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Other Worlds, Better Lives: Selected Long Fiction, 1989-2003
Collects seven novellas.
Table of Contents:
"A Dozen Tough Jobs" (1989)
"Fin de Cyclé" (1990)
"You Could Go Home Again" (1993)
"Flatfeet!" (1996)
"Major Spacer in the 21st Century!" (2001)
"The Other Real World" (2001)
"A Better World's In Birth" (2003)
Table of Contents:
"A Dozen Tough Jobs" (1989)
"Fin de Cyclé" (1990)
"You Could Go Home Again" (1993)
"Flatfeet!" (1996)
"Major Spacer in the 21st Century!" (2001)
"The Other Real World" (2001)
"A Better World's In Birth" (2003)
280 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2008
7 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
About the author
Howard Waldrop
171 books76 followersHoward Waldrop was an American science fiction author who worked primarily in short fiction, with shorties that combined elements such as alternate history, American popular culture, the American South, old movies, classical mythology, and rock 'n' roll music. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2021.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 4, 2008
Howard Waldrop is an American short story writer who deserves a much larger audience than he has. My review of his new short fiction collection is up at the SciFi.com site, here.
February 18, 2019
A collection of Waldrops longer works from 89-03. I actually read about half of this book because I'd read two or three of the stories herein in different collections. Waldrop is a master of the short form and he never writes down to his readers. I discovered his work in the last ten years or so. I really can only imagine reading it before the internet became a constant presence and allowed easy research. I'm quite well-read, but Waldrop will still stump me with historic and cultural knowledge and send me scurrying to Google to look into the background of his stories.
Most of Waldrop's work is some sort of alt-history. This isn't hard SF. Now and then it verges on fantasy. But it's always incredibly intelligent. "A Dozen Tough Jobs" sets the Labors of Hercules in the deep South in the 1930s. "You *Could* Go Home Again" finds a world in which FDR dies and Huey Long is elected President in 1932...but not for long. In "The Other Real World" we follow the children from 50s SF films dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis.
This is the kind of stuff that Waldrop gives us. Interesting. Well researched. Unlike what you get from anyone else. He doesn't always hit a home run (the last story "A Better World's in Birth!" didn't work for me at all) but they are always interesting.
Most of Waldrop's work is some sort of alt-history. This isn't hard SF. Now and then it verges on fantasy. But it's always incredibly intelligent. "A Dozen Tough Jobs" sets the Labors of Hercules in the deep South in the 1930s. "You *Could* Go Home Again" finds a world in which FDR dies and Huey Long is elected President in 1932...but not for long. In "The Other Real World" we follow the children from 50s SF films dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis.
This is the kind of stuff that Waldrop gives us. Interesting. Well researched. Unlike what you get from anyone else. He doesn't always hit a home run (the last story "A Better World's in Birth!" didn't work for me at all) but they are always interesting.
October 30, 2019
These were some seriously strange alternate world SF stories. I only knew this author from his shorter works and one novel, so these in-between-length stories were new to me.
I thought that "A Dozen Tough Jobs" dragged a bit, and that a couple of the tasks weren't very clear conversions from the traditional story, but the rest of the stories were weird and wonderful in very interesting ways. The idea of a story where the first and second halves take place 50 years apart was intriguing, and the police story that ran from 1912 to 1920 was just strange, but even the weird parts were very readable. I am giving the collection overall 4 stars, as an average.
I thought that "A Dozen Tough Jobs" dragged a bit, and that a couple of the tasks weren't very clear conversions from the traditional story, but the rest of the stories were weird and wonderful in very interesting ways. The idea of a story where the first and second halves take place 50 years apart was intriguing, and the police story that ran from 1912 to 1920 was just strange, but even the weird parts were very readable. I am giving the collection overall 4 stars, as an average.
September 1, 2020
A belated selection for the r/Fantasy 2019 Bingo for the 'Five SFF Short Stories' square. Waldrop takes something familiar and with meticulous research turns it into a weird / alternate history SFF story. These stories are some of his best from 1989 - 2003. I don't know of anybody else who can consistently do this to such a high quality (three of these stories were nominated for major SFF awards). I was thankful that each story had an afterword though, as there were several things I missed. Highly recommended.
November 25, 2025
This collection includes "A Dozen Tough Jobs" (a retelling of Hercules's Twelve Labors in 1920s Mississippi), so it's already a great book to have. The other six novelettes and novellas are also great, from "You Could Go Home Again" to "Flatfeet!" Whether you'll understand everything about the other stories might be a bit questionable, but they will at least be an interesting ride!
October 25, 2018
I really like this author, but sadly, these stories did not resonate with me. I got the impression that a lot of this work was the author’s tribute to sci-fi and personal influences from his life.
May 12, 2020
Novella-length pieces, more slight whimsy than SFF, set in '20s, '30s, '50s USA with a patina of nostalgia and no discernable story.
February 12, 2015
How have I remained ignorant of Howard Waldrop's work????? This man is a masterful storyteller, with a wild imagination that creates stories worth telling.
With the exception of the first story, which is a retelling of the 12 labors of Hercules, set in 1930's Mississippi, the stories are mostly fanciful alternate histories. What if Thomas Wolfe had survived his brain operation and lived to join the Technocracy political movement, helping it enough to win the Presidency of the US in 1940? (That story, by the way, takes place on the zeppelin USS Ticonderoga betwern Tokyo and Suez.)
Other stories wonder what would have happened if Richard Wagner had succeeded in leading the socialist revolution he (in real life) started in Dresden in 1849; what if, instead of Emile Zola, it was Georges Melies, Erik Satie, Marcel Proust, and Pablo Picasso who took up the cause of Capt. Alfred Dreyfuss -- not in print, but on film; what if all those annoying little kids from 1950s monster movies were in their late teens/early 20s during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Its tempting to say that these stories are so intelligent, of course they're not going to be popular. But Science fiction is supposed to be about intelligent stories. So why is Howard Waldrop so relatively unknown?
With the exception of the first story, which is a retelling of the 12 labors of Hercules, set in 1930's Mississippi, the stories are mostly fanciful alternate histories. What if Thomas Wolfe had survived his brain operation and lived to join the Technocracy political movement, helping it enough to win the Presidency of the US in 1940? (That story, by the way, takes place on the zeppelin USS Ticonderoga betwern Tokyo and Suez.)
Other stories wonder what would have happened if Richard Wagner had succeeded in leading the socialist revolution he (in real life) started in Dresden in 1849; what if, instead of Emile Zola, it was Georges Melies, Erik Satie, Marcel Proust, and Pablo Picasso who took up the cause of Capt. Alfred Dreyfuss -- not in print, but on film; what if all those annoying little kids from 1950s monster movies were in their late teens/early 20s during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Its tempting to say that these stories are so intelligent, of course they're not going to be popular. But Science fiction is supposed to be about intelligent stories. So why is Howard Waldrop so relatively unknown?
February 26, 2009
Waldrop’s best reissue collection yet. From the Greek myths gone southern gothic in “A Dozen Tough Jobs” to the Francophile steampunk of “Fin De Cycle”, these stories are filled with wild humor and bizarre factoids.
August 18, 2015
As one reviewer says, "set out as a dare to the reading public", Waldrop's work is always challenging, and entertaining when you get it. You just never know what you're going to get, so hang on for the ride.
February 21, 2009
Decent collection of Waldrop's longer stories.
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October 8, 2009This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 28, 2014
Another excellent collection of short stories by the estimable Howard Waldrop. This man is truly a master of the short form.
May 5, 2010
mostly reprints, couple of superb alt. history gems
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews