Excerpt
Man, last week is gonna be a hoot!
If that's confusing, you should stay away from time travel.
Okay, so time travel is still in the realm of science fiction and fantasy, which is probably a good thing. I mean, I for one have enough trouble keeping my to-do list organized in a single direction.
But reading about time travel? And writing it? Those are all kinds of fun!
Which brings me to this collection.
For Misbehaving Time, I wanted stories where people get shot forward. Where the clock runs backward. And where one poor guy stays put, while other times come to him.
Where time misbehaves, in other words, without any mad-scientist tinkering. Where the gods or the universe take their eye off the ball for a second (see? Time reference!) and things get strange.
Of course, now that I've said that, I should mention that the first story, "A Visit From the Temporal Mechanic," actually has the time crew stepping in to give a young man (and his best friend) a better week ahead than he might have had otherwise.
"The Power of Positive Alchemy" takes a very surprised engineering student back to the olden days of Saxon Romania. Don't worry about any Transylvania references, all stories here are vampire-free. For me, the actual history of the area is a lot more interesting, especially when seen through modern eyes.
Next, in "Writing the Past" a cowboy with an unfairly checkered past finds himself somewhere he never could have imagined, and gets the chance to rewrite his own story.
"Special Delivery" is one of my favorite stories. I mean, if you're someone who absolutely hates anything out of the ordinary, someone who needs routine and sameness to be happy, then time's hijinks can really mess with your day.
The volume closes with "Breakin' Up Christmas," a story that blends the time-travel theme with an old Appalachian tradition many modern folks have never heard of. The Cosmic Clock-Setter gives a grandson one last chance to give someone a very special gift. This story is troublesome for me. It always puts a little sand in my eye.
So come along with Jeff, William, Lije, Ted, and Richard as they navigate the tangled threads of Ye Olde Space-Time Continuum. Grab a seat, a beverage, maybe some snacks. It might be a long trip.
Don't worry, you have plenty of time. Someone (or something) made sure of that next month.