Customer Reviews

Alternate Gerrolds: An Assortment of Fictitious Lives

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It's probably really three and a half stars, but I chose to round up the rating. Like any collection of short stories, some are good and others are so-so. The science fiction includes alternate realities, space adventures, and a sort of Jurassic Park meets the Flintstones. There is plenty of subtle, ironic humor. Familiarity with the "real" situation the story parallels is not required, just helpful. For example, Franz Kafka is a superhero known as Bug-Man - much easier to appreciate if you know who Kafka is and have read some of his famous works. There's also an interesting twist on Charles Manson. It could either offend or have one think that in Gerrold's alternate, the killer got what he deserved. One thing to note, in looking at the copyright information, many of these stories may have been previously published in the 1990s, so if you have already read a lot of science fiction anthologies, you may have read these. Download the sample and check out the Table of Contents. If you haven't read much David Gerrold but like a range of science fiction sub-genres, you may want to check out this one.

David Gerrold - what a terrific author! So happy to find him on Kindle. His DTB are very hard to find for some reason. I've wanted this book for a long time, but it seemed to go in and out of print. Some of the stories are actually released singly on Kindle, so a list may be helpful for you. AltGerrold includes:

Bauble
The Impeachment of Adlai Stevenson
The Kennedy Enterprise
The Firebringers
Franz Kafka, Superhero
Rex
...And Eight Rabid Pigs
The Ghost of Christmas Sideways
A Wish for Smish
What Goes Around
The Fan Who Molded Himself
The Feathered Mastodon
The Seminar From Hell
The Spell
Digging in Gehenna
Riding Janis

So many stories to enjoy. Even if you've already bought a couple of these as Singles, I think it's still worth the price.

A great book, with lots of enjoyable moments. However, it just further insults his fans who have been waiting fifteen years for The War Against the Chtorr series to be completed. Gerrold is a great author, but he should stop releasing new works and collections until he finishes the series that brought him the most fans. Yes, A Method for Madness is supposed to be released soon, but that has been delayed more than Guns N Roses "Chinese Democracy" and I fear the quality may be similar when eventually released. Please Mr Gerrold; finish what you started before doing anything else new.