Sideways In Crime

by Lou Anders (Editor)

Edited by a 2007 Hugo Award nominee, an assemblage of alternative history mysteries features crime stories that are set in universes that are somewhat different from our own and includes works by Stephen Baxter, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Kage Baker, Jack McDevitt, S. M. Sterling, Mike Resnick and Eric Flint, Pat Cadigan, and other notable authors. Original.

Genres: Alternate History, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Anthologies

368 pages, Paperback

First published June 17, 2008

About the author

LOU ANDERS is the author of the novel Once Upon a Unicorn, the Thrones & Bones trilogy of fantasy adventure novels (Frostborn, Nightborn, and Skyborn), and the novel Star Wars: Pirate’s Price. He is the recipient of a Hugo Award for editing and a Chesley Award for art direction. In the tabletop roleplaying game world, Anders is the creator and publisher of the Thrones & Bones: Norrøngard campaign setting. He has also done game design for Kobold Press, River Horse, and 3D Printed Tabletop. In 2016, he was named a Thurber House Writer-in-Residence and spent a month in Columbus, Ohio, teaching, writing, and living in a haunted house. When not writing, designing, and editing, he enjoys playing roleplaying games, 3D printing, weightlifting, and watching movies. He lives with his wife, children, and two golden doodles in Birmingham, Alabama. You can visit Anders online at louanders.com or on Facebook, Instagram, and other social networks.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a light diversion that was just what I needed at the time. It blends alternate history with mysteries, usually in very creative ways. The editor brings together 15 stories in diverse settings: a world where the Aztec Empire didn't fall and now in the 1800s an Aztec detective helps a New York cop solve a murder; a place where parallel worlds with doppelgangers for nearly everyone makes solving crimes - and even identifying the victims - especially difficult; a world where Rome's empire held on long enough for Atilla the Hun to defeat it, allowing a Muslim Empire to last and grow in uneasy alliance with a much smaller Christian empire; even a world where World War I was averted through the efforts of newspaper comics and now comics in general and geekdom specifically maintain the peace. There is nothing too heavy in this collection, but some fun possibilities.

[KevinS · Rating 4 out of 5]

15 alternate history novelettes and short stories involving crime solving. Usually when the common thread is well defined and constraining some of the stories are plainly filler around one or two gems. As with any anthology there are highs and lows but these are all pretty good, very readable. Who knew that so many good stories in this vein exist?

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most story collections featuring multiple authors, some of these tales are gems and some are more average. Generally a decent collection, but I'm not a huge short story fan, so not my favorite. The best part of this type of book is finding authors I might like and seeing what novels they have out.

[Mysteryfan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It combines alternate histories to solving mysteries. I particularly enjoyed the stories by Kage Baker, Pat Cadigan, Kristine Kathryn Rusch and SM Stirling. If you liked Man in the High Castle then this is worth a look.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fascinating anthology, combining two genres that I find very interesting; the crime story and alternate history. So we have crime investigations set in the Roman Empire on the eve of the first World War, in an America that's still part of the British Empire,on an alternative Earth where the Geeks have inherited....it all makes for some fascinating takes on "What if" and some truly different approaches to the crime story.
Like all anthologies of this nature there will be some stories that work and others that are less successful and much of this will be down to personal taste but the general standard of the stories and the creative approaches taken to these alternate histories mean that most of the stories are of a very high standard and there are none that I found unreadable.
I'd recommend this to anyone who's interested in alternate histories and if they like a good "who dunnit" it's a double pleasure.

[Ubalstecha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't say enough nice things about this collection of alternate history mysteries. Alternate histories are fun, as it lets the author and reader speculate what would have happened if history had taken a left, instead of the right we know about. This collection sees Azteck empires in a modern North America or the Nazi's rising to power in the US, rather than Germany.

Adding the mystery coating to alternate history gives quite a dimension to the stories. Different styles of mysteries abound, so don't worry that it's all Philip Marlow. Several stories also cleverly integrate the role of detective/private eye into their mythos.

Editor Lou Anders has done a great job selecting contributions to the anthology. This is worth picking up.

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides]

I only picked this up for the Kage Baker story. So strictly speaking, you can't really say I read the whole thing. I gotta say, the Kage Baker story was kinda weird. It was like when someone writes a really out there fanfiction reimagining of their favorite TV show. Only in this case, her favorite TV show is the life of Will Shakespeare, and she's into pre-Germanic and pre-Roman Britain. Which I can't really criticize her for, but man, this was weird. It sort of put me off reading the rest of the anthology, though some of the authors are more than capable of doing interesting things.

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are some interesting concepts in here, and some solid writing. However, the two incidents of blatant and unexcusable racism in just two stories resulted in this book getting thrown at the wall before I finished it and not picking it up again (and I still haven't decided whether the story about the whole world's population becoming autistic, which never uses the word autism and includes only people who would by a layperson be considered high-functioning, is an amusing thought experiment or just another offensive depiction of Magical People With Disabilities.) Would not recommend.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Happened to re-read this after 12 years, after pulling miscellaneous books off the shelf for something to read. The various stories were generally so forgettable that I could only recall having read one of them before — Rusch's excellent "G-Men" — and thought I'd never actually finished this until after consulting my Goodreads list. One or two others were decent reads, most were pretty meh, and a few were junk.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always been fascinated by alternate history and I love mysteries so this anthology caught my eye right away.

As with any anthology the quality varies from story to story with some that really stand out and some you wish they hadn't been included by on the whole there are more hits than misses in this volume.

For the rest of my rather lengthy review please check out my blog here

[Liviu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good collection with something for anyone that loves sf and mystery. Standouts for me were the Meaney and Judson stories, with JCG's and Jack McDevitt's ones almost as brilliant, but I enjoyed a lot pretty much all the stories.

[Gordon Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Subtitle: an alternate history anthology. Detective stories in alternate history scenarios. Some are good, some not so good. The best involved the murder of J. Edgar Hoover in early 1964. It's a mildly interesting book.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories from multiple authors, all mysteries set in alternate histories. Err, alternate mysteries. Mixed, but overall very engaging.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really nice little read, I guessed who got killed before it was revealed, but tho whodunit was a surprise

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read specifically for S. M. Stirling's “A Murder in Eddsford” short story.

[Luke · Rating 1 out of 5]

Weak collection of weak stories.