Columbia & Britannia is an anthology of alternate history stories edited by Adam Chamberlain

Adam Chamberlain

Adam Chamberlain is an English author based in London. He was awarded the internal Shell/The Economist Writing Prize in 2003 for his essay "Beyond Nature," an investigation of mankind's relationship with the natural world. He has since published short fiction in addition to work on plays and...

 and Brian A. Dixon

Brian A. Dixon

Brian A. Dixon is an American author, primarily of short fiction. He was born in Connecticut. His first published short story, The McMillen Golf Penalty, was awarded the Shannon Searles Fiction Prize by Connecticut Review in 2002. He has since published short fiction in a number of outlets in...

. Each of the stories in the anthology takes placed in a shared timeline, a world in which the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 never took place. Published by Fourth Horseman Press, the book was nominated for the 2010 Sidewise Award for Alternate History

Sidewise Award for Alternate History

The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were established in 1995 to recognize the best alternate history stories and novels of the year.The awards take their name from the 1934 short story "Sidewise in Time" by Murray Leinster, in which a strange storm causes portions of Earth to swap places with...

.

Setting

The alternate history depicted in Columbia & Britannia begins in 1766, when William Pitt

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham PC was a British Whig statesman who led Britain during the Seven Years' War...

 proposes the Columbia Compromise, a set of laws that serves to establish a framework for North American representation in Parliament

Parliament of Great Britain

The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...

. The American Revolutionary War never takes place and British North America becomes an integral part of an expanding British Empire. Each of the anthology's stories is set against a significant historical occurrence along this timeline, exploring the effects of events including, among others, the publication of Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine

Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...

's Common Sense

Common sense

Common sense is defined by Merriam-Webster as, "sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts." Thus, "common sense" equates to the knowledge and experience which most people already have, or which the person using the term believes that they do or should have...

, a Southern revolt against the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, the English Decadent Movement

Decadent movement

The Decadent movement was a late 19th century artistic and literary movement of Western Europe. It flourished in France, but also had devotees in England and throughout Europe, as well as in the United States.-Overview:...

, New York's British Empire Exhibition

British Empire Exhibition

The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley, Middlesex in 1924 and 1925.-History:It was opened by King George V on St George's Day, 23 April 1924. The British Empire contained 58 countries at that time, and only Gambia and Gibraltar did not take part...

, and the War of Wars fought between the United Kingdom and Germany.

Contents

• Brian A. Dixon: "Intolerable Acts"
• Joe Tangari: "Total Emancipation"
• Mark Beech: "The Thunderbird"
• C. Mitchell O’Neal: "All the Jungle is Thine”
• Alexander Zelenyj: "Here Grow No Flowers"
• Adam Chamberlain: "Flag Day"
• Joe Tangari: "The Sun Yet Sets"
• Brian A. Dixon: "The Last Day of the Old World"
• Adam Chamberlain: "The Twelfth Man"