When it comes to alternate history there are unlimited possibilities of what could and couldn't happen. So I find it very annoying when Nelson instead of fighting on the side of the British fights on the side of the French. BUT still dies in the battle. This kind of scenario is just frustrating as it kind of says that the time of ones death is pre ordained. This approach to alternate history stories is just a cop out and one thing I hate about the genre.

However, not all the stories in this collection are like that.

The style of writing differed from story to story and when put together I found the book to be rather dull. One would have to be a student of history to grasp what the stories were about in the first place and the significance of the events that take place. I was rather disappointed with the entire book. ( )

Interesting but generally quite good choices 0f short stories ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/642919.html

Collection of alternate history pieces with a military theme. Most of these were pretty unmemorable. "And so - Nelson fought for the French! Napoleon joined the church! Custer lived and was elected president!" If the entire story can be summed up in half a sentence I wonder why I bothered reading the rest.

Three did stand out from the crowd for me. "Billy Mitchell's Overt Act", by William Sanders, and "Vati", by R.M. Meluch, both made the same historical point from opposite directions: they have a brilliant air commander in the second world war whose decisions manage to put his side in a much better tactical position, with, ironically, much worse strategic consequences than in our time-line. An interesting contrast.

The most fun was Lois Tilton's "The Craft of War". The idea is a little more subtle than most: Sun Tzu, exiled from China, is hired by the Persians and helps them conquer Greece. The story is told as a Socratic dialogue between Socrates himself and Alcibiades, and Tilton succeeds in casting the characteristic style of Sun Tzu in Socratic terms. My one regret was that she didn't do much with the acerbic character of Socrates himself, but this was the one story in the book that left me wishing I knew more about the historical background. ( )

Sample Chapters: http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0671878867/0671878867.htm