Down in the Bottomlands: And Other Places

by Harry Turtledove, L. Sprague de Camp

In the real world, the Mediterranean basin dried up several times, only to refill again. If it hadn't, what's really sea bottom would have become the most savage desert in the world. Mild-mannered Radnal vez Krobir likes it that way. When his kingdom's enemies try to shake down the Barrier Mountains and let the Atlantic in, he has to stop them - or else drown along with everything he holds dear.

Genres: Science Fiction, Alternate History, Fiction, Fantasy, Short Stories, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy

313 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 1999

About the author

Dr Harry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced a sizeable number of works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.

Harry Turtledove attended UCLA, where he received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history in 1977.

Turtledove has been dubbed "The Master of Alternate History". Within this genre he is known both for creating original scenarios: such as survival of the Byzantine Empire; an alien invasion in the middle of the World War II; and for giving a fresh and original treatment to themes previously dealt with by other authors, such as the victory of the South in the American Civil War; and of Nazi Germany in the Second World War.

His novels have been credited with bringing alternate history into the mainstream. His style of alternate history has a strong military theme.

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Down in the Bottomlands, the Hugo Award winning novella from 1994, presents a fascinating concept for an alternate history—rather than changing a single historical event, Turtledove reimagines the geological evolution of the Earth itself. The result is a radically different world with far-reaching effects on the course of human development. The story is a gripping hard sci-fi thriller that blends adventure, murder, political intrigue, and espionage. It's also packed with richly detailed scientific speculation about a unique biome that could only exist in this alternate Earth. A smart and imaginative read.

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harry Turtledove is to alternate history fiction as the Bee Gees were to disco music; but in his 1999 compilation of three novellas, Turtledove pays tribute to L. Sprague de Camp as an inspiration.

Beginning with his very good story (and Hugo award winner for best novella in 1994) Down in the Bottomlands, Turtledove introduces his readers to the concept that the Mediterranean Sea did NOT refill millions of years ago, but instead stayed a desert and so there is no natural barrier between the African continent and Europe. So, there was never a Greece or Rome, and all the cultural contributions of those societies. Even more interesting is that in this world, the Neanderthals never died out and this region is a Neanderthal nation, living in a strained truce with its Homo Sapiens neighbors.

The second novella was a 1940 work by L. Sprague de Camp that reminded me of a Poul Anderson story where Europeans settled North America far earlier, maybe almost a thousand years, than in our world. The third work is Turtledove’s sequel to this story where the Inca Empire never collapsed.

While the second and third stories do not come close to the award winning Down in the Bottomlands, this is good alternate history science fiction and good writing throughout.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of three novellas, Down in the Bottomlands by Harry Turtledove, Wheels of If by L. Sprague de Camp, and The Pugnacious Peacemaker, a sequel to the de Camp story by Turtledove. I read the latter pair a little while back in the Tor Double edition. I posted my comments here on Goodreads (which I won't repeat here) and happened to read one of the other reviews which mentioned this book and said that Down in the Bottomlands was a prequel to Wheels of If. I dug up a copy and found that it isn't, it's an unrelated story. It's an alternate history in which the Mediterranean Sea doesn't fill up, an interesting concept; most alternate histories involve human history variations (let's kill Hitler, or what if the Confederacy won the Civil War?), not geographic differences. I thought that the story itself was just okay; I didn't really care for the characters, and thought the plot was a little sexist and silly. However, please be advised that it won the Hugo Award for best novella of the year in 1994, so my opinion is obviously in the minority. (My vote would have gone to Walter Jon Williams or Harlan Ellison.) I liked the de Camp very much, disliked the sequel, and was middle of the road on the title story of this collection, so I'm going for three stars.

[Bettie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Down in the Bottomlands is a novella written by Harry Turtledove which takes places in an alternative history in which the Atlantic Ocean did not reflood the Mediterranean Sea 5.5 million years ago in the Miocene Epoch, as it did in our history. The Mediterranean Basin thus remains dry to the present day in this time line, as a vast sunken desert called the Bottomlands, averaging nearly two kilometers below mean sea level, with summer temperatures reaching well above 40°C and with little or no rainfall.

The novella first saw print in January 1993 in Analog magazine and has been reprinted twice since then, once in 1997 in The New Hugo Award Winners, Volume IV and then again in 1999 with a couple other novellas in a book called Down in the Bottomlands.

[Nicholas · Rating 1 out of 5]

This has three stories in it:

Down in the Bottomlands: This story was pretty okay. It could have used some trimming, but it kept me interested in what was going to happen.

The Wheels of If: This L. Sprague de Camp story started off in an interesting way that made me wonder what the heck was going on, but then it settled into some incredibly boring alt history with an unlikable, uninteresting, unsympathetic protagonist, and nothing even remotely resembling an interesting secondary character. The plot was uninspired, and just not good at all. At all.

The Pugnacious Peacemaker: This is a Turtledove-written sequel to The Wheels of If. It is not any more interesting than the original. Crap protagonist, boring story.

All in all, I'd say skip these stories if you run across them. You can surely find better things to do with your time.

[Clyde · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review refers only to the Down in the Bottomlands story, which won the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1994.
This story is an excellent alternate-history (or 'alternate reality', if you prefer) story from a master of the genre. It is basically ticking-clock murder mystery, but set in a very unusual place and involving some people that ... well, they are not all the same as in our world.
I had fun identifying the analogs of places in our world from their descriptions in the story. As a former geologist I quickly spotted where the "Bottomlands" are.
I'll say no more. One really should come to this story fresh and let it unfold. (Especially avoid the Wikipedia page!)
Good, smart story—recommended.

[Stef · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook (which does not have an ISBN) of Bottomlands, narrated by Victor Bevine. It won a Hugo award for best novella.

Harry Turtledove is known for alternate history, which this is, but in a way it would be more accurate to call it alternate geology. The world he writes about is one in which the Mediterranean Sea dried up (which happened in the real world, in the Miocene epoch) and never got filled up again (which didn't). The alternate world has both Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis.

The science and the culture seemed reasonably plausible.

A key plot point was telegraphed by a little too much emphasis on what the plot point revolved around. (I'm not checking the "this review contains spoilers" box so that's all I'll say.)

[Kat Hooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 "Down in the Bottomlands" audio version.

[Alex Klimkewicz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Down in the Bottomlands (and Other Places)​ comprises three long stories (or short novellas) by Harry Turtledove and L. Sprague De Camp. I like alternate history stories. One can’t like this genre without also being familiar with (and generally liking) the work of Harry Turtledove. Honestly, I wasn’t particularly interested in the time periods or locations (Mediterranean basin and alternative South America) like I have been with Turtledove’s other stories (Southern Victory/American Emprie and the WW2 alien series). But, I was pleasantly surprised to read a murder mystery in “Down in the Bottomlands.”

“The Wheel of If” pretty much spelled out the convention of alternate history with minor changes reverberating through time. I guess I can forgive this since it is an older story. A lawyer becomes a bishop and then leads a double life as a political rabble-rouser. It was okay, but I liked with Turtledove did more with the main character of Allister Park in the continuing story “The Pugnacious Peacemaker.” Park has fully embodied the Bishop Scogland, but retired from the church and is serving as a judge in a world court and charged with overseeing a dispute between Muslims and Inca empire forces battling in South America. Something about Turtledove’s writing humanizes his characters a bit more than other authors. Both Turtledove characters in this collection have a bit more of a sexual appetite. It’s weird, but I noticed it. Scogland/Park was sort of just a fuddy-duddy in De Camp’s story, (conniving sure, and politically motivated) but Turtledove makes him out to be more well-rounded overall.

[Cristian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primo libro che leggo di questo autore.
Mi è piaciuto, mi ha appassionato e non sono affatto profano nella sf.
Leggero dell'altro, anche perché essendo lui un gran scrittore del genere ucronico, non può che appassionarmi.

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

1993. "Down in the Bottomlands" speelt zich af op de bodem van de middellandse zee. Alleen, er is geen zee: wat bij ons zee is, is bij de bewoners van de verhaalwereld woestijn. Zes miljoen jaar geleden ontstond door plaattektoniek een gebergte op de plek van de straat van Gibraltar. De middellandse zee verloor haar connectie met de oceaan en droogde langzaam op. Het resuktaat is een grote, zoute kom, genaamd The Bottomlands. Het is er droog, omdat regenwolken door de bergen worden tegengehouden, en heet vanwege de lage ligging (vergelijk de kou in hooggebergte).

We reizen door een nationaal park in de Bottomlands, gegidst door een bioloog die interessant vertelt over de planten en dieren die in dit barre biotoop overleven. Het verhaal is no-nonsense opgeschreven, en wordt met strakke hand langs de plotlijn geleid. Gaandeweg wordt het oppervlakkiger, als de beschrijving van de wereld plaats maakt voor een thriller-plot met bommen en spionnen, dat ik niet zo spannend vond. Ook worden sommige leden van het toeristisch gezelschap stereotype neergezet, voor het komisch effect (mislukt in mijn ogen). De toegevoegde love-interest riep weinig gevoelens bij me op.

Kortom, niet helemaal geslaagd, maar de alternate-history premisse en de biologisch geloofwaardige verhalen van de gids zijn meesterlijk. Nog een leuk (maar weinig uitgewerkt) alternate history-aspect van het boek is de raciale (?) achtergrond van de personages: degenen uit wat wij Afrika noemen zijn homo sapiens, maar Europa wordt nog steeds bevolkt door neanderthalers.

Het boek bevat nog twee andere verhalen, die bij elkaar horen: "The wheels of If" - een ouder verhaal verhaal (uit 1940), geschreven door een andere auteur: Sprague de Camp - en een vervolg op dat verhaal, "The pugnacious peacemaker", dat weer door Harry Turtledove is geschreven. The wheels of if begint heel gaaf, met een alternate reality waarin verschillende dingen anders zijn gelopen: Engeland koos is in de donkere middeleeuwen voor het Ierse of Keltische Christendom, in plaats van het Latijnse. De Britse eilanden vormden af en aan een politiek geheel met Scandinavië en ondervonden dus allelei culturele en talige invloed van de Vikingen, en niet van het Frans en het Latijn. In de slag bij Tours wonnen de Arabieren van Karel Martel, waardoor een flink deel van Europa islamitisch werd. Italië plaatste zich onder de protectie van het Byzantijnse Rijk.

De alternatieve werkelijkheid is heel soepel en overtuigend neergezet, met veel historische kennis. Maar ook hier, en nog erger dan in het eerste verhaal, krijgt gaandeweg een oninteressant B-plot de overhand. Bovendien is de hoofdpersoon een ijskoude jerk met nul emotionele diepgang - ook niet echt engagerend.

[Karl Stark di Grande Inverno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un romanzo breve carino, buono per qualche ora di relax. Personaggi un pochino stereotipati ma che comunque paiono convincenti nel loro modo di agire. Trama interessante, ma che poteva essere sfruttata meglio, magari in un romanzo più lungo ed articolato.
La scenografia è sicuramente d'impatto, ma non mi è sembrata sempre funzionale alla storia: non già dissertazioni su ipotetici futuri, ma solo un pretesto per mettere i personaggi in un contesto alieno.
In definitiva, un discreto romanzo d'evasione, debitore dei racconti che venivano pubblicati sulle riviste pulp americane.
La parte centrale è la migliore, quando un colpo di scena innesca la trama vera e propria.
Il finale, invece, appare "capitato lì per caso", descritto frettolosamente.
Chi ama Turteldove troverà un racconto carino, a patto di non avere grandi pretese.
Sconsigliato a chi non ha mai letto nulla di questo autore. Conviene partire dal "ciclo della Legione Perduta" o da altre cose.

[Salvatore Pulvirenti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Per intenderci il libro non �� brutto in s��. Infatti ho regalato una stella rispetto a quelli che sono i miei gusti per semplice obiettivit��. Il problema �� che in una collana di fantascienza mi aspetterei fantascienza e non un fantasy. E questo �� sicuramente un fantasy. E questo nonostante i premi che ha vinto.
La storia parla di un viaggio di piacere di un gruppo di turisti in un mondo alieno, per paesaggi e animali che lo vivono, nato dalla una larga depressione originata dallo spostamento dei continenti.
Il tutto �� condito da scene sensuali, omicidi, spionaggio e guerre politiche.
Niente male come background, quindi, ma non ho trovato nulla di fantascientifico in tutto ci��.
C'�� da dire che il libro �� uno dei primi della collana e questo forse giustifica la sua edizione in questo contesto.

[Fantasy Literature]

Harry Turtledove is known best for his alternate histories. In Down in the Bottomlands, a novella which won the Hugo Award, Turtledove goes with the premise that the Atlantic Ocean did not re-fill the dried-up Mediterranean Sea during the Miocene period. The sea basin becomes a desert, and this alteration in the Earth’s geography affects many aspects of humanity’s genetic and geopolitical evolution.

3.5 stars from Kat, read more at FANTASY LITERATURE

[Sergio Frosini · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bello, non tanto per la trama "politica" fra le ipotetiche nazioni di una Terra dove il Mediterraneo si è prosciugato e la storia chissà come si è svolta... quanto per il viaggio turistico nelle Terrefonde, fra paesaggi aridi e un (ahimé inesistente) ecosistema desertico minimale ma affascinante. Non male anche le caratterizzazioni dei differenti personaggi, dai nomi purtroppo difficilmente memorizzabili, peggio di Tolkien ;-)

[BNZ · Rating 1 out of 5]

El libro prometía mucho: un autor consagrado de literatura fantástica, premio Hugo... pero mi gozo en un pozo. Personajes planos y un crimen que apenas consigue levantar la curiosidad del lector. Dejamos atrás la ciencia ficción porque el contexto donde se produce la trama es "ciencia ficción" de refilón: apenas hay descripciones, desarrollo del universo... en fin, decepción sería la palabra que mejor define esta lectura.

[bluetyson]

Down In The Bottomlands by Harry Turtledove (2000)

[Lynn Calvin]

baen ebook

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fun story and interesting idea of what if .....

[Lee Belbin · Rating 2 out of 5]

SS: A strange tale of an alternative geological history where the Mediterranean is a dry bottomland. A tour of the park leads to a whodunnit re planting of H bomb to flood the bottomlands (two sexy girls - that's who)