''Alternate Empires'' is an
anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
of
alternate history
Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...
science fiction short stories edited by
Gregory Benford and
Martin H. Greenberg as the first volume in their
What Might Have Been
"What Might Have Been" is a song recorded by American country music group Little Texas. It was released in May 1993 as the lead-off single from their second (and breakthrough) album, '' Big Time''. It was written by Julian Williams and the band' ...
series.
It was first published in paperback by
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...
in August 1989, and in trade paperback by BP Books in March 2004. It was also gathered together with ''
Alternate Heroes'' into the omnibus anthology ''What Might Have Been: Volumes 1 & 2: Alternate Empires / Alternate Heroes'' (Bantam Spectra/SFBC, July 1990).
The book collects twelve novelettes and short stories by various science fiction authors, with an introduction by Benford.
Contents
* "Introduction" (
Gregory Benford)
* "In the House of Sorrows" (
Poul Anderson)
* "Remaking History" (
Kim Stanley Robinson)
* "Counting Potsherds" (
Harry Turtledove)
* "Leapfrog" (
James P. Hogan)
* "Everything But Honor" (
George Alec Effinger
George Alec Effinger (January 10, 1947 – April 27, 2002) was an American list of science fiction authors, science fiction author, born in Cleveland, Ohio.
Writing career
Effinger was a part of the Clarion Workshop, Clarion class of 1970 an ...
)
* "We Could Do Worse" (
Gregory Benford)
* "To the Promised Land" (
Robert Silverberg)
* "Bible Stories for Adults, No. 31: The Covenant" (
James Morrow)
* "All Assassins" (
Barry N. Malzberg
Barry Nathaniel Malzberg (born July 24, 1939) is an American writer and editor, most often of science fiction and fantasy.
Biography
Malzberg originated from a Jewish family and graduated from Syracuse University in 1960. He worked as an investi ...
)
* "Game Night at the Fox and Goose" (
Karen Joy Fowler)
* "Waiting for the Olympians" (
Frederik Pohl
Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American science-fiction writer, editor, and fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first published work, the 1937 poem "Elegy to a Dead Satelli ...
)
* "The Return of William Proxmire" (
Larry Niven)
References
{{Gregory Benford
1989 anthologies
Science fiction anthologies
Alternate history anthologies
Martin H. Greenberg anthologies
Bantam Books books