ALTERNATE EMPIRES

Rating:
Summary: For Better or Worse
Review: Anthologies are hard to rate, for obvious reasons. I *do* love alternative history, and wish there were more of this genre. Ideas on changes in history, though not practical in the slightest, are the height of idealism- we look to see what we can learn about ideas and ourselves by seeing how things might have changed. So I was excited to come across this 4 volume set in the antique mall of a seaside town in the NorthWest. The stories seem to be basically of three sorts- What if something were changed in history to make things worse? What if something were changed to make life better? What if an alternative reality was changed to make it conform to our own?

Some stories depend on their suprise ending with a particular historical twist. In the House of Sorrows is just such a story, taking place in the Middle East. Unfortunately, without knowing the historical era, it is a very confusing read; but well worth it for the twist. However, I found the one major drawback to the anthology as a whole to be the complete lack of discussion of the Islamic and Arabic empires.

Remaking History looks at how the Iranian Hostage Crisis ending differently might have effected world events. Counting Potsherds was a very engaging story philosophically looking at if Athens had lost to the Persian Empire long ago.

Leapfrog also has the secret historical twist, and takes place on a Soviet space station around Mars, with a complete multi-national population. Everything But Honor also had some great ideas on philosophy- how much we value people- with changes in the Civil War to become *our* reality.

We Could Do Worse was a rather boring look at America under Martial Law in the 1960's. To the Promised Land explored a radically different world, in Egypt, if the Jews had never escaped Egypt some 3,000 years ago. Similarily, Waiting for the Olympians looks at a world ruled by the Roman Empire because of one key event not occurring in the past. I liked the references to the Cherokee and Algonkan nations, as well as Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs being simply one of the many gods of the pantheon. This was definitely the best story of the lot. One could see the Jews reinterpreting the Torah to embrace polytheism in this scenario, as they are faced with a completely polytheistic world. And it was amazing to postulate how a single event could change the way humans think about the basic nature of morality.

All Assassins and Game Night at the Fox and Goose were both very mediocer in my opinion, with the former looking at obscure historical figures in the 1970's- so obscure you had no feeling for the historical changes; and the latter looking at a world where women were in charge, but the plotline falls flat at the end. The Return of William Proxmire was a rather navelic look at the history of science fiction writing.

Rating:
Summary: Here's a go at the ones I remember.
Review: Here are the ones I would recommend. Counting Potsherds was an interesting look at another outcome of the greco-Persian wars by Turtledove. Leapfrog is a rare bird an alternate future. I liked it so much that I am somewhat surprised I never got around to reading anything else by James P. Hogan. Others that I remember, but am not sure about include: Silverberg's was well written, & Malzberg's felt like a novel fragment. Pohl's at first offended my Christian sensibilities at first than surprisingly affirmed them. Anderson's was interesting. Lastly sometimes a story you dislike is so weird and unusual you remember it as much as stories you like. Game Night at the fox and goose by Karen Joy Fowler is such a story for me. Well interestingly I think the fact that these are the ones I remember says something so I hope I've helped.