From Booklist
The 15 alternate histories in this anthology consider what would have happened if scientific and technological breakthroughs--and challenges--occurred long before they did in real history. Editor Czerneda's "Out of China" portrays the discovery of a cure for plague during the Black Death. In John G. McDaid's "The Ashbanzu Effect," the Sumerians invent printing, and in Geoffrey Landis' "The Resonance of Light," a particularly decisive invention prevents World War I. Several stories weigh alternate environmental scenarios, and the notion that religion is entirely a manifestation of electrochemical brainstorms pops up more than once. Robin Wayne Bailey's "The Terminal Solution" imagines the Victorians reacting to AIDS. Dorranna Durgin's "A Call to the Wild" envisions a world in which only one animal hasn't been tamed--the dog. Lots of fresh alternative-history thinking on view here. Roland Green
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Book Description
Fifteen original tales of "what if" Some of today's top science fiction writers explore the futures that might have been, including original stories from Julie E. Czerneda and other great names in the genre.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Fans of alternate history will undoubtedly enjoy ReVisions, an anthology of 15 never-before-published stories that explore slightly amended scientific discoveries and their effects on civilization. What would happen if the AIDS epidemic had erupted a century earlier? What if humankind looked to the depths of the ocean instead of the stars? What if the Black Death had been averted? Those questions and more are answered within.

Noteworthy stories include "Unwirer," by Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross, a chilling look at a near-future America where the Motion Picture Association of America won its 1995 bid at the National Information Infrastructure hearings to redesign the Internet and turned it into a centralized, regulated, user-unfriendly nightmare. "Swimming Upstream in the Wells of the Desert," by Mike Resnick and Susan R. Matthews, takes place in a future where cold fusion energy has irrevocably changed the worldwide economy; and "The Resonance of Light," by Geoffrey Landis, speculates about how the Serbian inventor Nicola Tesla could have stopped WWI with an auspicious scientific discovery. Doranna Durgin's "A Call to the Wild" follows a shepherd named Neil, as he tries to do his job in a world where dogs were never domesticated; and "Silent Leonardo," by Kage Baker, takes a look at a 16th-century Europe where Leonardo da Vinci's numerous notes and sketches are developed for military use.

Historic revisionists everywhere will delight in these scientifically and technologically based literary speculations. For readers that frequently ask, "What if?" -- this collection is definitely for you. Paul Goat Allen

FROM THE PUBLISHER