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By Ryan Fleming. Outside a familiar brownstone in Manhattan, a quiet man stood on its stoop. He held a package in his hands, and a pistol in his pocket. Inside that same familiar brownstone, Charles Chance was brought up to speed by his partners on the appearance of a strange new world in the Pacific Ocean. “Speculation of dragons and gold and all sorts,” Annie Thomas was concluding, “but despite such embellishments, it does appear that the actual reports of a vast new contin

By Alexander Rooksmoor. I was eager to write an alternate history spy novel and naturally Constantinople has always been a good place for such stories. As Istanbul, it features as a locale in From Russia with Love; The Murder on the Orient Express starts there, while Graham Greene’s Stamboul Train goes the other way; Sweet Waters’ by Harold Nicolson is set nearby in 1913. The most recent prompt for me was Time and Time Again in which a portal allows travel back to a 1914 Cons

The Smashwords summer sale has come round again, and throughout the whole of July, dozens of Sea Lion Press books are 50% off! We've got thematic anthologies and we've got big chunky series, we've got war stories and slices of life, we've got British politics and we've got hippos in America -- all of it waiting for you! Discuss this Article

By Roshita Narasimhan. On the Sea Lion Press Forums, we run a monthly Vignette Challenge. Contributors are invited to write short stories on a specific theme (changed monthly). The theme for the 90th contest was The Nineties . Washington DC, the American Republic, 1994 The statue stood proudly as rope enveloped it. Tall, bronze, dignified. The figure still raised his hand much as a preacher would, making an imaginary speech to an imaginary crowd. His face frozen in a smile. T

By Ryan Fleming. Outside the Midtown brownstone, the assembled press of New York City was aflutter with excitement that the reports of a strange new world coming from the Pacific were being investigated by the legendary Renaissance Man. Inside the brownstone, on the other hand, Charles Chance, a name he had adopted long before the moniker of the Renaissance Man, was slumped against the heavy door that marked the demarcation point for that persona. Outside the brownstone, Char

By Gary Oswald. The Normans sail their army into England, as seen in the Bayeux Tapestry; picture courtesy Wikimedia Commons. If there is one thing that has defined the geopolitical situation of the British Isles over the last 500 years, it is the fact that they have a moat. The nature of British warfare has been that it happens in other people’s lands because foreign armies do not get past the Royal Navy. The British have many times been defeated on the continent, by Nazi Ge

By Charles E.P. Murphy Andy Burnham defeats his political challengers in the Makerfield by-election of 18th June 2026. Cropped from Sky News live coverage, in low quality to illustrate article. As of writing, Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Manchester, has returned to the House of Commons by winning a by-election — and everyone knows he’s planning to challenge Keir Starmer for leadership of Labour and thus the job of Prime Minister. By the time you’re reading this, the challenge h

By Ryan Fleming. Harry Bell did not care for the night watch. There were precious few jobs he did care for aboard the Brunswick, but the night watch was an especially frustrating one. He was stuck on deck for the entire night, and that far out at sea on that dark a night he was staring into an unending darkness for the full watch. There was only the muffled sound of the engines to keep him company. Very few crewmembers moved about deck at night, and those that did would much

By Ryan Fleming. A sinister TV broadcast will kill your kids... Cropped from the Halloween III, uploaded by Shout Studios, in low quality to illustrate article. There are plenty of ideas for films that never see the light of day due to their subject matter being too provocative. There are even plenty made whose subject matter makes them the source of great controversy. One of the former that it is easy to imagine becoming the latter is The Big, Big Giggle from Manx playwright

By Paul Hynes. French sailors are inspected on the destroyer Léopard in June 1942; this crew would go on to engage a U-Boat a few weeks later. From the Imperial War Museum's collection via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. The flash of naval gunfire adds to the light of the early morning horizon. On this early day in June, it is the first greeting from the vast liberation armada swarming the Normandy coast. The defenders are both fascinated and horrified by the sight. They re

Edited by David Flin. Written by: Heath Aberdeen Falisha Adiguna Eesha Haq Teddy Harrison Jaiden-David Hinds Ame Lock Eden Murray Betsy Street Chapter Six. Brian and Mary looked in awe at the huge pile of books that had arrived. It was going to take them all day just to sort through them. With all the books they had on asteroids and all the books they had on magic, surely they could come up with something to save the world? “The only problem is, will anyone know we did it?” B

By Matthew Kresal. CD cover, via Big Finish's website. The decision in February 1985 to put Doctor Who on hiatus had an immeasurable impact upon the series. The series, which had already begun to bleed viewers, would continue to do so until BBC executives felt they could end it in everything but name nearly five years later. The decision also arguably tarnished the image of Colin Baker as the Doctor, which was further harmed when the same executives pushed him out of the role

By Gary Oswald. Members of the City Imperial Volunteers burn a farm at Frederickstrad. This left the guerillas unable to feed themselves, and starved civilians in their thousands. Picture out of copyright, held by the National Army Museum. As discussed in the previous article, the British armies in South Africa were firmly in the ascendancy during 1900. But as they advanced into the Boer Republics, capturing their capitals, they made only limited efforts to bring the Boer arm

Edited by David Flin. Written by: Heath Aberdeen Falisha Adiguna Eesha Haq Teddy Harrison Jaiden-David Hinds Ame Lock Eden Murray Betsy Street Chapter Three. Mary and Brian set off with a determined air towards the library. They weren’t sure what they were looking for, but they knew they had to find it. The first thing they did was look up when Halley’s Comet was next due. “July 28, 2061,” Mary read. “Oh, good. We’ve got some time, then. What books will we need?” They eventua

By Alexander Wallace. This article was originally published at Nerds of a Feather and the original article can be found there. Please check that blog for more like this. The English translation's cover, courtesy Amazon. One of the things that consistently provides me with a mild degree of amusement as an alternate history fan is how writers from other genres, and especially outside the speculative fiction scene, and especially outside of genre fiction, accidentally reinvent a

By Wm. Garrett Cothran. The first version of the idea was not really Mad Men in a Nazi victory timeline. That became the larger shape later. The first version was closer to Columbo. I always liked the structure of Columbo: you know who did it. You watch the murderer first. You see the confidence, the planning, the arrogance, the little mistake they do not realize is a mistake yet. Then Columbo appears. He is not there to discover the crime in the usual detective story way. He

Edited by David Flin. Written by: Heath Aberdeen Falisha Adiguna Eesha Haq Teddy Harrison Jaiden-David Hinds Ame Lock Eden Murray Betsy Street Introduction There’s a junior school in south London – it doesn’t matter which one – where I work. One of the things I do there is run an after-school club for some of the older children (aged 9-11). The children in the club work together to tell a story, which I write down and tidy up a little. I’m a sort of a cross between editor and

By Duncan Clacher. On the Sea Lion Press Forums, we run a monthly Vignette Challenge. Contributors are invited to write short stories on a specific theme (changed monthly). The theme for the 70th contest was Public Domain. Letter from Dr. Benjamin Franklin to General George Washington​ Paris, May 3 1777​ Sir, Count Dracula of Transylvania, a nobleman of distinguished military lineage in his Country and famous for his own Bravery and Ferocity as an officer of the Habsburg Im

By Gary Oswald. The European Cup at Le Parc des Princes stadium in 1956: the start of the UEFA tournaments. Creative Commons, courtesy the blog L'Equipe and Wikimedia Commons. In a previous article, I discussed how National Leagues for Association Football emerged in England, Scotland, Ireland and other European countries in the late 19th century. And as soon as that happened, there was debate over which of the winners of those leagues were better. From 1876 to 1905, there wa

By Matthew Kresal. Deathworld cover, image courtesy Big Finish website For Doctor Who’s tenth season, the programme celebrated a decade on-screen with a serial featuring the three actors who had played the Time Lord. But while The Three Doctors as broadcast primarily focused on the Jon Pertwee and Patrick Troughton incarnations (ill health left William Hartnell in a supporting role) as they faced off against the vengeful Time Lord Omega, the tenth anniversary serial was almos