ReVISIONS

August 1, 2004
The 15 alternate histories in this anthology consider what would have happened if scientific and technological breakthroughs--and challenges--occurred long before they did in real history. Editor Czerneda's "Out of China" portrays the discovery of a cure for plague during the Black Death. In John G. McDaid's "The Ashbanzu Effect," the Sumerians invent printing, and in Geoffrey Landis' "The Resonance of Light," a particularly decisive invention prevents World War I. Several stories weigh alternate environmental scenarios, and the notion that religion is entirely a manifestation of electrochemical brainstorms pops up more than once. Robin Wayne Bailey's "The Terminal Solution" imagines the Victorians reacting to AIDS. Dorranna Durgin's "A Call to the Wild" envisions a world in which only one animal hasn't been tamed--the dog. Lots of fresh alternative-history thinking on view here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)