Not bad. If you've read any SFnal anthology since the middle 1980s (earlier, actually, but I'm too lazy to go look up his first appearance in print) you've read some Resnick. I'm no big fan of his pedestrian writing, but I'm a BIG fan of TR.

Red Whitechapel puts TR at the centre (cause it's in Lunnon I misspelled center, see?) of the Jack the Ripper hunt. Resnick even says he wrote this to get some attention for a theory he proposed in a non-fiction article published in the 1970s regarding his (quite plausible and eminently sensible) idea of who and what the real Ripper was. Wasn't much impressed by the fictionalization. 3 stars

Two Hunters in Manhattan was a real eye-roller, TR making the acquaintance of an ancient Greek vampire who, inexplicably, pays no slightest attention to TR's request for assistance in specific ways but instead whimsically decides to do it his own way. Who knows, maybe that comes with having blues eyes, black hair. 2 stars

The Roosevelt Dispatches puts Teddy in Cuba and has has him meet the Martians from Wells' [The War of the Worlds]. Okay. 3 stars

Bully! got the otherwhen versions of TR rolling in Resnick's creative world. Nominated for the big awards. I enjoyed this one. 3.5 stars

The Bull Moose at Bay is the most intriguing story to me...how TR got to where he is at the beginning of the tale is deeply satisfying, the place where the tale takes off is spot-on, and the ending is also satisfying. My quibble is why be coy about the identities of the guests? Still, hands-down my favorite. 4 stars

Over There was depressing and unlikely. TR was too full fledged a politician to fall for what happened to him; the ending was inevitable and seen clearly from the beginning. 2 stars

The Light that Blinds, the Claws that Catch is unmemorable and uninteresting. 3 stars because it's competently written. ( )

I use Teddy Roosevelt as a character in my own forthcoming series, so I had several friends advise me to read Resnick's collection of alternate history Teddy Roosevelt stories. The book was a shorter read than I expected at about 200 pages, but the stories were thoroughly enjoyable.

Resnick twists history at various points in TR's life, such as enabling his first wife, Alice, to survive; or adding a vampire as a complication to TR's time as a New York City police commissioner; or attempting to democratize central Africa while on his famous post-presidency safari. Across the stories, I really appreciated how Resnick showed the contradictory nature of TR. I say that, having read thousands of pages of research on the man. Roosevelt worked to create an American empire abroad, and believed in the holiness of that action; he was also a progressive who offended wide swaths of the Republican party because of his fervent beliefs in equality for black and native peoples and for women to have the vote. He was a brilliant, arrogant, and very complicated man, and Resnick really does justice to a historical figure of incredible charismatic and political power. ( )

Resnick has an interesting take on alternate history; what would the outcome be if Teddy Roosevelt had been present at certain historical event (WW I, the investigation of Jack the Ripper), if he had made different decisions during his career, or if he were a vampire hunter. The stories spend a bit too much time in somewhat stilted dialog, but they are entertaining.

Teddy Roosevelt as written seems like a bit of an unbelievable super-American, the kind of hero that is boring because he always does exactly the right thing for exactly the right reasons. However, from what I know of his biography this was more or less they type of unbelievably accomplished man that he was, so it's hard to criticize Resnick for staying true to his source material.

Overall worth reading, but not a masterpiece. Oh, and don't let the tentacles on the cover dissuade you, that is a single (very short) story and is done in as non-campy a manner as is possible for placing TR in HG Wells' "War of the Worlds." ( )