Ian R. MacLeod’s “The Summer Isles” first appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction in October/November 1998. It’s a very well written and helical alternative history narrative about how things could have gone terribly awry in Britain had they lost World War I. MacLeod shows off his literary talents in this novella.

The story is told from the point of view of a historian and professor at Oxford University who once knew Britain’s leader, though by a much different name and personality. The Great War changed his former lover into something perverted in a way much more real and worthy of concern than what tightly wound conservatives might think. The story deals with issues made explicit during the Third Reich in Germany, but MacLeod reveals how those hatreds and misconceptions can be fanned into a fury in places we might least expect it. Additionally, the way he presents the feelings, relationships, and plight of homosexual men in his alternative “brave new world” is expressive yet full of despair and eventually resignation to “do the right thing.”

The story is more an alternative history than strictly SF, but it’s definitely worth a read. It would probably be an valuable asset in classes dealing with revolution, genocide, and sexual orientation. I found the story in Gardner Dozois’ The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 12, but there’s also a bound edition available–more info on the author’s website here.