We Install
And Other Stories
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Short fiction, plus three essays, by the New York Times–bestselling author—including a Hugo Award–winning novella.
Harry Turtledove earned the title "master of alternate history" from Publishers Weekly for his thought-provoking novels that turn historical facts into gripping tales of possibility. But his writing talent goes much further. We Install offers a showcase of styles, from humor—in "Father of the Groom," a scientist with a penchant for wild experimentation helps his love-struck son by synthesizing a wedding ring out of two carrots—to classic science fiction, as in the Hugo Award–winning "Down in the Bottomlands" and "Hoxbomb," in which a regular guy just trying to make a living selling scooters has to deal with some very odd competition. The alternate history tale "Drang von Osten" begins on a bloody battlefield in World War II and ends somewhere quite different. In the brand-new "Logan's Law," a man discovers that sometimes, second chances really do work out. The book's three essays tackle the diverse subjects of how to write alternate history, Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and the history of Chanukah.
We Install will delight longtime Turtledove fans and new readers alike with its rich offerings from one of the finest craftsmen writing today.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Turtledove (the War That Came Early series) is known for detailed, lengthy, and masterly alternate-history series. This collection proves that he's just as talented at creating short stories, which here range from the pithy and humorous to the deeply lyrical and complex. Some gems include "Under St. Peter's," an alternate history in which a stunning secret is revealed about Catholicism; "Father of the Groom," wherein a mad scientist's bridezilla daughter-in-law gets an unexpected comeuppance; and "Drang Von Osten," a sideways take on WWII. Three essays round out the collection on the subjects of J.R.R. Tolkien's novels, methodologies of writing alternate history, and the celebration of Hanukkah and give unique insight into his life as a writer. Turtledove's prose is witty and inviting throughout. This is an excellent primer for those who haven't read Turtledove's other work, and a must-read for his longtime fans.
