User blog comment:Historygeek1/Continuation of Southern Victory/@comment-68.80.221.13-20100718001241

I'm an old-hand with Turtledove's works... going back to the first civil war novel, Guns of the South. Clearly the series was intended to end with the last book what with all of the various POVs being wrapped up where possible. That "wrapping up" process led to much of monotonousness that you noted.

Moreover, what with wrapping up there were no new characters introduced and no new development of old characters acting in new ways. The earlier series' final books ended differently, giving us a glimpse on possible avenues the story would take in the future. Without those glimpses, extending TL-191 is a much more iffy proposition. Turtledove's lack of interest in extending it is clear and even if he decided it was a good idea financially I don't know his heart would be in the project.

That being said I think there is both a place to take the timeline and a market for the book. A number of readers came late to the party, discovering the series only with later books. Those who didn't have even more invested in the work. From what I was able to gather the final books in the series were among the bestselling.

As far as the storyline itself, I can think of a number of different ways it could go. Look at actual history for a glimpse of that... former WWII allies becoming deadly foes in a Cold War, far-flung Third World countries tangling up superpowers, the dissolution of the European empires in Africa and Asia... all of these items are relevant in TL-191 even if the faces are different.

There is also the Pacific theatre, which received scant attention throughout the series even when Japan and the United States were at war. China, despite being the world's most populous country, went almost totally ignored. I can think of a whole series evolving from the interaction between the Asiatic powers and the new U.S.

One could also look at the use of atomic weaponry in TL-191 and how "common" such things became versus reality. Would that result in fewer wars in number and more potent wars in terms of destruction? Would the strong become stronger or would a weak country wreak havoc beyond its numbers by gaining the bomb?

Finally, the process of putting together a truly United States of America from the Arctic Circle to the Tropic of Cancer is an intriguing idea... especially with the varying degrees of unrest and diverse ethnic/religious backgrounds. Could it be done? If not, what would the splintering result in? A new civil war with a host of smaller republics? Larger countries similar to our present day? Something else entirely?

These are just a few of the items that popped into my mind... but no matter how many items we trade, the best thing that could probably happen would be for someone else to extend the series. Whether just Fan Fiction or officially licensed from Turtledove himself, I think someone who has followed the series might be just the ticket. They could provide the necessary continuity in logic to please the old fans while giving a fresh perspective to draw in new ones.