Shattered World : A Worse World War

Shattered World: Madness Ascendant | Chapter 4

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Fri, 15 May 2026 18:22:51 +0000

February 1950 opens with Britain learning a terrifying new truth: Germany’s atomic war is no longer symbolic — it is strategic. As Southampton burns, Tunisia is shattered, and the Middle East begins to boil, the world settles into the rhythm of ruin.

https://alternatehistoryworlds.substack.com/p/shattered-world-madness-ascendant-c2e?r=o6is1

Shattered World: Madness Ascendant | Chapter 3

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Fri, 08 May 2026 18:54:00 +0000

After Black Christmas, the war enters its darkest phase yet: London reels from atomic fire, Berlin burns in answer, and every great power realizes the old rules are gone. Chapter 3 of Shattered World: Madness Ascendant follows a world sliding from global war into nuclear terror.

https://alternatehistoryworlds.substack.com/p/shattered-world-madness-ascendant-40e?r=o6is1

Plans for Shattered World moving forward

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Wed, 06 May 2026 00:17:00 +0000

Plans for Shattered World moving forward :

-- The existing "classic" timeline will remain available via the ebooks on Amazon :

https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0070AYNEC?ingress=0...

-- New chapters of Book 7, "Madness Ascendant", will be released for free over time on the new substack...

https://alternatehistoryworlds.substack.com/

-- "Re-Mastered" chapters of Books 1 through 6 will be released for free over time on the substack as well. This will be maintaining the timeline integrity but just polishing up the writing quality, filling in more detail here and there, etc.

-- If there is interest and the substack gets a decent number of subscribers, then I would do additional short stories and/or novellas set in the Shattered World timeline as well.

Shattered World : Madness Ascendant |Chapter 2

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Sun, 03 May 2026 21:16:00 +0000

This is based on the old parts 4 and 5 of Book 7, but mostly re-written. Next I will begin advancing the timeline into new territory.

In Chapter 2 of Madness Ascendant, the war crosses another horrifying threshold as atomic fire consumes Baku, London, and Liverpool while armies freeze before Moscow and Leningrad. From Spain to Syria, North Africa to Japan, the conflict spirals beyond strategy into something darker: a world learning that even nuclear war may not be enough to make the fighting stop.

Shattered World : Madness Ascendant |Chapter 2

https://alternatehistoryworlds.substack.com/p/shattered-world-madness-ascendant-c3a?r=o6is1

Shattered World : Madness Ascendant | Chapter 1

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Sat, 02 May 2026 19:54:00 +0000

I am re-starting work on Book 7, "Madness Ascendant". I posted the new prologue for it yesterday. This is the new chapter 1, which is based on the old parts 1 - 3 but has been polished quite a bit.

https://alternatehistoryworlds.substack.com/p/shattered-world-madness-ascendant?r=o6is1

Current Shattered World status...

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Sat, 02 May 2026 06:58:00 +0000

Posting this on the off chance that anyone is still following this old shattered world blogger page.This is probably obvious but the World Anvil site for Shattered World isn't active and I won't be updating it any more. I have just recently begun posting new Shattered World content via my new Substack here...

https://alternatehistoryworlds.substack.com/

New prologue to "The Eurasian War" :

https://alternatehistoryworlds.substack.com/p/shattered-world-prologue-chapter?r=o6is1

New prologue to "Madness Ascendant" :

https://alternatehistoryworlds.substack.com/p/shattered-world-madness-ascendant-975?r=o6is1

I definitely intend to continue with new content and a "Re-Mastered" version of the whole timeline as well, or at least the earlier "Eurasian War" stuff since a lot of those early parts are pretty rough and not up to the standards of later stuff.

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 01:20:00 +0000

Part 5 is now up!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SiN-9WTVobxXvxdYVi-480bEiRNCtaTBbc5ahb6kawA/edit?usp=sharing

Part 4 now available...

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 20:19:00 +0000

Part 4

Started posting the original timeline segments in their original format

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Sat, 01 Aug 2020 01:02:00 +0000

The first 10 original segments, and their associated maps, are now posted at the top of the page. I'll do them all eventually but it takes a bit of work to grab them from the way back machine, save to pdf, then post to the current site, so I'll do the segments in batches.

Part 3....

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 08:44:00 +0000

Part 3 (of "book 7") is now posted...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CqQNTA7xIRUodJ_cpxQc2Gvf1js2zEzsObt3t3yymCI/edit?usp=sharing

Updated this site...

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 02:04:00 +0000

...just added a section at the top to post the parts for "Book 7". This is where I will post segments for free like in the old days.

Short new segment...

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 04:47:00 +0000

Been inspired by some of the activity I've seen on the facebook group and pounded out the below short new segment. Really its just a brief interlude...but its something!

Shattered World : Book 7: Part 2

Couple of housekeeping items....

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 02:08:00 +0000

I have revived the old shatteredworld.net domain and the Facebook Group....

https://www.facebook.com/groups/shatteredworldtimeline/

http://shatteredworld.net

Time to revive Shattered World?

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 03:14:00 +0000

Hey all, if anyone is still out there...I've been giving serious thought to trying to revive Shattered World in a serious way. And no more e-books, I would go back to the old format of free serialized updates...and hopefully do so on a more regular schedule.

However, I'm just not sure if anyone is still out there and if there is any interest in this? What I am thinking is this; I currently have 76 followers on twitter. If I see that get to 125 then I'd take that as a firm "yes!" in answer to the question of whether there is still interest. I thought about just doing a poll or something....but I figure following me on twitter takes a tiny bit more effort and is therefore a better gauge of interest...and if I did revive the series I'd plan on doing a lot of my status updates and interaction with readers via that channel as well.

So, if you are interested in seeing Shattered World revived then just follow me at https://twitter.com/CypherLH. Feel free to DM me on there as well if you have any thoughts on this.

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 08:31:00 +0000

Hi folks, if there is anyone still out there....as should be obvious I've had a epic case of writer's block when it comes to Shattered World, for a long time now. The times I do muster up the energy to write more content it turns out as a crap and I delete it. This has happened several times.

I've moved on to other projects in the meantime and just published a new project on the Amazon kindle store...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H6ANWP2

High fantasy with some steampunk elements. I'm aiming for fantasy with a very real-world feel to the background. I've been building the world for years, a labor of love way before I ever thought about writing narrative and publishing. Was originally gonna follow more of a Shattered World style for it but decided to keep my background notes private and instead start writing narrative in the world and try publishing a more traditional book. Its free through Friday. Reviews would be much appreciated if anyone is so inclined.

As for Shattered World, I have every intention of revisiting it and I do have chunks of the next ebook in the series written down. I'm just not happy with it at this point and its gonna need a lot of work to get into shape.

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 06:57:00 +0000

After a long hiatus, I have begun work on book 7 of Shattered World. Here is a taste of what is to come....

Shattered World - Book 7(unnamed as of yet)

Chapter 1

  Field Marshall Heinz Gustov slammed his fist into the flimsy table in his field HQ, sending map, markers, and a cup of water flying out in random directions. For a moment he was not the calm and calculating Field Marshall he had become, but rather the rough and raw panzer commander who'd survived the grinding combat of the Eurasian War. Rage filled him. He had been so close. His plan had worked, the British were routed! And now this. The British had cheated him with their atomic ace card. He looked up, eyes intent on the dark black smoke that marred the northern sky long after the mushroom cloud had been twisted beyond recognition by wind currents.
  Fully 80% of his hard-won fuel was gone, never to fuel even a single one of his panzers. Nearly half of his trucks were gone as well, caught in the atomic blast as they'd been busy transporting fuel from the captured storage bunker to sites scattered around the area. He'd anticipated the possibility of the British destroying the fuel storage facilities, but had hoped he could get at the fuel and move it before then. The 20% he had saved would not support further offensive operations. The thought almost made him slam the table again, but with an effort of will he controlled himself, letting the rage drain into cool, focused, determination.

November 25th 1949

U.S. forces entering Lisbon are met by cheering crowds and welcoming Portuguese officials. The two U.S. landings have now fanned out, linked up, and secured Lisbon and other strategic points in western Portugal. More U.S. forces now begin to arrive at Portuguese ports despite intensifying German ballistic missile strikes.
  German and Italian forces, such as they are, have taken up positions to block or at least slow down any U.S. effort to advance deeper into the Iberian peninsula. Their task seems futile in the face of growing Alliance superiority in the region.

November 28th 1949

The U.S. SBC(Strategic Bombing Command) undertakes operation ‘Tumble Down’, the largest single coordinated atomic attack of the war to date. In the span of five hours, seventeen atomic detonations will rock ‘Fortress Europa’ while seven atomic bombs will be lost in the skies over Europe, victims of downed B-34 bombers.

November 29th 1949

Though the German leadership is still reeling in the aftermath of the massive attack and trying to ascertain the full scope of events, the retaliatory action is nonetheless swift.
At POW camps all around NAZI Europe, Gestapo and SS units begin liquidating Alliance prisoners by the many thousands. Several camp uprisings are crushed brutally with more executions taking place. Reacting to the shrill objections of the Alliance and the Red Cross, Germany calls the executions “justice” for the “war crimes” against German cities. In all, 50,000 Alliance prisoners(most of them British but a number of Americans as well) are killed over the course of the next week.
  In a more direct retaliation, fifty VX-armed ballistic missiles and another seventy five conventional and sarin-armed ballistic missiles slam into London, concentrated generally on industrial and residential sectors.
  Despite the widespread availability of chemical protection gear, London experiences nearly eighty thousand casualties immediately or in the aftermath of the attack and moderate damage across several parts of the city. Portions of the city will remain uninhabitable for days to come. One small cluster of missiles, whether by intention or pure random chance, strikes close to the parliament building - further damaging the famous structure and killing several members of Parliament.
  Although the attack is modest compared to the massive assault on Axis Europe, it is still a heavy blow for a war weary, hungry, and besieged British population.

  Despite the atomic devastation in western Europe and Germany; in the East the German advance continues. As German panzers stream into southern Russia, Luftwaffe bombers hammer Russian rail lines south of Moscow. The last Soviet reserve army is attempting to deploy south to reinforce the thin Soviet lines on the Volga. Desperate for their reinforcements to make it though, the Soviets throw their last carefully husbanded Red Airforce strength and fuel reserves into securing these vital lines of communication.

November 30th 1949

Soviet political police battalions have begun executing German and Ukrainian prisoners en masse as the Mutiny gains strength in southern Russia, choosing a massacre over letting the hostile prisoners fall into the hands of the rebels.

In Libya, British forces moving west from Tobruk link up with their forces east of Benghazi, relieving the Benghazi pocket. Following the atomic bombing of the fuel depot at Al Bayda, Axis forces have retreated to the positions they held prior to the launch of their ambitious offensive. With much of its armor strength destroyed in the past few weeks, and now critically low on fuel, Army Group Africa has no choice but to go on the defensive.

December 1st 1949

With pitched battalion and division scale battles raging between loyalist and mutineer forces for most of a week in southern Russia, the Red Army mutineers have begun to gain the upper hand and secure the area west of the Volga. Loyal Red Army and political units are streaming in a disorganized mass east across thin Soviet lines at the Volga. Over 200,000 German and Ukrainian prisoners of war are are slaughtered with machine guns or chemical weapons before the mass executions are halted by the mutineers.
In the skies between Moscow and Beriagrad, a surge of Soviet fighters has temporarily renewed the air war over the Eastern Front. The Red Airforce pilots, mostly experienced veterans or ill trained recruits flying a mixture of aging British designed Meteor Jet fighters and late-model Soviet prop fighters, fight valiantly in the face of overwhelming odds - often resorting to ramming and suicidal runs at bombers to disrupt the intense German bombing campaign. The Soviet efforts are marginally successful, giving Soviet rail lines south of Moscow a brief reprisal at the cost of the last strength of the Red Airforce being spent.

The last defenders of Kiev finally surrender, their morale shattered by the mutiny to their east and relentless Axis chemical and conventional shelling.
  In the north, German mechanized forces have broken through four of the five defensive belts south and southeast of Leningrad, advancing some 45 kilometers at the cost of a hundred thousand casualties and two hundred panzers destroyed. Sensing an end to the meat-grinder in sight, German commanders press home their attack, committing their armored reserve to the point of greatest penetration. The 5th SS panzer division surges forward.

New ebook with combined volumes available

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 16:08:00 +0000

Volumes 1 through 6 of Shattered World are now available as a single ebook at a reduced price....

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008N5KP68

Google+ Page

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 06:15:00 +0000

I am a huge fan of Google+ and would love to see this replace the forums if there is enough interest. I would be a lot more active in this environment.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/108554857223827044162/posts

Free promotion on first ebook...

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:00:00 +0000

The first book in the ebook series is available for free right now until the end of this weekend...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00701QF5Q

I've actually hit #9 in the 'war' category on the kindle store and cracked the top 5000 for all kindle books! Wow, talk about massively exceeding all my expectations!

The next two ebooks are published...

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:14:00 +0000

The next two ebooks are now published on the Amazon kindle store. This brings the series up to date with all the existing content from the original timeline. I'll now begin working on the next ebook with new material and I'll post samples on here as I go. I'll eventually be publishing on the nook store as well but I need to wait awhile since my publishing terms with Amazon require that I wait 3 months before publishing anywhere else.

Shattered World : Total War

Shattered World : World in Flames

Again, I could always use reviews on amazon for those so inclined.

Discussion Board updated...

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 07:31:00 +0000

The discussion board has been upgraded to more modern software. Looks and functions A LOT better now! The database from the previous board was migrated so nothing should be lost.

Reviews...

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:02:00 +0000

If anyone is so inclined, I could really use some more reviews on the amazon store. The ebooks are selling better than expected and I suspect a few more reviews could boost it even higher.

Quick update; I'm close to publishing the next two ebooks which will contain the rest of the existing timeline. (I had planned on just doing one more ebook but it ended up being over 50,000 words and that is too long for a 99 cent ebook) Once those are published, I will start work on NEW content. I decided to work on the next Shattered World ebook with new material before I revive any other projects.

Here is the link to all the existing ebooks on the Amazon kindle store....

http://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Hardenbrook/e/B0070AYNEC/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Next two ebooks published...

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:25:00 +0000

The next two Shattered World ebooks, covering up through part 43 of the timeline, are now published on the Amazon kindle store for 99 cents...

Shattered World : Storm in the West

Shattered World : Global War

This material is now only available via ebook. The rest of the existing timeline will be released as one or two additional 99 cent ebooks sometime soon. After that, I will begin working on new Shattered World content in addition to reviving some other projects.

Shattered World now published...

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:54:00 +0000

I've turned the first 29 segments of Shattered World, the 'Eurasian War' period and the 'Between the Wars' period, into two 99 cent ebooks available on the amazon kindle store. This part of the timeline is now only available via ebook. (unless you dig around the net and find the older parts cached from usenet days I suppose)

If there is any interest I could really use some reviews . I'll make them available in other formats such as for the nook and whatnot if there are some sales to justify it. Here are the links for them on the kindle store...

The Eurasian War

Between the Wars

I'll be doing the same thing for the rest of the timeline as well , and new content will be available in ebook form as well although I will post summaries and previews on here still.

New Interlude : Operation Tumble Down....

noreply@blogger.com (Bobby) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 01:51:00 +0000

The new segment is coming very soon, but the in the meantime here is a new interlude that goes with the coming segment....

Operation Tumble Down : General Atomic Warfare against 'Fortress Europa'