ALTERNATE HISTORY MYSTERY

As I mentioned yesterday, I just finished reading Sideways In Crime after two plus weeks. Released during the summer, this Lou Anders-edited anthology features crime fiction set in alternate histories by a wide range of writers. I really enjoyed the Anders-edited Fast Forward (and yes, there is a second volume out that I've not gotten around to yet) and I'm a fan of alternate history SF so I thought I'd give this one a shot.

Before I talk about any of the stories, I need to take a moment to talk about the cover. It has a great design, with the title running along the side (sideways, get it?) and some awesome Bob Eggleton artwork. It's a book I love as an object first and foremost - it pulls you in, makes you to a peek between the covers for what wonders may await you.

In my opinion, you can't have an anthology like this and not have a story from Paul Di Filippo. Fortunately, Lou Anders is a smart man and we are treated to "Murder in Geektopia," set in an alternate reality where geeks are the norm. The story is full of savvy pop culture references and jokes and a woman our detective can't resist. It even ends with a nice twist and is one of the standouts of the book.

My other favorite story in the book was the last one, "Murder on the Crosstime Express" by Chris Roberson. Of course, I'm a sucker for stories about multitudes of realities and worlds and for Chris Roberson. The fact that story is a nifty little locked room mystery on a zeppelin that travels through underspace and ties into his novels about the Carmody-Bonaventure clan is just icing on the cake. Plus, it makes me want his new novel (End of the Century) to arrive in stories now. Great stuff.

There are many other good stories here, from the 60s style death of J. Edgar Hoover in Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "G-Men" to the future pastoral setting of S.M. Stirling's "Murder in Eddsford" to the murder surrounding the brand-new series of Sherlock Holmes stories in Jack McDevitt's "The Adventure of the Southsea Trunk." Of course, that doesn't begin to cover all of the solid work. In fact, there were only 2 stories I didn't care for, which is a great percentage when you have 15 in the book. Lou Anders does it again.

ASIMOV'S APRIL/MAY 2008

Just a short while ago, I finished my reading of the first Asimov's double issue of 2008, all 240 pages of it. I've been on a real book kick of late but thought it was time to dive into some short SF goodness and this issue really brought the goods. There wasn't a bad story in the bunch, though as usual I found a few more to my liking than others...

Can I mention again just how good and how underrated Robert Reed is? I really hope we get some big fat collections of his stories down the road; he's put out a couple through Golden Gryphon but they don't begin to cover his amazing output. This time around, he gives us "The House Left Empty," set in a future that is different from ours in ways both good and bad. The story is a love letter to those days of the dream of space exploration and how we shouldn't let that dream die.

Matthew Johnson wonders what life would be like for people of earlier times (mainly Roman) who are transported to the present in "Another Country." These new members of society have usually escaped hardship but long for their lives and not the lives they've been given. Very well done.

Finally, Kristine Kathryn Rusch delves into questions of survival and history and why people do what they do in the novella, "The Room of Lost Souls." I have a feeling it will be shortlisted for awards at the end of the year.

I still have 5 SF mags stacked up to be read but I also have three books out from the library, so I doubt I'll get to another for a week of two...but I've got the taste for them again, so we'll see.