After two worldbuilding series in which World War II ended worse than it did — one in which the war never ended and another in which the Axis won — let’s try a more optimistic scenario: a world in which World War II never happened.
Here we’ll take our cues from the Indiana Jones movies, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) and the art of Marcos Ceia and Stefan Prohaczka.
Continue reading “What If World War II Never Happened?”Steampunk fans will be familiar with Keith Thompson as the illustrator of Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan (2009, our review here) and its sequels, Behemoth (2010) and Goliath (2011).
Continue reading “The Art of Keith Thompson”Colleen Darnell and her husband John have devoted themselves to Egyptology and educating people on the subject — in the vintage styles of, mostly, the 1920s. All the more reason to follow them! Not only do you get a look at exquisite Roaring Twenties fashions; you learn a lot about Egyptian history.
I recommend their Instagram and YouTube channel. (Did you know the Egyptians had cat memes?) They have a dedicated Instagram account where you can learn to read hieroglyphs.
Continue reading “The Vintage Egyptologist”
The Master of the Mississippi (1992) is the beginning of Scrooge’s American adventure.
Having worked as a cabin boy for passage across the Atlantic, the 13 year-old lad from Scotland finds his Uncle Angus “Pothole” McDuck — who also sought his fortune in the New World — down on his luck in Louisville, Kentucky. But Pothole wins a steamboat, the Dilly Dollar, in a poker match and hires his nephew as deckhand, introducing him to both a lifelong ally — Ratchet Gearloose, the grandfather of Duckburg’s eccentric inventor Gyro — and lifelong enemies: the criminal Beagle Boys.
Continue reading “The Times of Scrooge McDuck: The Master of the Mississippi”Never Was is launching an online community for alternate history, retro-futurism and science fiction: the Never Was Lounge.
The community consists of discussion areas for the steam, diesel and atomic eras as well as the far future, a place to share your own creations, and a “speakeasy” for everything else.
I hope you’ll join us!
Continue reading “Never Was Lounge: New Online Community”
It’s 2045. War is the main industry and cryptocurrencies are invalid, leading to even more conflict and civil unrest.
Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 doesn’t start with a bang. It takes several episodes before the plot gains momentum and you’ve seen enough of the world, and the people in it, to really get into it. But it’s worth sticking with it.
Unlike such dystopias as Mad Max, the post-apocalyptic world of SAC_2045 is familiar to ours. It’s about real people. The series shows the impact of a large economical crisis and currency devaluation on average people.
The impact of the United States as a global power on other countries is another nice touch. It’s a bit of a cautionary tale, and this aspect of the anime is very well done.
What is less well done is the animation. I am not a fan of this style of cheap and basic-looking CGI at all, and I feel the anime deserves better.
Continue reading “Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045”Alejandro Lee has worked as a concept artist for the steampunk game Pure Steam. His personal work includes various diesel- and steampunk pieces.
Continue reading “The Art of Alejandro Lee”We have made a few design changes: our logo is now a stylized version of the image we used before (of a German zeppelin docking at the Empire State Building) and we are using Denis Masharov’s Poiret One font for our titles and subtitles.
You will also notice a new link in the menu: “Lounge”. This will soon take you to the Never Was Lounge, an online community for alternate history, retro-futurism and science fiction.
Continue reading “New Logo, and Never Was Lounge Coming Soon”
A country manor in the middle of nowhere. The largest collection of Egyptian artifacts in private hands. A curse and the duo of Ishmael Jones and Penny Belcourt. Throw these things together and you know you’re in for an excellent murder mystery.
Is there a curse? Is there really a mummy afoot? Or is it something else entirely?
In this fourth book of Simon R. Green’s Ishmael Jones series, Death Shall Come, we are presented with the same formula of “Ishmael and Penny need to solve a mystery”.
Those who have been reading the series from the beginning will inevitably ask themselves the question: How many people will survive this time?
Continue reading “Death Shall Come”May the Fourth be with you, followers of that ancient Force in a galaxy far, far away!
As is traditional on May 4, fans of probably the most famous science-fiction franchise, Star Wars, go all out — even in COVID-19 times — to celebrate.
We at Never Was are no exception, so today we wish to share a fabulous piece of Star Wars elegance: this lookbook video by The Closet Historian.
