8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Take the time to read this anthology., March 8, 2010
This review is from: Timeshares (Daw Science Fiction) (Mass Market Paperback)
[Full disclosure: I have a story in this anthology. I will not be discussing my story in this review. Hopefully my other reviews will assure you that I'm brutally honest.]
Timeshares starts with a simple premise: Where - no, when - would you go if you could go on vacation anywhen in time?
Like most people, I've been exposed to lots of time travel stories. The 19 stories all imagine the time-vacation agency in slightly different ways, which keeps each story in this anthology fresh. Some stories are action-packed, some are mysteries, and some center on character and emotion.
All of these stories are solid, and some of them truly excel. Kelly Swails' "A Portrait of Time" is poignant, and Chris Pierson's "But I'm Not the Only One" is both amusing and touching simultaneously. Donald Bingle's "A Passion for Time Travel" approaches human nature with his signature dark humor, while both Matthew Mayo's "Been a Long Time" and Allister Timm's "No Man's Land" are haunting. Michael Stackpole's "By Our Actions" is amazing, and Linda Baker's "Spoilers" is a fitting close to the collection.
And that's not even half the stories in this anthology. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the other stories in this anthology, and I'm humbled to have my own story among them.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating concept anthology, April 12, 2010
This review is from: Timeshares (Daw Science Fiction) (Mass Market Paperback)
Time travel has been invented, and somehow it's in the hands of someone who wants to turn it into a means of history tourism. Of course, there are problems with that. Such as, nearly everyone who goes back in time is going to have an ulterior motive. How could they really expect people not to interfere? In theory it's impossible to alter the past, and any changes that are introduced fix themselves back to the way things were. But naturally, theory and practice don't always line up perfectly...
Stories touch on the Mona Lisa, the Titanic, da Vinci, missing tribes of Native Americans, the Garden of Eden, saving dead relatives, fixing one's own past life, and of course, dropping in on the life of Jesus himself. Meanwhile, the different stories dance in and out of each other's spheres of influence, largely adding to each other by touching on similar subjects or spending time with one or two of the same people.
That gets undermined a bit by some of the differences. In some stories Timeshares is a slick, corporate affair. In others it seems to be represented by dingy little offices. In some there are security officers or police who try to keep people from messing with the past; in others folks are allowed to try what they want. In some stories the past really is inflexible, while in others, not so much. To counter this, however, I admit that one of the later stories, Michael Stackpole's By Our Actions, seems to present a sort of answer to these inconsistencies that very nearly ties things together.
Naturally, this being an anthology, and on a topic that begs such a wide variety of approaches, you're invariably going to find one or two stories that don't thrill you quite as much as others. The overall quality is quite high, however.
[NOTE: review book provided by Penguin Group]
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Creative Takes on an old theme, May 11, 2010
This review is from: Timeshares (Daw Science Fiction) (Mass Market Paperback)
The idea of time travel is possibly one of the first fantasies of all time. This anthology goes a step further and has the writers basing their stories on one company providing time travel to the public. But that is where the consistency ends. Each story has you nodding your head and thinking, "Yes, that's the way it would be" until you read the next. Imaginative, engaging and well-written, an excellent read for all.
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