Other Earths

Eleven original stories about the different paths our world might've taken...

Alternate history explores the many possible directions our world could follow if certain key events didn't occur at all or were changed in some crucial way. Is our Earth the only Earth, our reality the only one that exists? Or are there many parallel worlds and societies, some very similar to ours, some barely recognizable?

What if...
Lincoln had never become president, and the Civil War had never taken place?
Columbus never discovered America, and the Inca developed a massive, technologically advanced empire?
Magic was real and a half-faery queen ruled England?
Hitler and Germany won the war because America never got involved?
Many of the world's religions were totally commercialized, their temples run like casinos, religions deisgned purely for profit?
An author discovered a book written by an alternate version of himself?

The well-known authors in this wide-ranging alternate history anthology strike out in welcome new directions, often focusing on obscure events or people. The musician Ralph Vaughan Williams appears as an aging ambulance driver amid an extended Great War in Alistair Reynolds's The Receivers, while an astronomical phenomenon leads the conquering Inca to become the world's dominant power in Stephen Baxter's The Unblinking Eye. Those taking on more recognizable themes—like a magical race's diaspora in Theodora Goss's Csilla's Story, or an America that never suffered a civil war in This Peaceable Land; or, the Unbearable Vision of Harriet Beecher Stowe by Robert Charles Wilson—reveal their twists' horror and grit without being gratuitous. The well-realized narratives and gripping details make each tale a good introduction for any reader new to alternate history. (Apr.)
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