List acronyms

From S.M. Stirling Wiki

This is an incomplete list of often used acronyms and shorthand figures of speech used on the Stirling list as well as in other internet discussions of alternate history in general and S.M.Stirling specifically.

AH: Alternate History - a history that differs in some way from our own

ASB: Alien Space Bat - high tech critters from other planets. Possible cause of the Change creating the Emberverse.

ATL: Alternate Timeline - a timeline or history that is different in some way from our well known home timeline. See also POD

Change: The Change in the laws of physics causing the Emberverse POD.

DtF: Dies the Fire - the title of one of Stirling's books and the starting point of the Emberverse.

DtL: Draka Timeline - the alternate timeline in which the Draka series takes place.

Emberverse: the alternate timeline set up in the Dies the Fire Series. The name was selected for the embers remaining after the fire has died. See Change.

Event: The Event that moves Nantucket to the past.

"heh, heh, heh": typical reaction of S.M. Stirling when he sees our fruitless musing about the reasons for things occurring in his books and our fevered imagination of possible future actions. This is by no means discouraging to our efforts - quite contrary.

Islandverse: the alternate timeline / universe set up in the Island in the Sea of Time Series See Event.

ISOT: Island in the Sea of Time series.

ItCotCK: In the court of the Crimson Kings - part of the LoCverse series.

Lancerverse: the alternate time line set up in Peshawar Lancers and "Shikari in Galveston"

LoCverse: the alternate time line set up in The Lords of Creation Series

OFA: Our Favorite Author - refers to S. M. Stirling

OTL: Our Timeline - this is the home timeline, the one we can find as established fact in the history books and the standard alternate timelines are compared to.

POD: Point of Divergence - a single occurrance that makes the original difference between OTL and a specific ATL .. this could for instance be the outcome a specific battle or a assassination that failed (or not) - ideally an author should only use a single, well defined POD, the rest of the alternate history should follow logically from there. A POD could occur naturally or for instance by external influence (time travelers etc.)

TEOTWAWKI: The End of The World as We Know it.