Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories

[Ian Whates]

Woohoo!

Just received my complimentary copies of The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories which I've co-edited with Ian Watson. Fantastic to finally see it in the flesh (or rather paper). Delighted with the way the book has turned out.

Not released until February, but the book can be pre-ordered at a good discount via Amazon:
The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories: Amazon.co.uk: Ian Watson, Ian Whates: Books

What Amazon doesn't give is the contents list, so...

Ian Watson and Ian Whates -- Introduction
James Morrow – THE RAFT OF THE TITANIC
Ken MacLeod – SIDEWINDERS
Eugene Byrne & Kim Newman – THE WANDERING CHRISTIAN
Suzette Hayden Elgin – HUSH MY MOUTH
Harry Harrison & Tom Shippey – A LETTER FROM THE POPE
Esther Friesner – SUCH A DEAL
A A Attanasio – INK FROM THE NEW MOON
Pat Cadigan – DISPATCHES FROM THE REVOLUTION
Fritz Leiber – CATCH THAT ZEPPELIN
Paul McAuley – A VERY BRTITISH HISTORY
Rudy Rucker – THE IMITATION GAME
Keith Roberts – WEINACHTSABEND
Kim Stanley Robinson – THE LUCKY STRIKE
Marc Laidlaw – HIS POWDER’D WIG, THIS CROWN OF THORNES
Judith Tarr – RONCESVALLES
Ian R MacLeod – THE ENGLISH MUTINY
Chris Roberson – O ONE
Harry Turtledove – ISLANDS IN THE SEA
George Zebrowski – LENIN IN ODESSA
Pierre Gévart – THE EINSTEIN GUN
Robert Silverberg – TALES FROM THE VENIA WOODS
Gregory Benford – MANASSAS AGAIN
Pamela Sargent – THE SLEEPING SERPENT
Frederik Pohl – WAITING FOR THE OLYMPIANS
Stephen Baxter – DARWIN ANATHEMA
About the Authors


We've tried to collect the very best Alternative History stories under one cover, so there are some real classics (such as Leiber's "Catch that Zeppelin" and KSR's "Lucky Strike"), some overlooked gems (such as McAuley's "A Very British History" and Attanasio's "Ink from the New Moon"), more modern masterpieces (such as Roberson's "O One" and I. MacLeod's "The English Mutiny), a first English translation (Gévart's "The Einstein Gun") and some cracking originals (Baxter, Morrow, and K. MacLeod).

I really hope the book goes down well -- a lot of hard work to edit, commission and compile, but great fun as well.

 

[Moontravler]

Thanks Ian. I'm definitely bookmarking this one to purchase when it releases. Looks great!

 

[Pyan]

Whoa! Save me one with your scrawled monicker on it for next time I see you please, Ian...

 

[Sethanon]

Great stuff. Just seen the cover. It says over 40 stories and your list has about 20 plus. Any idea of the exact figure?

 

[Fried Egg]

I really like the look of this and at that price, what a bargain!

 

[Ian Whates]

Great stuff. Just seen the cover. It says over 40 stories and your list has about 20 plus. Any idea of the exact figure?

Hi, Sethanon, I'm afraid the cover on Amazon is an early draft, with both the error you've spotted and the misspelling of Stephen Baxter's name.

The list above is complete... but, come on, be fair, that's still 591 pages worth. Had there been 'over 40 stories', the book (a paperback) would have been falling apart before you open it!

 

[Sethanon]

Busted. Good to hear alternate histories are becoming of more interest to the mainstream, possibly something to chat about at the water cooler in about, what, 50 years?

At least that's the only topic on another world.

Thanks Ian

 

[GOLLUM]

I think I might get this one.

 

[Connavar]

I have wondered where do i go for Alternate history of quality and this book with cheap prize looks perfect.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

That's a great line-up of writers.

 

[Patrick Mahon]

This looks great, Ian - congratulations. I just wonder where you find all the extra hours in the day to get all these different projects to completion ...

 

[Gary Compton]

Ian is the Wordinator, he comes back in time on the instructions of Booknet and relentlessly pursues their goal of domination of the literary world.

Beneath his soft and cuddly exterior lies a 24th century complexity of cybertronics and state of the art circuitry.

And he keeps it ticking over very nicely with lots of liquid engineering for writerobots - beer.

And gallons of it!

LOL

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Ken Macleod blogs about the anthology: The Early Days of a Better Nation

 

[Fried Egg]

I'm working my way through this anthology now. I'm near the end of "RONCESVALLES" by Judith Tarr. I've read none of these stories before, and there's quite a variety in here. "WEINACHTSABEND" by Keith Roberts was amazing and "THE LUCKY STRIKE" by Kim Stanley Robinson was incredible.

 

[Ian Whates]

Glad you're enjoying it, FE. Have to confess I'm really proud of this collection. Oddly enough, it seems to have gone down very well here in the UK, but, to judge by the Amazon reviews, not so well in the US.

One reviewer in the US said that he bought the book thinking it was a novel only to discover that it wasn't, but was just made up of 'bits of other books'. He therefore advised everyone to steer clear and awarded the book one star out of five.

Clearly someone well used to the thousand-plus 'Mammoth Book of' series

 

[Vertigo]

One reviewer in the US said that he bought the book thinking it was a novel only to discover that it wasn't, but was just made up of 'bits of other books'. He therefore advised everyone to steer clear and awarded the book one star out of five.

That's really bizarre Ian, the title alone tells me immediately that it is going to be an anthology of some sort without even reading the blurb. I would have to assume the reviewer is severely intellectually challenged.

 

[Anne Lyle]

I shall have to add this one to my TBR list - as someone who writes alt history (albeit more as a background than as the purpose of the story), I really should read more of it

 

[Susan Boulton]

I loved the Raft of the Titanic. It made me chuckle.

 

[Connavar]

I loved the Raft of the Titanic. It made me chuckle.

It was a perfect first story i enjoyed it alot, it was very compelling. I thought it could have been a very good novel lenght story too. It reminded me of The Blue World by Jack Vance set in far future, in a world where humans lived on ocean only planet in rafts,built history,culture around them.

 

[GOLLUM]

Being an important subgenre I was looking for something that would provide a representative sampling of some of the best of what there is on offer and it looks as if this book is a more than adequate example of this. It seems to have suffered a bit of a caning from some reviewers on Amazon but given the lineup it's worth a shot; hence my purchase of the item today. Well done Ian...

I have also read very little in this subgenre before, one of the criticisms leveled by some reviewers who had apparently read quite widely in this subgenre up to now and had not felt this collection offered anything particularly new or fresh for them.

I look forward to checking this out in the not too distant future.

Cheers.