I Read Books: Worlds That Weren't
Four novellas of Alternate History. Two link into other books by their authors; The Logistics of Carthage is something of a prequel to Ash by Mary Gentle; Shikari in Galvaston a prequel to The Peshawar Lancers by S M Stirling. The other two involve philosophers going to war in places where they historically didn’t; Sokrates joining Alkiabedes on the Sicilian Expedition in Harry Turtledove’s The Daimon and Friedrich Nietzsche as an ally of the Cowboys in Tombstone in Walter Jon Williams The Last Ride of German Freddie.
These stories feel very representative of their authors. Turtledove gives us a beautifully clear description of the war, and reveals how strange and alien the Athenian mindset was. Stirling focuses on pulp-style action, leaving a very solid fictional world and decently thought out ideas in the background. Gentle has an odd romance and weirdo theology. Williams has a lot of extremely well-researched history all intersecting, and gives us some of the oddnesses of the American West through a Nietzschien lens*.
Each also gives us an afterword where they talk a bit about their approach and history. Perhaps the best one is where Williams notes that in his research everyone who met Wyatt Earp thought he was extraordinary and worth watching and writing about, but they didn’t explain why. So he puts his own confusion on this point into the story.
Read This: For some cool Alternate History stories
Don’t Read This: If adventure-ish stories that more or less muse on how the world might be different are not for you.
* This isn’t typical of Williams per se but certainly in line with his approach.
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