Collected Again!

by wjw on March 8, 2019

making-history-classic-alternate-history-storiesMy story “Foreign Devils” may be found in the new collection Making History, edited by Rick Wilber.  This is a collection of classic alternate history stories, by Karen Joy Fowler, Gregory Benford, Sheila Finch, Rich Larson, Lisa Goldstein, Kathleen Goonan, Harry Turtledove, Eileen Gunn and Michael Swanwick, Maureen McHugh, Nisi Shawl, Alan Smale, Michaela Roessner, Louise Marley, Ben Loory, Nicholas DiChario, and Michael Bishop.

And more!  Apparently.  I don’t actually know what stories are in here, or have a complete list of the authors, but it’s clear there’s a massive amount of star power here.

UPDATE!  The editor has kindly provided me with the table of contents.

Table of Contents

1) Introduction by Rick Wilber

2) “Game Night at the Fox and Goose,” by Karen Joy Fowler

3) “The Lincoln Train,” by Maureen McHugh

4) “Zeppelin City,” by Michael Swanwick and Eileen Gunn

5) “Manassas, Again,” by Gregory Benford

6) “Kamehameha’s Bones,” by Kathleen Goonan

7) “P Dolce,” by Louise Marley

8) “ A Clash of Eagles,” by Alan Smale

9) “The House That George Built,” by Harry Turtledove

10) “Where Garagiola Waits,” by Rick Wilber

11) “Vulcanization,” by Nisi Shawl

12) “James K. Polk,” by Ben Loory

13) “Foreign Devils,” by Walter Jon Williams

14) “Every So Often” by Rich Larson

15) “It’s a Wonderful Life,” by Michaela Roessner

16) “The Winterberry,” by Nicholas DiChario

17) “Miriam,” by Michael Bishop

18) “If There be Cause,” by Sheila Finch

19) “Paradise is a Walled Garden,” by Lisa Goldstein

Making History, from New Word City, is currently available as an ebook, though there will be a paper edition out shortly.

I’m pleased to see “Foreign Devils” again, because it was last printed maybe twenty years ago.  It features a Chinese perspective on the War of the Worlds, and is told from the point of view of the Empress Dowager.  Western history painted Cixi as a murderous, sexually depraved monster, but it turns out that most of the evidence for that was forged by Sir Edmund Backhouse, who was pretty depraved himself and who made a living inventing scandal, forging documents, and defrauding corporations and the British government.  In actuality Cixi was a poorly educated, well-meaning woman who seems to have done her best.

In any case, I recommend to you the collection.  Happy reading!

Etaoin Shrdlu March 10, 2019 at 12:20 am

Backhouse looks like I’d imagine Sir Basil of the Heugh to look. And seems to have a similar personality.

Shash March 14, 2019 at 9:08 pm

Oooh, seeing Maureen McHugh’s name on there as well as yours has me happy. I’m on it.

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