Time Pieces [Kindle Edition]

Adventure Books of Seattle (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A new global collection of science fiction tales on the subject of time travel. Stories include 'No Time Like the Present', 'Last Train Home', 'Combination Lock', 'Firstborn Killer' and nineteen more. Some are lighthearted reading, others more serious, even controversial. Assembled and edited by the award-winning staff of Adventure Books of Seattle, who put out a special call for submissions to authors worldwide. If you are a time travel fan, this is the ultimate trip.

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 220 KB
• Publisher: Adventure Books of Seattle (June 1, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B002BWPD1Q
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #445,752 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Adventure Books of Seattle, the 'Small Press from the Great Northwest,' specializes in high quality books. Managing staff include Robert M. Blevins from Seattle, USA and Geoff Nelder of Chester, Great Britain.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Short, Straightforward Time Travel Stories, November 6, 2009

By 

John M. Ford "johnDC" (near DC, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Time Pieces (Kindle Edition)

This collection contains 21 very short time travel stories from authors who responded to an international call for contributions circulated by Adventure Books of Seattle, a science fiction book and magazine publisher. I read all of the stories and they are not bad. The collection is a good value for the price.

A common feature is that each story takes a single aspect of time travel, such as causing a paradox or sending a letter to an earlier version of oneself, and straightforwardly presents it. There is little exploration of further implications, subplot development or complex characterization. Many stories could be fairly characterized as "time travel anecdotes" rather than fully-developed stories. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but the reader should be prepared for a different kind of story than is usually found in a themed anthology.

I believe there are two reasons for these commonalities. The first is my own perceptions. I recently finished reading two collections of "Year's Best" science fiction stories (Year's Best SF 14 and Nebula Awards Showcase 2009). These stories exhibit a level of quality and complexity that is a product not only of experienced writing, but of the nomination and selection processes used to determine the "best." Other collections understandably suffer by comparison. The second reason is more directly related to what I think Adventure Books hopes to accomplish. I believe that their "open call" intentionally drew responses from many writers who are less experienced and early in their science fiction writing careers. Showcasing these writers is a service to not only the writers, but to the genre and its readers. It's interesting to read an author's early stories.

I recommend this book to long-time fans of time travel fiction and as a good introduction for those who have not yet experienced this genre. I also have a suggestion for Adventure Books. Please consider a follow-up volume, perhaps titled "Time Passages," to be collected a year or two in our future that features more fiction from this same set of authors. We readers will enjoy the stories, and enjoy seeing the further development of these writers.