Recent content by Gerald

King of Scots, by Liv Stone, is a romance in an 21st century independent Scotland created by Bonnie Prince Charlie's victory in 1746. In spite of the author's name and title, I'm afraid it only exists in French ? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199501925-king-of-scots Regards Gerald

Another possibility : Louis XVIII or Charles X can't stand the idea of Orléans becoming their heir, and pass a law to block his way (like Louis XIV did for the Spanish branch). They edict, for example, that the son of a regicide can't inherit the crown. But then, the only alternate heir...

Hello from France ! Some months ago, I was at a sword-and-sandal book fair, and acquired two fantasy anthologies, including, among others, some short stories with alternate history in them. The first anthology is Dimension Antiquité, edited by Meddy Ligner (Black Coat Press, 2014, collection...

Digging out my own thread. As Jacques Taroni, who directed "Le Règne de Marie-Antoinette", recently passed away, the same radio station broadcasted another of his co-works with René-Nicolas Ehni : "Marie-Antoinette II", the sequel ! It definitely turns into fantasy. Madame de Staël becomes...

Well, during the campaign, Balladur announces that if he's elected, he'll take highly respected Simone Veil as a Prime Minister. This makes the difference, and he wins the election. He first declare he'll rule for only seven years, without caring about a reelection. He fixes precise objectives...

Climate changes ?

If we put aside the Revolutionary wars, Fontenoy 1745 is possibly the most dearly remembered victory of the 18th Century ("English Gentlemen, fire first !") And Fontenoy 841 (not the same place !) was actually a milestone in the founding of Francia Occidentalis.

So, Boulanger makes a coup d'Etat (1889). Actually, he's mostly carried by his partisans to the Elysée. He then has a new constitution accepted by referendum : the new strong man will be the directly elected President of the Republic (that's de Gaulle's story in 1958). Boulanger runs for...

For France, I vote for Verdun too, for its length (the French proved they could stand non-stop for one year), width (it was said that every French soldier of WWI served for at least some time in Verdun) and memory (today every French town has a Verdun Street).

We French seem to remember our defeats more fondly than our victories. Anyway : 19th Century : I'm not a big fan of Austerlitz, even if old Bonapartists groaned here because there was no celebration in 2005. For me it's only a victory in a series of some years that ended in defeat. I would...

Well, de Gaulle and Pétain are about to do the same at the end of the "Pétain flees to Algiers" scenario... What shocked me in 1815 was Joséphine's mediation. Didn't Joséphine, like, die in 1814 ? (OK, in this TL she didn't, but no word of explanation lets the reader suppose that the authors...

Luc Mary & Philippe Valode, Et si... Napoléon avait triomphé à Waterloo ? L'Histoire de France revue et corrigée en 40 uchronies. Paris : l'Opportun, 2011. Paperback : 2013. Slightly disappointing : first, the authors seem to believe that alternate history fans don't know anything about real...

I've read it too, in French (translated as "L'Odyssée barbare"). I realized it was possibly one of the first post-apocalyptic stories ever written - I mean, other writers had imagined before what would be left of mankind after a natural cataclysm, but ERB may well have been the first to imagine...

Continuing with a same-quality map of Übercliché North Hesperia. This continent is divided between native states and colonies or independent states founded by Europeans: VINLAND The common name of several Viking settlements founded around the year 1000. BASQUE COLONY The name says all...

From my (French) point of view, Napoleon's ultimate goal was to get rid of England. It's the cause of the Continental Blockade, which in turn is the cause of the Peninsular War and Invasion of Russia, which in turn are the cause of Napoleon's fall. He never could have gotten rid of England...