Di Filippo, Paul. "Sisyphus and the Stranger"
Divergence: 1903 CE
What if: N-rays really existed, and France used them to gain a quick victory in the Great War.
Summary: In 1954 of a world dominated by France, the Algerian bureaucrat Albert Camus meets a mysterious traveler.
Published: In Asimov's Science Fiction October/November 2004; The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual Collection (ed. Gardner Dozois), St. Martin's 2005 (0312336594BUY, 0312336608BUY), v.t. The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 18, Robinson 2005 (1845291166); and The Emperor of Gondwanaland and Other Stories, Thunder's Mouth 2005 (1560256656BUY).
Original in: English.
Translation: French by Pierre-Paul Durastanti as "Sisyphe et l'étranger", in Bifrost #34 (ed. Olivier Girard), Bélial 2004 (2913039286).