In the course of brainstorming a vacation home for my character Decca Roadhouse, I’ve thought of another character, Georgia Roadhouse, her little cousin who’s just like her, right down to having a vacation home, sporting red ringlets, and guzzling red wine, but, in stark contrast … Continue readingA Christmas Blizzard Romance in the Shenandoah?
I’d just like to share a little scenario I dreamed up recently: what if the borders of the United States circa the War of 1812 were never adjusted much? In particular, what if the Mississippi River watershed boundary from the original Louisiana Purchase remained in … Continue readingSome Alternate Borders for North America
Fun fact: the last archipelago of substantial size to be discovered on the Earth was the Severnaya Zemlya islands, only being noted by cartographers in 1913 (though its existence seemed to be known as early as 1810), and not charted in any detail until 1930-32. … Continue readingArctic Toponymy in my Alternate History
Rather famously, the western United States have rather arbitrary borders, boxy figures defined by parallels and meridians, which has had the rather hideous consequence of placing e.g. very different regions separated by 14,000-foot tall mountains in the same state (Colorado, I’m looking at you). More … Continue readingBuilding Better Western States
It’s weird: I meet plenty of people who show romantic and sexual interest in me…but they’re all already married! It becomes downright bizarre when I realize everyone who shows platonic interest in me is already married (or were previously); indeed, every one of my friends … Continue readingStraddling the Shadow of Life
Having given some thought to my alternate timeline’s space program recently, I’ve been doing some research on space history in our world. One aspect that stands out to me is how much more capable a super-heavy-lift launcher (like the Saturn V, SLS, or SpaceX Starship) … Continue readingAll I Ask is a Tall Rocket…
Every Christmas Eve it crosses my mind: the Christmas truce of 1914, the last, best hope for stopping the First World War; the last, best hope for saving Western, and by extension human, civilization from the Crisis of the 20th Century. What if the war … Continue readingThe Christmas Truce in my Alternate History
Earlier today Jeffrey Tucker asked on Twitter “In theory, the higher end your status and the more protected your position, the more you are willing to tell the truth. In practice, it seems to be the opposite”. As I pointed out in my replies, there’s … Continue readingAccident of Birth: A Feature, Not a Bug?
Boy, they’re going full-bore with the Obama era nostalgia this year. For 2022 this is even extending to bringing back talking points for Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, really. For Thanksgiving 2013, the earliest example I have in my records, Reverend Al Sharpton posted these “turkey tips”. … Continue readingRevenge of the Thanksgiving Dinner Talking Points
What is a “planet”, anyway? A perhaps surprisingly contentious question, that extends far beyond the most recent flare-up of controversy, which centered around Pluto’s status in the planetary club, and despite the pretenses of the International Astronomical Union the jury’s still out on that one. … Continue readingWorldbuilding the Definition of Planet