Customer Reviews

Worlds That Weren't

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When I first picked up "Worlds That Weren't", I was expecting an alternate-history version of "Legends", the 1998 fantasy anthology in which prominent fantasy authors wrote novellas based in worlds that they were best known for in the fantasy genre. My guess was partly right.

Two of the stories - S.M. Stirling's "Shikari in Galveston" and Mary Gentle's "The Logistics of Carthage" do in fact take place in universes the authors have previously explored. Each about a generation before the main action of the novels (or series), Stirling's story revolves around the father of Athelstane King (the hero of "The Peshawar Lancers") and Mary Gentle's deals with the 'parents' of Ash from "Ash: A Secret History".

The other two, though, seem to be independent works. Harry Turtledove's explores what would've happened had Socrates gone with Alcibiades to Syracuse (in Sicily) and if Alcibiades would not have fled following his summons back to Athens during the Peloponnesian War. Without giving too much away, he reenvisions Alcibiades as a possibly less-successful Alexander the Great a full 80 years before Alexander's time. Walter Jon Williams, on the other hand, takes a look at a Tombstone, Arizona to which Friedrich Nietzche had been medically exiled. He had Nietzche (sort-of) joining the Clantons against the Earps at the famous O.K. Corral shoot-out and creates a much different legacy for the Old West.

All four novels are well done and each author knows his or her territory well (and, more importantly, provides details about the real-world events in their respective afterwords), but some succeed better than others. Turtledove has problems resisting the temptation of having characters dwell on alternate fates (i.e., events as they actually happened). Stirling's Neobritish Empire has all the hallmarks of good action on a broad, fascinating canvas, but ends up reading more like a James Bond story than as alternate history. Even his afterword comes out much that way where he talks about the creative process more than the dynamics of his world (much of which, admittedly, you can get in the appendices of "The Peshawar Lancers"). Gentle's and Williams' works seem to fair better, but I am much less familiar with their work than with Turtledove's and Stirling's.

On the whole, though, all four stories are very well done. The book represents a couple of days worth of diverting, fun reading and it's not always necessary to be familiar with the authors' worlds (or the history involved) to enjoy the stories. Nonetheless, though, for people reading the books for their historical merit, you may wish to read the afterwords before the stories to refresh the given histories. Most of them do not give away the stories turn out (Turtledove's being a partial exception). I would still like to see a "Legends"-line anthology of alternate history stories, but, in the mean time, this will hold me over.

Since this is a collection of four unrelated alternative history novellas I first discuss them separately:

The piece about Alkibiades becoming an earlier Alexander of Macedon shows Harry Turtledove at his best: a good idea, credible story but still solid history and (unusual bonus for this author) short.

S. M. Stirling's story about a hunting party in an America after the fall described in his "Peshawar Lancers" universe is a somewhat odd mixture of post-nuclear expedition a la "The Postman", a western revenge movie and gothic horror-story. A good summer read.

Mary Gentle's story is the low point of the book: it gives the distinct impression of something put together from earlier, discarded material just to meet a deadline. It is unclear to the end what the story really is about and as a teaser or introduction into the "Ash" universe it fails miserably.

But the book as a whole is saved by its last piece: William's story about Nietsche in Tombstone is a rare gem. Crazy and funny (imagine: Nietsche as a gunman and gambler!), but still accurate. Just great.

My opinion about the book: the stories have nothing in common beyond the fact that they are all taking place in alternate histories. That wouldn't be a problem in a bigger anthology or in a magazine, but for a hardcover with just four stories it adds up to too expensive. So read it, but don't buy.

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.

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.

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

I enjoyed all four of the stories in this anthology. In fact I went to get The Peshawar Lancers and Ash: A Secret History after reading the Stirling and Gentle contributions here.

While I'm a big fan of Turtledove, I found it difficult to appreciate the Turtledove novella as I'm not as familiar with ancient Athens and Sparta as he is. I was unfamiliar with Alicibiades and thus his story wasn't as compelling as some of the others.

Stirling's novella takes place in a very different Texas from ours, where a rain of comets destroyed Western civilization. I wasn't clear where the cannibal tribes came from, and there weren't enough hints (that I could fathom) to figure it out, nor was I clear on whether the "Seven Tribes" were all Native American or if they included some European settlers (it appeared they did). The story was well-told and there were compelling characters who stayed after the story ended, especially Sonya Head-on-fire.

Same problem with Gentle's world, I wasn't clear where history had shifted but also a well-layered story. The backstory of this tale is the role of the woman soldier (disguised as a man). I'm not sure the future-flashes, which this 14th century woman saw as a vision, were necessary to the plot, but her ruminations on being remembered after death were poignant. I'm looking forward to reading both their novels in hope it will fill some of this in.

Williams' take on Tombstone was a real hoot putting Nietzsche in the middle of the dynamics. His afterward is fascinating, showing how the cinema version of the OK Corral shootout cut out the context of cowboys versus lawmen, and that the Clanton vs Earp battle wasn't an end but a beginning of an end.

A good time, and in the tradition of good alternate history, it got me thinking of how things really happened.

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.

"Worlds That Weren't" is a fascinating glimpse at four alternative histories written by writers who are masters of this subgenre of science fiction. Mercifully short is Harry Turtledove's contribution, which recasts the Athenian general Alkibiades as an early precursor to Alexander the Great, aided and abetted by a most unlikely warrior, Sokrates (It may be the least attractive of the four to those unfamiliar with Classical Greek history.). S. M. Stirling's look at an alternative Texas under the sway of a rejuvenated British Empire is set in the same time as his alternative history novel "Peshawar Lancers" and is a fascinating, gripping light piece of entertainment. A more sobering alternative history is presented by Mary Gentle's contribution, set in the same time as her novel "Ash", regarding the aftermath of the conquest of the Byzantine Empire by a non-Moslem Ottoman Turkish empire. Yet the best tale in this brief collection is saved for last, in Walter Jon Williams' delightful look at the famous gunfight at the O. K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, with one Friedrich Nietzsche as a gun-toting gambler.

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.

Harry Turtledove, et.al.'s Worlds That Weren't provides a host of alternative history stories: new novellas which range in setting from ancient Athens to a very different Turkish empire Fans of alternate history will find these novellas striking and unusual.