Discuss @RyanF 's latest review here
Good review Ryan - I've not read this collection but I've read a lot about it, and it did strike me as a good exemplar for how to do analogous history parallelism with a decent balance between cleverness and silliness.
I'm surprised (and annoyed) it's still out of print when Titan's reprinting every non-Games Workshop Newman book
A very good and well-detailed review. Back in the USSA is actually the book that got me into alternate history, so I have a lot of time for it but you're quite right in that it's an example of 'copy-and-paste' AH; more than anything, I've always found it to be a fun read, especially some of the more wider-focused stories like Teddy Bear's Picnic which is understandable given it's the longest of the stories in the anthology. My copy of it is probably my most prized possession, if only because it's one of the first books I bought with a real passion for as a young adult.
Bloody hell, I can't even find any copies on eBay. Just how rare is this book?
Re-read this collection a little while ago, and a thought occurs, given the description of Newman's horror work:
The first Sheriff in the "Citizen Ed" story is named Harry S. Truman. At first, that just looks like another famous name (in this case a U.S. President) being dropped into the story, though it felt a little odd having a Missourian as a Wisconsin sheriff. Having become more familiar with Twin Peaks recently, however, and its sheriff of the same name, I can't help but wonder if Newman was making another horror-related reference there, blending it with the larger Chikatilo retelling. The story was published in 1996, and Twin Peaks ended in '91, so it feels possible, but I might also be reading too much into it. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Wouldn't be the first time Newman has used characters in an out of time setting, since Carl Kolchak shows up in Anno Dracula around 90 years removed from his native 1970s. Not the only time Kolchak has appeared out of time given he also appeared in Scarlet Traces: The Great Game.
Bloody hell, I can't even find any copies on eBay. Just how rare is this book?
I found a copy in a used book store ages ago that someone had covered whole paragraphs of in yellow highlighter in no pattern I could discern, and I let it get away from me at some point in moving and downsizing my library, clearly that was a mistake.
I will repeat this comment I made a year ago...Out of print AH classic not available as an ebook, you say...
(cut to @Lord Roem knocking up a new cover and @Meadow on the phone to the authors)