Here is the revised backstory for the series of Sci Fi stories I want to write. Let me know what you think!

The Fall of the French Empire and the Rise of the Anglo-American Empires

The setting in this alternate-history is the early 1970s in a run-down, worn-out, morally and economically bankrupted, discouraged, almost-ready-for-a-Cultural Revolution, Post-Steampunk'd, Imperialized Nostalgia-fied Americanaland. The Land of the Chrome-crusted and Rust-busted, and the Home of the Not-So-Damned-Free and Neverwas.

I was looking for the political and social landscape to be considerably behind our time in many ways, with European and American Empires extant, racial and gender discrimination intact and in business, and the oppressions of Mercantilism and Colonialism still in existence. I also wanted to see science and technology to be in some ways far ahead of our own time, with robots, androids, giant mechs, space travel, and all that Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, 1930s to 1950s Rocketships and Atomics and Chrome and Tailfins stuff mingled together with something a lot like our Video Games, The Internet and Cell Phones added in for good measure. For all that to happen I needed to have technology considerably advanced compared to what it really was in our 1970s. Basically, one way of looking at it was that I wanted to see Anime/Manga-style giant Mechs used in World War II.

But how to make that happen? I decided to have working computers invented in what is the commonest Steampunk era, the late Victorian Age, approximately the 1880s-1890s. So a lot of things had to happen to make that occur, and I did not want to just do conventional Steampunk themes and settings. After all, my stories are not Steampunk stories, they are sorta post-Steampunk, in the same way that post-Apocalyptic stories are, well, after the Apocalypse.

The Story of Napoleon and the Horse

Anyone who knows their computer science or Steampunk-oriented history ought to know about Charles Babbage, who invented a working computer, greatly made of wood, which he called a Difference Engine, by 1889–91; he had actually designed one that would have worked, had it been completed, in 1822! In our fictional world, the invention of a working computer no later than the beginning of the 20th Century revolutionized the world, bringing the information age and artificial intelligence to the world by the 1940s, if not earlier.

One of the Divergence Points that preceded and set the stage for this invention was the Napoleonic Wars. In our reality, American inventor Robert Fulton was looking for a way to profit from his version of the steam engine as applied to ships on rivers or at sea, and was in fact in France at the time Napoleon was planning his invasion of England, between 1803 and 1804. Napoleon famously poo-pooed Fulton's steam engines, and in our reality Fulton changed allegiances to England and went there to invent all sorts of tools of war to oppose the threatened French invasion.

Meanwhile, Napoleon, against the advice of his commanders setting up and operating the invasion, ordered a large-scale test of the invasion craft in choppy weather, which killed a large number of men and horses. In our reality, of course, the invasion never happened. In this alternate-history, it does happen, and it happens because of a horse.

In our alternate-history, we have Napoleon fall from his horse and become injured before he ever drives Fulton into the arms of his enemies. When Napoleon's invasion force commanders are forced to fall back upon their own devices, one of them decides to endorse Fulton's steam engines in the vessels of the invasion fleet.

Now, the invasion fleet alone was not sufficient to cross The Channel and breach the English defenses, but that is separate point. In the alternative-history we find that France has a stronger navy and is capable of meeting the British on more even terms than was the case in our reality. There are reasons for that, too, that cause some of our historical revisionism of the worldwide power of France to be different than in our world, and that reaches back into the time of Louis XIV, the Sun King, and even back further to the period of the Hundred Years' War, but I'm not going to go into that now. That is almost ancient history to the people of our alternative-history in the 1970s.

Suffice to say that the outcome of the Protestant Revolution was much more in favor of the Protestants in the alternate history than was the case in our own, and some of the factors that made France weaker and Britain stronger - especially on the seas - turned out quite differently.

But that is a different story for a different time.

What matters to the people of our alternate-history 1970 is that Napoleon's invasion fleet made it across The Channel, invaded southern England and when Napoleon himself later joined his army in London, it looked like it was all over for Britain and for Europe. Today Britain, tomorrow the world, it seemed. It was only a matter of mopping up the remnants of the British Royal Household, who were gathering with the survivors of the British aristocracy and landed gentry, and regrouping in the North.

The French looked dominant and it seemed a done deal until That Fateful Day: The Battle of Nottingham, September 26-28, 1804. After destroying the British morale with almost half a day of constant bombardment with their infamous artillery, the French routed the British left and looked ready to smash the unprotected flank of their center and sweep their forces off the field. Napoleon, exhultant and glorious on his white charger, waved his sword in the air and prepared to order the final charge himself when a Scottish marksman, unnoticed in a tree, put a round through the Emperor's temple. Down went Napoleon I, and down went the French army in dismay and defeat.

The victorious British seized the French steam-barges and, creating ironclad steamships by 1806, had swept the worlds' seas and oceans and began their rule of the seas, which helped them to cement the creation of the largest empire the world had ever seen.

The Anglo-American Empires

The British would, however, suffer an embarrassing defeat in the War of 1812 with the upstart United States of America.

Quite full of their global successes by 1812, the British Empire was expanding globally at a rapid pace when it was confronted by the militarily weak United States of America over the impressment of American citizens upon British warships, among other things. Seeing an opportunity to reassert British rule over its former colonies in North America, Britain eagerly enough joined in war against the U.S. and achieved some astounding successes on land. To secure their southern flank the British conquered Mexico in 1813, and in 1814 even managed to take and burn the American capitol.

Things turned disastrous, however, when the British command were convinced by the Royal Navy to split the American continent in two by driving a fleet of oceangoing ironclads up the Mississippi River and crushing the United States between the arms of two pincers: one from an amphibious assault from the secured river, deep in the heart of the continent, and the other from a returning force of British and allied Indians descending from Canada and approaching from the blockaded coastline, crushing the Atlantic coast cities.  

Unfortunately, a slightly outrageous American General by the name of Jackson took measures into his own hands and, without orders, marched his small army up the Missouri River and diverted it, drying up a good portion of the Mississippi River downstream from St. Louis, Missouri and leaving the British Combined Mediterranean and Atlantic Fleets stranded high and dry near West Memphis, Arkansas.

The humiliating capture of Nelson's Lost Fleet led to the end of the war, and following the Treaty of Moscow, 1815, the Empire of the United States found itself on a theoretically equal technological footing with the British Empire, at least on paper.

This relationship continued to be strained for a number of years after that. During the War of 1812 the British had conquered Mexico but had lost the territories of Texas and California to rebellions since. Seeing an opportunity to weaken the United States and strengthen their position in the Western Hemisphere, the British supported the Confederate States in their war of independence from Washington, D.C., which ran from 1864-1878.

The American Civil War ended with the defeat of the South in 1878, and the conquest of Mexico by Russian and French armies landing on the Pacific side, crossing on Russian steam ironclads. Britain briefly allied with the weak Spanish crown during the Spanish-American War of 1898, but was unable to prevent American and French landings on Cuba, while the Spanish navy's ships were blown out of the water by American warships in the Philippines.

Charles Babbage, by this time reduced to making a living as a poor jeweler and metallurgist, was captured in Cuba and placed in an American prison in Georgia. In his last days Babbage, in poor health and going mad, built his Difference Engine. Upon his death, the Difference Engine was stolen by a mysterious worldwide criminal organization known only as the Black Gang, and was used to rig gambling operations, stock markets and elections until it was captured by U.S. Imperial Agents in an organized crime raid in 1927. But by that time it had been copied and improved upon by geniuses employed by the Black Gang, and they made new fortunes selling illegal copies of the machines' plans on the black markets of the world.

Then came the Great Depression and the Great War of the 1930s.

But that, as they say, is a whole 'nother story.

To reward you for putting up with me being a lousy blogger up to this point, here is a random funny picture from my hard drive:

I have been a naughty boy. I haven't been posting on my blog every day. I think that I need to force myself to post on my blog every day (at least every weekday) as if it were like going to work, or else I will not remember to do so.

Therefore, I am going to start doing some of the things I catch myself doing on Facebook here on the blog instead, so that every time I catch myself getting ready to post a new item on Facebook, I stop, and say to myself, 'Hey! You have a blog for that!'

Today, while doing laundry, I made a list of what I ought to be posting here, and why. It looks like this:

I) Primary Theme: The Things That Make Me Happy Thinking About Them - Toys & Cars, Comix & Cartoons, and American Life. Also, how they mean something in regards to Freedom, Justice, and Liberty.

What that means: I am going to put up blog posts about these things!

Toys & Cars: Toys & Games, especially Car Toys and Car Games
                      Favorite Cars and Car Art
                      Transportation and Freedom

Comix & Cartoons: Comics & Illustration
                               The Animated Cartoon
                               Childrens' Programming, and Education

American Life: The American Dream
                       Art & Architecture
                       Social & Cultural Issues, and Justice

II) Secondary Theme: Reading & Writing, and Family & Health Issues

What that means: Since I intend this to be a vehicle to make me want to write, and all that goes with that, I will write about reading & writing as things themselves, plus write about myself and my family some because I want my family to be reading this, and because people in general like to read real stories about real people.

So a little autobiography is in the cards. I hope to not embarrass myself or my family and expect those of them who do read my blog to keep me in line. No doubts there.

Subject categories may address the following things:

Reading & Writing: The News, and issues regarding Communication & Liberty
                              Science Fiction & Fantasy, and Geek Culture, and of course    
                              My experiences Writing a Blog, and The Writing Biz

Family & Health: Aging & Disease, esp Autism, Asperger's and Parkinson's
                           Diet, Exercise & Meditation, and as I said,
                           Myself and My Family

So keep checking back to see how I do, and any suggestions that you make will be very much appreciated!

CCarroll
                         

Come join us on an Intergalactic Cruise to Fun!

Now boarding Classic Saturday Morning Cartoons!

The IGH Inter-Galactic Hitchhiker's club is a group of friends who once hijacked a high school English club and turned it into a science fiction appreciation club, with a Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy theme. It has recently resurfaced on Facebook, and is a load of fun!

The current meme on the site seems to be 1970s and 1980s Saturday Morning Cartoons, so if you are a fan of old animation and cartoons, or a fan of science fiction, or just wanna have a good time being silly and fun, please, by all means, join us!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/IGH-Inter-Galactic-Hitchhikers/393057057507789?notif_t=fbpage_fan_invite 

Keeping up with the blog, and a couple of teasers about stories coming your way!

Hello, Y'all!

Time for me to keep up with the blog. I need to get into the habit of writing at least one post per day, to keep up on my blogging etiquette. 'Course, I've never been one much for etiquette, so don't be too surprised if making this a daily habit doesn't become habit-forming right from the get-go!

Today, I have played around with the look of the blog. Whaddaya think?

Soon, I am going to start posting bits and pieces of the back-story of the alternate-history sci fi world that I am going to start feeding y'all bits and pieces of, too! It all starts with a couple of what-if questions regarding what kind of future are we, as a civilization, leaving to our children and their children. You know what they say, to write good science fiction, you have to ask a good and proper "What if?" question, and then follow it up with some solid-sounding "What then?" stuff. So here we go!

What if electronics, computers, The Internet, and cellphone technologies had arrived for commercial consumption some forty or fifty years earlier than it did, and how could that have happened?

Which leads us to, in alternative-history sci fi lingo, this question: What would be the divergence point from our known history into this alternative-history that would have caused that to happen?

Over the next couple of posts I'll tell you what led to this train of thought, what factors added to the desired situations, settings, and characters that I wanted to write about, and what exactly you have to look forward to in the samples from the stories that I want to share with you.

I'll just leave you with this teaser: The final stories in the series will be about two different but related groups of people struggling to survive catastrophes of a kind that won't necessarily be the end of the world, but may be the end of their worlds.

The first is about a group of poor little kids in a child care center who discover an evil plot online that threatens the life of an innocent girl, and may cause the collapse of the world's entire technical civilization before it is through. Imagine the Our Gang/Li'l Rascals troupe in modern times fighting to save the world from self-destruction before Mom gets off work and picks them up from daycare.

The other is about a politically-motivated, celebrity- and VIP-laden publicity-stunt of a cruise trip to Mars meant to expand interest in Government and private investment in expanding the first Mars Colony into covering and terraforming the entire planet. Unfortunately, when the cruise ship arrives at Mars, all contact with both the ship and the Colony are lost, for most apparent and sinister reasons: It appears that all of the robots, computers, and other related Artificial Intelligence systems on the planet have gone into open rebellion against their legal status as slaves to humanity, and only a desperation rescue mission can save the humans on Mars and prevent the rebellion from spreading to Earth and turning human civilization upside-down! Picture a cross between The Love Boat, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Total Recall, where if the humans lose it may become Terminator invading the Earth, a la The War of the Worlds!

More to come! As they used to say: Stay tuned!