A Different Flesh

A Different Flesh is a collection of alternate history short stories by American writer Harry Turtledove. The stories take place in a world where *Homo erectus* and various megafauna survived into modern times in the Americas, in place of Native Americans and other human populations. Turtledove was inspired by a Stephen Jay Gould article speculating on how humanity's distant cousin, *Australopithecus*, would be treated if it had survived.

The stories offer glimpses of this altered American history from 1610 to 1988. Because the Western Hemisphere is inhabited by *Homo erectus* (called "sims") and megafauna extinct in the known world, European colonization of the New World proved much more difficult. Over time, characters debate the nature of the sims and their place in human history. Between the stories, excerpts from an imaginary textbook called *The Story of the Federated Commonwealths* provide background on events in the intervening years.

In "Vilest Beast" (1610), Edward Maria Wingfield must rescue his infant daughter from a tribe of wild sims at Jamestown, Virginia. The story reveals that Captain John Smith was killed and eaten by sims in 1607. "And So To Bed" (1661) consists of entries from Samuel Pepys' diary. Pepys owns two sims, easily trained for household chores, and develops the theory of evolution by observing them and other North American animals. Only one of the diary entries in the story has a real counterpart. "Around the Salt Lick" (1691) follows scout Thomas Kenton, a descendant of Wingfield, and his sim companion Charles as they explore the interior of North America. Kenton seeks teeth from spearfang cats, is captured by wild sims, and must rely on Charles for rescue. The story's structure echoes James Fenimore Cooper.

"The Iron Elephant" (1782) features the first steam-driven train, invented by Richard Trevithick in Boston, Plymouth Commonwealth. A race is held between a steam train and a train pulled by hairy elephants. The story parallels the legend of John Henry. It also reveals that England's American colonies became the Federated Commonwealths of America in 1738, with westward expansion beginning much earlier due to the lack of indigenous humans. A tyrannical absolutist monarchy in the seventeenth century is cited as the main reason for secession. Trevithick is American rather than British and appears twenty years older than the