Alt-history writing project

[Captain Wheelgun]

Hi everybody,

With all of the reading I’ve done over the years, I’ve been bitten by the writing bug.

I’ve been doing research for an alt-history universe in which Texas never becomes part of the United States, and now I have started writing the first story set in that universe. Here’s what I have so far. Please let me know what you think about this, good, bad, magic brownies

(Fair warning, my muse studied under Tom Clancy and David Weber )

Snippet deleted due to upcoming book release March 2, 2022.

[HTRN]

I’ve been doing research for an alt-history universe in which Texas never becomes part of the United States,

That realistically, was never going to happen. It was either join as a US State/territory, or get ground down by the Mexican Army, and then the Survivors would have been shot as insurrectionists.

They were a tiny, lightly populated frontier, caught between two juggernauts. Hell, the only reason Canada wasn't eventually annexed during the war of 1812/Napoleonic wars, was the number of British troops stationed there.

[Captain Wheelgun]

I’ve been doing research for an alt-history universe in which Texas never becomes part of the United States,

That realistically, was never going to happen. It was either join as a US State/territory, or get ground down by the Mexican Army, and then the Survivors would have been shot as insurrectionists.

They were a tiny, lightly populated frontier, caught between two juggernauts. Hell, the only reason Canada wasn't eventually annexed during the war of 1812/Napoleonic wars, was the number of British troops stationed there.

Um, HTRN, I live in Texas. I grew up and went to school here. I am very familiar with it’s history.

I was asking about the story, writing, and characters, not if the history was possible. It is fiction, after all. That’s why I posted it in ‘Culture Junkies’, not in the current events forum.

In summary, to quote a famous TV personality, “I reject your reality and substitute my own.”

[HTRN]

The point of most alternate history not invoking "Alien space bats", usually revolve around key historical events that could have easily gone the other way - the zimmerman telegram or special order 191.

If Texas managed to hold their independence, you had better show how they did it, and in a reasonable way, otherwise it breaks the story.

Are you a member of Alternate history.com?

[tfbncc]

So far, it sounds interesting. The dialogue flows pretty nicely. A couple of points that could use some clarification:

1) "“Thank you sir.” Karl stood, came to attention, and saluted." Does the Republic of Texas Navy model itself after British and/or US Navy in customs and traditions? If so, the navy does not salute indoors. He would have come to attention, did an about face, and left. Now, if he saluted to acknowledge a good friend and fellow warrior, out of view of anyone official, there's nothing stopping him from doing that.

2) “That’s what it was sold as, but it’s really part of the military and the Old Republic party keeping everybody scared that the French are going to try a repeat of the Port Aransas Massacre. " Is Aransas supposed to be Arkansas? Or is that the actual name of a place I don't know?

I would be interested in knowing a little backstory or history of how Texas managed to stay independent and flourish as a republic in this alternate universe of yours. What are the major industries, etc that allowed the fledgling republic to finance itself? Was there outside influence and financing? I could definitely see the Brits making a treaty with Texas after their independence. It would put a burr under the blanket of the US (uppity colonists), the French, and the Spanish all at the same time. Some military support and a lot of financial support in the beginning in trade for having a decent deep water port in the Gulf of Mexico. That could provide a lot of content and possible scenarios.

Looking forward to reading more.

[Netpackrat]

Could possibly be explained by Santa Ana dying unexpectedly, and the resulting power vacuum and aftermath in Mexico giving the Texans a few years worth of breathing space.

[BDK]

A) Texas was able to form, in the first place, because Mexico didn't really care about it -hell, they were barely holding on to CA, and they did care about that - its Mexico - one of the most dysfunctional and failed cultures on Earth. It was already failing into its cycle of corruption/failure/dictatorship. Now, staying out of Mexico's revolutions might have been hard, especially the Cristero Wars... (It was a republic for almost 10 years, before annexation. If Mexico was seriously going to try to grab it back, they would have done so, in that time frame.)

B) Mexico didn't want to "really" keep the Tejanos as Mexicans - the Texas revolution started about restoring the constitution of 1824, after Santa Ana made himself dictator. Quite a few of the Mexican states revolted, but the Tejanos actually fought/were there because they were dissidents. Texas holds on until it gets connected by rail to the US/steamlines to Europe, and Mexico is no longer a threat/consumed by its own issues.

C) Texas freeing its slaves (in the TX Con, as far as I recall, they could be freed, if Texas bought them), with funding from the UK, could be plausible/would make them too toxic for the US to annex. Once the Cristero wars started, I don't know... I could see Chiuahua and Jalisco ending up trying to join Texas/forming some kind of Latin "Christian NATO". (There's been a very murderous atheist movement in Latin culture for a long time.)

[Captain Wheelgun]

Thanks for all the questions and suggestions, everybody.

HTRN, I do have how Texas remained independent more or less worked out, but it’s not germane to this particular story except as general background.

TFBNCC, I see the RTN as having borrowed from both the RN and USN for procedures and traditions, but with a few twists of their own. Port Aransas is a costal town just northeast of Galveston, would have been no larger than a fishing village in the 1860’s.

Netpackrat, getting Santa Ana out of the way could be very useful. Maybe a sudden brain aneurism, about .75 caliber?

BDK, thanks for your insights about Mexican history of that time. I’ll have to look into the Cristero wars, sounds like it could be very relevant.

Again, thanks for all the input. I hope to have more of this story soon.

[BDK]

A good link for those who think Mexico would have been able to be a threat to anyone.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristero_War

[Jered]

Something along these lines has been done in the Lone Star Reloaded series.