, with Churchill and George VI on board.

 

[The Red]

To be slightly fair, I can easily see someone with only a limited knowledge of WWII doing something like that. "I want history to diverge and the Germans to get a nuke-hmm, they sank something important, have that not happen [maybe aided by a sensationalist pop history book/TV show] - ah, there's the German nuke".

Oh totally, the thought of the Nazis getting the bomb is horrifying but it's also tantalising and it's no surprise that it pops up time and time again but it doesn't take long to find out that it's very difficult to achieve that. Admittedly I described a very similar scenario in a TL on The Other Place, except it was a U-Boat rather than an E-Boat and a dirty bomb rather than a thermonuclear device so I can relate to what he was going for.