About this book
Imagine….
An adult Anne Frank, living out her golden years in Florida.
Moses in his basket, floating all the way to the wilds of Scotland.
An alternate Israel, with zeppelins and ray-guns, hiding a terrible secret.
A Holocaust that succeeded beyond Hitler’s wildest dreams, yet unable to extinguish hope.
What is more Jewish than musings about other histories and other timelines? Even the Passover Haggadah asks “What if the Holy One, blessed be He, had not taken our ancestors out of Egypt?”
Alternate history asks and tries to answer the unanswerable: What if the Exodus from Egypt had failed? What if the Holocaust had not occurred? What if England had repented of its persecution of the Jews? What if Kabbalah was a popular movie genre? What if Christianity had never split off from Judaism?
These are just some of the scenarios you’ll find in Other Covenants: Alternate Histories of the Jewish People. The first-ever anthology of Jewish alternate histories, Other Covenants contains stories and poems from some of the world’s greatest speculative fiction authors, who explore these and other historical roads not taken.
The 30 authors whose stories appear in this volume range from science fiction stalwarts such as Robert Silverberg, Jack Dann, and Harry Turtledove, to Lavie Tidhar, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Jessica Resiman, Gillian Polack, Matthew Kressel, Rivqa Rafael, and Bogi Takács.
Features two finalists for the Sidewise Awards for Alternate History, Eric Choi’s “A Sky and a Heaven” and Gillian Polack’s “Why the Bridgemasters of York Don’t Pay Taxes.”
About the Editors
Andrea D. Lobel is an ordained rabbi with a Ph.D. in Religion. She teaches Religion and Humanities at Carleton University and serves as a Jewish Studies teacher and rabbinic mentor at Darshan Yeshiva. In addition to her academic teaching and research, she is an award-winning writer and editor. Her research and publications are focused on the history of religion, science, and magic, with an emphasis on astronomy, space exploration, and artificial intelligence in religion. She also researches scientific and mathematical knowledge transmission between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Mark Shainblum is a well-known writer, editor, and publisher of comics, science fiction and fantasy. He founded and ran Matrix Comics, an independent comic book publishing house. With Gabriel Morrissette, Mark co-created the cult classic Canadian superhero series Northguard and the bestselling political parody Angloman. Mark is also a past president of SF Canada, Canada’s national association of science fiction professionals, and co-edited the Aurora Award-winning anthology, Arrowdreams: An Anthology of Alternate Canadas.
Contents
To the Promised Land – Robert Silverberg
Nights at the Crimea – Jessica Reisman
The Mall: A Providential Tale – Jack Dann
The Golden Horde – Jane Yolen
Psalm for the First Day of Space Travel – Jane Yolen
The Green Men Learn to Read – Jane Yolen
Why the Bridgemasters of York Don’t Pay Taxes – Gillian Polack (2022 Sidewise Award Nominee)
Yossel the Gunslinger – Max Sparber
The Holy Bible of the Free People of Hasmonea – Esther Alter
The Premiere – Hunter C. Eden
If the Righteous Wished, They Could Create a World – Jack Nicholls
White Roses In Their Eyes – Matthew Kressel
Another Son – Seymour Mayne
Covenant – Seymour Mayne
One – Seymour Mayne
The Golem with a Thousand Faces (A Chronicle of the Second Global War) – Claude Lalumière
The Sea of Salt – Elana Gomel
The Bat Mitzvah Problem – Patrick A. Beaulier
A Sky and a Heaven – Eric Choi
The Book of Raisa – Alex Shvartsman
A Tartan of Many Colors – Allan Weiss
The Time-Slip Detective – Lavie Tidhar
Biographical Notes to “A Discourse on the Nature of Causality, with Air-planes” by Benjamin Rosenbaum – Benjamin Rosenbaum
And In This Corner…! – D.K. Latta
Three Stars – Isak Bloom
Rise and Walk the Land – David Nurenberg
Miryam the Prophetess – James Goldberg
These Rebellious Hussies – Rivqa Rafael
Ka-Ka-Ka – C. L. McDaniel
Strength of My Salvation – Bogi Takács
The Golem (1933) – Gwynne Garfinkle
The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships – Milton Verskin
Kaddish for Stalin – Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Shtetl Days – Harry Turtledove
