Civil War Fantastic edited by Martin H. Greenberg

First sentence:

"Ghosts of Gettysburg, bah."

Description:

"The War Between the States is synonymous with romance, tragedy, bravery, and lost causes. The only war fought by Americans against Americans, it nearly irrevocably tore the nation apart. Yet the United States of America did survive, though at a terrible cost. Even today, more than 130 years after the end of the Civil War, people are still fascinated by this pivotal point in American history. Writers, too, find this a fruitful period to investigate. And in Civil War Fantastic, some of science fiction's finest take us back to this turbulent time with their own special visions of what might have been. So don your uniform, load your cap and ball rifle, raise the colors, and perpare to charge into Civil War Fantastic where:

---A mysterious old man shows a Confederate soldier how one well-placed shot can change the course of history...

---He was only a horse used for children to ride on tours of Gettysburg, but he could see things on the battlefield that no human was aware of...

---Could General Lee bring himself to sanction a terrible sacrifice if it guaranteed that the South would win the war?" -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a good collection of alternate history stories. My favorites included William Keith's "A Place to Stand" and R. Davis's "Across Hickman's Bridge to Home."

Date read: 6/12/2013
Book #: 14
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Alternate History/Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 0886779030
ISBN-13: 9780886779030
Publisher: DAW Books
Year: 2000
# of pages: 308
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Conquistador by S.M. Stirling

First sentence:

"John Rolfe had rented the house for seventy-five a month, which sounded extortionate but was something close to reasonable, given the way costs had gone crazy in the Bay Area since Pearl Harbor."

Description:

"If you could re-create civilization, what would you do differently?

Oakland California, 1946. Ex-soldier John Rolfe, newly back from the Pacific is about to make a fabulous discovery. It happens with a flip of his shortwave radio switch, a thunder crack of sound, and a blinding light. He blinks his eyes to discover a portal to an alternate world where Europeans have never set foot on the land he knows as America. Able to return at will to the modern world, Rolfe summons the only people with whom he is willing to share his discovery: his war buddies. And tells them to bring their families...

What mistakes would you repeat?

Los Angeles, twenty-first century. Fish and Game warden Tom Christiansen is involved in the bust of a smuggling operation. What he turns up is something he never anticipated: a photo of authentic Aztec priests decked out in Grateful Dead T-shirts, and a live condor from a gene pool that doesn't correspond to any known in captivity or the wild. These finds soon lead to a woman named Adrienne Rolfe--and a secret that's been hidden for sixty years.

As danger brews on both sides, two realities are threatened, and so too are the live of everyone who crosses the boundary between them...." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This book was an interesting look at an alternate Earth, particularly western America. I liked the interactions between characters Tom, Adrienne and Tully and the ways Tom and Tully noticed the differences between New Virginia and First Side (current Earth).

Date read: 7/19/2008
Book #: 46
Challenges: TBR Challenge 2008, Initials Reading Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF/Alternate History

ISBN-10: 0451459083
ISBN-13: 9780451459084
Publisher: Roc
Year: 2003
# of Pages: 440
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing Page