Product Description

A collection of twenty alternate-history stories features the tale of Persia's conquering of Greece, a werewolf boy tearing through the streets of medieval Cologne, and a retired Confederate captain back on a Civil War battlefield.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #636172 in Books
• Published on: 1993-04-24
• Released on: 1993-04-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780345380111
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From the Inside Flap
What if history had taken a different path, made a detour, and deviated just a little bit from the road it chose? Here, Harry Turtledove explores such "what ifs" in twenty alternate-history stories ranging from ancient times to the far, far-different future.
Persia has conquered Greece; Athens is in ruins. Yet even under Persia's rule, the power of the people can never be completely broken. . .
A werewolf boy tears through Cologne's medieval stretts in search of sanctuary from the angry mob. But who will shelter a creature so hated and feared?
A student from the far-off future sets off on a field trip to study Genghis Khan -- and finds him in the twentieth century?
And many more!
"He's one of the finest explorers of alternate histories ever." -- Locus

Customer Reviews

An excellent collection of alternate reality short stories
This was an excellent book of short stories. Turtledove says alot in just a few pages and I was left me hungering for more. I admit to being a fan of the alternate history/reality genre and Turtledove is a master at making such "potential pasts" believeable. Perhaps my favorite story of the group (and it was not an easy decision) was concerning the arrival of an official of the Persian court to the conquered province of Greece (I believe the story was titled "Counting Potsherds"). This tells a nice compact story of how things can quickly change on a person at the flick of a wrist. This story is representative of Turtledove's work because he allows the altenate history to be a seemless and natural background to the story, as if this was the real course of events. Some writers make too much of describing the alternate history and do not give enough time to giving life and action to the characters in their stories. Turtledove's worlds are certainly different from our own but the focus is still on people and everything that people do. If the world they're set in seems foreign and unfamiliar to the reader, the humans themselves make up for it by simply being real people which is the real strength of his work. Pick this one up.

Alternate History... and everything else under the sun
Harry Turtledove's name has become almost synonymous with Alternate History. Guns of the South is perhaps the most talked about AH novel of today. Even historical SF novels by other authors sometimes have Turtledove's blurbs on the cover.

In this highly readable anthology, the Grand Master proves that he is perfectly capable of handling other types of fiction. Sure, it contains plenty of AH stories. One particularly interesting example ("Counting Potsherds") involves a world in which Persia conquered the Greek city-states, squelching out democracy. Another ("Islands in the Sea") tells of a lively and informative debate between Chritian and Muslim theologians. The title story, "Departures", is set in the Agent of Byzantium world, telling about the life of St. Mohammed.

The non-AH stories, however, are perhaps more interesting. They reveal many sides of Turtledove that were not apparent before. There is everything from baseball stories (including the tale of a batboy who turns into a bat) to Jewish-themed fiction (including one amusing story which asks whether a genetically engineered cud-chewing pig would be kosher) to fantasy (can a well-meaning werewolf escape a midieval lynch mob?) to hard SF (humans and aliens mingle in a futuristic bar). The tone of the stories is also highly variable, ranging from the dead serious (should humans become involved with the affairs of low-tech aliens?) to the utterly silly (what happens when a confused time traveller from the far future accidentally ends up in a 20th century office building?). These stories have practically nothing in common. Some make you think, some make you laugh, some just make you say "huh?", but all are very enjoyable.

A great choice for Turtledove fans everywhere, and even those who don't enjoy his AH may want to give it a try.

fun stories, faulty binding
A new paperback shouldn't shed pages on the first reading. My copy did that. But I'll re-read several of these tales and mend the book as I go.
A fun assortment of yarns. Turtledove crafts Short Stories well. These stories give more insights into the Author himself than his novels do.