Roads of Destiny: And Other Tales of Alternative Histories and Parallel Realms

by Alasdair Richmond (Editor)

He spoke of a new kind of terremauvaise, of strange regions, connected, indeed, with definite geographical limits upon the earth, yet somehow apart from them and beyond them.

A youth comes to a literal fork in his road where all three paths contrive to end in the same violent fate; a beleaguered man finds his neuroses oddly mirrored in a dark parallel world co-existing with our own; Kaiser Wilhelm II, rather than abdicate, leads the High Seas Fleet on one last voyage.

Treading the path of that which never existed (in our reality, at least) and the otherworlds bordering our own version of Earth, this new collection brings together tales of strange parallel destinies, unexplored forks in humanity’s history, twisted pocket dimensions and forays into unsettling regions of Dark Fantasy.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Collections

350 pages, Paperback

First published November 23, 2023

About the author

Alasdair Richmond is a threefold graduate of Aberdeen University and joined Philosophy at Edinburgh in September 2003. He has published on constructive empiricism, the Anthropic Principle, Doomsday arguments, Descartes' conception of immortality, time travel and the topology of time. Besides teaching epistemology, metaphysics and philosophy of science, he was closely involved with the Higher Philosophy programme 1999-2003, conducting classes for pupils and Continuing Professional Development days for teachers from all over Scotland.

Reviews

[Paul]

“He spoke of a new kind of terremauvaise, of strange regions, connected, indeed, with definite geographical limits upon the earth, yet somehow apart from them and beyond them.”
This Tales of the Weird volume looks at alternate histories and parallel worlds. There are imagined different endings to a World War and the French Revolution, there are cases where the borders between two worlds become thinner, places where things aren’t what they seem and very old traditions survive, imaginary lands invented by children that may not be quite so imaginary (not Narnia), situations where possibilities are explored (a man has choice of several different roads to take as he leaves home, the story explains the outcome for each road).
There are stories by Amelia Edwards, O. Henry, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, John Metcalfe, Conan Doyle, Stephen Vincent Benet, Gerald Kersh, H Beam Piper, Sir Andrew Caldecott (two stories, although one is only two pages), Sarban, Patricia Miles, Joyce Carol Oates and Robert Holdstock. As always the quality varies, but there are some unusual tales here, weird even: which I think is the point: some might be described as Dark Fantasy.
The Conan Doyle I could have done without and is probably the weakest story here (in my opinion). The story by Sarban is a little too long, but the ending is interesting. The Holdstock story is pure folk horror and the Oates story is also strong. On the whole a good collection.

[p.]

3.5☆

The anthology was not quite what you might expect from the title. But the selection is still, at the end of the day, quite solid.

Favourite stories: "The Yellow Wall-Paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Curfew Tolls" by Stephen Vincent Benét, "Branch Line to Benceston" by Sir Andrew Caldecott, "He Walked Around the Horses" by H. Beam Piper, "Calmahain" by Sarban, "Scarrowfell" by Robert Holdstock

[Neil]

'Finding Treasure Island' 5⭐️
The Yellow Wall Paper 3 ⭐️
Roads of Destiny 3⭐️
Bad Lands 5 ⭐️<- this was _greeaat_!
The Death Voyage 1⭐️
The Curfew Tolls 3⭐️
An undistinguished boy 1⭐️
Branch line to Benceston 4⭐️
He walked around the horses 4⭐️
Calmahain 5⭐️
Exit 4⭐️
The Rose Wall 2⭐️
Scarrowfell 3⭐️

Some really outstanding stories concerning alternate dimensions/other universes: Finding Treasure Island, Bad Lands, Branch Line to Benceston, Calmahain, Exit.

And some fun alternative history tales too, mixed with a couple of very meh tales! The alternative history tales actually have a connection!

[Andrew Sharkey]

An alternative to horror, definitely of the weird genre and certainly thought provoking.

[Tom]

•The Discovery of the Treasure Isles by Amelia B. Edwards ⭐⭐⭐
•The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman ⭐⭐⭐⭐
•Roads of Destiny by O. Henry ⭐⭐⭐⭐
•The Bad Lands by John Metcalfe ⭐⭐⭐
•The Death Voyage by Arthur Conan Doyle ⭐⭐
•The Curfew Tolls by Stephen Vincent Bennett ⭐⭐⭐
• An Undistinguished Boy by Gerald Kersh ⭐⭐
•Branch Line to Benceston by Sir Andrew Caldecott ⭐⭐⭐
• Diplotopia by Sir Andrew Caldecott ⭐⭐
• He Walked Around the Horses by H. Beam Piper ⭐⭐⭐
•Calmahain by Sarban ⭐⭐⭐⭐
•Exit by Patricia Miles ⭐⭐⭐
•The Rose Wall by Joyce Carol Oates ⭐⭐⭐
• Scarrowfell by Robert Holdstock ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Al Wright]

These roads are paved unevenly to say the least. This collection is decent enough as a comprehensive history of the Parallel Reality subgenre, with some stories standing out with flying colours compared to others.
It's unfortunate then that a majority of the inclusions spend their entire length simply introducing or getting to their worlds of the weird before ceasing without exploring any worthwhile themes at all, effectively blueballing the reader at any given turn.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is one of my favourite short stories of all time, H. Beam Piper was a welcome return (though not with his best work here in He Walked Around Horses but I digress). O Henry's titular Roads of Destiny is worth checking the book out of the library for alone, the multiple viewpoints compound the parallel themes in a novel way and Joyce Carol Oates' The Rose Wall brings a tinge of tragic melancholy that fits in well with the feel of the earlier classic stories despite being a more contemporary piece (a far cry from her more buzzkilly mountain-of-a-molehile-ish postmodernism in the vein of Blonde and Zombie, both of which I didn't much care for since the reality of both subjects pales in comparison to the shit-stirring layer of fiction Oates drapes over them, again I've strayed from the path but oh well).

All in all 4 out of 13 stories leaves this hard to recommend, which sucks given the subgenre has so much promise and, frankly, there are better examples out there in novel form that have the room to feast on their own themes (The Man in the High Castle and Pavane spring to mind).
Arthur Conan Doyle fatigue rears its head once more, though that's probably more of a personal peeve in being a Portsmouth native; like him or not, there's no getting away from the guy here, and, as enjoyable as the Sherlock stories are, the rest of his output leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion (so flat and dull is the writing, with little to no character to speak of) so, needless to say, the inclusion of The Death Voyage here gave me an inward groan of veritable despair.

In all honesty, I appreciate what Alasdair Richmond has tried to do here in arranging the stories chronologically in terms of publication to create a timeline of this subgenre of speculative fiction, but the stories included are oftentimes so disappointing that it's worth skipping the book altogether and just looking up the stories that interest you seperately, especially considering a majority of them are available through the public domain.

[Michael Bully]

Some great contributions included with some not so interesting choices. . A thoughtful introduction by editor Alasdair Richmond, makes one want to read more of his views about 'alternative history' ,'multiverse' 'counterfactual history.
But felt that there is not enough common ground between the tales here. Also one could argue that any work of fiction is a 'parallel realm'.
Opens on a strong note with Ameiia B Edwards 'The Discovery of the Treasure Isles' from 1864. Introduces the notion of the other world as a curse. Some poor wretch discovers a nightmare Fairyland where one ages quickly, pursues delusions and destroys the lives of others as well as their own. A great fable, not sure if the writing would appeal to many readers today. And this is the root of a potential issue with 'Roads of Destiny', are tales selected for being the best literature of the genres or the most curious examples? Charlotte Perkins Gillman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper' is a study of a Victorian woman hovering on the edge of psychosis, moving but not sure if belongs in the'Roads of Destiny'.
Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Death Voyage' , is excellent. A convincing 'What if?' , where Kaiser Wilhelm II leads a defiant naval breakout at the end of the Great War . 'The Curfew Tolls' (Stephen Vincent Benet) and 'He Walked Around the Horses' ( H.Beam Piper) are both alternative histories of Napoleonic era , and also jolly entertaining. 'Roads of Destiny' a short story by O.Henry (1909) is intriguing , a tale of three possible journeys each with its own outcome. But have to admit that the rest of the collection were rather uninspiring.

[Lizixer]

This was a great collection of stories loosely held together with the idea of parallel worlds where either strange things lurk or where history took a different turn.

Authors speculate on what a world where Bonaparte hadn't risen to Emperor or the Kaiser had died in battle. The most chilling one is a very short story where Hitler was victorious using the school story as the device to deliver the blow.

Another theme is the falling through and being trapped in another parallel, fantastical or ghostly world where you can't (or maybe don't want to) come back, passing to strange lands or alternative timelines. This may happen while you are exploring an old deserted ruin, visiting a deserted island, pushing through a usually locked door, or trying to escape from a miserable existence.

The most unsettling and maybe the best stories are the folk horror tinged ones by John Metcalfe and Robert Holdstock.

Another excellent collection from the British Library

[Philippa]

Not all the stories in this collection were quite to my taste, but there were also a number of stories that are the best I’ve ever read in the British Library of the Weird series. Favourites include:

The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Calmahain - Sarban
The Rose Wall- Joyce Carol Oates
Scarrowfell - Robert Holdstock

[carter]

Read so far:
- The Bad Lands (John Metcalfe)
- The Rose Wall (Joyce Carol Oates)

[Richard Howard]

This is one of the best collections in this series I have read with nary a dud tale, though including 'The Yellow Wallpaper' seems an odd choice. The cleverest I think is 'He Walked Around The Horses' by H. Beam Piper, though 'Scarrowfell' by Robert Holdstock is the creepiest.