Civil War Fantastic

The Civil War is the bloodiest conflict to ever rage over American soil, and was waged in a time that invokes a certain sad romance. Perhaps that is why it still burns to brightly in our minds, and stirs so many emotions. Those emotions are pulled into strands and woven into a beautiful tapestry of the supernatural in this volume masterfully edited by Martin Greenberg. Though not all stories take place during the Civil War, some involve recreations, all capture the essence of the conflict, the pride, pain, and hope that made it so tragic. A complete list of the stories is: *** Martial by Nancy Springer, *** A Place to Stand by kWilliam H. Keith, Jr., *** Hex'em John by James H. Cobb, *** Gettysburg Dreams by Brendan Du Bois, *** Images by Josepha Sherman, *** Ghosts of Honor by Denise Little, *** Boot Hill by Asaro and Resnick, ***The Three Cigars by Robert Sheckley, *** The General's Bane by Mike and Shiela Gilbert, *** The Federal Spy and Mix Julia by Karen Haber, ***Stew by Donald J. Bingle, *** Loose Upon the Earth a Daemon by Tim Waggoner, *** Surviving the Elephant by Lisa Silverthorne, *** The Pluck of O' Reilly by Gary Alan Ruse, *** Across Hickman's Bridge to Home by R. Davis, *** News From the Long Mountain by Braunbeck and Snyder, ***The Last Full Measure by Davis Bischoff and *** Burial Detail by Kristine Kathryn Rusch This is a solid anthology, a haunting combination of horror and fantasy mixed with history. If you're looking for something well written but unusual, you could do far worse than this anthology. Highly recommended.

I actually kind of dig these theme anthologies, though I'll admit that anthologies such as this, where the stories are all originals written specifically for the volume, can seem a little forced (reprint anthologies, where the editor seeks out previously-published stories to assemble an anthology based on a theme, are better, but the stories are, obviously, reprints). With a topic like the Civil War, the reader goes in with a few expectations: there will be ghost stories (all those sudden, violent, unavenged deaths); there will be stories where one side or the other uses supernatural aid; there will be alternate history stories (the temptation would be so great, I'm surprised they're not ALL alternate history stories). And these expectations are met. There are some gems in here; I didn't care for the horse story, though (I like talking animals, but, not being a nine-year-old girl, don't care for horses), and I just plain didn't get the Sheckley piece (which is not the same as saying it isn't good). However, in short, I recommend it, and if this collection pleases you, do go check out Harry Turtledove's novel The Guns of the South for a truly unique perspective.

The first story, told from a horse's point of view, wasn't all that great, and started me wondering about the rest of the book. Good thing I didn't give early. The William Keith story about the Alabama man who changes the outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg, and in turn the war, based upon a meeting with himself from the future was execellent. And _Hex'em John_ would make an awesome Twilight Zone episode. I really appreciate the fact that all of the stories were written this year, probably for this book, and not a repacking of older stories that I have already read in other collections. Mr. Greenberg keep 'em comin'!