The Best Alternate History Stories of the 20th Century

Harry Turtledove and Martin H. Greenberg, editors

What if Germany and Hitler had won World War II? What if the Islam religion spread in the early centuries rather than Christianity? What if every time a person is faced with a decision, two or more realities split off, reflecting each of the decisions? What if a person could travel through time and accidently affect it? Or what if a person could travel through time and create alternate realities that do not affect Realtime?

All of these are story lines that can be found in this compilation of short stories. These are "what if" stories...what if history had worked out a little differently than we now know? I appreciate some of them, others bother me. I especially dislike the premise of Larry Niven's short story, "All the Myriad Ways". I can go with the "what if" premise, but have problems with the continuing breaking off of realities. This also was the one story I had read before of the group, and it impressed me the first time as well, so obviously it belongs with this group.

If you like alternate history stories, you'll enjoy this book. If you like good speculative fiction, you'll also enjoy this book. Some of the tales may grate or bother, but they'll all make you think. Isn't that the goal of good writing?

Alternities by Michael P. Kube-McDowell