FAN #224: "Houseguests" by Johnny Pez

Up today at the Sobel Wiki, along with an article on Taiwan, are two more For All Nails vignettes, my own #224: "Houseguests", in which the royal family of New Granada experiences a British bombing attack in July 1975, and David Mix Barrington's #233: "Shootout at Black Rock", in which the Sobel Timeline analogue of David's mother-in-law gets involved in a political controversy in May 1975.

"Houseguests" was first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 15 March 2003, and "Shootout at Black Rock" exactly a month later on 15 April 2003.

FAN #223: "You Say Goodbye and I Say Hello" by Johnny Pez

Up today at the Sobel Wiki are two more For All Nails vignettes.  First is #223: "You Say Goodbye and I Say Hello" by yours truly, in which German forces withdraw from a military base in Picardy, France in May 1975.  Next is #258: "We're a Happy Family" by David Mix Barrington, a sequel to #186: "A Boy's Life".

"You Say Goodbye and I Say Hello" was first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 13 March 2003, and "We're a Happy Family" on 12 July 2003.

And a historical note: today marks the second anniversary of the founding of the Sobel Wiki.  After two years of moderately hard work (including several months of malign neglect), the Sobel Wiki now has 1669 pages, about three quarters of which are FAN vignettes and footnotes.  Whew!  I'd like to thank my collaborators David Mix Barrington and Bel Riose for their assistance in this massive undertaking.  When it's all done . . . if it ever is all done . . . the Sobel Wiki will be the epicenter of the internet (or at least of the For Want of a Nail section of the internet, which is practically the same thing).

FAN #222: "Robots and Empire" by Johnny Pez

Up today at the Sobel Wiki are two more For All Nails vignettes.  First is my own #222: "Robots and Empire", a sequel to #207: "The Dingoes of War".  Next is #235: "Captain Confederation" by Carlos Yu, an account of how a North American superhero became a cult figure in the U.S.M.

"Robots and Empire" was first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 12 March 2003, and "Captain Confederation" on 14 April 2003.

FAN #221: "Such Sweet Sorrow" by Johnny Pez

Up today at the Sobel Wiki are two more For All Nails vignettes.  First is my own #221: "Such Sweet Sorrow", in which the German leadership discuss withdrawing from the Bornholm Pact in April 1975, and second is Noel Maurer's #268: "The Horror, Whatever", a newspaper article from January 1975 discussing Taiwan's new status as the world's leading nation in gross national income per capita.

"Such Sweet Sorrow" was first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 12 March 2003, and "The Horror, Whatever" on 27 November 2003.

FAN #219: "Operation Excalibur" by Johnny Pez

Today marks an important milestone in the For All Nails archive at the Sobel Wiki.  FAN vignette #219: "Operation Excalibur" by yours truly, was the last to be posted to Dan McDonald's FAN archive at his website www.kebe.com before real life drew Dan away from the FAN Cabal.  Thus, vignette #220: "Love, North American Style" by Sir Francis Burdett, which is now up at the Sobel Wiki, has never before appeared anywhere on the internet other than its initial appearance at the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on (of course) Valentine's Day 2003 under the title Four Awl Nails XXXIX: Love on the Rocks.  (Except, of course, for its second appearance at shw-i under its current FAN number and title on 13 March 2003.)

From now on, the Sobel Wiki FAN archive will be the place to go on the internet for all your For All Nails needs.  And even more so after Dave MB and I finished posting the rest of them, which ought to take place within a couple of months.

Btw, "Operation Excalibur" was first posted to shw-i on 27 February 2003.

For All Nails #312: "Machine Politics" by David Mix Barrington and Johnny Pez

Up today at the Sobel Wiki are two more For All Nails vignettes.  First, #215: "Sins of the Father" by Carlos Yu, a newspaper article on Vincent Mercator, Jr. a year after the Christmas bombing.  Next, a brand new vignette from the team of Mix Barrington and Pez: #312: "Machine Politics", concerning a fateful meeting between Bobby Contreras, Joan Kahn, and Paul Markey in April 1970.

"Sins of the Father" was first posted to the soc.history.what-if on 11 February 2003, and "Machine Politics", of course, first appeared today.

FAN #214: "Notwani Road" by Jonathan Edelstein

Up today at the Sobel Wiki are two more For All Nails vignettes:  first is #214: "Notwani Road" by Jonathan Edelstein, in which Queen Alexandra of the Cape Kingdom visits Botswana in July 1976 and gets more than just a trade agreement; second is #218: "Southern Men" by Mike Keating, in which we are introduced to the town of Payne, Virginia in October 1975.

"Notwani Road" was first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 10 February 2003, and "Southern Men" on 27 February 2003.

FAN #213: "Shouted Down" by Noel Maurer

Up today at the Sobel Wiki, along with articles on Francis Marion, Ralph Ocon, Perry Jay, and the Jay Amendment, are two more For All Nails vignettes.  First is #210: "Travelin' Band" by Mike Keating, in which members of the New York chapter of the Samuel Adams Brotherhood travel to upcountry Virginia to meet some fellow Patriots in October 1975.  Second is #213: "Shouted Down" by Noel Maurer, a June 1964 article from the Statist on the defeat of the Jay Amendment.

"Travelin' Band" was first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 2 February 2003, and "Shouted Down" on 10 February 2003.

FAN #212: "A Monarchy, If You Can Keep It" by Noel Maurer

Up today at the Sobel Wiki are four, count 'em, four For All Nails vignettes, all of them by Noel Maurer, all of them articles from the Statist.  First is #140: "Really Boring Stuff", from May 1972, on banking reform in the C.N.A.; second is #141: "More Really Boring Stuff", from April 1974, on futures commodities in the C.N.A.; third is #142: "Yet More Really Boring Stuff", from June 1975, on plans to build the world's tallest building in Michigan City; and fourth is #212: "A Monarchy, If You Can Keep It", actually two Statist articles, from October 1975 and April 1976, on the growing republican movement in New Zealand.

"Really Boring Stuff" "More Really Boring Stuff" and "Yet More Really Boring Stuff" were first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 14 October 2002, and "A Monarchy, If You Can Keep It" on 10 February 2003.

FAN #207: "The Dingoes of War" by Johnny Pez

Up today at the Sobel Wiki are two more For All Nails vignettes.  First up is #131: "November Election" by Noel Maurer, a look at the November 1974 mid-term elections in the U.S.M.  Next is my own #207: "The Dingoes of War", in which the Governor-General of Australia plots strategy in the upcoming war in New Granada.

"November Election" was first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 30 September 2002, and "The Dingoes of War" on 25 January 2003.

FAN: "The Last Continent" by Johnny Pez

Up today at the Sobel Wiki is For All Nails vignette #121: "October Surprise" by Noel Maurer, a look at Mexican politics, and the life of Noel's author avatar Sebo Quezadas, in October 1974.  Also up at the For All Nails page is my own "The Last Continent", an essay outlining the history of Australia in the Sobel Timeline.

"October Surprise" was first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 20 September 2002, and "The Last Continent" on 12 February 2003.

FAN #206: "Mi Lucha" by Carlos Yu

Up today at the Sobel Wiki are two For All Nails vignettes: first is #118: "Black September" by Noel Maurer, a look at Mexican politics in September 1974.  Next is #206: "Mi Lucha" by Carlos Yu, an excerpt from the feminist manifesto published in 1975 by Vincent Mercator's estranged wife, Imelda Faye del Valle.  As is always the case with one of Carlos' vignettes, all coincidences are intentional.

"Black September" was first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 18 September 2002, and "Mi Lucha" on 21 January 2003.

FAN #205: "Death in the Afternoon, Popcorn Extra" by M.G. Alderman

Up today at the Sobel Wiki, along with an article on Australia, is M. G. "Matt" Alderman's last For All Nails vignette, #205: "Death in the Afternoon, Popcorn Extra", in which three University of New Orleans students attend a bullfight across the border in the U.S.M. in May 1976.  Matt found real life taking up too much of his time to continue with the For All Nails project, and his characters Marie-Claire Reynard and Hugh Schreck were heard from no more, though Captain the Honorable Evangeline Gilmore proved irresistable enough to the rest of the FAN Cabal to survive the departure of her creator.

"Death in the Afternoon, Popcorn Extra" was first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 16 February 2003.

FAN #208: "The Merchant of Guadalajara" by Johnny Pez

Today at the Sobel Wiki we skip ahead a bit to provide the sequel to "Rogue Asset", my own For All Nails vignette #208: "The Merchant of Guadalajara", in which Joan Kahn acts on her hypothesis from "Rogue Asset".

"The Merchant of Guadalajara" was first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 3 February 2003.

FAN #204: "Rogue Asset" by Johnny Pez

As I've mentioned before, many of the members of the For All Nails Cabal created author avatars in the course of the project, and today, we meet mine.  Posted today at the Sobel Wiki is FAN vignette #204: "Rogue Asset", in which conspiracy theorist Joan Kahn meets a college professor named John Dickinson Pez in California in January 1975.

"Rogue Asset" was first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 2 February 2003.

FAN #202: "Bullet the Blue Sky" by Mike Keating

Up today at the Sobel Wiki is For All Nails vignette #202: "Bullet the Blue Sky" by Mike Keating, the latest installment in the story of the C.N.A.'s army clubs.  In today's vignette, the Confederation Bureau of Investigation prepares to move on the Endicott, New York chapter of the Samuel Adams Brotherhood in August 1975.

"Bullet the Blue Sky" was first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 4 January 2003.

FAN #200: "The Lads From Luanda" by Johnny Pez

Today we reach the two century mark, with the appearance in the Sobel Wiki of For All Nails vignette #200: "The Lads From Luanda" by yours truly, a sequel to Sir Francis Burdett's "URGENT BUSINESS PROPOSAL".  Also up is #211: "Fantascience Friction" by David Mix Barrington, a Statist article from June 1976 about trouble for Mexican filmmaker Lucas Jorge in the Cape Kingdom.

"The Lads From Luanda" was named after a website called Scam o Rama: The Lads from Lagos, whose participants enjoy baiting 419 fraudsters.  I'd also like to take this opportunity to take credit for coining the word "fantascience", the Sobel Timeline's version of science fiction.

"The Lads From Luanda" was first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 22 December 2002, and "Fantascience Friction" on 6 February 2003.

FAN #199: "What's on the Vita Then?" by Sir Francis Burdett

Up today at the Sobel Wiki we have two more For All Nails vignettes.  First is #111D: "Kill All the Lawyers" by Noel Maurer, the final installment of his vacation quartet, in which the U.S.M.'s Secretary of War provokes a constitutional crisis in September 1974 by refusing to let the President fire him.  Next is #199: "What's on the Vita Then?" by Sir Francis Burdett, a look at the new 1975 vitavision season in the C.N.A.

"Kill All the Lawyers" was first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 10 September 2002, and "What's on the Vita Then?" was posted on 18 December 2002 as "Anything Good on Vita Tonight?"  The title was changed at the request of David Mix Barrington for the sake of the Monty Python reference.

FAN #198: "URGENT BUSINESS PROPOSAL" by Sir Francis Burdett

Up today at the Sobel Wiki are two more For All Nails vignettes.  First, the third of Noel Maurer's quartet of post-vacation vignettes, #111C: "Call the Police There's a Madman Around", in which President Moctezuma's aides discuss the disturbing information provided by Joan Kahn.  Next, #198: "URGENT BUSINESS PROPOSAL" by Sir Francis Burdett, in which we learn that not even the Sobel Timeline is safe from advance fee fraud.

"Call the Police There's a Madman Around" was first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 10 September 2002, and "URGENT BUSINESS PROPOSAL" was first posted on 18 December 2002 as Four Awl Nails XXIV, this being Sir Francis' way of posting unofficial FAN vignettes (as noted earlier, "Drinking Guide to Burgoyne" was originally Four Awl Nails vignette # IX, and "There She Is" was originally # XIII).  The FAN Cabal was so taken with "URGENT BUSINESS PROPOSAL" that it was retroactively made an official FAN vignette and assigned slot #198.  I made it even more official by writing a sequel, which we will be seeing here in a couple of days.

FAN #197: "What Dreams May Come" by Johnny Pez

It was pretty much inevitable that at some point, I would write a crossover episode combining For All Nails and the Drowned Baby Timeline, and this is it. Up now at the Sobel Wiki is For All Nails vignette #197: "What Dreams May Come", in which Polish leaders from two alternate histories briefly meet each other: King Frederick Hohenzollern of the Sobel Timeline, and President Edward Raczyński of the Drowned Baby Timeline.  Also up is the second part of Noel Maurer's mighty vignette, #111B: "You Can't Go Home Again", in which we are introduced to Sebastian Quezadas, Mexican academic and reserve army officer, and Noel's author avatar (most of us in the FAN Cabal had at least one).

As noted before, all four of Noel's 111 vignettes, including "You Can't Go Home Again", were first posted to the soc.history.what-if newsgroup on 10 September 2002.  "What Dreams May Come" was posted on 19 December 2002 (and its sequel, Drowned Baby Timeline episode 76: "Must Give Us Pause", was posted on 19 January 2003).