#Someone in Time

[ghostintheheadset]

So I picked up a short story anthology recently, which I don't normally do, and I thought it'd be fun to go through and do little reviews of each piece. I've always been a longform fiction girlie and it couldn't hurt to look a little closer and see what makes shorter fiction work.

The anthology is Someone in Time, containing stories about time travel romance, here's the 4 that I read today:

1: Roadside Attraction, by Alix Harrow

The Time Travel: A strange rock in the woods that sends you to some random time and place in the past, then eventually back to the present. Or not.

The Romance: Floyd, a young man recently broken up with, and Edmund, the groundskeeper.

I think this was a good choice to have as the first piece, because as far as time travel stories go, it's pretty straightforward. "Young man goes out into the world seeking adventure, and is still left wanting, because he doesn't realize that what he's looking for is right in front of him", but with time travel. Notably, his adventures in the past are largely glossed over, most of them being described in a sentence or less, which is to the benefit of the piece's theming. Floyd's characterized as a man looking for adventure and never finding what he needs, so those adventures being summed up as "two hours he spent swearing and almost dying", "he made out with a pirate", "he spent a week hungry" adds to that vibe.

His arc is, as an extent of this, very predictable. He spends months traveling to different time periods looking for some grand destiny, and at the end of the story, he'll realize "oh actually, I'm gay for the groundskeeper that's always here to greet me when I come home, and living in the present is all I need, actually." I don't find that to the story's detriment, though, it is a romance- it doesn't matter if you figure out the destination early.

I'm not handing out stars or rating these out of ten or anything. I liked it.

2: The Past Life Reconstruction Service, by Zen Cho

The Time Travel: A service that lets people experience half-hour snippets of past lives.

The Romance: Rui, a washed-up film director, and Yiu Leung, his ex and soulmate.

I may be a little guilty of "rating" this higher than I maybe should, simply because I like the concept of past lives in fiction a lot. Rui looks into the past five times, and each time he recognizes Yiu Leung as an important person to him, rubbing salt in the wound of their recent breakup. Soulmates can be a little hit-or-miss for me, so I appreciate that Rui doesn't try to make amends with Yiu Leung just because their soulmates, but because he sees how important Yiu Leung has been in his past lives, and the repeated encounters make him realize "oh, I fucked this up bad and I want to make amends".

Much like Roadside Attraction, the time travel functions as less of a plot element and more of a narrative tool to help the main character learn the lesson they need to learn. Plotwise there wasn't too too much going on, we learn about the fight between Rui and Yiu Leung that caused them to breakup, and Rui encounters him at the end and makes the effort to get back together. Big chunks of the text are spent in past lives, but fortunately, I found them pretty interesting. It starts with the good old "angst-filled wartime setting", but then moves on to "Rui and Yiu Leung are both women married to the same nobleman carrying out and illicit romance", and later, "Rui is a cow and Yiu Leung is a fly who won't leave him alone". Honestly that one bit is kinda carrying for me, it was very short but I'm going to be thinking about that one for a while.

3: First Aid, by Seanan McGuire

The Time Travel: An early 22nd century agency that sends people back in time to better study overlooked aspects of various time periods, to then send their observations back the long way. Operatives spend years learning about the time period they're going to live in, getting reconstructive surgery to better learn the part, and as they can't be compensated the agency instead provides for one person of their choosing for life.

The Romance: Taylor, a researcher going back to the past, and Marianne, a woman from the 90s she falls in love with.

"Hey ghost, why'd you spend so much more time describing the time travel here" because that's what reading the story's like. Marianne isn't introduced until 2/3rds of the way through the story, and so much more time is spent on explaining the circumstances and purposes of Taylor going back in time. And it's not that these things aren't interesting, but it leads to the story being so unbalanced that the romance feels barely there in comparison. If the story had opened on Taylor landing in the past, and meeting Marianne soon after, and her backstory had been explored through comparisons between her past future life and her present past life, that could've led for so much more time for Taylor and Marianne's relationship to develop.

The best way I can summarize it is that First Aid so badly wants to be a novella at least, and can't properly fold itself into the constraints of a short story. The funny twist near the end is that Taylor's supposed to go to the 1500s, and instead lands at a ren faire in 1996 with no way home. In a longer story, the repercussions of this could be properly explored, but instead, we have Taylor internally panicking about both the immediate and long-term repercussions, but the former are skipped over and the story ends before the latter can become relevant. For the purposes of the short, this didn't need to happen- if Taylor landed in the 1500s and met a woman there, the overall plot would be unchanged, and there'd be much more time for her relationship with Marianne to feel like a relationship.

4. I Remember Satellites, by Sarah Gailey

The Time Travel: A time travel agent goes to the past on a lifelong mission to alter the course of history by marrying a prince and keeping him from the throne.

The Romance: Violet, a time agent, and Dani, another agent sent on an overlapping mission.

First point, why was this immediately after First Aid lmao, if you have two "woman working for a time travel org goes back in time to spend the rest of her life there and falls in love with another woman there" stories, space them out a bit!

Of the four I read so far, I think this one did the best job of integrating time travel, making it deeply necessary to the plot and character arcs without it overstepping. Violet, leaving to spend the rest of her life with a man who sucks, struggles with having to forget her life in the future and being forgotten by the people she knew. She and Dani aren't supposed to be in the same place at the same time, interacting with other agents on missions is expressly forbidden due to the likelihood of operatives breaking character when they're not completely immersed, but naturally she holds on to Dani both as a lover and as the only tangible reminder of the life she used to live.

As such, the story takes two routes towards being a forbidden romance- which is to its benefit, because as Violet points out, it's not as if her bosses can punish her when she's already on a mission that's going take up the rest of her life. While that is initially a compelling reason for Dani, I as a reader was more open to Violet's perspective, but the fact that she was married to a shitty prince helped keep the appeal of a forbidden romance going despite that. While I'm not expecting a full capital-R Romance from short stories like these, this was the closest to it in the collection so far, and I felt Dani played a larger role in the story than most of the other love interests (though Edmund is also a contender!). I'd say this is my favorite in the anthology so far, though there's certainly plenty more to go.

#book reviews #books #romance review #time travel #queer lit #Someone in Time

[excavatinglizard]

What time is it? It’s ✨Lizard talks about queer sci-fi✨ once again!

Hello hello, after well over six months I’m back with another set of book recommendations! Trying to pull this together was honestly a good way of convincing myself to read more, and since the last installment I’ve read…41 books? So you know, it worked.

Do you like queer sci-fi? Do you see the same books recommended everywhere? Well I’m here to scour local bookshops and slowly consume their entire stock for you!

Anyway, this is another ten books I’ve loved, and specifically my:

Top ten queer speculative fiction (since April)

(Speculative fiction because even this many books isn’t enough to have ten good queer space operas. In fact, I’ve only read seven space operas in general!)

This list includes:

Last Exit, by Max Gladstone

A Psalm for the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers

This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Ancestral Night, by Elizabeth Bear

Even Greater Mistakes, by Charlie Jane Anders

The Darkness Outside Us, by Elliot Schrefer

Murderbot, by Martha Wells

Someone In Time, edited by Jonathon Strahan

Our Wives Under the Sea, by Julia Armfield

Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir

Once again, I originally wrote this on my Instagram so some of my thoughts and reviews are below the cut :)

(This time with alt text!!)

If you’ve read any of these or read any because of me, feel free to come chat!! And if you have any suggestions for me I’ll totally check them out too (thank you to everyone who hounded me into reading Gideon, it’s now the defining facet of my personality /half joking)

Now go forth, and read!

#queer scifi #book recs #Gideon the ninth #Murderbot #Becky chambers #dumb shit i do #yup here’s some more books. if you enjoy any come and scream in my inbox I will gleefully scream back #elizabeth bear #our wives under the sea #the darkness outside us #someone in time #charlie jane anders #max Gladstone

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Someone in Time | Author: Jonathan Strahan | Publisher: Solaris (2022)

#books #Someone in Time #Jonathan Strahan

[vgriffindor]

October reading. 🍂🍎📚

#october reads #carmilla #someone in time #the inheritance of orquidea divina #payback’s a witch #a rip through time #nettle & bone #the once and future witches

[just-spacetrash]

the 'what if you played it a little risky' post literally Changed my life but i cant fujkign find it in my blog because its. a tiktok screenshot

#like literally every time ive hesitated sending a text or complimenting someone or stuff ive thought of it #like youre right. what if i played it a little risky what do i have to lose in doing a nice thing!!!!!! ur so right!!!!!!!! #but its forever lost cos i cant search it with any words cause its an image #misery and pain. you know how it is #my post

[shoomlah]

I have a feeling that beneath the little halo on your noble head There lies a thought or two the devil might be interested to know You're like the finish of a novel that I'll finally have to take to bed You fascinate me so

You Fascinate Me So, Blossom Dearie

#good omens #gomens #good omens s2 #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable husbands #my art #made with stolen time over the course of two extremely busy months but I'm so glad its done #Aziraphale's reading a first folio obviously #cones of dunshire voice: it's about the DETAILS #extremely excited to introduce everyone to this song about DEEPLY YEARNING for someone who annoys the hell out of you #its a banger

[ursulaklegay]

its so scary to put yourself out there but a SINGLE message saying "hi i loved what you made it touched me in some way" makes it all worth it 10000%

#as a writer every time someone dms me saying thank you for what you do its like no THANK YOU for reading it and telling me #writing #art

[noelledeltarune]

EVERY SINGLE DAY there are MILLIONS of characters in their late 20s who get falsely accused of being father figures to teenagers when in reality the description of "weird older cousin" or "step-sibling that moved out before you were born" is 1000000x more apt

#talk tag #IT KILLS ME. REIGEN IS NOT MOB'S DAD. HE HAS A DAD. INGO IS NOT AKARI'S DAD. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CAN ANYONE HEAR ME #(not even necessarily to say that ingo is in his late 20s but still) #(even if he was a 30-40-50 year old no matter how old he is no fucking teenager is gonna call some guy they met as a 15 year old ''dad'') #GAI IS NOT A FATHER FIGURE TO ROCK LEE HE WAS LIKE 13 WHEN HE WAS BORN! PLEASE!!!!!!!! #one time i saw that a ​person wrote a fic where mario was like a father figure to luigi. #they are TWIN BROTHERS. #not what this about but idk where else i can say anything about this. #just horrible #also sometimes someone is just An Older Friend like no familial relationship just a friend or acquaintance who is a lot older than you

[thatbuddie]

people telling you they reread your fic is the biggest compliment you could ever receive. there are thousands of stories out there begging to be found, to be explored, but your story meant so much to someone that they came back to it eagerly, they went over every word again. to love is to return and loving a fic is rereading it. thank you to all readers and rereaders <3333

#post sponsored by someone commenting on my newest fic that they reread it only a day after the first time #.text

[wildbasil]

things haven't been great but i think they will be. eventually 🌻🌼🩷

#personal #comics #tw abuse #digital art #personal comic #for the record no i don't think my mother loves me #but the idea that she did kept me in an awful situation for a very long time #the number of times people said “she's your mother. she's trying her best. of course she loves you” etc etc #but i don't think “love” and abuse are mutually exclusive #like even if someone DOES love you it doesn't mean it's not abuse and it doesn't mean it's ok #art tag

[stil-lindigo]

lead balloon (the tumblr post that saved me)

if this comic resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you donated to this palestinian family's escape fund.

--

no creative notes because this isn't that kind of comic.

I know I don’t owe any of you anything but I still felt compelled to write about my long term absence. And I feel far enough away from the dangerous spot I was in to be able to make this comic. I have a therapist now, and she agreed that making this could be a very cathartic gesture, and the start of properly leaving these thoughts behind me. I am still, at seemingly random times, blindsided by fleeting desires to kill myself. They’re always passing urges, but it’s disarming, and uncomfortable. I worry sometimes that my brain’s spent so long thinking only about suicide that it’s forgotten how to think about anything else. Like, now that I've opened that door for myself, I'll never be able to fully shut it again. But I’m trying my best to encourage my mind in other directions. We'll see how that goes.

I am still donating all proceeds from my store to Palestinian causes. So far, I've donated over $15K, not including donations coming from my own pocket or the fundraising streams which jointly raised around $10K. In the time since I made my initial post about where this money would be going, the focus has shifted from aid organisations to directly donating to escape funds.

If you'd like to do the same, you can look at Operation Olive Branch, which hosts hundreds of Palestinian escape funds or donate to Safebow, which has helped facilitate the safe crossing and securing of important medical procedures for over 150 at-risk palestinians since the beginning of the genocide.

#cw: suicidal ideation #cw: suicide #cw: self harm #cw: mental health #cw: depression #i made the balloon the main representation of my self destructive urges for a reason but im not going to explain it #i tried to keep a lot of the details in this vague #it would be my worst nightmare if this comic encouraged someone to hurt themselves #so. please dont #for a long time even the thought of making this comic felt so insipid and narcissistic #with the state of the world as it is #having the only threat to your life be yourself felt so privileged and trite and shameful #but doing this comic made me sit down and process things in full #and im just. very grateful i didn't give in to my thoughts back when i sincerely felt i'd be more useful to the world dead #i also feel the need to say that this wont represent everyone's battle with mental illness. its unfortunately different for all of us #there is no fix-all #and im afraid this might be one of those comics that either resonates a lot or misses the target by a mile #i made it for myself foremost. and now that its done im glad i did it #thank you for reading #and please stay alive #stillindigo art #stillindigo comics

[ruporas]

dragon meat, you, and me

#marcille donato #falin touden #farcille #dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #tw blood #tw body horror #tw gore #as a normal farcille fan this revival has been on my mind since i first read it and getting to watch it is like yippee!! #like messy revivals are everything - the consequences that will haunt u for the rest of the time they are alive #the initial hopeful moments where it all seemed well but quickly descend to That not being the case - losing not only the bit of evidence #evidence that your dream may work out but also someone you deeply care about in the process… marcille my Beloved #ofc wholly thruout the journey - at the forefront of it - getting falin back was the most crucial point but so wuickly :(( it was lost #on the other end its crazy to think about the compoments of falin now - human - dragon (dungeon) - marcille’s magic and desperation #the food the crew cooked (digested) - she is made of many parts!! #also i did not realize how medical it feels to draw smth like this. i dont usually explore the inner parts or use a lot of blood #in my work so rendering everything and looking up refs it felt quite magical (?) #ruporas art

[baejax-the-great]

#hades game #hades 2 #hades ii #hades #shit posting time again #though I wouldn't be surprised if someone already did a better version of this #zagreus #melinoe #if you hate on zagreus in my notes you suck btw #homer has a golden child

[noknowshame]

why is religious Christmas imagery all so joyful and pleasant? where is the inherent horror of the birth of Christ? A mother is handed her newborn child, wailing and innocent. Her hands come away sticky. Red. Simply by giving her son life she has already killed him. He is doomed from the beginning. Her love will not save him from suffering. Because the thing cradled in her arms is not a baby, it is a sacrifice: born amongst the other bleating animals whose blood will one day be spilled in the name of what demands it. the night is silent with anticipation. Mary, did you know? That your womb was also a grave?

#instant conversation enders for my multiple youth pastor cousins #don’t say it (I’m gonna say it) #The Child is The Price #but i mean come on #as someone who isn't actually even christian the real-life historical version of this is still cursed as fuck #i mean we know that jesus was a person who existed. whatever circumstances he was born in #its terrifyingly ominous to imagine being so unaware of the affect your child will have on the future of humanity #time itself will one day be counted around your birth of him #and all because he will suffer an excruciatingly painful death that you will not be able to prevent #not only that. but regardless of his or your intentions #regardless of whether there is a god #for millenea unfathomable millions will have blood spilled and will spill blood in his name #atrocities will be committed that you cannot even conceive of #and all on his and your behalf #you love your child. its beautiful. but there's horror in what you've done. because everyone else will love him too #and what's more dangerous than that?

[hattersarts]

im already at the south downs cottage guys, catch up

#good omens #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #crowley #they're nb in the flavour of being lesbian gay men bc its such a lesbian move to pine for someone for a few thousands years #and literally not make a move #PLUS u know when they have sex it takes like 9hrs and if you wrote what they did down on paper it really wouldnt look like much #but they still had to take intensity breaks bc they kept getting overwhelmed and then just making out for an hour #thank u for coming to my ted talk #high amounts of gender of all types happening all the time with these two

[batneko]

okay okay okay one more dungeon meshi thought

I keep seeing people saying Falin is "better at social cues" than Laios. Y'all she's just quiet. 😭 She just keeps her mouth shut. 😭😭 Girl was proposed to, said "let me think about it," and then did not even tell her own brother. She doesn't know what's going on either she's just quieter about it!!! 😭😭😭

#speaking as someone who ALSO has no idea what's going on at any time and is too afraid to ask #dungeon meshi #it's a spoiler for the manga but she also left marcille at magic school for five years and just thought that would be fine #it was but only because Marcille loves her too much to hold a grudge against HER #and so transferred her grudge to laios