Departures

Rating:
Summary: fun stories, faulty binding
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Splendid
Review: An immensely enjoyable collection of alternate history tales. This genre is growing more popular all the time and that is good, because we can learn alot from well written AH. It teaches us to appreciate the people who made things happen throughout the threads of time instead of taking them for granted. Departures accomplishes this.

Rating:
Summary: Alternate History... and everything else under the sun
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Alternate History... and everything else under the sun
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent collection of alternative history shorts
Review: I read these stories several years ago and they turned me on to Harry Turtledove. I only wish he would write more of these; perhaps a volume two. I especially remember the story regarding democracy and its abortive beginings in Greece.

Rating:
Summary: These stories are Great
Review: If you have to make these stories you're introduction to Alternate History please do so.

Rating:
Summary: Consistently imaginative and well-written
Review: Some of Turtledove's best. A fine collection of stories that will amuse, delight, and (sometimes) provoke serious thought.

Rating:
Summary: Consistently imaginative and well-written
Review: Some of Turtledove's best. A fine collection of stories that will amuse, delight, and (sometimes) provoke serious thought.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good, but caveat emptor
Review: These are really cool stories, don't get me wrong. But at the same time, please don't expect strict "alternate history". Some of these are fantasy stories, for one thing, featuring werewolves, vampires, etc. Also, I am not sure how any story that takes place entirely in the future can be considered "alternate history", although I suppose that the stories set in the future do tend to feature at least a window into the present or past, and it is cast in an unusual, "alternate" light. Also, several of these tales deal with relatively obscure periods of the history of the Greek speaking world, an area in which Mr. Turtledove holds a PhD. It got me so interested in that period that I ended up going to the library to learn more about it, but just be prepared for the fact that these stories don't all deal with well-known themes of this genre. Definitely thought-provoking, and well-written tales.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good, but caveat emptor
Review: These are really cool stories, don't get me wrong. But at the same time, please don't expect strict "alternate history". Some of these are fantasy stories, for one thing, featuring werewolves, vampires, etc. Also, I am not sure how any story that takes place entirely in the future can be considered "alternate history", although I suppose that the stories set in the future do tend to feature at least a window into the present or past, and it is cast in an unusual, "alternate" light. Also, several of these tales deal with relatively obscure periods of the history of the Greek speaking world, an area in which Mr. Turtledove holds a PhD. It got me so interested in that period that I ended up going to the library to learn more about it, but just be prepared for the fact that these stories don't all deal with well-known themes of this genre. Definitely thought-provoking, and well-written tales.