Visitor from the East

Visitor from the East is an alternate history short story written by Harry Turtledove. It is the first of two short works published in Thirty Days Later: Steaming Forward: 30 Adventures in Time and would later be reprinted in Turtledove's short-story collection The Best of Harry Turtledove in 2021. It is also the first short story in the State of Jefferson Stories.

Plot

The story is essentially a vignette, set in August 1979, spotlighting the Sasquatch Jefferson State Governor Bill Williamson's meeting/photo-op with the Yeti Lama of Tibet, who has been living in-exile in Jefferson ever since China's Invasion of Tibet in 1959. The story gives a quick sketch of Jefferson's history and comparatively open culture, and hints at the broad role sasquatches have played in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.