From the Bookshelf of Spells, Space & Screams: Collections & Anthologies in Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Horror…

Other Earths

Nick Gevers (Editor),

Jay Lake (Editor)

Start date: January 15, 2021

Finish date: February 14, 2021

Discussion: Previous Books of the Month

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Previous Books of the Month

The Mammoth Book of Fantasy (April 2024)
By Lena , Of the Short Story Kingdom · 48 posts · 17 views

last updated Jan 03, 2025 08:12AM

Twenty-First Century Science Fiction: An Anthology (January 2024)
By Lena , Of the Short Story Kingdom · 72 posts · 15 views

last updated Dec 29, 2024 04:17PM

What Members Thought

Feb 14, 2021 Lena rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: anthology

The Unblinking Eye by Stephen Baxter ★★★★★
“The Inca consolidated, the great expansion called the Sunrise had begun.”

Inca-Futurism! Oh my wow, my eyes are blurry from not blinking, wide-eyed taking in every word. Now in my top three alternative history stories I’ve ever read, maybe top two!

This is one of those short stories you hope becomes a novel, or a series!

8291-C1-DA-BFC5-4607-AFA3-2-A552-BFB8-C01

8291-C1-DA-BFC5-4607-AFA3-2-A552-BFB8-C01

Winterborn by Liz Williams ★★★★★
Make this world a series immediately! This magical Renaissance Britain with its Fae Queen and River ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Feb 03, 2021 Fiona Knight rated it liked it

Shelves: alternative-earth

RTC - there's a couple of good ones here, but it's not a large collection and there was also some big disappointments. ...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Ronald rated it really liked it

Alternate history is a genre of fiction consisting of worlds in which history turned out differently from our own. Alternate history might have science fiction elements, or even fantasy elements, but it need not have it.

In this collection, there were three stories I didn't care for, two which were outstanding, and the rest were worth reading. The book is worth buying for the two outstanding works alone.

One outstanding work is the short story, "This Peaceable Land; or, The Unbearable Vision of Ha Alternate history is a genre of fiction consisting of worlds in which history turned out differently from our own. Alternate history might have science fiction elements, or even fantasy elements, but it need not have it.

In this collection, there were three stories I didn't care for, two which were outstanding, and the rest were worth reading. The book is worth buying for the two outstanding works alone.

One outstanding work is the short story, "This Peaceable Land; or, The Unbearable Vision of Harriet Beecher Stowe" by Robert Charles Wilson. The premise of this story is that the American Civil War did not occur--the Northern and Southern states stepped back from the brink of civil war. Over the years, slavery had for the most part died out due to various factors ranging from technological development to international opinion. The drama of the story comes from the investigation by a white photographer and a black writer into the status of blacks in this alternative South. While in this story over 500,000 American soldiers did not die, like in our timeline, it was disastrous for others in other ways.

The other outstanding work, which, being around 90 pages, would probably be classed as a novella, is "Dog-Eared Paperback of My Life" by Lucius Shepard. Lucius Shepard is, in my honest opinion, one of the best prose writers in any genre, let alone in the field of fantasy and science fiction. The first third of the novella is Borgesian; the middle third is Conradian; and the last third is Lovecraftian. The narrator, Thomas Cradle, is a writer who discovers a book which popped into our universe from an alternative one. This book, _The Tea Forest_, was written by an alternative universe Tom Cradle, and describes a journey into Southeast Asia. The middle of Shephard's novella describes the narrator's own _Heart of Darkness_ journey into Southeast Asia. The end of the novella, if I'm interpreting it correctly, shows the reason for the occasional inter-penetration of parallel universes. The creature at end of the story would make a fine addition to Cthulhu and Co. I read this novella over a year ago, and yet, since that time, I occasionally recall various scenes and even phrases from it. ...more

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