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Sean Patrick Hazlett

Martin L. Shoemaker

Weird World War III Paperback – October 6, 2020

by Sean Patrick Hazlett (Editor)

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TALES OF THE WAR THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

What if the United States had gone to war with the Soviet Union? What if these rival superpowers had fought on land, sea, air, and the astral plane? What if the Soviets and Americans had struggled for dominion across parallel dimensions or on the surface of the moon? How would the world have changed? What wonders would have been unveiled? What terrors would have haunted mankind from those dark and dismal dimensions? Come closer, peer through a glass darkly, and discover the horrifying alternative visions of World War III from some of today’s greatest minds in science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

Includes new stories by David Drake, Brad R. Torgersen, Mike Resnick, Sarah A. Hoyt, and many more!

About the Contributors:

“Drake couldn’t write a bad action scene at gunpoint.”—Booklist on David Drake

"He's one of the most talented authors I've ever read."—Larry Correia on Brad R. Torgersen

“[A] tour de force: logical, built from assumptions with no contradictions . . . gripping.”—Jerry Pournelle on Sarah A. Hoyt

"Lostetter remains at the forefront of innovation in hard science fiction.”—Publishers Weekly on Marina J. Lostetter

Contributors:
David Drake
Brian Trent
Mike Resnick
Erica Satifka
Brad R. Torgersen
Kevin Andrew Murphy
Dr. Xander Lostetter and Marina J. Lostetter
Martin L. Shoemaker
Sarah A. Hoyt
Deborah A. Wolf
Stephen Lawson
Ville Meriläinen
Peter J. Wacks and Bryan Thomas Schmidt
Alex Shvartsman
C.L. Kagmi
Nick Mamatas
T.C. McCarthy
Eric James Stone
John Langan

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Baen
Publication date

October 6, 2020
Dimensions

6.13 x 0.9 x 9.25 inches
ISBN-10

1982124911
ISBN-13

978-1982124915
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sean Patrick Hazlett is an Army veteran, speculative fiction writer and editor, and finance executive in the San Francisco Bay area. He holds an AB in history and BS in electrical engineering from Stanford University, and a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. As a cavalry officer serving in the elite 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, he trained various Army and Marine Corps units for war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sean is a 2017 winner of the Writers of the Future Contest. More than forty of his short stories have appeared in publications such as The Year’s Best Military and Adventure SF, Year’s Best Hardcore Horror, Terraform, Galaxy’s Edge, Writers of the Future, Grimdark Magazine, Vastarien, and Abyss & Apex, among others. He is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and Codex Writers’ Group. Hazlett’s award-winning short story “Adramelech” appeared in the Wall Street Journal best-selling anthology Writers of the Future: Volume 33.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Baen (October 6, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1982124911
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1982124915
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 0.9 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #806,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,329 in Science Fiction Anthologies (Books)
- #10,426 in Military Science Fiction (Books)
- #15,770 in Science Fiction Adventures

Customer Reviews:
49 ratings

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3 star		18%
2 star		5%
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Mahasamatman "call me sam"

Fun, entertaining and gripping

Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2020

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This is great collection of stories. I read it end to end and each story kept pace with the previous story. There was no story where I felt it was weakening the anthology.
The themes explored are also new or familiar themes with interesting twists. Plus the USA-USSR angle gives it another piquant lens.
So all in all, I had a great time reading the collection.

One person found this helpful

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Dallasb28

Great collection

Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2020

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I love this collection of short stories. It is highly likely there is something in here for everyone. I have been introduced to many new authors and can now start exploring other materials they have written. Thank you for the unique compilation - opened up my reading world.

One person found this helpful

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David VonAllmen

Fantastically Imaginative

Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2020

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Most short story collections couldn't have such a wide variety of fantastical ideas and still feel cohesive, but the WWW III collection sure does, I guess because the theme lends a certain tone. Enjoyed the heck out of it. Can we get a Weird World War IV?

One person found this helpful

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Erich S.

Awesome collection

Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2020

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You wouldn't think there were this many weird stories about the Third World war, you'd be wrong. Many wonderfully imaginative stories in this volume, I think the story cowritten by Peter J Wacks outshines them all (sorry other author, Wacks is easier to remember and I can't look back from this page)

Lovely revel at the end.

One person found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

A bland collection.

Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2020

Verified Purchase

The description of this anthology sounded interesting enough, but the stories were all pretty forgettable. I'm normally a fan of military scifi but this collection left me unimpressed.

Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2020

Verified Purchase

Extremely creative and very thoughtful compendium of stories. Sean has done a great job of compiling creativity into a very fun (and creative) book!

One person found this helpful

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Pat Patterson

It's not horror when it's SCIENCE!

Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2020

Here are the stories you'll find:
THE PRICE by David Drake. Whether you are of the opinion that David Drake invented the field of military science fiction, or merely that he took it from tiny crumbs to a smorgasbord, it can’t be disputed that his works give voice to the difficulties of coming home. It is well enough, that this story is about a particularly difficult home coming: Ab, the older brother, welcomes Jesse, the younger, back into the family residence, after a particularly horrible mission. Maybe some people come back home as the same people who left; you couldn’t prove it by me.
SHADOW ROOK RED by Brian Trent. Concept: new tech allows passage between locations on Earth, which are linked to specific locations on an alternate world; except what is sea level here might correspond to a mountain top there, or worse. The Soviet Union has weaponized it, with success. An essential researcher goes missing.
THE THIRD WORLD WAR by Mike Resnick. What is an appropriate response by a super-power, when a MILPOS country starts acting like a bully? Take “The Mouse That Roared,” rotate it 90 degrees, and you will get close. Mike passed away this year; his influence and aid to newer writers will be missed.
WHERE YOU LEAD, I WILL FOLLOW: AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE DENVER INCIDENT by Erica L. Satifka. I can’t remember the name of the online craze of a few years ago; lots of folks were trying to find treasure points, or something like that. Some people were so focused on the search that they ran into other people, lamp posts, traffic. That really happened; so, this story isn’t really far-fetched. And THAT’S what makes it a spine-shiver. BRRRR.
ALL QUIET ON THE PHANTOM FRONT by Brad R. Torgersen. Torgersen is a stupid name. There isn’t a spell-checker program on the planet, except maybe in some place populated solely by Viking descendants, where it won’t cause a red line to appear on the page, and that’s Not Nice. It’s a good thing that he has SUCH a deft hand at combining AMAZING truths of humanity to make phenomenal stories. For example: she isn’t what they think she is, but she pretends to be so they will leave her alone; he thinks the entire process is an abomination, but participates because he cares for the troops. Torgersen invented a brand new take on the BEM a few years back, but it’s the humanity in his writing that makes it shine. I love the guy.
ANASTASIA’S EGG by Kevin Andrew Murphy. Ouch. They have turducken somethings for sale at my local grocery store, but I’ve never had one. This story both uses things inside other things as a plot point, it IS a thing inside other things. Romanov princesses, ancient djinns, and a mechanical bucking bronco. It might help if you took notes.
TAP, TAP, TAPPING IN THE DEEP by Dr. Xander Lostetter and Marina J. Lostetter. Are the technical aspects of submarines and deep dives accurate? I have not a clue. My son-in-law was a squid, but he took care of the reactor, so I’m not sure enough of his expertise to delay the review long enough to get a verdict from him. I suspect, anyway, that it’s all completely realistic; it certainly READS that way. Stealth, spies, monsters and aliens, lies and loss, and: “The truth is, I love you...”
THE OUROBOROS ARRANGEMENT by Martin L. Shoemaker. A trope in cheap stories goes like this: “Yes, it’s crazy, but it just might be crazy enough to work!” It makes for amusing action sequences, but none of the craziness would actually last past preparation for Step One. On the other hand: what if you found yourself at the end of Step Fifty? All of them were crazy, and all of them had worked?
LAST CHANCE by Sarah A. Hoyt. I absolutely, positively deny that anyone can write a classic set-up for a slasher film, have it turn out to be something else, and get away with it. It simply cannot be done. Except: Sarah A Hoyt did it. Right here. In this story. It’s as if someone decided to give Hoyt the most impossible story-writing task EVER: “write your way out of THIS one, Beautiful But Evil Space Princess! Moose and Squirrel cannot save you now!” Listen: gentleman feels a compulsion to drive to a distant location. His car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, and his phone doesn’t work. He is greeted by a Strange But Congenial Stranger! Even I, who refuse any interaction with horror, know how THIS is going to end up! Except, no. Because Science. Good grief, woman, can NOTHING stop you?
ODERZHIMOST’ by Deborah A. Wolf. Yes, she gives the translation in the text; it means “obsession.” Yes, science, but more besides; this is also an eternal pain that comes from love betrayed (the obsession part!) The creepy old legend of the abandoned love who drowns herself (or hangs herself, in some versions) and then takes revenge on foolish passers-by.
NO PLAN SURVIVES FIRST CONTACT by Stephen Lawson POW! There might NOT be a completely new idea in this story, but WOW! The way he puts the parts together is terrific! Where did the Soviets get the advanced technology? How did they move so fast? Alien crash? But wait: even OUR primitive craft have rescue beacons! So, yes, science, but also Mongo, who, before he NEEDS a candygram, goes for a run, bringing along a nasty, nasty captain. Just for company, you know.
THE SCHOLOMANCE by Ville Meriläinen. Not explained in the text, but readily available for discovery to anyone with a connection to the internet, the Scholomance was a mythical black magic school in Transylvania. We are introduced to this school in 1777, under the rule of Catherine the Great, and then we have brief glimpses under regime changes in 1817, 1918, and 1977. Mostly, the problems are the same as in any school: kids running in the halls, keeping order. That sort of thing. And maybe one other.
IT’S A MUD, MUD WORLD by Peter J. Wacks and Bryan Thomas Schmidt. This story is set in 1985. Gentle reader, I’ve been wading through these stories, without considering whether the background will be comprehensible to chronologically-deficient individuals. If you haven't seen the movie “War Games,” I believe it’s on Netflix. Go watch it, if you want to really understand this story. Also, there is quite a bit of computer code that might obscure; it purports to be code which permitted access to computer bulletin boards of the day. (I used a program that came with my 300 baud modem.) MUD is referenced, but not defined in the story. I believe it’s an acronym for Multi User Domain, or Multi User Dungeon, perhaps even Multi User Dialup; at any rate, it describes the way people talked to each other with computers prior to sometime in the 1990s.
A THING WORTH A DAMN by Alex Shvartsman. In this timeline, Kennedy wasn’t assassinated in Dallas, and somehow he managed to bankrupt the country in competition with the Soviets in the Space Race. California and Utah seceded; Cali goes socialist, and falls under the influence of the Soviet Union. (No word on Utah.) Nothing works, except the famine. A Soviet officer is tasked with securing a scientist who tried to escape California, and get him to Cuba for processing.
EVANGELINE by C.L. Kagmi Evangeline has some ability to interact with the dead. The story seemed a bit short on explanations to me, but for some reason she is notifying people whether or not their sons/lovers/brothers/whatever are alive in Vietnam. She’s kidnapped by government agents, who want her to ...do something.
BLEAK NIGHT AT BAD ROCK by Nick Mamatas. “Cold War” makes a convenient name, to cover all the organized violence done during a certain time. You can decide for yourself whether the efforts were to make the world safe for democracy, or to enable peaceful coexistence. Certainly, the US and the USSR were not the only countries impacted by the Cold War. Beyond that, this story addresses the impact of belief.
ZIP GHOST by T.C. McCarthy. Alternate realities/multiple dimensions can make you crazy. Don’t worry, though, we have something for that. Here, take this peyote. And here’s an injection to give you syphilis. That combination should work pretty well. Now, go blow stuff up, and try not to die.
DENIABILITY by Eric James Stone. We start with the idea that Kennedy’s assassination was ordered by Khrushchev, and that the Warren Commission report was just to calm people in the US down. Then, postulate a person with the ability to kill people remotely. Feel like implementing a revenge program? It cascades. It ALWAYS cascades. One of the best features of this story was the way that lead characters used language to appear to say one thing, while meaning something else entirely.
SECOND FRONT by John Langan. You ain’t gonna BELIEVE this, but: both the US and the USSR built secret bases on the moon, without each other knowing! Truly, I loved the part of the story where the reasoning behind keeping the US base a secret for was revealed through, at least, four different Presidential administrations. We could have stopped there, but I suppose we did have to have an invasion by intelligent lobsters at some point in the book.

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Matthew W. Quinn

A Solid Collection

Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2021

As someone who has written extensively in both military and Lovecraftian fiction (and who really loved Charles Stross's "A Colder War"), when I first heard about this my interest was piqued. I snagged an e-book and over the course of several elliptical sessions, I read the whole thing. Although there are a couple "meh" stories, most were pretty solid. Here are some favorites:

"Shadow Rook Red"-Imagine there's a parallel world to ours and people can jump in and out of corresponding locations, allowing for all sorts of commando raids, espionage, and military surprise attacks. All sorts of fun happens in neutral Switzerland as WWIII rages to the north.

"All Quiet on the Phantom Front"-Another WWIII story involving sorcery and hellgates in the Baltics.

"Second Front"-WWIII breaks out and the Moon becomes a theater of battle. But the U.S. and Soviet moon bases aren't alone. This was probably my favorite one in the collection.

"The Scholomance"-The legendary sorcerous academy in Eastern Europe's interaction with the Soviet leadership.

"Tap, Tap, Tapping in the Deep"-The book BLIND MAN'S BLUFF talked about Cold War submarine espionage. In this one, an attempt to tap a Soviet underwater cable goes very wrong...

Honorable mention to "Bleak Night at Bad Rock" by Nick Mamatas, which focuses on the proxy-war angle of the Cold War. What might have been going on in Cyprus?

I hope Baen does another such collection soon.

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