Best Alternate History Stories of the 20th Century (Barnes & Noble Edition) » (Special Value)

Harry Turtledove was born in Los Angeles in 1949. After flunking out of Caltech, he earned a PH.D. in Byzantine history from UCLA. He has taught ancient and medieval history at UCLA, Cal State Fullerton and Cal State L.A., and he has published a translation of a ninth-century Byzantine chronicle, as well as several scholarly articles. His alternate-history works have included many short stories, the Civil War classic The Guns of the South, the epic World War I series The Great War, and the Woldwar tetralogy that began with Worldwar: In the Balance. He is a winner of the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History for his novel How Few Remain.

Martin H. Greenberg is a veteran anthologist and book packager with over 700 books to his credit. He lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with his wife, daughter, and four cats.

Explore fascinating, often chilling "what if" accounts of the world that could have existed and still might yet . . .

Science fiction's most illustrious and visionary authors hold forth the ultimate alternate history collection.

VOYA

Whether called alternate, alternative, or counterfactual history, fiction set in worlds in which Rome never fell or Nazi Germany won World War II long has been popular with both science fiction writers and readers. Turtledove is the best-known author of alternate history fiction currently writing, and he has selected a superb group of stories for this anthology. In addition to his own Islands in the Sea, which postulates a world where Byzantium fell in the eighth century rather than the fifteenth, he adds classics such as Kim Stanley Robinson's The Lucky Strike, in which the Enola Gay is not chosen to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Also included are Ward Moore's famous Civil War tale, Bring the Jubilee; Larry Niven's brilliant tale of murder in alternate universes, All the Myriad Ways; William Sanders's The Undiscovered, in which Shakespeare is shipwrecked in darkest North America; and Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner's improbably cyberpunk Mozart in Mirrorshades. Other writers represented include Susan Shwartz, Nicholas A. DiChario, Jack L. Chalker, Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Poul Anderson, Brad Linaweaver, and Allen Steele. Just about the only important author in the field who is not included is Howard Waldrop, who probably ranks right behind Turtledove in his importance to the genre. Despite this curious omission, Turtledove's anthology clearly qualifies as a must-read for science fiction fans. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P S A/YA (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2001, Del Rey, 415p, $18 Trade pb. Ages 15 to Adult. Reviewer: Michael Levy SOURCE: VOYA, February 2002 (Vol. 24, No.6)