Product Description
This is a landmark anthology of four original novellas by the reigning masters of alternate history. Set in different eras, different places, and different times, these forays into "what might have been" showcases the stunning breadth and far-reaching possibilities the genre represents.Amazon.com Review
Alternate history is the branch of speculative fiction that explores what might have happened if history had taken a different turn. The obvious changes, like the Nazis winning World War II, have filled innumerable novels. Fortunately, the anthology Worlds That Weren't avoids the obvious with its four fine new novellas from four superior authors: Harry Turtledove, S.M.Stirling, Mary Gentle, and Walter Jon Williams.

The collection opens with "The Daimon," written by Harry Turtledove, AH's best-known practitioner. In Turtledove's turning point, the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates chooses to accompany General Alkibiades to war instead of remaining in Athens, and sets Alkibiades on a triumphant, terrible new course.

Set in the British India-dominated alternate history of The Peshawar Lancers, S.M. Stirling's novella is a rousing old-fashioned adventure. "Shikari in Galveston" follows a hunting safari through a regressed American frontier that might have given even Daniel Boone pause.

A prequel to her Book of Ash tetralogy, Mary Gentle's novella "The Logistics of Carthage" concerns Christian warriors serving pagan Turks in a North Africa conquered by Visigoths instead of Vandals, and is the strongest story in Worlds That Weren't.

The collection concludes with "The Last Ride of German Freddie," in which Nebula Award winner Walter Jon Williams considers what might have happened if the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had taken himself and his superman theories to the Wild West. --Cynthia Ward ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Four very varied tales...
Four very varied alternative-history novellas:

In "The Daimon", Harry Turtledove lets Socrates guide Alcibiades in Athens' wars with Syracuse and Sparta.Well written, with lots of historical details.(Including a cameo by a teen-age Plato.)Definitely the best of the four.

In "Shikari in Galveston" S. M. Stirling takes a gallant officer from his Peshawar Lancers through a dashing adventure against cannibals in a post-Fall South-East America.Light, fun, fast reading.

In "The Logistics of Carthage", Mary Gentle describes a minor incident in an alternative medieval (Arian) North Africa, which is apparently part of the backplot to her novel "Ash". Unfortunately this rather drags as a standalone story, with a great deal of emotional agonizing and very slow plot movement.

In "The Last Ride of German Freddie", Walter Jon Williams gives us Friedrich Nietzsche in the Gunfight at the OK Corral.A little slow, but an amusing look at Nietzsche applying his philosophy in the old West.

Meh good enough
if you've got time to kill it's good enough, it's not their best work though

Superior but uneven works by major authors
This collection presents standalone alternative history novellas by Harry Turtledove and Walter Jon Williams, along with works by S.M. Stirling and Mary Gentle set in pre-established alternate universes.Generally, while all four stories are well-written (and, in Gentle's case, extremely well-written), none of them except William's piece are exceptional.

Turtledove's "The Daimon" takes the most literal turning point of the four:Socrates' decision not to accompany the Athenian invaders to Scicily.By sending Socrates on that expedition, Turtledove sets in motion a believable chain of events that lead, of course, to a very different outcome.Turtledove is at his best, a refreshing break from the anemic, repetitive writing found in his various series.My only complaint is that the story ends where it probably should begin.

Stirling's "Shakari in Galveston" takes place in the "Peshawar Lancers" world, in which a heavenly body struck the Earth in the 1870s, leaving climate change, famine, and cannibalism in its wake.That novel is first rate, and so is this story."Shakari" presents an expedition in semi-civilized, cannibal-plagued post-Fall Texas.The hallmark Stirling Gothic horror is in check, as is the gratuitous sex that often mars Stirling's work.The story's exciting, but it's the weakest of the four novellas.Stirling might have been better off choosing the Mexican "high culture" or the ascendant Native Americans, rather than degnerated Americans, as his subject matter. And, few readers havent't read "Peshawar" will fully appreciate this story.

The same is true of Gentle's "The Logistics of Carthage."This story demands an understanding of "Ash: A Secret History."In that universe (according to Gentle's afterword), the Visigoths sacked Carthage rather than the Vandals.This, among other things, changed the nature of Christianity, the Ottomans, and any number of other things.It's pretty hard to figure out if, like me, you haven't read "Ash."This is (almost) beside the point given the strength of Gentle's characterization.She is a superior writer."Logistics" features a female soldier and a sympathetic male comrade.They are caught in a tinderbox ignited when another soldier, also female, is denied burial by local Christian hardnoses.The bizarre ways in which this drama plays out make up the story.

Williams' "The Last Ride of German Freddie" is far and away the best of the four novellas.Set in Tombstone, Arizona, "German Freddie" is everything a novella should be -- long enough to be interesting, and satisfying as a self-contained story.It's a surprise to find out who the titular character is, and from that point forward it's pure drama.It's impossible to describe the action without using spoilers.One interesting fact, and an irony given the subject matter, is the appearance that nothing really changes as the result of the divergence.

Great intro to alternate history; hardcore fans might yawn
These four alternate-history novellas made an appetite-whetting introduction for me, a newbie to alternate history.

In Turtledove's "The Daimon," Socrates looks on in dismay as a great Greek general, Alkibiades, flouts politically-motivated criminal charges against him and parlays victory in one battle - a battle which, in "real" history, was lost - into a position of unmatched power in Athens.Once on this pedestal, however, Alkibiades resorts to the same murderous tactics used by his old foes.

Gentle's fifteenth-century heroine in "The Logistics of Carthage" followed her son to war, discovered that she preferred a soldier's life to a prostitute's, and joined a company of European mercenaries.Now, her company finds itself stranded on the coast of North Africa with a corpse they cannot bury because of a religious dispute.During a tense and bloody standoff, Yolande has what she believes are visions, but which are actually glimpses of the future 500 years hence.This was the least satisfactory story, as it seemed not to have much of a point.It might make more sense to fans of Gentle's "Ash" series.

In "The Last Ride of German Freddie," Williams plunks German philosopher Frederich Nietzsche onto the dusty streets of 1881 Tombstone, Arizona and pits him against the Earp brothers.Nietzsche tries his hand at some trigger-assisted social engineering at the OK Corral.But is it really social engineering, or merely the vengefulness of a man thwarted in love?

With Shikhari in Galveston, Stirling brings us the most inventive and fully-realized of these four universes:a radically different present-day Earth that, in the nineteenth century, saw her population slashed and much of her land rendered scarcely habitable by a catastrophic heavenly bombardment.The British Empire still reigns - albeit not supremely - over much of what remains.A British officer and his Indian servant travel to the wilds of southern Texas for a hunting expedition, and, rather than hunting for trophies, find themselves fighting for their lives against an adversary unlike any they ever imagined.

Those who, like me, are new to alternate history, or just not well versed in the real history behind the fiction, will benefit from first reading the afterword accompanying each novella.

A well-developed alternate to traditional history settings
Science fiction fans of alternate history settings will want to place Harry Turtledove, et.al.'s Worlds That Weren't anthology high on their reading lists: it provides four novellas by Turtledove, Stirling, Gentle and Williams, each featuring a well-developed alternate world from 1452 Constantinople to a mysterious Old World figure stalking Tombstone. Each makes for a diverse, well-developed alternate to traditional history settings. ... Read more

Product Description
Includes: Novellas - Solidarity by Walter Jon Williams; Shadow Twin by Various. Novelettes - Dark of the Sun by William Barton; Dallas: An Essay by Robert Reed. Short Stories - Mason's Rats by Neal Asher; La Gran Muerte by Liz Williams; Down Memory Lane by Mike Resnick; California King by Various; Bean There by Jack Skillingstead; Lover of Statues by Ian Watson; The Will Raise You In a Box by Wil McCarthy. Poetry - Superman Inoxydable by David Lunde; One Robot President: The First Hundred Days by Bruce Boston; Why I Chose a Robot Body and Have Never Regretted It by Bruce Boston; The Tinkers of Ireland by Ace G. Pilkington; Another View of Breakfast by W. Gregory Stewart. Etc. ... Read more

Product Description
44th Anniversary Issue 240 pages double issuecover art 'the little things' thomas canty ... Read more