Sidewise Awards for Alternate History announced

During the past week, I read that the Sidewise Awards for Alternate History had been announced on Aug. 18 at the 69th Annual World Science Fiction Convention in Reno, Nev.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Sidewise Awards, they have been presented annually since 1995 to recognized excellence in alternate historical fiction.

If you’ve never read any alternate history, you’re missing out. In a nutshell, these types of books explore “what if” situations and how they would have impacted history. Probably the most famous book of this type is Harry Turtledove’s book, “Guns of the South,” which explores what would have happened if the Confederate army had been supplied with AK-47s during the Civil War.

The winner of this year’s Sidewise Award in the Long-Form category was “When Angels Wept: A What-If History of the Cuban Missile Crisis” by Eric Swedin.

The winner is the Short-Form category was “A Clash of Eagles” by Alan Smale, which was originally published in Panverse Two, edited by Dario Ciriello.

The other finalists in the Long-Form category included:

- Columbia & Britannia by Adam Chamberlain and Brian A. Dixon

- Red Inferno: 1945 by Robert Conroy

- Pinion by Jay Lake

The other finalists in the Short-Form category included:

- Mammoths of the Great Plains by Eleanor Arnason

- Alten Kameraden by Barry B. Longyear

- Sidewinders by Ken MacLeod

- Goin’ Down to Anglotown by William F. Wu

Swedin’s “When Angels Wept: A What-If History of the Cuban Missile Crisis” joins a long list of great Long-Form category winners. What follows is a complete list of the winners in that category.

1995 – “Pasquale’s Angel” by Paul J. McAuley
1996 – “Voyage” by Stephen Baxter
1997 – “How Few Remain” by Harry Turtledove
1998 – “Making History” by Stephen Fry
1999 – “Resurrection Day” by Brendan DuBois
2000 – “Ash: A Secret History” by Mary Gentle
2001 – “The Children’s War” by J.N. Stroyar
2002 (tie) – “Ruled Britannia” by Harry Turtledove and “The Severed Wing” by Martin J. Gidron
2003 – “Collaborator” by Murray Davies
2004 – “The Plot Against America” by Philip Roth
2005 – “The Summer Isles” by Ian R. MacLeod
2006 – “The Family Trade,” “The Hidden Family” and “The Clan Corporate” (series) by Charles Stross
2007 – “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” by Michael Chabon
2008 – “The Dragon’s Nine Sons” by Chris Roberson
2009 – “1942” by Robert Conroy
2010 – “When Angels Wept: A What-If History of the Cuban Missile Crisis” by Eric Swedin

A panel of six judges selects the Sidewise Award winners annually, and the membership of the panel changes from year to year. The current judges are Stephen Baxter of Great Britain; Stuart Shiffman of Seattle; Evelyn Leeper of Matawan, N.J.; Kurt Sidaway of Great Britain; Jim Rittenhouse of Lisle, Ill. and Steven Silver of Deerfield, Ill.

For more information about the Sidewise Awards, visit http://www.uchronia.net/sidewise/.

In the end, how many of the works mentioned above have you had a chance to read? What did you think about them? Which did you like or dislike? Which would you recommend and why? Let us know in the comments section below.