The Alternate Historian

Sorry for the late announcement on this, but I just came home from vacation. That said, good news everyone! The 2025 Sidewise Awards finalists have been announced!

Best Long-Form Alternate History

Pagans by James Alistair Henry

Tobacco Republic by RA Moss

Ten Incarnations of Rebellion by Vaishnavi Patel

Best Short-Form Alternate History

"Two If by Seekrieg" by Lee Allred

"The Leavitt Space Telescope" by Kelli Fitzpatrick

"Caesar at Sea" by Alan Smale

"Darwin's Rocket" by Alan Smale

The Royal Navy isn't going to like this. #MapMonday

A common scenario in alternate history is Napoleon going to America. You saw it in William Sanders' Empire and Shannon Selin's Napoleon in America. And you also see it in this map where Napoleon and his brother build their own empires in North America. #MapMonday

Sorry for the belated #MapMonday post, but I was just so distracted by how poorly the liberation of Europe is going.

The alternate history book, The Company of the Dead by David J. Kowalski, had a weird timeline based on an alternate sinking of the Titanic that you can glimpse in this map created by The Sagemaster. #MapMonday

What the hell happened here? #MapMonday

Because I'm going to start researching for a similar scenario soon, I wanted to share this map of the "Indian Confederation" on #MapMonday which is done in a rather unique style.

Get your tickets for this Saturday's Intelligent Speech Online 2026! I'll be speaking on the Main Stage at 1250 PM CST with a new what if and will be on the Fiction and History panel at 305 PM CST in Room 1.

This is a weird one: there is a communist takeover in America and the defeated capitalists flee to Liberia where they seize control of the government. Think of it as an American Taiwan in Africa. Happy #MapMonday!

I think there have been some claims of contact between Ancient Egypt and the New World. This is unlikely given how Egypt was not much of a seafaring culture, but this #MapMonday I would like to feature a timeline where this culture survives along a different river...

For this #MapMonday I wanted to talk about this map which features a Japanese occupation of Australia in WWII...but one that isn't necessarily going well for the Japanese. Let me know if you catch a certain film reference.

I have to say I love the idea of vampire King Arthur facing off against Christianity's only hope...Vlad the Impaler. #MapMonday

First as farce, then as tragedy. #MapMonday

This #MapMonday I am featuring a map by NeonHydroxide. Set in a future post-apocalypse North America, this map is designed to look like a tapestry, which is definitely a style I don't see a lot from the alternate cartographers out there.