Our world could have been so very different…Eight stories take us on a journey into how our world could have been. What if the nukes had flown that day over Cuba? What if Caesar had survived? Imagine the Tunguska meteor with a different outcome. What if there was a true story behind HG Wells’ most famous tale? See the world as it might have been if China discovered the New World first. And what … first. And what if all of this was never meant to be and dinosaurs ruled the Earth?
Authors Jessica Holmes, Daniel M. Bensen, Terri Pray, Rob Edwards, Maria Haskins, Cathbad Maponus, Leo McBride, and collaborators Brent A. Harris and Ricardo Victoria show us the world that might have been – if the butterfly’s wings had fluttered a different way, if the world changed between heartbeats, if a moment of decision saw another choice.
This is the fourth anthology from Inklings Press, aiming to provide a platform for new and upcoming authors and to open the door onto different worlds.
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Warning: Mild spoilers included in the review.
I normally don’t like anthologies and tend to avoid short stories. With that said, I loved this book. Tales from Alternate Earths addresses many of my daydreams. Time travel, slight changes that affect big outcomes, and what if possibilities abound. At the same time, you get the feeling you could turn a corner or wake up from a nap and the bent timelines would be real. As Brent A. Harris so deftly stated it, “The idea of alternate history is to create a world that—no matter how different—is also just similar enough that there’s this kinda creepy reflection of our own world, which hopefully provides the reader a new perspective.” This book is full of tales that have that “creepy reflection of our own world” feeling.
September 26th, 1983 by Jessica Holmes was well chosen as the opening short story. I will freely admit that I am not as well informed on either current world events or historical events as I should be. I was busy with my small life in 1983 and never heard of Stanislav Petrov. Despite not knowing the original history, this alternate version was so well written and compelling that it kept me glued to the page until the masterful twist at the end. What if the button had been pushed? After reading this story, I was eager to dive into the next one.
One More Dawn by Terry Pray was a complete contrast in style and setting. The story opens with the knowledge that someone has come to the end of their life, yet the emotional impact is softened for the reader by descriptions of the lavish, luxury of the surroundings. Very soon I realized this story was an alternative of ancient history in Egypt. Reading it, I felt the soft breezes blowing the linen hangings, heard the fear in the voice of the priestess, knew the sorrow of the Great Queen. The story has no action, no great cataclysmic changes, but was written almost poetically as the loss of a loved one was suffered by one of the most famous of ancient rulers. What if love was stronger than ambition?
Twilight of the Mesozoic Moon, a joint effort by Brent A. Harris and Ricardo Victoria, is a fun ride that left me guessing until the end. I thought I knew what it was about when the Two Faced God was mentioned, but the twist at the very end completely surprised me. This particular alternate history is really alternate PREhistory. However the authors wove an interesting story with commentary on many aspects of modern life that made me think. This story, most of all in this book, exemplifies the “what if” aspect of the alternate history genre. What if another species had evolved instead of us?
One World by Cathbad Maponus was the one story in the book that scared me. I was born the same year that President Kennedy was assassinated and grew up with that extreme event being the pivotal horrific event in US history until 9/11. The assassination was awful, but it could have been so much worse. Unlike many, I never really hero worshiped JFK as so many seem to do. For this reason, I jumped right to the premise of this story and it felt like reading a real account of that period in history. This story is well written and I could tell the author had a good background in history by the little details he included that made the story seem so real. What if a President decided to seize more power?
Stargazing on Oxford Street by Rob Edwards is a poignant story of loss, sorrow, and angry grief. If the previous story scared me, this one made me sad. A midnight trip through the tormented ruins of a great city, one slight change in trajectory and millions of lives lost rather than a lot of forest. Such a loss is unfathomable to us. Yet it could happen, we could lose more than the lives of millions. One small change in trajectory and we could lose the whole world. This is the kind of thing that this story made me think about. The author wrote it in such a way that I could feel Charlotte’s pain, a deep, soul wrenching pain at such a monumental loss. What if a big one hit?
The Secret War by Leo McBride is wonderful and the title did not give away even a bit of what was to come. From the first hints of calling an automobile a contraption to the nickname of the protagonist that my mind kept telling me I should know, the author gave pieces of the puzzle to the reader. There are probably very few adults in the English speaking world who would not know the protagonist once his name is put forth at the end of the story, but Leo McBride wove his tale in such a way that I was not completely sure until the end. This story delivers a delightful twist to the alternate history genre. It follows one of the crooked paths my own mind often wanders. What if the stories in books were about real events?
Treasure Fleet by Daniel Benson in my opinion does not belong in this anthology. I did not enjoy it. The story idea is interesting. Unfortunately the execution is juvenile at best. It read a lot like an essay done by the class screw up who thinks he’s funny, but isn’t. I would have given the book 5 stars, had this story not been in it.
Tunguska by Maria Haskins closes the anthology with a fascinating story of alien overlords and struggle in a world of peace, prosperity and plenty. In Maria Haskins own words, “Utopias are complicated.” She delivers a well crafted story that made me think one thing then changed it all up on me at the end. I particularly enjoyed the past time line blended with the present time line, so that clues were dropped along the way, but I never guessed what was coming until the author was ready to reveal it. This was a great choice to end the book.
There were a few editing errors through out, but none that really upset my sensibilities. Typos happen.
I enjoyed Tales from Alternate Earths enough to keep it in my stack of “to be read again” books and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys thinking “What if?” (less)