Anyone Like Alternate History Speculation?

[Australis]

Just finished 'Nation' by Terry Pratchett, which is set on an alt Earth. Enjoyable? Yes. Good as his other stuff? Hmmm. Perhaps not as lively would be a fair description, but it was hard to see where it was going to end up, which is a good thng, kept you guessing.

 

[Unicron]

I'm personally not a fan of alternate history because it involves too much speculation and what-ifs. Some things happen because of lots of factors (so remove some factors and it stays the same), but, even if things change, it's a butterfly effect (who knows what could be the result). Because of this, alternate history is fiction, not history. You can make up whatever you want.

It depends on how well it's written, because the great conflicts often perfectly illustrate how some of their key events are due to butterfly effects. The Battle of Antietam is considered today one of the more important in the American civil war, and yet it did happen largely because of an incredible stroke of luck. And the ironclad duel at Hampton Roads, though tactically a draw, could have very easily tipped in favor of either side at several points. I definitely think that good AH should be based on possibilities that are more likely than less likely, and create the ramifications from there.