7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Different, but enjoyable, March 28, 2002
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.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Recycling is generally good, but not in literature., July 14, 2002
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.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What do Unicorns have in common with Bill Clinton ?, July 30, 2006
This review is from: Counting Up, Counting Down (Mass Market Paperback)
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.
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