| Title | : | The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1845297792 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781845297794 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 591 |
| Publication | : | First published February 1, 2010 |
The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories Reviews
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As usual, I've reviewed each story as I've come to it.
The Raft of the Titanic by James Murrow
The problem with taking the obvious route when applying alternative history to HMS Titanic is that if you create a story where the Titanic doesn’t ship it becomes a case of “so what?” The interesting thing about the ship is the sinking, and if you ignore that we just have a pleasant tale of an oceangoing liner.
Murrow thankfully sinks the boat, but twists things by having most of the crew survive. A great raft is created in that short time before the Titanic goes down and the ship is largely evacuated. At first I thought this was going to be a slightly tedious tale of castaways, but Murrow has great fun pushing things right to their limit and as such creates a genuinely, interesting, amusing and surprising tale.
Sidewinders by Ken MacLeod
There are infinite universes sat side by side, where every possible future is being played out. Able to leap between these often vastly different universes are individuals named Sidewinders. These Sidewinders split into two different factions. There are Improvers who want to improve the various futures they encounter; and then there are Conservers, who want every single future to play out without interference. Our Improver protagonist finds himself chased by a Conserver and jumping through numerous universes to escape.
It’s a good idea for a story, but the result feels a bit glib and rushed.
The Wandering Christian by Eugene Byrne and Kim Newman
Recasting the myth of The Wandering Jew, the one who scorned Jesus and was cursed by The Son of God to wander the Earth until Judgement Day (I’m no biblical scholar, but are curses really something Jesus did?) into a universe where Christianity faltered at an early stage is a fantastic idea. It creates a world so massively different to ours, yet one that gives a lot to ponder on. I’m a pronounced atheist and I took a lot from this story with regards to the nature of chance and happenstance, but I’d bet if you are a practising Christian it would also offer rewards.
Hush My Mouth by Suzette Hayden Elgin
The opening of Suzette Hayden Elgin’s tale had me momentarily convinced that I was reading ‘The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror’ rather than ‘Mammoth Book of Alternative Histories’. Our narrator encounters a ‘Silent’, an individual who has taken a vow of silence for mysterious reasons. When our narrator grows up he himself becomes a Silent, never allowed to speak, and it’s after the spectacular suicide of one of his brothers in quiet chastity, we find out the reason for this incredible vow.
Here we have a world where black soldiers were not allowed to fight in the American Civil War and as a consequence the North lost and the whole history of the country played out in a much different way. It’s an affecting tale, which uses a wordless horror to bring big events down to a personal level.
Letter from the Pope by Harry Harrison and Tom Shippey
Harry Harrison and Tom Shippey here pick a particularly obscure moment in English history to run with. What would have happened if King Alfred had had real doubts about his Christianity during his battles with the Vikings? (Yes, it’s that King Alfred. Although here he pointedly doesn’t burn the cakes.) There’s no doubt a fascinating tale to be written here, where a man stands on the cusp of history and has no idea that his actions will reverberate through the next millennia. Yet this story fails to make the most of its promise. There are some subjects which are ill fitting within a short story, and this is one of them. It just never captures that full sweep of history it’s aiming for. But more damaging, it never seems to capture a sense of time and place, feeling altogether too modern in its dialogue and attitudes, with its characters too flimsy and incongruous in their setting to really carry this dilemma. Added to that a narrative contrivance to resolve it, and what was a promising idea falls flat into the Saxon mud.
Such a Deal by Esther Friesner
So here Esther Friesner takes the Columbus tale for a spin, and gradually builds to a surreal epoch where the old world orders are dramatically thrown away to make way for the new world. Undoubtedly this story is awash with ambition, but it never really comes together and works in the way it should. Part of that is that is lacks the pixyish charm of James Morrow’s ‘The Raft of the Titanic’ (which we encountered earlier in this collection) and treats its situation with an earnestness that grates against the outré nature of the plot. More than that though, the structure of the tale seems inadequate for the actual story being told. For the most part it could be a one act play, with characters in a room just talking, but then it suddenly opens up onto the vast panorama of the outside world in a way which is so swift and jarring and rushed that it just fails to capture this world which is being ripped asunder.
Ink from the New Moon by A.A. Attanasio
So this is what happened: before Christopher Columbus ever set foot on the Santa Maria, the Chinese had sailed east and landed somewhere around California. From there they spread out and colonised the continent, until the only region remaining was the almost impenetrable Eastern Seaboard – ‘The Wild East’, as it were. Of course they gave this new country a name: the United Sandalwood Autocracies. This tale follows what happens when Columbus discovers these Chinese colonialists on his arrival.
‘Ink from the New Moon’ is a smart, witty story which truly understands the playfulness of alternative histories (certainly compared to the previous Columbus tale in this volume). Even after hampering itself with a depressed narrator, this tale manages to feel fresh, funny and invigorating in its inventiveness.
Dispatches from the Revolution by Pat Cadigan
The 1960s spiral out of control for America in a completely different way – Johnson standing for a second term inflames the young, but Robert Kennedy survives an assassination attempt to give some hope.
With its switching narrators and merry use of street slang, the author this is most reminiscent of is James Ellroy. (And if you think about it, Ellroy in his ‘American Trilogy’ books was also writing alternative history, just around fixed historical events.) Alternative history tends by nature to be tricksy, but here the tricksiness is masked by anger. This is a loud and angry tale about the preciousness of democracy and how America – and any democratic society – has to be constantly vigilant.
Catch That Zeppelin by Fritz Leiber
A tale which aims for Utopia. Thomas Edison marries Madame Curie, thus bringing their scientific geniuses together and – what’s more! – creating a genius son who revolutionises the world. Abraham Lincoln survived to do much more for race relations after the American Civil War. The 1914-1918 conflict ended differently and in a way which didn’t see the rise of extreme German nationalism. And what we end up with is a peaceful world, a racially harmonic New York, quiet and pollution free streets, and a Zeppelin station atop The Empire State Building.
An interesting idea, but unfortunately a lot of the prose and dialogue used to get these points across is ludicrously stilted and turgid.
A Very British History by Paul McAuley
Cleverly posing as a review of an extensive tome by a British historian (Sir William Coxton’s ‘A Brief History of the Colonization of Space’, if you’re interested); McAuley creates a world where the space race was hugely accelerated; where Clarke, Asimov and Heinlein were as much social historians as science fiction writers; and where – as the title suggests – Great Britain took the lead.
After being the first to reach the Nazi rocket scientists, us Brits were the first to The Moon and to Mars, and are now getting ready to launch galaxy spanning ships which will allow us to colonise Earth-like planets around other suns. However the Americans and the Russians are catch up fast.
If meant as a criticism of Empire it fails through never dealing with the human cost of colonisation, as here it comes across simply as a land grab. However it brilliantly captures the superiority of a certain type of Englishman, and that arrogance turning sour with the realisation that the hegemony is coming to an end. You see, the sun is setting on this Empire in the stars too.
This is a smart, funny and entertaining tale – but then I’m always going to be a sucker for anything which manages to name-check both Patrick Moore and Jack Kerouac.
The Imitation Game by Rudy Rucker
Alan Turing fakes his own death and escapes to lead a more idyllic life without persecution. The Turing case is one of those which still hangs shamefully over British society. As such it is nice to read a story where he finds peace and solace. However the story itself manages to be both too melodramatic and emotionally numb. So we have lots of overwrought prose, but a murder at the centre of the story happens - strangely - without a blink of worry.
Weinachtsabend by Keith Roberts
“Oh no! The Nazis actually won the war!” is one of the great ‘go-tos’ of alternative history fiction. Here we have ‘Fatherland’ meets ‘Conspiracy’ as a group of senior figures from the great German-British empire rendezvous in a country house to celebrate Christmas. Of course someone realises just how dreadful and morally wretched this empire is, but the story does take its ponderous sweet time getting there.
I did like the joke about William Shirer writing a volume simply entitled ‘The Rise of the Third Reich’ though.
The Lucky Strike by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Enola-Gay crashes on test-run and responsibility for dropping the first atomic bomb falls to the crew of The Lucky Strike. However the bombardier of The Lucky Strike can see with alarming and horrifying clarity just how devastating and appalling a nuclear strike on a city will be. Will he follow orders and find some way to assuage his conscience, or will he stop the destruction from taking place?
This is probably the best written story in this collection thus far, with Stanley Robinson taking big events and playing them out on a small stage. ‘The Lucky Strike’ is s passionate piece which wears its heart very much on its sleeve.
His Powder’d Wig, This Crown of Thrones by Mark Laidlaw
I liked that there is the shadow of Lovecraft in this tale of a different America, one where the British and mad King George won the war of attempted independence. For all the works of American culture which could have been used to drive this tale forward, I enjoyed that it was Lovecraft’s idea of an ancient and mystical power that clings to American land. True, we don’t have Cthulhu or the Necronomicon, but I thought old H.P. would appreciate the idea that Benedict Arnold is commemorated (in the city which now bears his name) with a giant pit bored right into the centre of the ground.
However the fist-pumping patriotism in the rest of the tale, although undoubtedly appealing to some people, left me cold. Given the actual history of the USA, portraying the country IF it had won the war of independence as a utopia for all men regardless of skin colour, just seemed like flag-waving gone to ludicrous lengths.
Alternative history is great, but it works best when real history isn’t completely ignored.
Roncesvalles by Judith Tarr
Intrigue at the Court of King Charles of the Franks, with Christianity and Islam placed in direct opposition. It’s always an achievement to cram a novel’s worth of events into a short story; however, as this tale demonstrates, it’s much less of an achievement to make a short story read as if it’s a long and tedious novel.
The English Mutiny by Ian R. MacLeod
This is what you can do with alternative history!
‘The English Mutiny’ is a fantastic and mad tale which sees the scales of history having been tipped the other direction, and India now the colonial power over Britain. Fed up of being oppressed by opulent rulers in a much distant land (as well as fighting the troublesome Scots), the British army rises up – led by a charismatic, but possibly insane, prophet – and turns London into a citadel of freedom. But this freedom may be too hard to win for more than but a fleeting moment.
Echoing (of course) The Indian Mutiny, it manages to take in the whole of colonialism, as well as Anglo-Scot relations and the centrality of London to these isles. An exciting and gripping tale; one of the best in this collection.
O One by Chris Roberson
A world so unlike ours: the Chinese have conquered the world and now The Emperor wants to launch into space and dominate the stars. How this all transpired is never explained, meaning this story is in the zone of flights of fancy. Saying that it’s a pleasant story damns it with faint praise, but pleasant it is. It’s not without interest, holds the attention, but is eminently forgettable.
Islands in the Sea by Harry Turtledove
We open with the world map already radically redrawn: the Arab-Byzantine wars of the 600s having gone decisively the way of the Arabs, and Constantinople being very much in their hands. Now a group of Arabs and a group of Christians make their case to the Khan of the Bulgars in order for him to give up his heathen ways and follow one of their religions. His ultimate decision will have vast consequences for the religious and political future of the western hemisphere. If you’re interested in religion and history then this is without a doubt an intriguing story; although since most of it is characters sat around debating, it can feel a bit like a regurgitated ten week course in theology.
Lenin in the Odessa by George Zewbrowski
An enjoyable tale which takes actual history and tweaks it just a little: British super-spy Sidney Reilly was indeed involved in a plot to overthrow Lenin and Bolshevism in 1918, and was implicated in an assassination attempt on Lenin’s life that year. Here we have Reilly being far more ambitious though, looking to take control of Russia himself and when the assassination attempt fails, flying to Lenin to finish the job himself. It’s an interesting story in this collection, as rather than changing the events of a moment and extrapolating a whole other future from it, history as we know seems to march on undaunted culminating in Stalin becoming leader of Russia. Although since our narrator is one Josef Stalin, the possibility exists that he’s more than a little unreliable.
The Einstein Gun by Pierre Gévart
The assassination attempt on Franz Ferdinand in 1914 failed, which of course meant there was no First World War. Unfortunately consequences that arose from that botched murder include a stock market crash in 1926 and one Adolf Hitler becoming leader of Austria-Hungary, rather than Germany. Independently to all this though, Alfred Einstein invents a time machine.
I had a nagging feeling as I read this that time travel might a gimmick too far for the story, yet actually it is used to bring a neat kind of circularity which left this reader nodding contentedly at this tale’s intelligence and audacity.
Tales from the Venia Woods by Robert Silverberg
Hansel and Gretel walk into the dark woods, but instead of a wicked witch they find an ancient Roman emperor.
This story pulls the neat trick of being an alternative history set in the future. It’s the middle of the twenty-first century and the Roman Empire is still flourishing thousands of years after its inception. The Caesars though have been overthrown and in their place a glorious Republic has been formed. Meanwhile in the Roman region of Germany, two children venture into a nearby woods in search of a haunted cottage that allegedly belonged to the emperors in olden times. They are seeking ghosts, they are seeking treasure, but what they find is the younger brother of the last Caesar. Now a very old man, he is still the last heir to a long line of Roman Kings.
I like that this story manages to cram so much in: there’s the Grimm Brothers German fairy-tale mysticism, there’s a real sense of horror as the children are alone in the woods and there’s the growing friendships between these naive innocents and the sweet and disappointed old man. In the background buzzes politics, revolution, patriotism and the threat of nationalism, to give a poo-pourri of ideas which does incredibly manage to hang together. It’s a far different world from the one we have today, but Silverberg – in a short space of pages – manages to make it seem a real world.
Manassas Again by Gregory Benford
This is another tale where the Roman Empire just kept going and going. (Seriously guys, no tales about the British Empire still going? Or the mighty Macedonian Empire still being ruled by Alexander the 65th?) However, the alternative history here is merely detail, with the foreground being the terribleness of war.
The notion of a human v robots war story did appeal to the little boy inside me, but the tale itself never finds the way to be as gripping as it should.
The Sleeping Serpent by Pamela Sargent
This is more like it!
There I am bitching about ‘the Roman Empire never ended’ story after ‘the Roman Empire never ended’ story, and here we get the Mongol Empire instead. It makes a refreshing change. In ‘The Sleeping Serpent’ the Mongols achieve their aim of an Empire stretching from Asia to Europe, and now a descendant of the great Khan joins together with the Native Americans to drive the Inglistani (or the English, to you and I) from the New World.
Whereas the last tale gave us war at its most tedious, this is riveting – understanding that to make battle scenes work you need decent characters with proper motivations that the reader can give a damn about.
Waiting for the Olympians by Frederick Pohl
Hmmm. I’m going to have to backtrack a little here.
After complaining about a preponderance of ‘the Roman Empire never ended’ stories (and one has to wonder what’s going on in an editor’s mind if he places three such tales in a run of four), we get to one I really like. But rather than tackling the idea with a distant sorrow, or just keeping it as a background detail, Pohl attacks it full on with a playful relish. Actually ‘playful’ makes it sound like it’s not a serious tale, or is at best a romp, but this is one of the most original and ambitious stories in this volume.
‘Waiting for the Olympians’ is not only a ‘the Roman Empire never ended’ story, but a tale of visiting aliens, a love story, a literary satire and an examination of Christianity. Some writers use alternative history as ideas, Pohl clearly has a bag-full of ideas and alternative history is just one of them.
A brilliant and witty tale, particularly the delicious detail of the not so bright narrator having the concept of ‘alternative history’ explained to him numerous times and him taking most of the story to work out what it means or what the point of it might be.
Darwin Anathema by Stephen Baxter
The Catholic Church doesn’t persecute Galileo, which counter-intuitively in this counter-history leads to the Church becoming much more powerful and dominant. Hundreds of years later they try to make amends for their mistake by excommunicating the dead body of radical preacher, Charles Darwin. But some proponents of evolution want exactly that.
I loved the scope of this story, the way it crams in so much: there’s no French revolution, a different result in the wars for General Napoleon; and even Hitler gets a mention in his dotage. I’m not sure I’d necessarily agree with its conclusions, but then it’s not really aiming for conclusions, just being delightfully playful. -
The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories is a very mixed bag, as I suppose is to be expected from an anthology of short stories by different authors. It's extremely long, and not very quick to read, which is why I took so long to get through it. Most of the stories aren't that interesting, but a few are excellent and they make it worth getting the book just to read them.
"The Raft of the Titanic" I found spectacularly boring; it doesn't go anywhere and takes many pages to get there.
"Sidewinders" I found interesting, but a bit too weird; it's more standard science fiction than most of the others, but doesn't have quite as 'alternate history' a feel. Also, there's no explanation given for the central premise of jumping between timelines; some people like that, but I always find it annoying.
"The Wandering Christian" requires you to take Christian mythology far more seriously than I did even when I considered myself Catholic.
"Hush My Mouth" is definitely original, but honestly a bit too dark; it starts with a scenario that seems like it would be a good thing, and then it leads to a really quite horrible conclusion.
"A Letter from the Pope" is the most historically thorough, and while it deals with a part of history that isn't of particular interest to me, it does an excellent job of applying the butterfly effect appropriately; by changing just a few key variables a little bit, it results in a radically different outcome in a very plausible way.
"Such a Deal" tries to do the same thing, but doesn't do nearly as good a job of it; it's hard to take seriously the idea of Ferdinand and Isabella surrendering to a merchant in Grenada simply because they had failed in their conquest of the Aztecs.
"Ink from the New Moon" is quite intriguing, and reasonably plausible (we do know that the Chinese had quite a naval empire in their day), but it isn't done all that well, and the conceit of calling it the 'United Sandalwood Autocracies' just to keep the acronym grated at me.
"Dispatches from the Revolution" imagines what would have happened if the 1960s in the US had erupted into full revolution, and frankly seems like a paranoid fantasy borne of exaggerated misrememberings.
"Catch that Zeppelin", however, is excellent, an instant classic; it's also one of the few alternate histories bold enough to imagine a life better than the one we are living today.
"A Very British History" seems to have a bit too much, well, British nationalism; it imagines that if the British (instead of the Americans) had captured the Nazi rocket scientists, the result would have been a golden age of space exploration.
"The Imitation Game" is also a gem in the rough; it actually is the only story in the set that might actually have happened, for it is arranged such that we would not actually know if it had. Perhaps Alan Turing did not commit suicide after all, but instead MI5 tried to kill him and he made a daring and devious escape!
"Weinachsabend" imagines what might have happened if the Nazis won WW2, and is not as bleak as one might first think. It's quite plausible, but I didn't find it terribly interesting.
"The Lucky Strike" is another one that does a nice job of making a small change at a critical moment. The Enola Gay and its crew are destroyed in an accident, and it is replaced by the Lucky Strike for the delivery of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima. The new bombardier hesitates at the last moment, sparing Hiroshima from destruction.
"His Powder'd Wig, His Crown of Thornes" imagines what might have happened had the British won the Revolutionary War; it's a weird take though, because it manages to at once propose that the Native Americans would have avoided the worst genocides yet somehow ended up worse off. (Personally I think genocide is pretty much the worst possible outcome.)
"Roncesvalles" is a very interesting premise... that spends the entire time telling the story to set up the premise, instead of actually carrying out the narrative of the consequences. It ends with Charlemagne professing Islam; not begins, ends. We never see any of the consequences of that.
"The English Mutiny" didn't particularly interest me, but it is fairly well-executed. It turns the tables on the British Empire, imagining what might have happened if India had conquered Britain instead of the other way around.
"O One" is brilliant; it achieves what "Ink from the New Moon" failed to do, making a plausible and compelling story out of Chinese world conquest. The domination of the abacus over the calculating engine, and the stagnation of technology that would result, is all too plausible, frankly.
"Islands in the Sea" makes the same mistake as "Roncesvalles", telling in detail the story of how the Bulgarian Empire becomes Muslim, but not telling us the really interesting story, what would happen to the world if they had.
"Lenin in Odessa" is pretty good, and based on real incidents that easily could have gone the other way, but its ending is a bit unsatisfying; it seems to rely too much on the idea of historical inevitability.
"The Einstein Gun" isn't a great story, but it's cute; it offers a bit of a warning about time travel, because the bad events they try to prevent end up leading to far worse events in the history we know.
"Tales from the Venia Woods" is one of three stories that imagines a Rome that didn't fall; it's the most closely tied to Roman history, and it is well-executed but ultimately not that compelling. It focuses a little too much on telling the story of the transition to the Second Republic and not enough on telling us what the world of a future Rome is like.
"Manassas, again" is the second Rome story, or tries to be; instead it's really a pretty dumb story about a war that doesn't make any sense and isn't put into any context. Apparently we've invented artificially-intelligent mechs by now (which isn't too implausible, given the loss of technology in the Dark Ages), but we're still stupid enough to think that war is fun and makes you feel alive.
"The Sleeping Serpent" is a neat little story; it imagines what might have happened if the Mongols had achieved their dreams of global empire. It's really a brilliant choice of protagonist as well: Our hero is the Mongolian ambassador to the Iroquois.
The final story, "Darwin Anathema", is a cautionary tale about theocracy that, while heavy-handed, is an anvil that needed to be dropped. We stand even now on a precipice quite close to this horrific outcome, and we must remain vigilant lest we tumble over it.
But my favorite is the penultimate story, "Waiting for the Olympians". It's the third and best story of Rome still standing, and it does a very good job of showing both the enormous benefits and the enormous harms (to the point where one is left agonizingly ambivalent). It tells a compelling story in its own right, fitted into a rich and realistic world that is nonetheless radically different from our own.
This passage particularly struck me, because it is completely true of myself:
"You see, my family has a claim to fame. Genealogists say we are descended from the line of Julius Caesar himself.
I mention that claim myself, sometimes, though usually only when I've been drinking. It isn't a serious matter. After all, Julius Caesar died more than two thousand years ago. There have been sixty or seventy generations since then, not to mention the fact that, although Ancestor Julius certainly left a lot of children behind him, none of them happened to be born to a woman he happened to be married to. I don't even look very Roman. There must have been a Northman or two in the line, because I'm tall and fair-haired, which no respectable Roman ever was."
It's a weird feeling reading such a paragraph, as you might imagine. Also, the character is a science fiction author, though that I can attribute to the fact that the author is a science fiction author (Frederick Pohl) perhaps taking "write what you know" a little too literally. (In fact, the character is in an alternate history writing an alternate history that turns out to be much like our own....)
It also picks a crux event that almost anyone would have to agree upon (and a literal crux at that): Jeshua of Nazareth is pardoned, and his radical Judean sect collapses for lack of a martyr. Would that really save Rome? It might. Would our improved technology allow us to contact aliens? It might! -
DNF at 63%, 373 of 582 pages. I am fed up with this cluttering up my currently reading shelf. The 15 stories that I did read, average out at three stars. It's not a bad collection, but it's not really interesting either. I doubt I will pick it up again, but you never know.
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Excellent, can I have that as a novel, please. 5 stars:
Harry Harrison & Tom Shippey, A letter from the Pope (vikings invading British isles, Middle Ages)
Entertaining and enjoyable, 4 stars:
James Morrow, The raft of the Titanic
Eugene Byrne & Kim Newman, The Wandering Christian (time of Christ to Middle Ages)
Esther M. Friesner, Such a deal (Christoper Columbus)
Kim Stanley Robinson, The Lucky Strike (WWII, war against Japan) - excellent! If I didn't know first-hand already that Robinson is a great writer, this would have convinced me.
Ian R. MacLeod, The English Mutiny (England did not conquer India) - liked it, good idea well excecuted. Can see myself picking up something else by this author.
Interesting idea, but I was not really sold, 3 stars:
Ken MacLeod, Sidewinders (SF, dystopian future)
Suzette Hayden Elgin, Hush my Mouth (American civil war and onwards)
Rudy Rucker, The Imitation Game (Alan Turing) - interesting idea, but I didn't care much for the characterization of Alan Turing or the actual plot.
Keith Roberts, Weihnachtsabend (Nazi Gemany and The British Empire form a pact) - the spelling and grammar mistakes of the German sentences were annyoing. The story was a bit odd.
Not interested, mostly skimmed. 1 or 2 stars:
A. A. Attanasio, Ink from the new Moon (discovery of the New World, China rules the world)
Pat Cadigan, Dispatches from the Revolution (USA, Vienam war onwards, politics, civil rights)
Paul McAuley, A Very British History (history of the space race) - boring, I was skimming almost from the beginning.
Marc Laidlaw, His Powder'd Wig, His Crown of Thornes (The colonies did not win during the American revolution...) - the story creeped me out, did not like it, skimmed through half of it.
Judith Carr, Roncesvalles (Spain, Middle Ages) - felt old-fashioned, talkative, with an overload of details. Lost interest, before anything of consequence happened.
Chris Robertson, O One (China rules the world, computation)
Stopped before reading: Harry Turtledove, Islands in the Sea -
As I'm writing a lot of short stories nowadays, I wanted to read some of them too, and as I'm always fascinated by 'What if'-stories, this collection caught my attention. It's pretty impressive tome, with a collection of stories from older and newer authors, well-knowns and fresh faces. Sadly the quality of the stories varied. I think that will always be the case in collections like these, and what did not appeal to me, might appeal to you. Some of the other reviews were pretty kind to stories that I found lacking, or vice versa. I didn't think there were any real 'clunkers' in the book, but there were a couple of stories lacking a real punchline, or not doing anything fresh with their theme (dealing with a continuing Roman Empire or Germany having won WWII is not very original). The stories I liked the most played with the concept of alternat histories itself, like 'The Einstein Gun' which seems to be a warning to accept your own history instead of always thinking things could/should have been better. Or the satirical story by Frederic Pohl featuring an author of 'SciRoms' in a Roman world, confronted with the arrival of an alien race. Some stories were a bit too anecdotal for my taste, or read too much like history lessons (needing a lot of explanation to set up their world). One case in which this actually worked was 'The Wandering Christian', situated during the siege of Rome, having a mortally wounded traveller tell his possibly delusional tale. I also appreciated the authors welding historical knowledge with a really involving style, like in The Sleeping Servant, where the Mongols have colonised the new world. The tale by Harry Turtledove was well written and historically believable, but was more like a snapshot of history changing than of the consequences thereof. Just like the Roncevalles-tale. I think it's pretty hard to write a really good 'alternate history'-story, as one has to do more in the short space than in a regular story: there's not only the story, but also the world one has to suspend the readers' disbelief in. At least I was inspired to try my hand on one of these stories myself.
One curious thing (to me) was the amount of stories dealing with christianity. I don't think it's really surprising, thinking of the influence of the Church in history. But at least three stories proposed Islam winning out (or Judaism). Some presented this as something good happening (just like Baxters tale of a pusthumous trial against Charles Darwin presented Christianity in a negative light). But the worlds that would have been created by this would lack some things our world has: like humanism. Humanism (and the fight against slavery, for womens' rights, equality et cetera) has christian roots. Care for the weak and poor is a Christian concept. Holy War is not, even though christians have thought it to be during history. I think some of these authors underestimated the way they themselves have incorporated christian ethics in their own philosophy. I do have a certain antipathy against the organised church, but I don't think her influence was bad only. I think Pohl had an inkling (His continuing Rome also continuing using slaves), and 'The Wandering Christian' had it right too with the level of cruelty described. Thinking about these tales, I wonder if we do live in 'the best of all worlds' - as I think human nature tends (with it's short term focus) to be destructive, and maybe this (with all the pain and destruction) is the best the world can be. A depressing thought, but there are glimmers of hope: there are still people trying to be kind and helpful to others. Also in these stories. -
Alternate histories - in which some aspect of our past history has been changed, leading to minor or major changes in subsequent timelines - have formed a large subgenre of SF since at least the early sixties, although there may be earlier works. The earliest piece in this volume (Keith Roberts' excellent 'Weihnachtabend') is from 1972.
This is a varied and high quality collection, showcasing some of the diversity of work in this most malleable of subgenres.
The Raft of the Titanic - James Morrow (The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories 2010)
It's odd that the passage of time allows us to make light of tragedies of 100 years ago. I'm glad it does since this is an wonderful piece, speculating that had the passengers and crew of the Titanic pooled their resources and cannibalised the ship to make a raft, all the passengers (and dogs) could be saved. Morrow goes further, and suggests that the passengers, having become accustomed to their odd new life (once the real cannibalism was over with) would not wish to abandon it.
Sidewinders - Ken MacLeod (The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories 2010)
There are people, sidewinders, who can travel easily between alternate timelines. They are divided into two factions, The Improvers, who wish to optimise every possible world, and The Conservers. In a world where a Socialist Scotland extends to the middle of London, an Improver is being pursued by a Conserver.
The Wandering Christian - Kim Newman and Eugene Byrne (Tales of the Wandering Jew, Mar 1991, ed. Brian Stableford)
A somewhat disappointing tale which suffers from the ill-suited combination of alternate histories and the supernatural. The Jew who stamped on Christ when he was on his way to the cross, is cursed by The Son of God that he will not die until Christ returns. Newman and Byrne’s idea is that this ‘Wandering Jew’ converts to Christianity and wanders for a thousand years through a world where Constantine died before Christianity could be established, leaving Christianity (and Islam) as a forgotten sect. It’s somewhat dry and heavy on historical detail. One wonders why Christ would bother returning.
Hush My Mouth - Suzette Haden Elgin (Alternative Histories, Dec 1986, ed. Charles G. Waugh, Martin H. Greenberg)
A quite powerful piece set after the American Civil War in which the North declined to include ‘Negroes’ in its forces. The war was extended far longer than it should have been with appalling consequences to both sides.
A Letter from the Pope - Harry Harrison and Tom Shippey (What Might Have Been? Vol II: Alternate Heroes, Jan 1990, ed. Gregory Benford, Martin H. Greenberg)
When Alfred the Great was famously ‘burning the cakes’ a letter was on his way to him from The Pope, a letter which he never received. Alfred went on to defeat the Danes and reclaim England. Harrison and Shippey consider what the situation might have been if the letter had been received.
Such a Deal - Esther M. Friesner (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, January 1992)
An entrepreneurial jew travelling with Columbus does a deal with the Aztecs, makes his father a god, and claims America for God’s Chosen people.
Ink from the New Moon - A. A. Attanasio (Asimov's Science Fiction, November 1992,)
A Chinese traveler visits an America which was colonised by the Chinese
Dispatches from the Revolution - Pat Cadigan (Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, July 1991,)
A powerful political punch from Cadigan, which sees a very different history of America from the Sixties onwards changed, it seems, by the non-appearance of Bob Dylan in Chicago.
Catch That Zeppelin! - Fritz Leiber (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March 1975,)
An excellent bit of alternative jiggery-pokery from Leiber, who postulates that Thomas Edison met and married Marie Curie (before she met Mr Curie). From this union came an electric battery that fuelled all transport needs and made Germany a leading economic power, obviating the need for fossil fuels.
But where would leave this leave Adolf Hitler?
A Very British History - Paul J. McAuley (Interzone, #157 July 2000)
The British steal the secrets of V2 and V3 engines before the Germans can make use of them and inaugurate the space race early. McAuley here provides a review of a book exhaustively covering man's expansion into the Solar System, placing us with bases on The Moon, Mars and the moons of Jupiter by the beginning of the 21st Century.
The Imitation Game - Rudy Rucker (Interzone, #215 April 2008,)
Turing, the gay genius legend of the Enigma Code, is here planning a clandestine holiday with a Greek lover. Turing, in this reality, is toying with growing human cells and manages to use his new (and somewhat improbable) techniques to his own advantage when his lover is poisoned by the security services.
Weihnachtabend - Keith Roberts (New Worlds 4 1972)
This is how one writes a short story. Roberts sets his in a Britain under Nazi rule (or ‘The Two Empires’ as it is now called). Martin is a trusted aide to the Minister and is invited to his country house for Christmas talking along a young Aryan lady with him. In his room he finds a book, a banned publication of Jewish/American propaganda and gets a call from an American reporter.
It’s a very clever story. The hero is continually running through his thoughts and doubts on the page as though reviewing ‘alternate actions’. This is a device often used on TV and film but is not often seen in literature. In this story it is also entirely appropriate since this is a view of an alternate history. The reader soon gets the idea of what is going on, but Roberts is careful not to flood the piece with historical information. The setting is important but is secondary to the story which is about motivation and manipulation. Just who is pulling the strings?
The Lucky Strike - Kim Stanley Robinson (Universe 14, (Jun 1984, ed. Terry Carr)
The original pilot of the Enola Gay, scheduled to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, crashes the plane in a test flight and is killed. His replacement has more of a conscience. There's a lovely period feel to this story. Very atmospheric.
His Powder'd Wig, His Crown of Thornes - Marc Laidlaw (Omni, September 1989)
A rather strange tale of an America where Washington was arrested and crucified, but now has become a religious symbol among the Native American population and the disaffected.
Roncesvalles - Judith Tarr (What Might Have Been? Vol II: Alternate Heroes, Jan 1990)
An alternate view of the Romantic epic of Charlemagne. Charlemagne's forces, while travelling through the pass of Roncesvalles, are ambushed, Charlemagne having been betrayed by one of his Counts. Traditionally, Charlemagne was ambushed by Saracens, i.e. muslims, but here it is shown that they are disguised as saracens. Charlemagne subsequently proclaims himself a Muslim.
The English Mutiny - Ian R. MacLeod (Asimov's Science Fiction, October-November 2008)
An interesting first-person account of an uprising in London in a world where Europe has been conquered by the Mughal Empire.
O One - Chris Roberson (Live Without a Net, Jul 2003, ed. Lou Anders)
A beautiful little tale which features a world-encompassing Chinese Empire, the threat of an analytical engine to the abacus counters, and genetically engineered mathematical pirhana. Quite neat and lovely.
Islands in the Sea - Harry Turtledove (Alternatives, (May 1989, ed. Pamela Crippen Adams, Robert Adams)
Turtledove (possibly the most prolific of alternative history writers) here posits that the Muslim invasion of Constantinople succeeds in 715 and southern Europe is conquered by Muslims. Delegations of Christians and Muslims visit the King of the Bulgars to present arguments as to which religion the Bulgars should subscribe.
It is quite an amusing and educational piece which highlights not only what the religions have in common, but the slightly obscure and absurd reasons for their differences of opinion. The King of the Bulgars, after suffering days of theological nitpicking, makes his choice based on the size of the armies camped on his borders.
Lenin in Odessa - George Zebrowski (What Might Have Been? Vol II: Alternate Heroes, (Jan 1990, ed. Gregory Benford, Martin H. Greenberg)
Post revolution in the Soviet Union, an interesting alternative to the death of Lenin.
The Einstein Gun - Pierre Gévart (aka Comment les choses se sont vraiment passées) (The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories, (Feb 2010, ed. Ian Watson, Ian Whates)
A fascinating and amusing piece, featuring Einstein in a world where Archbishop Ferdinand did not die in the assassination attempt.
Tales from the Venia Woods - Robert Silverberg (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1989)
Silverberg takes an unusual viewpoint on a history where the Roman Empire never fell, and has only recently become a Republic.
Manassas, Again - Gregory Benford (Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, October 1991)
A bit of an odd story from Benford, set in 1850, where some mechs (robots in truth) seem to have revolted and are fighting back against humans. Or are they?
The Sleeping Serpent - Pamela Sargent (Amazing Stories, January 1992)
Genghis Khan conquered the world, and one of the subsequent Khans has sent a minor son to the Americas to enlist the tribe's help in conquest of the Inglastanis. A truly marvellous story, filled with character, depth, cultural history and verisimilitude
Waiting for the Olympians - Frederik Pohl (Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, August 1988)
This is Fred Pohl at his best; witty, ironic, keeping us on our toes, throwing in clues as we are dragged in to the story.
In a future where the Roman Empire never fell, an alien race, whom the Romans term The Olympians, have made contact and are on their way.
The narrator is a writer of Sci-Roms, and is in trouble, since his latest work has been plugged by the censors, since it features the Olympians themselves, and the censors fear he may cause offence. The author has 28 days to submit an alternative or facing being sold into slavery to cover his debts.
Darwin Anathema - Stephen Baxter (The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories 2010)
In a somewhat gloomy alternative present, a young church official is summoned from Australia to stand witness at the posthumous trial of Charles Darwin for blasphemy. In this world, the Catholic Church regained control of Britain and subsequently most of the world. -
If you've ever wondered about a particular moment in history and how if events at that time had occurred slightly differently the subsequent future might have unfolded completely differently, then that possibility is probably explored in this truly mammouth collection of alternative history stories.
This collection contains four new stories specifically written for this anthology and an array of other classics (of the subgenre) from the last forty years. There are contributions from well known, long established writers of SF (such as
Robert Silverberg,
Gregory Benford and
Frederik Pohl), big names SF writing now (
Stephen Baxter,
Ken MacLeod and
A.A. Attanasio) as well as other lesser known authors.
Themes include events that would have led to Europe becomming predominately Islamic rather than Christian, futures in which the Roman empire never collapsed, alternative WWII outcomes, ways in which native American Indians might have repelled European colonisation and many more.
Some of the stories didn't particularly work for me. Either their theme didn't interest me, their writing style didn't engage me or the story ended too abrubtly but others were much better. I won't go through rating individual stories but I will list a few that I thought were particularly exceptional and justify reading this anthology if only to read them: WEINACHTSABEND by Keith Roberts, THE LUCKY STRIKE by Kim Stanley Robinson, WAITING FOR THE OLYMPIANS by Frederik Pohl, O ONE by Chris Roberson and THE EINSTEIN GUN by Pierre Gévart.
All in all, this collection was of a very high standard and a must read for anyone who has the remotest interest in the subgenre or even if you don't normally read SF at all but are interested in history. -
This is the second "Mammoth" collection I've read, and they've made me much more positive about anthologies in general. This particular set of stories includes some impressive names and even more impressive tales. I enjoyed almost every story in here. One or two were a little bit off, but most hit the five star rating with space to spare, which is way above the majority of anthologies that I've come across.
Alternate History stories often tend to fall into the same broad strokes, and indeed you'll find several long lived Roman Empires, histories where different religions gain ascendancy in different parts of the world and of course a couple of visions of how Hitler could have elsewise spent his time.
I don't really want to do a synopsis for each story as some of them are difficult to introduce without being either so bland that several of them sound the same, or going into too much detail and giving away the entire story. That said, a few hightlights of this collection for me were;
A Very British History by Paul McAuley - A look back at a very different space race.
The Lucky Strike by Kim Stanley Robinson - The most thought provoking story, about a different plane being assigned the Hiroshima bombing run, and the comparrison to a firing squad at the end is particularly striking.
and Darwin Anathema by Stephen Baxter - In 2009 a much more powerful Catholic Church puts the bones of Charles Darwin on trial for heresy. -
I'm so frustrated with this book.
I'm 25 % in now and I did like exactly one story of about ten. Most of the time I don't get which event or era the stories are referring to, so it's not much of an "alternate history" book to me. And the stories are not interesting enough to read them without that aspect. -
A fascinating mix of stories, some excellent but some not so good. I agree with some of the other detailed reviews but not about every story. When my eyesight allows me to write a summary of at least my favourite reads I will. For now, I would recommend this collection to anyone wanting to sample alternative histories.
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James Morrow - THE RAFT OF THE TITANIC: Everyone is evacuated from the Titanic in an audacious rescue attempt, but no-one is discovered.
Ken MacLeod - SIDEWINDERS>: Alternate history and the multiverse - features a chap that is able to jump between differing histories.
Eugene Byrne & Kim Newman - THE WANDERING CHRISTIAN: Christianity never quite gets the hold that it did.
Suzette Hayden Elgin - HUSH MY MOUTH: Short story showing a different outcome from the American Civil war
Harry Harrison & Tom Shippey - A LETTER FROM THE POPE: the Viking assaults on England in the 9th Century were never adequately repulsed, which would lead to the whole of England being subject to Viking rule.
Esther Friesner - SUCH A DEAL: The exploration of the new world doesn't go quite as we know it.
Fritz Leiber - CATCH THAT ZEPPELIN: In this, the German army is comprehensively defeated in the first world war. This leads to a better peace than the one we got - and some greater prosperity. Not least because Germany then is able to direct its energies in a far more productive way.
Pat Cadigan - DISPATCHES FROM THE REVOLUTION:This looks at what happens if the 1960s had turned out just a little differently through a series of journal entries and correspondence.
Paul McAuley - A VERY BRITISH HISTORY: The spac race is accelerated and turns out a little differently!
Rudy Rucker - THE IMITATION GAME: About the persecution of Alan Turing
Keith Roberts - WEINACHTSABEND: A "what if Germany won the war" story
Kim Stanley Robinson - THE LUCKY STRIKE: The Enola Gay crashes in an accident days before the bomb is due to be dropped on Japan. A different crew takes on the job and that makes a difference...
Marc Laidlaw - HIS POWDER'D WIG, THIS CROWN OF THORNES: The American Revolution fails, leading to a different now. Enjoyable.
Judith Tarr - RONCESVALLES: This one looks at a tipping point, where some small betrayals lead to different decisions concerning religion.
Ian R MacLeod - THE ENGLISH MUTINY: The Indian Empire becomes dominant and Britain is part of its empire.
Chris Roberson - O ONE: In an eastern empire, a man from the west is trying to sell his idea for a computational machine to the emperor. This puts him in competition with the chief computater, as complex mathematics is very labour-intensive.
Harry Turtledove - ISLANDS IN THE SEA: Telerikh, leader of the Bulgars, is choosing Islam or Christianity.
LENIN IN ODESSA by George Zebrowski. A story about first years of Soviet regime in Russia featuring Lenin, Stalin and a famous British secret agent Sidney Reilly (in real world executed in Soviet Union in 1925)
THE EINSTEIN GUN by Pierre Gévart. The assassination of Emperor Franz Ferdinand fails, so the world isn't plunged into the first and second world wars.
TALES FROM THE VENIA WOODS by Robert Silverberg. About the survival of Roman Empire and its conquest of the world
Gregory Benford - MANASSAS AGAIN
Pamela Sargent - THE SLEEPING SERPENT: Colonistion of the new world happens differently
Frederik Pohl - WAITING FOR THE OLYMPIANS: Set around a man that writes "sci-roms" who needs a new idea, someone suggests an alternate history to it. In this, ancient empires survive and first contact happens...
Stephen Baxter - DARWIN ANATHEMA In the past, England becomes Catholic again. Darwin's ideas don't take on (he flees to the protestatnt Scotland). 200 years later, the inquisition digs up his bones for a trial. -
There are some interesting and thought provoking tales in this anthology, but I found some of the stories quite heavy going. The most memorable story had to be Fritz Leiber's "Catch That Zeppelin". Too many of the stories were centred around different outcomes of various Wars throughout history, the editors seemingly forgot that there are other events that shaped the world in which we live and not all happened during warfare. It is also a bit clichéd in parts, as it falls into the trap of many alternative history works and has Nazi themes. This is concept that we have all heard a million times.
There were a few stories that I abandoned after reading only a few paragraphs as they were just not of the same quality as the other more memorable tales. I will refrain from mentioning which of the stories I disliked, as it may spoil some people's enjoyment of the book, we all have different opinions after all. I would also say you need quite a good knowledge of world history to fully appreciate how the history changing events differ from the real world.
My overall verdict would be that this is an inconsistent anthology, there just seems too much of a gulf between the stories that are very good and those that completely miss the mark. I would also say that it offers little new. Though not a mind blowing book, I would say three stars is a fair assessment of my enjoyment of this book. -
Like all anthologies, this had it's good points and not so good points.
The stand out ones for me where -
Ink for the New Moon by A A Attnson (sailing to Europe with Chris Columbus this coloniser from Chinese America)
Dispatches from the Revolution by Pat Cadogan (clever vingettes building up a bigger picture of less democratic USA)
Weinachtsbend by Keith Roberts (a great WW2 one, which concetrated on the moment and not large scale)
A Walk in Venia Woods by Robert Silverberg (Roman survives, but again small focus)
Waiting for the Olympians by Frederck Pohl (Again Roman survives, but rather humourous viewpoint of a hack Science-Romance writer, who starts AH genre. Probably with some in-jokes as well)
Honorbably mention to Stephen Baxter - Darwin Anathema. -
Like all anthologies a bit hit and miss with a lot of average but mostly diverting stuff. The stand out tales for me were:
Weinachtsabend by Keith Roberts – I had read before but well worth reading
almost any of Roberts's distinctly odd tales again
A Walk in VeniaWoods by Robert Silverberg – just a great well written tale
James Morrow’s The Raft of the Titanic – weirdly enchanting
Ian R MacLeod’s The English Mutiny - for its unusual alternate history setting. -
Review of The Sleeping Serpent by Pamela Sargent from this anthology is reviewed here:
http://nextread.co.uk/2010/05/ssm-gue...
Full review of this book here:
http://templelibraryreviews.blogspot.... -
I have to admit I abandoned this after only a hundred pages or so. My big problem with it was that I was expecting this to be a collection of short stories based on alternae realities, but it actually comes over as a seroes of dissertations on the impact of alternate realities without much in the way of stories (and the publisher will probably never speak to me again for saying so)
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The very concept of an 'alternate' history is attractive. We all have our own fantasies over "what if" and "if only". This book offers some of such fantasies based on important historical events.
The collection has some good stories; some not so good. Some too big to be short stories some too short.
Overall, I think it is a one time read. You will not pick this book up after completing it. -
There were gems in this collection, but they were few and far between. It was a struggle to get thru some of the longer stories and some of the shorter ones were too short to really engage me. Really would not recommend this collection.
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Some of the stories I liked, others were poorly written, such that I had difficulties following so I just skipped ahead to the next. All in all, depressing, because the point I got was that real history is crappy and the alternatives are equally ugly.
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A rather weak collection of SF short stories apart from the one's of Pierre Gevart and Frederick Pohl. If you happen to come across this book just read these two and don't waste your precious time with the rest.
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Ended the collection on a positive note so will give this collection at least three stars - let down by a few odd tales. A longer review will eventually follow when I can mention the stand-out five star stories.
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Not everyone, obviously, is perfect. But it's a good overview of the sub-genre.
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Some good tales.
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Really entertaining. Stories ranging from great through mediocre to puerile. All short enough not to get too infuriated then move on to the next.
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Kā jau parasti šādos krājumos - dažas spilgtas lietas un visumā pelēka, nez kādu iemeslu dēļ rakstīta masa.
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enjoyed, one or two stories were very very clever but it was kinda same as usual with this genra.
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As with any compendium of literature, some stories are great, and others, not so much. This mammoth-sized book just had a lot more of each.
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A good collection
I always enjoy speculative fiction. This is a bye and large a good collection of short stories which will stand the test of time. -
The Raft of the Titanic (2010) by James Morrow - delightful and slightly whimsical.
Sidewinders (2010) by Ken MacLeod - imaginative and humorous.
The Wandering Christian (1991) by Kim Newmanand Eugene Byrne - long-winded, dull, unimaginative.
Hush My Mouth (1986) by Suzette Haden Elgin - found the premise implausible.
A Letter from the Pope (1990) by Harry Harrison and Tom Shippey - excellent
Such a Deal (2010) by Esther M. Friesner - enjoyable with a black humour ending
Ink from the New Moon (1992) by A. A. Attanasio - dull
Dispatches from the Revolution (1991) by Pat Cadigan - chilling and plausible
Catch That Zeppelin! (1975) by Fritz Leiber - enjoyable
A Very British History (2000) by Paul J. McAuley - dull
The Imitation Game (2008) by Rudy Rucker - unmemorable
Weihnachtabend (1972) by Keith Roberts - unmemorable
The Lucky Strike (1984) by Kim Stanley Robinson
His Powder'd Wig, His Crown of Thornes (1989) by Marc Laidlaw - ok
Roncesvalles (1990) by Judith Tarr - dull
The English Mutiny (2008) by Ian R. MacLeod - good
O One [Celestial Empire] (2003) by Chris Roberson - good
Islands in the Sea (1989) by Harry Turtledove - ok
Lenin in Odessa (1990) by George Zebrowski - dull, didn't finish
The Einstein Gun (2010) by Pierre Gévart - ok
Tales from the Venia Woods [Roma Eterna] (1989) by Robert Silverberg - excellent
Manassas, Again (1991) by Gregory Benford - dull
The Sleeping Serpent (1992) by Pamela Sargent - ok
Waiting for the Olympians (1988) by Frederik Pohl - excellent
Darwin Anathema (2010) by Stephen Baxter - ok
