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Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction
It-s 1960, and the Axis powers dominate the world. Life goes on, because, as we see in -Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction,- history is driven both by big events and by small temptations- Following the appearance of her first two novels, The King-s Peace and The King-s Name, Jo Walton won the 2002 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Two years later she won the World Fantasy Award for Tooth and Claw. Her Small Change trilogy, comprising Farthing, Ha-penny, and Half A Crown, is set in a world in which Britain struck an early truce with Hitler in 1941; -Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction- is set in the America of that world.
19 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 2009
2 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
About the author
Jo Walton
86 books3,102 followersJo Walton writes science fiction and fantasy novels and reads a lot and eats great food. It worries her slightly that this is so exactly what she always wanted to do when she grew up. She comes from Wales, but lives in Montreal.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
June 7, 2020
“Miss?” one of them asks. She swings around, thinking they want more coffee. One refill only is the rule. “Can you settle a question?” he asks. “Did Roosevelt want to get us to join in the European War in 1940?”
“How should I know? It has nothing to do with me. I was five years old in 1940.” They should get over it and leave history to bury its own dead, she thinks, and goes back to wiping the tables.
sometimes i have to restrain myself from just greedily pouncing on the brand-new tor shorts and remind myself of all the olde ones that are out there just waiting to be rediscovered. this one is from 2009 and shows that even back then, tor knew what they were doing in their acquisition process.
i've never read jo walton, but i know she's beloved by many, and this story renews my vow to read the books of hers i already have here at the home. you know, someday…
it's pretty short, since a lot of the backdrop to the action is provided by truncated newspaper headlines that give a sense of what's going on in the larger world without having to actually commit to spelling everything out:
NATIONAL GUARD MOVES AGAINST STRIKERS
In the seventh week of the mining strike in West Virginia, armed skirmishes and running “guerrilla battles” in the hills have led to the Governor calling in
GET AN ADVANCED DEGREE BY CORRESPONDENCE
You can reap the benefits with no need to leave the safety of your house or go among unruly college students! Only from
EX-PRESIDENT LINDBERGH REPROACHES MINERS
ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION
April issue on newsstands now! All new stories by Poul Anderson, Anson MacDonald and H. Beam Piper! Only 35 cents.
SPRING FASHIONS 1960
Skirts are being worn long in London and Paris this season, but here in New York the working girls are still hitching them up. It’s stylish to wear a little
HOW FAR FROM MIAMI CAN THE “FALLOUT” REACH?
Scientists say it could be a problem for years, but so much depends on the weather that
You hope to work
You hope to eat
The work goes to
The man that’s neat!
BurmaShave
etc etc.
it's an alt-history story apparently tied to some of her earlier work:
Her Small Change trilogy, comprising Farthing, Ha'penny, and Half a Crown, is set in a world in which Britain struck an early truce with Hitler in 1941; "Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction" is set in the America of that world.
but i am living proof that you don't need to have read those books to get enjoyment out of this story. i'm sure it's more powerful to people who have read the other books, but for me it was a strong tone piece that was less of an actual story than an atmosphere suggesting a story, where a chorus of voices fleshes out l'esprit de l'époque, and where l'époque is a terribly bleak poverty-riddled postwar world full of desperate and unhappy people. even though it's alt-history, there are intimations that there's no escaping the inevitability of the darker events of history, no matter how you tweak its details.
so not comforting, jo walton...
read it for yourself here:
http://www.tor.com/2009/02/06/escape-...
come to my blog!
April 17, 2018
Some historical differences. However, that world is not far off from the one that we're currently living in.
June 7, 2016
Full review, first posted on Fantasy Literature :
This short story is set in the same alternative universe as Jo Walton’s novels Farthing, Ha'penny and Half a Crown. In this universe, the U.S. decided not to come to the aid of Great Britain in WWII. As a result, as Marion explains in her Fantasy Literature review of Ha'Penny, “Europe is largely under the control of Hitler, who is at war with Stalin for the rest. Britain negotiated a ‘peace with honor’ with Germany and has now fully embraced fascism.”
In this story, Walton turns her attention from Britain to the United States. Charles Lindbergh is the ex-president of an isolationist United States, which avoided involvement in the “European War” ― but now, in 1960, that choice two decades ago has borne fruit, and the repercussions are certainly beyond what the isolationists expected or desired. The U.S economy has never really recovered from the Great Depression, and Nazi beliefs and practices have begun to infect the American way of life.
The story is told through a series of brief vignettes, with scenes from the life of a bakery waitress, who is struggling just to get by, alternating with commentaries from people waiting in the soup kitchen line, and newspaper headlines and excerpts that add color to the story.
“Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction” is a fairly straightforward alternative history work, more of a sketch than an actual story with a substantive plot. But the genius — and the heartbreak — is in the details. It’s a very grim story, but well-told.
Free online at Tor.com.
This short story is set in the same alternative universe as Jo Walton’s novels Farthing, Ha'penny and Half a Crown. In this universe, the U.S. decided not to come to the aid of Great Britain in WWII. As a result, as Marion explains in her Fantasy Literature review of Ha'Penny, “Europe is largely under the control of Hitler, who is at war with Stalin for the rest. Britain negotiated a ‘peace with honor’ with Germany and has now fully embraced fascism.”
In this story, Walton turns her attention from Britain to the United States. Charles Lindbergh is the ex-president of an isolationist United States, which avoided involvement in the “European War” ― but now, in 1960, that choice two decades ago has borne fruit, and the repercussions are certainly beyond what the isolationists expected or desired. The U.S economy has never really recovered from the Great Depression, and Nazi beliefs and practices have begun to infect the American way of life.
The story is told through a series of brief vignettes, with scenes from the life of a bakery waitress, who is struggling just to get by, alternating with commentaries from people waiting in the soup kitchen line, and newspaper headlines and excerpts that add color to the story.
“Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction” is a fairly straightforward alternative history work, more of a sketch than an actual story with a substantive plot. But the genius — and the heartbreak — is in the details. It’s a very grim story, but well-told.
Free online at Tor.com.
June 1, 2016
I was told this was science fiction.
I was told this was bleak.
This is not science fiction.
This is not bleak.
If you want to read science fiction;
There is better if you seek.
I was told this was bleak.
This is not science fiction.
This is not bleak.
If you want to read science fiction;
There is better if you seek.
August 14, 2016
Kind of a alternate-history world-building casefile.
April 21, 2018
3.6 stars. The postmodernist style employed gives the story its unique and strong flavour. Would have given it four stars if there had not been proofreading errors.
February 1, 2015
A depressing alternate history short set in the US. It's the year 1960, Nazi Germany and Japan won WWII and lead the scene of world politics. The US is negotiating peace with Britain. Racism and antisemitism are supported by the society. Expose your neighbors or employers as Jews and you are entitled to their property. Humanity forgotten. Short, bleak and to the point. Bleak, bleak, bleak.
Link here: http://www.tor.com/stories/2009/02/es...
Link here: http://www.tor.com/stories/2009/02/es...
July 14, 2014
Such a bleak story. Most effective. But, uh, I haven't felt myself in such a miserable world since Brazil.
I bought a copy.
I bought a copy.
August 21, 2019
Lunch break read - this felt very short, and ended abruptly, so I kept wondering if some of the story didn't load. Guess I'll just never know.
March 10, 2016
An interesting idea, but having read Shetl Days not long ago, it pales in comparison. Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction is a story where WWII didn't end the way we are used to, and it gives us glimpses at the changes that could result from such a shift. Some of the implications are quite chilling, particularly as they are told through newspaper headings and leave much to the imagination. On the other hand, I wish there was more for readers to sink our teeth into. The horrors needed to be fleshed out a bit more to be as affecting as they should be.
May 21, 2010
I've read Walton's columns at Tor.com with much appreciation, and realized with some ebarrassment that I haven't actually read any of her fiction. I tried this story as a starter.
It is extremely well written, but so chilling that I'm almost scared away from her novels! Fortunately, many of the comments on the story site do point out that her best-known novels aren't as dark as this piece. That's a relief, as I don't think I could stay away from such a marvelous author.
It is extremely well written, but so chilling that I'm almost scared away from her novels! Fortunately, many of the comments on the story site do point out that her best-known novels aren't as dark as this piece. That's a relief, as I don't think I could stay away from such a marvelous author.
October 8, 2015
A low 3 stars. Insteresting but it left me quite cold.I would recommend another tor short to anyone that enjoyed it: Shtetl days. Similar subject, but I quite prefered the other one.
There is another tor short by Jo Walton which I also enjoyed much better than this one: Sleeper.
There is another tor short by Jo Walton which I also enjoyed much better than this one: Sleeper.
Read
December 30, 2015Another collaborationist dystopia from Jo Walton, this time told in a slightly more new wave style. Her non-fiction always seems so cheery, her fiction unutterably bleak. Which is perhaps healthier than the other way around, at least.
February 3, 2018
A quick glance at life on the other side of the pond in the world of the Farthing novels, and things are grim here too, illustrated by glimpses of a life and scattered excerpts from the press. https://www.tor.com/2009/02/06/escape...
May 21, 2011
This is an interesting bit of alternative history.
November 10, 2011
(Dark) Snippets from lives in an alternate history, post, what would be our WWII. Deliciously chilling.
February 14, 2015
Yuck, this story is depressing. But since it's supposed to be depressing well done! to the writer.
October 16, 2023
Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction by author Jo Walton is a short story you can read for free on the Tor.com site https://www.tor.com/2009/02/06/escape...
It's 1960, and the Axis powers dominate the world. Life goes on, because, as we see in "Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction," history is driven both by big events and by small temptations…
My ongoing quest to get current with the Tor short stories.
A series of short vignettes from a bakery waitress, various people waiting in the soup kitchen line, alternated with newspaper headlines. Bleak and well-written. I will look into more of her work.
4 Stars
It's 1960, and the Axis powers dominate the world. Life goes on, because, as we see in "Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction," history is driven both by big events and by small temptations…
My ongoing quest to get current with the Tor short stories.
A series of short vignettes from a bakery waitress, various people waiting in the soup kitchen line, alternated with newspaper headlines. Bleak and well-written. I will look into more of her work.
4 Stars
October 10, 2022
It's 1960s America and the Axis Powers rule the world because, as we see in the papers, history hinges not on big events, but on the pettiest of events.
There is an element of 'The Outer Limits' or 'The Twilight Zone' in Walton's short story and it is easy to see how easy the tragic outcome of this story is to manufacture.
There is an element of 'The Outer Limits' or 'The Twilight Zone' in Walton's short story and it is easy to see how easy the tragic outcome of this story is to manufacture.
April 17, 2023
Short but felt disjointed
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews