You are currently not logged in! Enter your alternatehistory.com discussion board username and password to log in.
Often abbreviated to ASB, this is alternate history slang for any sort of event or timeline which would be impossible, or ludicrously unlikely, without divine intervention or “the activity of alien space bats”. The name predates AH.com and apparently comes from SHWI.
The wide umbrella of ASB includes scenarios involving magic and, by AH.com convention, also any AH writings based on divergences from existing fictional universes, such as Star Wars.
Probably the most common ASB scenario involves the ISOT and variations thereof. The Mosaic Earth concept developed from the ISOT.
There is a heated debate as to whether geological changes in the world (e.g. Tarrantry) count as ASB or not.
It has recently been theorized by the_lyniezian that Alien Space Bats come from a planet called Cvidarrki. See http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=87234&page=2.
ABC versus XYZ: Basically one group of individuals with an unlikely combination of capabilities versus another group of individuals with an unlikely combination of capabilities. For example Lesbian Vampire Pirates versus Nazi Werewolf Cheerleaders.
Guns of the X: Derived from Turtledove’s “Guns of the South”, in which a Neo-Nazi group from the 21st century uses time travel technology to travel to the 1860’s and arm the Confederate States of America with AK-47 assault rifles, thereby allowing the CSA to win the American Civil War and be used as the basis of a white supremecist state. Similarly in a Guns of the X scenario a country or group under threat is provided with future weapons which will allow them to overcome their adversaries.
Guns of the X threads include but are not limited to:
Guns of Gaul: Guns provided to Vercingtorix to fight the Roman invasion of Gaul.
Guns of the Prussians: Guns provided to Prussia in advance of the war with France in 1806.
Guns of the Empire: Guns provided to the British Empire to fight a US invasion of Canada. (Takes place in the same TL as Guns of the South)
All X/Non-X Dissappear: All persons within a certain group, nation or race dissappear, or all persons outside that group, nation or race dissappear. The thread then discusses how the remaining members of the human race handle this event.
You Wake Up....: In this scenario the reader is told that when they awaken in the morning they find that some sort of reality modification has occured during the night. The most common theme is that the reader wakes up as a historical personage on the day of a major life changing event, for example: You Wake Up As Julius Ceasar On The Ides Of March. Sometimes the reader is not placed in the body of a specific person but rather as themselves but in a new role, for example: You Wake Up As The President of the United States on 9/12.
Other popular variations of this scenario include having the reader wake up as themselves but in a different physical body, ie: younger, older, the opposite gender or another race, having the reader wake up to find their family life changed, ie: married with children, having a twin or even being their own twin, having the reader wake up isotted to an ATL.