Time Telephone by Adam Roberts

Format: Hardcover
Rating:  3 Stars
Reviewer: Laurel

This was a bit of a weird story. So, by diverting calls around the worldwide telephone network in a certain way, people figured out how to send the telephone calls into the past. One could even make a telephone call into the future (so I guess they figured out how to do that too).

I found this story incomplete. Sure, it ended abruptly, but that wasn’t the problem. Or was it? I didn’t feel the premise was really set up well enough for the ending it got. But I guess there would be no explanation, really.

An interesting concept, but I would have liked there to be a bit more to it.

Swing Time by Carrie Vaughn

Source: Own Collection
Format: Hardcover
Rating:  4 Stars
Reviewer: Laurel

In this story we meet Madeline and Ned. They are at a ball, and dancing. And, as it turns out, both engaged in thievery. Or are they collectors? As we quickly learn, they are both able to travel through doors in time, and keep meeting up – much to Madeline’s annoyance.

What was intriguing about this story was the notion that to travel in time (cause doors to open) requires energy (ok, that’s not entirely exotic a concept), but that, in the cases of Ned and Madeline, they generate the required energy by dancing. Much like charging a battery, I guess.

This was a fun story to read, with a twist I didn’t quite see coming. Very inventive and well-written.

Against the Lafayette Escadrille by Gene Wolfe

Source: Own Collection
Format: Hardcover
Rating:  3 Stars
Reviewer: Laurel

I probably quite miss the point with this one. The narrator explains how he’s built a replica Fokker triplane, and has everything as authentic as possible, bar one element. He then describes a flight where he meets with a lady in a hot air balloon. The impression one gets is that while flying, he goes back in time, and that the balloonist is from the Confederate era, flying a balloon made of ladies’ silk dresses. Or is she just flying a replica, like he is?

Good descriptions and a solid read, this is more of a sketch than a story as such. But still interesting enough.

The House that made the Sixteen Loops of Time by Tamsyn Muir

Source: Own Collection
Format: Hardcover
Rating:  4 Stars
Reviewer: Laurel

Dr. Rosamund Tilly lives at 14 Arden Lane, a house with issues. But not the kinds of issues you’re thinking of, I’m sure. This house is a magical house, and it has temper tantrums. If things aren’t going precisely as it desires, then, well, take your pick. Pretty much anything can happen, from creepers overgrowing to the dogs’ coats changing colour. Sounds like a recipe for driving any rational human being insane, right? Well, spare a thought for Rosamund – and her family.

So, one day the house isn’t happy, and comes up with a new scheme. Instead of changing anything, it just decides to put time on replay. For sixteen loops. And only Rosamund is aware of what’s going on.

This is quite a humorous story, really, and I lapped it up. The house’s antics are fascinating, and Rosamund’s patience with it is… admirable. Fortitude, really. An entertaining romp that left me with a smile on my face at the end.

3 RMS, Good View by Karen Haber

Source: Own Collection
Format: Hardcover
Rating:  4 Stars
Reviewer: Laurel

What do you do if you decide to live in the past and have to sign a non-interference contract… and then a child gets killed because you did nothing?

This is an insightful short story that makes the reader consider exactly that question – and we also get the decision the main character in this story, Chrissy, made. A well-written story with vivid imagery. I enjoyed the time-travel element in this – how one could live in one time and commute to work in a different time. That was an original concept.