Search Worlds Without End

Startling alternative history has been a popular sub-genre of military history and science fiction for years and has recently reached new heights of popularity with Harry Turtledove's epic alternative histories of WWII and the American Civil War. Gregory Benford, Hugo and Nebula Award winning author, here collects original stories by such luminaries as Poul Anderson, Larry Niven, Frederik Pohl, Kim Stanley Robinson and Robert Silverberg in alternative histories from ancient times to the 20th century.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Gregory Benford
• In the House of Sorrows - novelette by Poul Anderson
• Remaking History - (1988) - shortstory by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Counting Potsherds - (1989) - novelette by Harry Turtledove
• Leapfrog - novelette by James P. Hogan
• Everything But Honor - (1989) - novelette by George Alec Effinger
• We Could Do Worse - (1988) - shortstory by Gregory Benford
• To the Promised Land - (1989) - shortstory by Robert Silverberg
• Bible Stories for Adults, No. 31: The Covenant - shortstory by James Morrow
• All Assassins - shortstory by Barry N. Malzberg
• Game Night at the Fox and Goose - (1989) - shortstory by Karen Joy Fowler
• Waiting for the Olympians - (1988) - novelette by Frederik Pohl
• The Return of William Proxmire - shortstory by Larry Niven

What would have happened if history had been different - if the major events that shaped our times had occurred in a different way...or not at all? In this intriguing volume, fifteen of science fiction's most imaginative minds alter the past to create a present of startling posibilities. From a Confederacy that won the Civil War to a Europe converted to Viking paganism, from Albert Einstein as a frustrated violin teacher to a Christian Genghis Khan, these bold excursions in time depict bizarre new worlds - oddly familiar, yet disturbingly different.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Gregory Benford
• A Sleep and a Forgetting - (1989) - shortstory by Robert Silverberg
• The Old Man and C - (1989) - shortstory by Sheila Finch
• The Last Article - (1988) - novelette by Harry Turtledove
• Mules in Horses' Harness - novelette by Michael Cassutt
• Lenin in Odessa - shortstory by George Zebrowski
• Abe Lincoln in McDonald's - (1989) - shortstory by James Morrow
• Another Goddamned Showboat - shortstory by Barry N. Malzberg
• Loose Cannon - novelette by Susan Shwartz
• A Letter from the Pope - novelette by Harry Harrison and Tom Shippey
• Roncesvalles - novelette by Judith Tarr
• His Powder'd Wig, His Crown of Thornes - (1989) - shortstory by Marc Laidlaw
• Departures - (1989) - shortstory by Harry Turtledove
• Instability - (1988) - shortstory by Rudy Rucker and Paul Di Filippo
• No Spot of Ground - (1989) - novella by Walter Jon Williams

What would have happened if history has been different: If the major events that shaped our times had occurred in a different way - or not at all? In this thought-provoking volume, eleven outstanding science fiction writers and one legendary statesman alter the past in order to better see the present. Froma Trojan War in which Helen surrenders, to a Civil War fought with robots, from a World War I in which Teddy Roosevelt tries to capture the glory of San Juan Hill, to a World War II in which the race is not for atomic weapons but for orbital rockets, these bold excursions in time depict bizarre new worlds - oddly familiar, disturbingly different - a rare glimpse of WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Gregory Benford
• And Wild for to Hold - (1991) - novella by Nancy Kress
• Tundra Moss - novelette by F. M. Busby
• When Free Men Shall Stand - novelette by Poul Anderson
• Arms and the Woman - (1991) - shortstory by James Morrow
• Ready for the Fatherland - shortstory by Harry Turtledove
• The Tomb - shortstory by Jack McDevitt
• Turpentine - shortstory by Barry N. Malzberg
• Goddard's People - (1991) - novelette by Allen Steele
• Manassas, Again - (1991) - shortstory by Gregory Benford
• The Number of the Sand - (1991) - shortstory by George Zebrowski
• If Lee Had Not Won the Battle of Gettysburg - (1930) - essay by Winston S. Churchill
• Over There - (1991) - novelette by Mike Resnick

Fourteen of science fiction's most popular writers--including L. Sprague de Camp, Robert Silverberg, and Kim Stanley Robinson--offer their visions of an America that might have been.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Gregory Benford
• Report of the Special Committee on the Quality of Life - (1980) - shortstory by Harry Turtledove
• Ink from the New Moon - shortstory by A. A. Attanasio
• Vinland the Dream - (1991) - shortstory by Kim Stanley Robinson
• If There Be Cause - (1992) - novelette by Sheila Finch
• Isabella of Castile Answers Her Mail - (1992) - shortstory by James Morrow
• Let Time Shape - (1992) - shortstory by George Zebrowski
• Red Alert - (1991) - shortstory by Jerry Oltion
• Such a Deal - (1992) - shortstory by Esther M. Friesner
• Looking for the Fountain - (1992) - novelette by Robert Silverberg
• The Round-Eyed Barbarians - (1992) - shortstory by L. Sprague de Camp
• Destination Indies - shortstory by Brad Linaweaver
• Ship Full of Jews - (1992) - shortstory by Barry N. Malzberg
• The Karamazov Caper - novelette by Gordon Eklund
• The Sleeping Serpent - (1992) - novella by Pamela Sargent