Do the Trains Run on Time? by Paul Starkey

I would like to thank the author for a copy of this collection in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Kindle

Published – out now

Price - £0.99 Kindle eBook free on Kindle Unlimited

An England that could be today, could be tomorrow, or could even be yesterday , has been invaded by a faceless implacable enemy, and for a lucky few the only escape is via refugee train, but time is running out for one group of evacuees waiting at a lonely railway station where they meet themselves menaced by a monstrous creature.

…Do The Trains Run on Time? blends science fiction with horror and is accompanied by nine short stories each of which has time as a central theme; from countdowns to time travel, from the distant past to the far future.

So over the last few years I have really got to enjoy a regular read of short story collections. I like the variety and the way writers can use a limited format to create often very unique tales. Play with narrative, plot and create unique characters in just a few pages. They’re different reading experiences to novels – a delicious snack or a wonderful three-minute pop song – that’s the best way of describing what I get out of them. In the current climate when I’m strangely distracted for some reason I’ve really fell into them to get my reading mojo back. I was very pleased that Paul Starkey’s Do The Trains Run on Time? gave me a fine selection of hits to enjoy with some delicious surprises

The longest tale in the collection provides the title for the collection and it is a story that constantly surprises you. We meet the mysterious Harry Flint fleeing a war and arriving on foot at one of the last train stations with a ticket to escape the oncoming conflict. We then meet traditional British squaddies guarding the outpost and Harry finds himself with a selection of other refugees awaiting a bid for freedom. What I loved about the story is it is not what you think – slight unusual wording may catch your eye and just when you think you’ve got the shape of the story, you’ll be wrong footed. It excellently constructed and provides thrills, tension and an intriguing puzzle. Well worth reading just for this tale alone.

But luckily Starkey provides quite a few more gems so your reading experience gets extended. Amongst these I enjoyed particularly: -

The Delicate Art of Deep Space Negotiation – our narrator is a corporate executive called on an unusual urgent mission to a small tiny planet called Proclex. Our narrator is engaging and a little mischievous – what I enjoyed about this was the playing of negotiations between working people and the bosses and the hope we may finally have a corporate deep space exec who isn’t ruthless beyond compare. The ending is both sharp and smart.

Tempus Stultitia – Ian Parker Lau is a undergrad student called to an academic review meeting in 2077 to discuss his latest dissertation. By 2077 time travel exists and Ian is studying Theoretical History. This provides both a wonderful exploration of as-is history and consequences and a delicious final pay-off for the smug student.

Folding Back the Years – This story is a weird ride into an alternate 1970 where again time travel is used as we have a lone traveller from the 27th century stuck in the middle of a changing timeline. I loved the uncertainty of an alternate U.K. history that doesn’t actually exist and we face into the danger that the country is now in. It’s a story with a sense of menace and the unknown while also providing a sense of what an external temporal observer might be feeling watching time change around them.

The Astronaut’s Son - this was another of my favourites. A young boy is told by his dad that his father is about to enter a new secret government project testing the laws of relativity. He will see him less and yet he won’t age. It’s a story about parents and that moment you discover they aren’t infallible gods but this story hides a darker secret which really works well.

Habeas Corpus – offers an intriguing idea of a future time travel black market in possessing famous historical figures that gets mixed with a tale of a young woman and a bad relationship with her father. Quite unusual.

It’s a very strong collection which I really enjoyed getting sucked into and I think if you enjoy SF that plays with the classical ideas then this would be a fine collection to settle into for a few hours. Definitely recommended!