A collection of 20 SF short stories from Rush and Smith with the theme of time.
Publication year: 2021
Page count: 556
Publisher: WMG Publishing
Format: ebook
Most of these stories have time travel, in one way or another. But three of Rusch's stories are alternate history. I've read some of these before and enjoyed reading them again.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Red Letter Day: One day in their lives, a couple of days before graduating from high school, most people get a Red Letter, a letter from their future selves from 25 years in the future. Everyone expects and waits for it. But not everyone gets one. They wonder what will happen to them in the future. One teacher didn't get one and it's up to her to counsel the teenagers who didn't get the letter.
Loop: Amelia's long-time lover Tyler died six months ago. Now, she's facing her first Christmas alone and she can't bear it. So, she uses the time machine he invented to return to their first Christmas together. But things don't go as she expected.
The First Step: Harvey DeLeo has done what he was forbidden to do: used his time machine himself. He doesn't have much time so he's returning to the past, to one moment he missed the first time.
Uncertainty: Leah Hammerschimdt is a time traveler. WW2 is her specialty. She's in 1944 so make sure that Werner Heisenberg dies before he can design the atomic bomb for the Nazis. But when she returns to the future, important things have changed for the worse. The organization she works for sends her back to the past to try to fix things.
September at Wall & Broad: Philippa D'Arco is on her first real assignment for the Time Bureau. She traveled to 1920 New York City and the bombing of the House of Morgan. It had a time bubble around it so that time travelers can't interfere with it. Her mission is to find out who did the bubble and why. She finds out more than she thought.
The Tower: Thomas Ayliffe is a thief who wants to commit the jewel robbery of a lifetime: to steal the Crown Jewels of Britain. And he's going to do it by swindling his way to a team that is going back in time to the White Tower in 1674. This isn't his planned time spot but he must use what he can get. He couldn't care less about the historian's goals. In fact, he finds them very strange.
Neyla Kendrick is a historian with an obsession with the murder of the two princes, the sons of Edward IV. She can't get to their supposed bones now, but Portals Inc. has been testing a time-traveling device and they need to send a team back in time to test the system. Neyla and her team of handpicked four men are going to do it. However, the day before they leave, one of Neyla's team members becomes violently ill and needs to be quarantined. To make matters worse, their patron practically forces a stranger to join the team. The stranger's name is Thomas Ayliffe. In 1671 a Thomas Ayliffe was caught trying to steal the Crown Jewels. Neyla has a bad feeling about him, but has no choice but to accept him.
When Thomas Jefferson Dined Alone: Kimber is the professor of Living History. When her least favorite student tells her that Mary Todd Lincoln is now conducting séances at the White House and it's the fault of time travels, Kimber ignores her. But she can't ignore other reports of ghost sightings in the White House. Time travelers weren't supposed to affect the past, but what happens if they do?
Common Sense: Alternate history. Thomas Paine is a poor man who says that all men are created equal. Prudence's father has a high position in the British government. Their liaison can't last.
The Arrival of Truth: Historical fiction. The main character of the story is a young black woman. She's a slave on a plantation. She has birthed several children but they have all been taken away from her and sold. When her youngest is born, he's also taken away and she's sent to another house to nurse a white baby. The slaves of that house tell her about the mysterious Sojourner and when they come, they will force the white folk to see the truth.
Politicians, Lost Causers and Abigail Lockwood: Alternate history. In 1912, Abigail Lockwood owns a large estate that used to belong to slaveowners. Her family got it because of the Reconstruction act. However, someone has set fire to the gardens. Later, Abigail learns that her most trusted man has been shot.
Kate Wells is the first female presidential candidate. She has worked with Abigail before. Now, Kate is in South Carolina as part of her speaking tour. She's shocked and annoyed to find out about the arson. Was it Lost Causers, who want back property which they still think should be theirs? Or someone else?
Dean Wesley Smith
Jukebox Gifts: It's Christmas Eve and Radley Stout wants to give his four friends unique gifts. He has a magical jukebox that can take a person back to a specific moment in time and give them a chance to change their life. But if his friends take the chance, Stout may never even meet them.
The Lady of Whispering Valley: Buckey is in love with a woman who died over a hundred years ago. The reason why he has met her is Fred, an oak tree that can travel through time and take humans with him. However, how can Buckey and Mary be together?
Waiting for the Coin to Drop: The main character has traveled back in time to research a book. He has created a time bubble around one block of flats and now has a year to look inside every apartment and find some juicy secrets to write about. But he finds out more than he intended.
A Bubble for a Minute: Gary has been given a high school assignment to interview someone in an old folks' home about their life. He talks with an old woman called Wallis Simpson. However, afterward he realizes that some things have changed in the world. He returns to her, hoping for a specific change. Each time, her story changes and so does the world.
Mom's Paradox: Angie wakes up happy to be a woman. But she's always been a woman. Then she hears another voice in her head.
The Cavern: Dawn Edwards has just heard the worst news: one of her close friends has last-stage cancer. But Dawn, her husband, and her friends conspire to do something about it.
The Atlantis Fifty: Poker Boy wakes out knowing that something is very wrong. Time has frozen. While that is one of his superpowers, he hasn't done it. Worse, he can't contact his boss. Soon, he finds out that being frozen in time is the least of his problems.
An Immortality of Sorts: Buckey's mother has just died, far too young. He talks to his time-traveling tree friend, Fred, and finds out something startling.
Remember: Alamo 1836. Except that in this world the Aztecs have attacked Bowie and his men. Dennis Holcomb is a Vietnam Vet but has just found that he has only three months to live. So when a man from the future gives him a chance to die for a good cause, he takes it.
I enjoyed all these stories. Rusch writes longer stories and their mood is often more somber than Smith's work. Of course, in historical fiction Rusch often writes from the point-of-view of non-white people who tend to be oppressed. I enjoy her style a lot.
Smith's work, at least in this collection, is more upbeat and most of his stories have romance in them. Their styles complement each other very well.
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