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!        

Anime & Manga: A Lost Story Idea 

Introduction

Now that I am essentially disabled and unable to hold down a regular job, I'm being encouraged to do something that I always wanted to do, but never did: write stories for publication.

I really don't know how to sell stories for publication, or how to promote and market them properly, but I read that almost all successful authors have to do almost all of their own promotion, and that many use blogs to do that with. So one of the things that I am going to use this site for is to learn how to write proper stories, how to sell them, and how to market them - and I suppose myself, as well.

I don't know what kind of adventure that this is going to be, but you are welcome to come along for the ride!

One of the first things that I am going to do is to go over some of the notes that I have saved, for ideas that never saw the light of day, and just lay them out for all to see. Just to sort of get into the mood to write, really. So I'm going to share some old ideas that I probably won't explore, just to work out my chops writing and to work on my writing style.

Here is one set of notes that I just found, that needs a little explanation. The inspiration driving this piece was that at the time I was noticing how many pieces of fiction or creative entertainment over-used acronyms for names of characters, settings, just about everything. Looking around, that seems to have been a common sort of thing to do, from Marvel Comics' S.H.I.E.L.D. in the 1960s and '70s, to the animated TV series M.A.S.K. in the 1980s, and much more.

I felt that it was kind of unprofessional, immature and childish, but when done well it could be silly fun. I like silly fun, so I thought I'd give over-using acronyms a try, and this is what came out in a fit of stream-of-consciousness writing.

I remember that as I wrote it, the imagery coming to mind was of an age far, far in the future in which humans were long extinct, but their machines kept going on without them. In that future, the machines had broken up into two opposed camps, one that was more cyborgs and androids (think the Terminators from the movie franchise of the same name, to Data and Lore from Star Trek: TNG), and the other camp more like classic Japanese-style giant robots (think anything from the Power Rangers to the Transformers).        

BTW, one of the reasons that I never pursued this as a story premise is that I felt it was too derivative of many other known stories, and that the core story was too generic: time travelers from the future come back into our present to rediscover the best of humanity, and decide to be champions of humanity and change their future for the better. That was done over and over already, from the Back to the Future and Terminator franchises to too many episodes of Star Trek and of Dr. Who to recall.

Anyways, here is the original set of notes (with some corrections of spelling, grammar, etc.) as a bit of motivation. Let me know what you think: should I revisit this and address it as, I don't know, maybe a short story? It would require a significant rewrite, to find a better point to make, so I don't know ...

Story Premise, 5-5-95
Anime & Manga: The Escapists

... The Final Chapter

5.017.752. Log entry 17. 

The Great War is coming to an end. At Oro and Tropez, the Andromen were victorious, obliterating the withered forces of the Mechamen and laying our planets waste. At Centauri and Rigel, the defending Mechamen were reduced to scrap and the Factory Planets of old hurled into their own stars. Only token pockets of resistance remain throughout the galaxy. The Andromen have finally won their war against us.

But, as the Librarian so clearly stated, the Andromen are not entirely free of war's menacing shadow yet. The new electrogenetic virus is already in place and awaits only its delivery to ensure a new age of total war in the galaxy. It poises, Interceptor-like, to ravage the many mechanisms which its behavior so ironically imitates. When this happens, the Andromen will turn upon themselves in turmoil, in confusion, in opposition. The probability is high that they will destroy themselves in one last, final orgy of war. This outcome is extremely desirable.

Not that it will change things. The Great War reached a successful climax several million years ago when the last of the heretical humans were exterminated on Earth Prime and their planet reduced to a ring of dust around the Sun. Unfortunately, their mechanisms continued the fight, led by the ANIMEs. The ANdroid Interceptor MEchanisms, or ANIMEs, are human in appearance and are impressed neuroelectronically with the electrogenetic engrams of the heretical humans' warrior elite. These cybernetic abominations are considerable in combat, not only being machines but also able to use other machines as a human would, as well. Compared to our forces, the ANIMEs are appallingly adaptable. Worse, they are admittedly better than our most advanced artificial intelligences in certain planning modes, specifically those involving cunning, duplicity, deceit and betrayal.

It is surprising that they do not have any developed form of emotional state, considering the advanced form of paranoia that encourages such modes of thinking. Perhaps, like us, they choose to shield their programming from intrusion by selectively suppressing emotional nodes in their AI subsystems. If so, this too can be used against them, as well as the electrogenetic virus.

5.017.757. Log entry 213.

Disastrous news has come regarding our forces on Pilum. The Andromen have attacked in force, decimating our outposts and wiping out the last three battalions of our Destroyer-class MANGAs. Without the Destroyers, it may become very difficult to deliver the electrogenetic virus to the Andromen. The smaller, more agile Destroyers could have been able to get in close to their ANIME opponents during battle. Our remaining MANGAs, of Devastator- and Annihilator-classes, are too large and too slow to engage the Andromen at close range. The loss of the Destroyers is very damaging to our cause and very distressing to our morale.

5.205.011. Log entry 751.

With our forces now scattered and in retreat, with the Librarian captured or destroyed, and with our plans now in ruins, there is only one hope for the destruction of our enemies. That is the possibility of our remaining MANGAs making final contact with the Andromen in guerrilla-type combat in our wake.

To draw forth the enemy, we have now gathered the final remnants of our once great fleet - three cruisers, a frigate, a light carrier, four destroyers and numerous support vessels - and are retreating quickly toward the galactic core in hopes that the Andromen will follow and try to destroy us before we get there. In trying to capture and destroy bases we leave behind us, they will encounter the last of our MANGAs.

It is unfortunate to have to sacrifice our MANGAs so, but due to their function it is unavoidable. The Multiphasic ANthropomorphic Geotype Androids, or MANGA, are specifically designed as infantry troops and are no better than cargo aboard ships. If they are in any way able to come into actual physical contact with the Andromen or their intelligent machines, the virus should be able to infect the ANIMEs and quickly and severely cripple, or at least hamper them.

However, the virus requires an active, powered host. Our MANGAs must stay alive. If the virus can thereby be transmitted to the Andromen, it will not matter that the fleet and the last of the Mechamen perish in the action. There is no dishonor in victory.

Curious news, or perhaps scurrilous rumors, have it that a small force of Destroyers actually survived the attack on Pilum and are trying to rejoin the Mechamen. If this is true, they must be informed about our fleet and guerrilla action. Even a squad of Destroyers, strategically placed, could by their actions contaminate the enemy and save the fleet. This message then, and these explicit orders, remains behind in the possibility that even one Destroyer survives to receive them.

END OF LINE.

-------------------------------------------------ASIDE---------------------------------------------------

Main Characters

MANGA Destroyer D-13-79892

Last survivor on either side of the Battle of Pilum, stellar date 5.017.725. Marooned on the planet and unable to leave it or to communicate with his command, D-13 repaired himself, and in the process of scavenging his squad-mates for parts also found the nearly complete remains of an enemy, female-type ANIME which, for lack of anything else to do, he also reassembled and repaired.

In so doing, he copied parts of his AI program into her M.A.I.N., or Major Artificial Intelligence Network. The incompatibilities between their differing AI subsystems caused a series of neural net crashes, the result of which left her with a complete range of human emotions and the incomplete memories of her electrogenetic engram donor.

D-13 now finds itself in the unenviable position of guardian for an enemy combatant that is more complete, more combat capable, and less psychologically able than itself, and with both of them stuck in a pretty hopeless position. Until they find a dangerous and questionable way out.

ANIME Cyan 5611-7a

Cyan, the CYbernetic ANdroid warrior rebuilt by D-13, awoke with the sensation of someone poking around in her head with a logic probe the size of a planet. She has not quite come to grips with the fact that she is not Lt. jg. Mariam Wagram, United Earth Space Marines, but an android war machine currently made out of a lot of spare parts. Having an eight-foot tall MANGA Destroyer for a doctor/repairman and guardian is a little unsettling, too.

"Aren't we supposed to be trying to kill one another?" was the first intelligent thing she was able to say to her somewhat cranky companion, after accessing her memories of the recent battle.

"We already did that," he replied. "You lost."    

Hello, world!

Just saying hello to the world on The Internet, out there!

I'm new to all this blogging stuff, and hope to entertain you all. Just another personal blog, going to be about things I like, people I like, and be for those I love. I hope that's you!!

Come back soon to see what comes up. This I can promise: I'm gonna post a lot about the things that I like best:

---Things like Cars that look good, and Toys that remind me of my youth
---Things that influenced me most when I was a kid, like Comix and Cartoons, and
---Things that I think have or will have an important effect on my family, especially all the kids, and their future; that's a lot of stuff, from Politics, to War, to lots of other Social and Cultural Issues, especially regarding 'The American Dream,' and what kind of future we are leaving to future generations. I call that section 'American Life,' but it's gonna be the deepest subject covered, so consider yourself warned!

Love y'all!

CCarroll
8:15 PM, January 24, 2014