Other Worlds Than These
edited by John Joseph Adams
What if you could not only travel any location in the world, but to any possible world?
We can all imagine such “other worlds”—be they worlds just slightly different than our own or worlds full of magic and wonder—but it is only in fiction that we can travel to them. From The Wizard of Oz to The Dark Tower, from Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass to C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, there is a rich tradition of this kind of fiction, but never before have the best parallel world stories and portal fantasies been collected in a single volume—until now.
Praise for Other Worlds Than These
Anthologist Adams presents readers with a wide variety of alternate Earths, some only slightly askew and others completely unfamiliar. […] Adams’s selections are mirrors reflecting one other with the best images of alternate realities. Readers will greatly enjoy this exploration of our world’s foremost and ascendant speculative authors.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Other Worlds Than These reminds longtime readers of fantasy and sci-fi what we love about the genre, while also and aptly demonstrating to newcomers that these stories are about so much more than dragons and multitentacled monsters. It comes highly recommended to both and all.
—Bookgasm
Our present results from an infinity of past choices and chances, and at every junction, the road not taken would lead to a parallel world — perhaps like ours in every way that counts, but perhaps dramatically different. Other Worlds Than These collects 30 masterful stories exploring this theme. The collection is weighted toward the last decade, but it also includes classics from Ursula Le Guin, Paul Melko, and George R.R. Martin. To my delight, every story is terrific. [Grade: A]
—Cleveland Plain Dealer