Ruth and Ann’s Guide to Time Travel Volume 1, edited by Ann Stolinsky, Ruth Littner, and Cindy Snyder (Celestial Echo Press, August 2024)

This anthology contains stories written by 21 authors. They were given the theme of time travel, and their imaginations took them all in various directions. The Foreword is written by Steve Davidson from Amazing Stories magazine. Jonathan Maberry wrote an exclusive Joe Ledger story for this anthology. Authors  Jonathan Maberry, James Ryan, Teel James Glenn, David C. Strickler, Phil Giunta, Joanne McLaughlin, Gordon Linzner, Judith Field, Carol Gyzander, Ken Altabef, Charles Barouch, Grigory Lukin, Gary Every, Ef Deal, Neal Wiser, Brenda W. Clough, Daniel Lumpkin, John Bukowski, Stephen W. Chappell, Karen Eisenbrey, Jon McGoran.

What happens when an unscrupulous man tries to terraform a world? Read Jon McGoran’s Time Changes Everything.
Can  ghost travel through time? Find out in Charles Barouch’s It Started at the Never Mind
Joe Ledger saves the world in Jonathan Maberry’s Against That Time, if Ever That Time Come, an exclusive to this anthology
 A hapless scientist breaks time, creating a nightmare scenario where people are forced to exist in multiple timelines simultaneously. in Ken Altabef’s Schrödinger’s Razor

My Review:

This anthology is an entertaining collection of 21 time-travel stories in a range of genres: spy thriller, detective story, workplace comedy, romance, space adventure, dystopia, and more. Each explores in its own way reasons time travel might be useful, how it could go wrong (or right), and all the ways the concept can bend our brains. Full disclosure: I am one of the authors.

“Against That Time, If Ever That Time Come” by Jonathan Maberry
A secret agent works to destroy a time machine hidden at Chernobyl before it can be used to change the outcome of WWII, and receives aid from an unexpected ally from his own past. A thriller with a heartwarming/breaking twist.

“The Rooftop Session” by James Ryan
This comic tale explores a sillier use of time travel as fans from the future crowd rooftops to experience an iconic concert, utterly failing to be sneaky or blend in.

“The Legend of Wyatt Ape!” by Teel James Glenn
In a fun blend of sci-fi, history, and comedy, time police in the guise of a medicine show travel back to the OK Corral to prevent another time traveler from killing Wyatt Earp.

“Buried Beneath the Gallows” by David C. Strickler
A scientist and his assistant use a possibly unsafe time machine in an attempt to prevent a deadly human-made pandemic by murdering the person responsible well in advance. This thought-provoking story raises all kinds of disturbing ethical questions.

“A Thorne in Time” by Phil Giunta
A detective and the sister of a serial killer’s victim use a time machine to try to stop the killer before his first murder, creating new timelines with different lists of victims each time they fail. This was an engaging, high-stakes way to explore the idea of branching timelines and butterfly effects of small actions in the past having big impacts in the future.

“Way, Way Out of the Building” by Joanne McLaughlin
An aging, widowed Elvis impersonator suddenly finds himself back in the 1970s, in high school, with his life to live over again—differently, if he chooses. This one would be a musical if produced in a theatrical medium. I liked that the main character was not in control of the time travel; did not even know how it happened or whether it could be undone. Fascinating to consider whether his whole future would change if he made different choices this time around.

“Privileged Inca Nations” by Gordon Linzner
Annie Oakley, General Sun Tzu, and King Tut travel back to the Inca Empire to obtain something for the mysterious person who brought them together for this mission. This story left more questions hanging than it answered, leading me to believe it is part of a larger work.

“Somewhere, Somewhen” by Judith Field
A time-traveling extortionist damages a widow’s car and demands payment so it won’t happen again. She can’t pay the fee or stop the attacks … unless she can send a message to the future. The warm family story interrupted by the lowlife criminal has everything to do with the clever way the main character gets out of her difficulties.

“Time for Adventure” by Carol Gyzander
A man with no time to read wins a prize: a coin that allows him to truly experience a book without losing any time in his day-to-day life. As someone who loves to get lost in a good book, I get what a treasure this would be! I want one.

“Schrodinger’s Razor” by Ken Altabef
The first time traveler discovers a bleak future only a week away. Preventing the disaster creates two alternative timelines both occurring simultaneously—the end of world for everyone except the good multitaskers. The clever title hints at the touch of humor woven through an otherwise grim tale.

“It Started at the Never Mind” by Charles Barouch
The ghost of a wannabe detective gets caught up in a mad scientist’s scheme to commit time crime. A ghost sleuth is a fun idea all on its own, and giving him an active role in a time-travel plot cranks up the weirdness.

“How to Prepare for Time Travelers in the Workplace” by Grigory Lukin
This drily humorous business document provides a step-by-step guide for identifying and dealing with possible time travelers in any type of workplace throughout history. I loved the wacky specificity and Douglas Adams-like tone.

“Tadpole’s Time Travel” Gary Every
A contemporary man in need of funds takes part in dream research and accidentally swaps consciousness with a hunter-gatherer millennia in the past, resulting in parallel fish-out-of-water tales as each experiences the other’s strange reality. I found the powerful dreams and anthropology-based sci-fi reminiscent of Le Guin.

“Uchronia” by Ef Deal
Unnamed characters from time-travel literature meet in a bar outside of time. Philosophical, yet lively and entertaining.

“Have We Met?” by Neal Wiser
Charlotte keeps repeating her meeting with Larry in a coffeeshop on the day of a solar eclipse, and nothing she tries breaks her out of the loop. This nicely focused Groundhog Day-style tale plays up how maddening a time loop would be.

“The Red-headed League” by Brenda W. Clough
Jack Wragsland passes through a mysterious door and finds himself in another time and place, trapped along with multiple versions of himself from parallel realities. His quest to learn what is going on and how to escape makes for an unnerving thriller.

“The Biography” by Daniel Lumpkin
Vincent receives a copy of his own life story before he’s lived it. Is it a prank, a gift, or a curse to know your own future?

“Literary Time Machine” by John Bukowski
In this moving and heartwarming story, a grieving widower finds a way to relive his relationship with his wife by rereading Stephen King novels published in the years of their marriage.

“Zach and Deke’s Stumbling, Bumbling, Adventure in Time” by Stephen W. Chappell
A pair of bumblers heist a time machine and find themselves in the 1890s in this goofy historical comedy. I like that even the time machine has some personality in this one.

“Sarah’s Assistant” by Karen Eisenbrey
This one’s mine. Retirees are ferried to the past to assist themselves with work backlog, with unexpected results in the future.

“Time Changes Everything” by Jon McGoran
A spoiled and lazy young man with inside information thinks he can make his fortune by terraforming an uninhabitable planet using a method that would be illegal and disastrous if there had been life on the world. A cautionary tale with an unlikable but entertaining protagonist.