Customer Reviews

Forty, Counting Down & Twenty-One, Counting Up [With Headphones] (Playaway Adult Fiction)

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I am a big fan of Turtledove's alt.history work, so I was a bit nervious picking up this book, which is a collection of Turtledove's short stories, of which only a few are alt.history.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised. A few stories dragged, but the majority of the pieces were entertaining and skillfully written. Turtledove shows in this collection that he has some additional skills and insights beyond alt.history. I especially enjoyed the "Counting Up" and "Counting Down" stories; they were very humane and entertaining.

"Goddess for a Day" is another neat little tale with a twist at the end. There is also some fantasy here, and a couple alt.history stories such as the excellent "Must and Shall" which positis a world where the North won the civil war and rather then reconstructing the South, occupied and oppressed it for generations.

Anyway, if you are a Turtledove fan, check this book out. Even if you like only half the stories, it is a bargain in paperback.

This is a collection of short stories from the alternate history writer Harry Turtledove. He considers it a collection of stories that were not published in other works, but I found that all were recycled with the exception of the title story, which is actually two stories, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the collection. They each tell a different point of view in a universe where a man travels back through time to meet his younger self and save a marriage that his younger self doesn't even know exists, let alone that it was in trouble. The twin points of view were interesting, but they were the sole saving grace in a book that was dull otherwise. Think of a sawdust cake with delicious vanilla icing.

This short story collection covers a very wide range of subjects and genres.

The first and last stories in the book. "Forty, counting down" and "Twenty-one, counting up" are essentially the same time travel story told from two different perspectives.

There are two short stories set in the "Videssos" universe,
"The decoy duck" which is a rather sad tale set about 900 years before the events of the "Lost Legion" quartet, and "The Seventh Chapter," an amusing story which is apparently based on a real event in medieval England.

Needless to say, there are several alternative history stories in the collection, two of which I had read elsewhere - "The Phantom Tolbukhin" set during the war between the Soviets and Nazis, and "Must and Shall" set in an America where the end of the Civil War had been somewhat different.

Other alternative history stories in the book include "Ready for the Fatherland." The ghastly possibility of a Nazi victory in World War II has inspired a host of alternative history stories - including Turtledove's excellent "In the presence of mine enemies" - but here he examines another possibility: what if there had been a stalemate ?

"In this season" also relates to people suffering under the nazis, but this one is a tale of the supernatural rather than alternative history.

"Ils ne passeront pas" describes the sufferings of soldiers during the battle for Verdun. "Vermin" is a straight science fiction short story.

Stories covering ancient Greek mythology in this volume include "Goddess for a Day", a novelised version of a real historical event related by Herodotus, and the hysterically funny "Myth Manners' Guide to Greek Missology #1: Andromeda and Perseus."

"Deconstruction Gang" and "The Maltese Elephant" are parodies.

There are a couple of fantasy stories - "After the last Elf is dead" is a serious one, "Honeymouth" is a comedy - and you will have to read this one if you want to know in what way Unicorns think like Bill Clinton.

I doubt if anyone would like every single story in this book, they are so varied, but most people who like to have their imagination stimulated will like at least some of them.

I found this collection a pretty mixed bag. I liked the idea of the title stories that bookended the collection, but didn't think it worked as well as it could have, as the closing story didn't add all that much to the beginning story. Better if it had spent more time showing how the results of what happened in the first story led to the changes in the character's life.

Really, none of the stories really blew me away, but I was at least entertained by the alt-history stories. Out of the stories outside of that area, I probably most enjoyed "Deconstruction Gang," but I work in higher ed, which may explain it.

The Greek/Roman themed stories did very little for me. I will also admit to not reading the Videssos stories, as I've not read any of that series.

Overall, it's worth a look, but keep your expectations in check.

When he tries, Harry's work can be pretty damn good -- especially in the alternative history genre, which he pretty much owns at present. But when he gets lazy -- which he seems to do too often lately -- his prose can be embarrassingly unreadable. The best example in this collection of seventeen short stories of the pretty damn good are the two interconnected bookend stories, about a young computer designer of our own time (more or less) who hasn't been the same since his wife walked out on him with full justification. He wants her back, so he decides to return to the past of his own youth and do something about it by mentoring himself in maintaining a good relationship. "Forty, Counting Down" is that story, from the later viewpoint, "Twenty-One, Counting Up" retells it from the POV of his younger self. (And the two stories originally were sold to two different magazines, an interesting marketing ploy.) There's a good deal of thoughtful, insightful writing here and any guy will twinge in sympathy with Justin's plight. Of the other pieces, "Must and Shall" is a pretty good, frequently reprinted examination of a different sort of "if the North had won the War" world. (Yes, that's what I said.) "Deconstruction Gang" is a witty put-on of contemporary lit-crit (which civilians aren't going to appreciate most of). "After the Last Elf Is Dead" is an interesting anti-Tolkien investigation of the sometimes narrow boundary between good and evil. "The Green Buffalo" isn't bad, but it doesn't fulfill the possibilities of the set-up.

The rest of the volume, unfortunately, comes nowhere near even this level of skill. "The Maltese Elephant" is a flat pastiche of Dashiell Hammett, while "Miss Manners Guide to Greek Missology" is simply bad. "Ready for the Fatherland" and "The Phantom Tolbukhin" are forgettable alternate World War II stories. "Goddess for a Day" is (he says) based on a true incident, but the story itself is kind of pointless. "Vermin" has a point to make about social interference, but it's plagued with gaping plot holes. "Ils ne passeront pas" also has possibilities but doesn't follow up on them. "In This Season" is confused and doesn't make a lot of sense. "Honeymouth" is a one-joke unicorn story. "The Decoy Duck," set in the Videssos universe, is merely dumb; so is "The Seventh Chapter." C'mon, Harry, pay attention! You can do better than this!

Hmmm I picked up this book on a whim as I love short sci-fi collections and have read a few interesting novels by Harry Turtledove.

I was sadly disappointed. The writing was dry and obscure (although if I was an American or World War history buff, it might have been understandable). The collection seemed disjointed and many of the stories left me thinking "Did I miss something?". I love short stories as they put forth an idea, explore a new area, make you think or simply entertain. Many of these stories seemed to do none of those!

Don't waste your money, find something better!

I love short stories and have been fond of much of what i've read by Harry Turtledove in the past both novels and short fiction. Thus I was disapointed by this book. Virtually none of the stories were of the alternative history variety which is Turtledove's specialty. Moreover, many of the plots were dull and plodding. A few of the stories I had trouble getting through. There were a few good ones in the collection but not enough to make me glad I purchased the volume. This collection is not up to other Turtledove works....