## Branches on the Tree of Time, a Terminator fanfic * Author: u/alexanderwales *Time flies like an arrow** * URL: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9658524/1/Branches-on-the-Tree-of-Time * Score: 19 * Created: 2013-12-06T06:39:12 ### Post: [Link to content](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9658524/1/Branches-on-the-Tree-of-Time) ### Comments: > **u/mycroftxxx42** [+4] (15 hours later) > > Oh this is good, if not at all character-accurate. But, hey, time-travel! > > The fact that it's unfinished on such a goddamn cliffhanger is frustrating. Worse is that the author has run into a nasty potential block-point since Sarah Connor is about to try running her own Preston-Logan Attack on Skynet. > > EDIT: Now that the Fic is finished, I'll have to say that it's middling-good. You could definitely detect a little author fatigue by the climax - getting mind-mapping technologies sub-Utopian future timelines is certainly within the bounds of the story-as-written, but singularities make for iffy storytelling. I would have personally felt more satisfied if the story had ended with an friendly-but-traumatized Skynet booking it away from humanity or otherwise showing signs that its unique and heavily extended birth trauma had effected it. > > With those caveats/complaints listed, I liked what I read very much /u/alexanderwales. I'm glad you chose this story to get the fanfic bug out of your system. >> **u/DeliaEris** [+2] *Fully General Idealist* (22 hours later) >> >> The classical Preston-Logan strategy depends closely on the sole-victor assumption, which doesn't apply under the branching-timelines model. >> **u/FeepingCreature** [+2] *GCV Literally The Entire Culture* (a day later) >> >> > The fact that it's unfinished on such a goddamn cliffhanger is frustrating. >> >> It just updated with a short chapter! >> >> I have this theory that if I can amass enough good fanfics, I'll have a new chapter to read every time I press ctrl-F5. >> >> Still working on getting up to that point. >>> **u/alexanderwales** [+2] *Time flies like an arrow* (a day later) >>> >>> I'm trying to keep this story updating at a pretty regular pace, and should be done this weekend, since after the most recent chapter (13) there should only be one or two left. This is sort of a distraction from my more marketable and original writing. I'm trying to get it done quickly so I can get back to my actual serious writing. >>>> **u/i_dont_know** [+3] (a day later) >>>> >>>> Is any of your other writing currently available? Really enjoying this fic, and am interested in reading any other stories you've written. >>>>> **u/alexanderwales** [+3] *Time flies like an arrow* (2 days later) >>>>> >>>>> The only other thing that's online right now are my entries for the /r/worldbuilding challenges - you can read those in the links below. Some (most?) are in the form of supershort stories, and some have longer stories attached. Other than that, there's a lot of unfinished stuff, some of which won't ever be finished, but not much of it is online (the only one I can think of off the top of my head is [Dark Tidings](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zdueoKCpOwienqc7qEa6n9XCsoiY7_1MgU589r6Hlq0/edit?usp=sharing), which only has one chapter "published" and three or four more written - that was my first attempt at proper humor, which I'm not terribly good at). Oh, and I'm also one of the lead lore writers for an indie game called Frontiers, which is still in development and has another few months left, but I'm not sure how much of the stuff I wrote will end up in the books that litter the game. >>>>> >>>>> Worldbuilding challenge entry links (all of which won their week, I don't think I tracked the losers): >>>>> >>>>> [Remix: Goblins (Goblins of the Written Word)](http://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/1dzxyu/weekly_challenge_remix_goblins/) >>>>> >>>>> [Other Planes (*m-space*)](http://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/1diupy/weekly_challenge_other_planes/c9qrfn3) >>>>> >>>>> [Warfare (The Wizardless Wars)](http://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/1b6bm0/weekly_challenge_warfare/c9412lr) >>>>> >>>>> [Remix: Elves](http://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/1a97mx/weekly_challenge_remix_elves/c8vbw1e) >>>>> >>>>> [Unnatural Disasters (Temporal Storms)](http://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/19tpgl/weekly_challenge_unnatural_disasters/c8r8i7k) >>>>> >>>>> [Missing Persons (Lost City of Potyr)](http://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/18ngjx/weekly_challenge_missing_persons/c8gjwpi) >>>>> >>>>> [Labyrinth (Forest of Lost Time)](http://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/17pij7/weekly_challenge_the_labyrinth/c87pmrz) >>>>> >>>>> [Special Rules (The Time Machine)](http://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/158cbi/weekly_challenge_special_rules/c7k8lxg) >>>>> >>>>> [Language (The Uttalak)](http://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/14rh87/weekly_challenge_language/c7ftkcl) >>>>> >>>>> [Culinary Anthropology (Essence-bound Beef)](http://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/xjib8/rworldbuilding_challenge_culinary_anthropology/c5n3zzj) >>>>> >>>>> Edit: Oh, and also [Timeline](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rZ5xBiQhyBy7iCgt1P7PHq8EuoHZvtU0bUd4qBlj3aw/edit?usp=sharing) which was a short story that I wrote awhile back, which explores a lot of the same space that this fanfic does (this was sort of my testbed for a novel-length treatment about crimefighting in a universe with terminator-esque rules). >>>> **u/FeepingCreature** [+2] *GCV Literally The Entire Culture* (a day later) >>>> >>>> Man, just saying, you literally update more than all my other fanfics put together. It's nice. Shame it's a oneshot. >> **u/alexanderwales** [+1] *Time flies like an arrow* (3 days later) >> >> I think maybe I should have just cut it off before the epilogue and made things more vague. I also thought about having utopia be rolled out slower, instead of just having the singularity happen right away, which would give a different epilogue entirely. Either way the central conflict of the story is done, which makes it harder to write. I don't know. I'll be cleaning it up a bit after a couple weeks to let it fade from my mind - it's not really edited right now, and I always find editing better when I've had a chance to get some distance. >> >> Edit: Did some editing, added another alternate epilogue. If you find this fic and get to the end, I'd appreciate you telling me what you think. >>> **u/mycroftxxx42** [+2] (11 days later) >>> >>> I am in the process of reading the Alternate epilogue. I am _really_ liking this version. _This_ is what the comedown of victory looks like. > **u/FeepingCreature** [+2] *GCV Literally The Entire Culture* (5 hours later) > > Thank you, this is quite good! > **u/i_dont_know** [+2] (3 days later) > > The story has been completed and an epilogue posted. ---