Title: Tales From Alternate Earths
Author: Jessica Holmes, Terri Pray, Brent A. Harris, Ricardo Victoria, Rob Edwards, Cathbad Maponus, Leo McBride, Daniel M. Bensen, Maria Haskins.
Publisher: Inklings Press
Book procurement: Received from publisher because they are an amazing bunch.
Release Date: August 19, 2016.
Synopsis:
Our world could have been so very different…
Eight stories take us on a journey into how our world could have been. What if the nukes had flown that day over Cuba? What if Caesar had survived? Imagine the Tunguska meteor with a different outcome. What if there was a true story behind HG Wells’ most famous tale? See the world as it might have been if China discovered the New World first. And what if all of this was never meant to be and dinosaurs ruled the Earth?
Authors Jessica Holmes, Daniel M. Bensen, Terri Pray, Rob Edwards, Maria Haskins, Cathbad Maponus, Leo McBride, and collaborators Brent A. Harris and Ricardo Victoria show us the world that might have been – if the butterfly’s wings had fluttered a different way, if the world changed between heartbeats, if a moment of decision saw another choice.
This is the fourth anthology from Inklings Press, aiming to provide a platform for new and upcoming authors and to open the door onto different worlds.
Review:
I was never a fan of history at school. I think when you’re younger, those things seem irrelevant and pointless. Now that I’m a little bit older I find history fascinating. Watching the world change around me. I visited my old neighbourhood and drove past my previous house to find that nostalgia was not forthcoming as I would have expected. Things had changed so drastically that I had nothing to reminisce about; even the tree I had spent days pretending was a giant robot, was gone.
Now imagine if we hadn’t moved out. How different would my life be now? Would I be seeing that tree as a sentimental token to my youth, or a nuisance in my front yard? Tales From Alternate Earths doesn’t explore such trivialities, but pushes the boundaries a bit further. In it, cutting down that tree myself may have led me to find a time capsule from the 1500s telling me where I can find an ancient medallion that makes me president. Or something.
The writing by each of the authors is brilliant. There wasn’t a story I read where I was put off by the writing style, tense or anything. Flowing freely between scenes, building up to the great reveal that changes the world as we know it, and all while keeping the suspense high. These are the history lessons that never were, and could never be, and make for compelling history nonetheless.
Of the eight stories, I would pick out Twilight of the Mesozoic Moon, a collaboration by Brent A Harris & Ricardo Victoria where sentient dinosaurs rule the planet. The Secret War by Leo McBride with a fantastic twist regarding the famous HG Wells. Lastly, Tunguska, 1987 by Maria Haskins has an ending that deserves an entire novel!
I was also able to read through these short stories in a single sitting. I enjoyed them so much I wanted to get into the next story rather than take a break and at the end I wanted more. Great work by the authors and a wonderful collection by Inklings Press. Keep up the great work!
Rating: A fantastic 4 out of 5.
About Inklings Press
We are a group of friends that share a love for many interests, be it comics, rpg’s, anime, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, alternative history, wargames and literature. But above all we are a group of like minded friends that decided to create our owned e-publisher in order to provided us with an outlet for our stories, novels, anthology and blog/ezine projects related to those interest. Working as a team we hope to create and share good quality work with our readers.
Our purpose is to provide a new offer when it comes to fantasy, science fiction, mystery & alternative history tales.
We are still building up the content, but he hope that when it is ready, it will be to your liking.
Website: InklingsPress.com
Twitter: @InklingsPress
A-Scribe To Describe 
These sound great! And you pretended your tree was a robot? Huh. I never thought of that. I pretended mine was alive (a sentient alive like those walking trees in LOTR)
Ah to each their own yeah? My tree was specifically the Red Power Ranger’s Tyrannosaurus Rex who converted into the Megazord. xD
Oh damn I should have watched power rangers as a child. I watched scooby doo and the flintstones instead. Oh and Inu Yasha.
Great review. These sound great.
They are!
Great review, and doesn’t the book have a great cover?
Yes it does hey!