Customer Reviews

Alternate Warriors

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WI = "what if?" = the point on which the given alternate universe hinges.

A very mixed bag, but some good stuff.

Delaplace, Barbara: "Standing Firm" - WI Neville Chamberlain (Churchill's predecessor) had done just that?

DiChario, Nicholas A.: Susan B. Anthony is guilty of "Extreme Feminism" in an alternate US wherein Lincoln's assassination by a woman led to repressive laws enacted against women's right to bear arms.

Effinger, George Alec: "Albert Schweitzer and the Treasures of Atlantis" Involves Schweitzer having saved the High Priestess of a lost Atlantean colony in Africa. Effinger should've left this to Burroughs and Howard.

Fawcett, Bill: "Zealot" Moses leading a rebellion rather than an exodus; turns into something like Masada.

Friesner, Esther: "Jane's Fighting Ships" The Austen sisters, living in a Britain conquered by Napoleon, find love in unexpected places - even American barbarians and French soldiers.

Gerrold, David: "The Firebringers" Includes most major male Hollywood performers of the WWII era on the team surrounding the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Yet they're not alternate versions of the performers, but rather famous roles grafted onto the men who played them - Bogart, for instance, wants to reopen his gambling salon in Morocco after the war, a la CASABLANCA rather than the real person. [Silly fluff rather than alternate history.]

Haldeman II, Jack C.: "The Cold Warrior" WI Marilyn Monroe, with her connections to the Mob and to the highest level of US politics, became a player?

Haldeman II, Jack C.: Hoover having begun a smear campaign against King the day before the 'I have a dream' speech was to be delivered, "Death of a Dream" is the last day in the life of Martin Luther King, who is determined to take the president with him in this worse-than-ever segregated United States.

Hernandez, Lea: "Al Einstein - Nazi Smasher!" Silliness again, in first person hard-boiled style - WI Einstein became a professional musician and undercover agent rather than a scientist.

King, Tappan: "The Mark of the Angel" Pope John XXIII, remembering how for a time he was an accidental member of the French Resistance.

Koja, Kathe: "Ballad of the Spanish Civil Guard" Federico Garcia Lorca, Spanish poet facing a choice that makes his own death seem simple.

Kube-McDowell, Michael P.: "Because Thou Lovest the Burning Ground" Gandhi, soon after dropping out of school in despair at his struggles with lessons taught in English, is taken under the wing of a Thuggee, who promises to make him strong in the service of Kali.

Lackey, Mercedes: "Jihad" WI Lawrence of Arabia converted to Islam after Deraa? (About 30% of the reason I bought ALTERNATE WARRIORS sight unseen, gambling that enough of the other stories would be of this caliber to make it worthwhile.)

Lewis, Anthony R.: "...But the Sword!" St Francis of Assisi, here a veteran of the Fourth Crusade, founds a knightly rather than a contemplative order.

Linaweaver, Brad: "Unmerited Favor" Jesus of Nazareth, facing a different death but without changing his character; Thomas is the protagonist. Good story for readers of BEN-HUR.

Malzberg, Barry N.: "Fugato" Leonard Bernstein, drafted into the infantry when the US entered WWII, contemplating his real life and how he came to lose it.

Meacham, Beth: "One by One" Tecumseh in this story became a prophet, so that the war between his people never ended in this alternate 20th century. The tomahawk-throwing incident on the Carson show herein played out differently on our timeline.

McHugh, Maureen F.: "Tut's Wife" Ankhsenamon, caught between the vizier Ay and the general Horemheb after her husband's untimely death, seeks her own resolution. I suspect McHugh of reading THE LOST QUEEN OF EGYPT, although this story takes another tack.

Nimersheim, Jack: A young rape victim seeking an abortion in an alternate India, turned into a dictatorship in the wake of nuclear terrorism, meets Mother Theresa, who fights "The Battle of All Mothers" while remaining in character.

Nimersheim, Jack: "Mind Over Matter" (Stephen Hawking) The primary reason I bought ALTERNATE WARRIORS - I was *very* curious about this one. The viewpoint character, a journalist, receives a chilling message from his friend. (I think Hawking's prose 'voice' herein isn't consistent with the real Hawking's style, but the story's worth reading.)

Resnick, Laura: "The Vatican Outfit" WI some Family friends were willing to help prevent John Paul I's death (murder, herein) for a piece of the action?

Resnick, Mike: "Mwalimu in the Squared Circle" Julius Nyerere led Tazmania into war with Idi Amin, who shortly afterward (as former heavyweight champion of the Kenyan army) offered to settle the matter in the boxing ring with Nyerere. This time Nyerere accepts, with Muhammad Ali acting as referee.

Rusch, Kristine Kathryn: "The Arrival of Truth" In our history, ex-slave Sojourner Truth spoke for all human rights. In this story, she preaches freedom in another way. The unnamed narrator is a rape victim serving as a white baby's nurse, and must choose her charge's fate.

Schimel, Lawrence: "Taking Action" (Martin Luther King) Pistols at ten paces with George Wallace.

Sherman, Josepha: "Monsieur Verne and the Martian Invasion" Jules Verne as an inventor in a much more technologically advanced 1887.

Tarr, Judith: "Queen of Asia" (Different tack than Tarr's LORD OF THE TWO LANDS.) WI, after her son abandoned his family to Alexander's mercy at Issus, Sisygambis had rescued her grandson, then persuaded the great lords of the empire to choose another course?

Thomsen, Brian: "A Sense of Loyalty, a Sense of Betrayal" (Sidney Reilly, WWI spy)

West, Michelle Sagara: Thomas Beckett [sic], Archbishop of Canterbury, "For Love of God" chooses not martyrdom, but the living torture of battle with Henry of England, his much-loved liege lord.

White, Mel: "Sam Clemens and the Notable Mare" Mark Twain, having taken a job as his brother's secretary in Nevada during the War, becomes entangled with Quantrill's Raiders, among whom are the James brothers.

ALTERNATE WARRIORS is an interesting conceit. What would happen if Jesus, Martin Luther King, Junior, Mohandas Ghandi, and other historical peacemakers had instead picked up the sword and fought back?

My favorite story in this collection, bar none, was Mercedes Lackey's "Jihad." In this alternate-universe story, T.E. Lawrence turns his back on his own country and Westernism as a whole, and instead unites the Middle East. Great story, well told, and it made sense. Five stars plus for that.

My second favorite story was Judith Tarr's "Queen of Asia." This twists known-history nicely, and brings Alexander to Asia as bridegroom, not conqueror. Four and a half stars for that.

My third favorite story was Jack C. Haldeman II's "Death of a Dream." This story turns on King's "I have a dream speech," and asks the question, "What if he hadn't made it?"

The bloody aftermath of that not happening made a great deal of logical sense. In addition, the choice of President after JFK died was an interesting one; Richard Daley (the first; mayor of Chicago during the 1968 riots at the Democratic National Convention). And King alludes to a certain Georgia governor, put on the ticket to placate moderates; Haldeman is surely alluding to Jimmy Carter, who I can well believe would have done something had he found himself in the horrible situation Haldeman describes. Four solid stars for that.

I also really enjoyed Lea Hernandez' story "Al Einstein -- Nazi Smasher!" It was a great deal of fun to read; couldn't take it seriously, but enjoyed it all the same.

Some of the other stories were good, some were blah. One didn't make much sense; maybe it needed more space?

I refer to the Jane Austen story by Esther Friesner. I really like her conception of the history (in her take, Napoleon is alive and has conquered England, with the United States allying with France due to France's help in the American Revolutionary War). I enjoyed her view of Jane Austen -- she lives and breathes. And I can handle her unusual romances between Jane and Davy Crockett and Jane's sister falling in love with a French Lieutenant.

I just can't buy that Jane would be allowed to go on Napoleon's ship. No matter what happened after that; it just took me right out of the reader's trance.

The story succeeds on many levels; best I can do is refuse to rate this story, or rate it on its potential. Potential: five stars plus. But it's too short and needed more time. Another ten pages would have helped this story develop and grow nicely.

I want to see more in this world; the story whetted my appetite for an alternate history with Jane Austen in it, and I really enjoy Ms. Friesner's writing.

But this story was too short. Two and a half for it, wishing I could give it more.

Most of the rest of the stories were marginal to good, but didn't really make much of an impression.

So, the final tally is three and a half stars, recommended, mostly so you can read Ms. Lackey's incredibly realistic story about T.E. Lawrence.

Barb Caffrey

Resnick's Alternates series is my personal favorite collection of alternate history stories, as editor Resnick has commissioned a wide variety of fiction writers in each to imagine alternate timelines and individuals. But Alternate Warriors fails where books like Alternate Kennedys and Alternate Presidents succeeds. While Mohandas Gandhi's evolution into a radical terrorist is plausible, many of the stories here -- Jane Austen captaining a warship? -- are just silly. Worse, they're not even interesting.