Zomblog 5: Zombernate History

So, I’m a big fan of Alternate History. Stuff like Kaiserreich (What if the Central Powers won World War I?), The Years of Rice and Salt (What if the plague was deadlier?), and the Domination of the Draka (What if… uh… it’s complicated...) really appeal to me. One thing I’ve been wondering since this course began was whether Zombies had a noticeable presence in the genre. After some quick searching, I was surprised to find that there isn’t much Alternate History Zombie fiction.

Kaiserreich is extremely sick.

Don't let this fairly innocuous cover fool you, the Draka books are the weirdest goddamn thing.

I should explain that there is a serious conflict in the AH fandom about whether or not fantastical elements belong in the genre. Some say it defeats the purpose of the genre while others argue it only adds to the fun. To many alternate history fans, fantastical AH like Worldwar (What if Aliens invaded during World War II?) and Lord Darcy (What if magic was real and also some other stuff?) can never truly compare to more grounded stuff like Southern Victory (What if the South won the American Civil War?) and Resurrection Day (What if the cold war went hot?). I'm not in this camp, since I think fantastical alt-history can be fun.

The Perfect World Doesn't Exi-

Southern Victory is also pretty wacky by the end. It also features an uncomfortably explicit sex scene starring Mark Twain, so there's that if that's your thing. I won't judge.

It still perplexes me. The only real Zombie-based Alt-history timelines I could find were online creations. An artist named QuantumBranching has done quite a few, and I also found one made as an RPG. I suppose Overlord (the greatest film ever made) could qualify, except that it's more secret history than Alternate history.

Y'all need to watch this. It's lit.

A timeline where Zombies first rise up in 1968 (the year Night of the Living Dead was released) that then continues throughout the decades exploring this world WWZ-style could be interesting. Hell, dropping zombies into any historical era could be interesting. Zombies in the Western Roman Empire. Zombies in the Middle Ages. Zombies in the Civil War. These are all great ideas! If we can get stuff like Anno Dracula (What if Dracula took over England in the Victorian Era?), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Which becomes more alt-history as it goes on, trust me) and A Study in Emerald (What if the Great Old Ones ruled Earth?) why not some Zombie stuff?

Pictured: Captain Nemo's daughter slaughtering rapists a few decades before she kills Godzilla and fights Charlie Chaplin. League is insane. No Zombies, though.

A lot of zombie fiction from the past is now alternate history since its future no longer lines up with our own. I’m not really talking about that. I mean stuff explicitly written as alternate history.

I’m not exactly sure where I’m going with this, but it’s just an odd genre absence I’ve noticed. I know a lot of Alt-History fans love World War Z, so there's clearly an overlap between the fans of both genres.

I leave you with a few cool links:

Neil Gaiman graciously uploaded all of A Study in Emerald to his website. Not only is it free, but it's also formatted better than it was in print.

Youtuber Alternate History Hub has a great video about World War Z. He did art for it and everything. Check it out.

If you're curious about just how crazy the Draka stories are, check out this video by Talkernate History. They're a really fun podcast. Tell them I sent ya.

Note: I forgot about the Ghouls from Fallout, which is an alternate history. That being said, they're not the focus of the series.