Someone in Time: Tales of Time-Crossed Romance edited by Jonathan Strahan

I would like to thank Jess at Solaris for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for fair and honest review

Publisher – Solaris

Published – 10/5

Price – £9.99 paperback £5.99 Kindle eBook

Even time travel can’t unravel love

Time-travel is a way for writers to play with history and imagine different futures – for better, or worse.

When romance is thrown into the mix, time-travel becomes a passionate tool, or heart-breaking weapon. A time agent in the 22nd century puts their whole mission at risk when they fall in love with the wrong person. No matter which part of history a man visits, he cannot not escape his ex. A woman is desperately in love with the time-space continuum, but it doesn’t love her back. As time passes and falls apart, a time-traveller must say goodbye to their soulmate.

With stories from best-selling and award-winning authors such as Seanan McGuire, Alix E. Harrow and Nina Allan, this anthology gives a taste for the rich treasure trove of stories we can imagine with love, loss and reunion across time and space.

Including stories by: Alix E. Harrow, Zen Cho, Seanan McGuire, Sarah Gailey, Jeffrey Ford, Nina Allan, Elizabeth Hand, Lavanya Lakshminarayan, Catherynne M. Valente, Sam J. Miller, Rowan Coleman, Margo Lanagan, Sameem Siddiqui, Theodora Goss, Carrie Vaughn, Ellen Klages

At some point in our lives we’ll hear the words ‘there is someone for everyone’.A strange phrase because at that moment we don’t know who that person is or when we’ll meet them. It could be next week, year or never and just then start processing the idea the person you are a match for hasn’t been born yet or died centuries ago! But deep down we seek a happy ending or at the very least the lovers to finally meet and that idea of love and time travel makes the excellent anthology Someone in Time: Tales of Time-Crossed Romance edited by Jonathan Strahan work so beautifully as a galaxy of top class writers provide tales to entertain, make us sigh and watch some sparks finally fly.

Among the many stories I enjoyed were:

Roadside Attraction by Alix E Harrow – a young man has his heart broken by a girl and he decides to lose himself in the local cheap time-travel attraction and find a new love. A beautiful opening tale about how sometimes love is not always going to be an adventure but sometimes is something more comfortable and that isn’t something to feared. I really liked how the reader is made a little more aware than our main character as to what is happening as love slowly blooms.

The Past Life Reconstruction Service by Zen Cho  - Rui a famous film director has broken up with his boyfriend and now finds himself alone and short of inspiration. He has decided to try the new time travel device that allows you to experience your past lives but surprises and a soulmate await. A wonderful tale that balances the emption of people who are in love with a fine dose of humour, but the key message is that sometimes you just know this person is the one that’s worth putting your heart on the line for and I also loved Cho’s various episodes in history that brough some powerful emotional depth.

First Aid by Seanan McGuire – This is a rollercoaster of a tale as we watch our main character prepare herself for time travel to Elizabethan England knowing she is never to return home or to her family. McGuire paints a dark future where disease, cruelty and poverty are hard and so agreeing to be a time travel research tool on a one-way trip is the only way to save her family. That first half is dark, pressured and you can almost taste the desperation of our lead but then the story flips beautifully and the ending is both joyous and a reminder there will always be hope for a better future. One of my favourites.

I Remember Satellites by Sarah Gailey – Gailey creates a story where time agents have to save history and sometimes get sent on short straw missions to never return from. Our lead now single agrees to become the love of a obnoxious prince and make him abdicate a throne (no possible real life analogies here I am sure). But she finds her old girlfriend is also working in the same time zone for a different mission. As well as the interesting world of time agents I loved the way these two ex-lovers strike up a new relationship amongst their sperate missions and leaves a question on can they succeed and say goodbye one final time? Loved this tale that focused on the scenes between the big adventures both characters are involved with.

The Golden Hour by Jeffrey Ford – This is the most eerie of the stories as our young writer is bewitched by the town’s strange resident who claims he is a time traveller. Their interactions suggest it is possible to travel through time by the power of memory. It’s a swirling enigmatic tale that slowly unwraps its central mystery and makes you revisit all you’ve read so far. Beautiful and yet haunting.

Kronia by Elizabeth Hand - This is a short powerful trip through possible futures where two potential lovers meet or never meet across their lives from growing up to potential time wars or just interludes around 9/11. Its brisk and really captures that sense of how you never know when that one person can grow into your life and there therefore may be all the near misses where you never do cross paths. Brilliantly delivered and another one of my favourites.

Bergamot  and Vetiver by Lavanya Lakshminarayan – This feels like epic SF time travel where a lead character in a future where water s scarce and society collapses makes her way to the ancient city of Mel’or and its wise king to discover their secrets of water management. But secrets on both sides will be revealed with devastating consequences. A reminder that civilisations in the past are often not primitive but highly innovative and may have lessons for our future which sadly we may also choose to ignore. A really powerful story as its final scenes are played out.

Unabashed, or: Jackson, Whose Cowardice Tore A Hole in the Chroniverse by Sam J Miller – a short and beautiful poignant tale of love, missed chances and a bittersweet ability to fix them. A young man’s first love at college with his boyfriend will end in many many ways. I loved the way Miller create that sense of love but as we find out what happened next the tale really manages a difficult mix of hope and sadness at the outcomes to come. Another favourite story in the collection.

Romance; Historical by Rowan Coleman - A young bookseller in modern London realises she is getting secret messages from the past by an apparent ghost who leaves words in the form of book titles. A charming tale of two people finding they work in the same place but decades apart but while we love the way this relationship blossoms then we start to realise the dangers on the horizon as the past marches to its future. The way the story goes from light and fluffy to something truly poignant is really well structured and an impressive piece of storytelling.

A Letter to Merlin by Theodora Goss – My favourite story is this unusual letter written by Guinevere to Merlin but revealing neither is who they are. As well as a picture of Arthurian legends we also get a dark far future world where ethe future is trying to be saved. The ideas, future histories and structure of the story is big and smart SF that really is impressively delivered in short story form and is ultimately a tale of love, respect and hope for a better future.

Dead Poets by Carrie Vaughn – A tricky tale to tell you about as various unexpected events are key to the way the story works but its about meeting your heroes, the power of love and art to stay with us or inspire us and how past and future are curiously interwoven.

Time Gypsy by Ellen Klages - Finishing the collection is a glorious story that is also Klage’s first tale (from 1998) telling us of an gay academic in 2006 who agrees to travel to 1956 to get a research paper from her idol a famous scientist who in a few days will tragically and mysteriously die. As well as a beautiful mystery and indeed romance as these two characters connect we explore the homophobia of the 1950s, sexism in science and a ticking clock as doom gets closer. It is though charming, smart and throws a few surprises at the reader that makes it’s a wonderful way to end this book.

As you can see a top-class anthology that I absolutely loved. The ingenuity and variety of tales to use these concepts by many of our finest writers make this a tale to enjoy and warm your heart. Science fiction is often told it is all about the head than the heart this collection reminds us that is very much not the case. Go get it!