FORGOTTEN BOOKS #327: TIME TRAVELER’S ALMANAC Edited By Ann & Jeff VanderMeer

TIME TRAVELER'S ALMANAC
If I had to recommend one Time Travel anthology, Time Traveler’s Almanac would be my choice. This massive 948-page volume includes a wide range of Time Travel stories. The classics are well represented, but there are plenty of unfamiliar stories to discover. And the VanderMeers aren’t afraid to include multiple stories by a single writer (like Kage Baker for example)–a rarity in anthologies like this. If you check out the Table of Contents you’ll see some stories you instantly recognize, but plenty you don’t. That’s the fun of a huge collection like this: discovering new writers and new stories. If you’re a fan of Time Travel, you’ll love Time Traveler’s Almanac!
STORIES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY AUTHOR:
“Young Zaphod Plays It Safe” by Douglas Adams
“Terminós” by Dean Francis Alfar
“What If?” by Isaac Asimov
“Noble Mold” by Kage Baker
“A Night on the Barbary Coast” by Kage Baker
“Life Trap” by Barrington J. Bayley
“This Tragic Glass” by Elizabeth Bear
“Enoch Soames: A Memory of the Eighteen-Nineties” by Max Beerbohm
“The Most Important Thing in the World” by Steve Bein
“In The Tube” by E. F. Benson
“The Mask of the Rex” by Richard Bowes
“A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury
“Bad Timing” by Molly Brown
“The Gulf of the Years” by George-Olivier Châteaureynaud
“The Threads of Time” by C. J. Cherryh
“Thirty Seconds From Now” by John Chu
“Palindromic” by Peter Crowther
“Domine” by Rjurik Davidson
“The Lost Continent” by Greg Egan
“The Gernsback Continuum” by William Gibson
“3 RMS, Good View” by Karen Haber
“Message in a Bottle” by Nalo Hopkinson
“The Great Clock” by Langdon Jones
“Hwang’s Billion Brilliant Daughters” by Alice Sola Kim
“On the Watchtower at Plataea” by Garry Kilworth
“Time Gypsies” by Ellen Klages
“Vintage Season” by Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore
“At Dorado” by Geoffrey A. Landis
“Ripples in the Dirac Sea” by Geoffrey Landis
“The Final Days” by David Langford
“Fish Night” by Joe Lansdale
“As Time Goes By” by Tanith Lee
“Another Story” by Ursula K. Le Guin
“Loob” by Bob Leman
“Alexia and Graham Bell” by Rosaleen Love
“Traveller’s Rest” by David I. Masson
“Death Ship” by Richard Matheson
“Under Siege” by George R. R. Martin
“The Clock That Went Backwards” by Edward Page Mitchell
“Pale Rose” by Michael Moorcock
“The House that Made the Sixteen Loops of Time” by Tamsyn Muir
“Is There Anybody There?” by Kim Newman
“Come-From-Aways” by Tony Pi
“The Time Telephone” by Adam Roberts
“Red Letter Day” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
“The Waitabits” by Eric Frank Russell
“If Ever I Should Leave You” by Pamela Sargent
“How the Future Got Better” by Eric Schaller
“Needle in a Timestack” by Robert Silverberg
“Delhi” by Vandana Singh
“Himself in Anachron” by Cordwainer Smith
“The Weed of Time” by Norman Spinrad
“Palimpsest” by Charlie Stross
“Yesterday Was Monday” by Theodore Sturgeon
“Triceratops Summer” by Michael Swanwick
“The Mouse Ran Down” by Adrian Tchaikovsky
“Augusta Prima” by Karin Tidbeck
“Twenty-One and Counting Up” by Harry Turtledove
“Forty, Counting Down” by Harry Turtledove
“Where or When” by Steven Utley
“Swing Time” by Carrie Vaughn
excerpt from The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
“Fire Watch” by Connie Willis
“Against the Lafayette Escadrille” by Gene Wolfe
“The Lost Pilgrim” by Gene Wolfe
Non-Fiction[edit]
“Introduction” by Rian Johnson
“Music for Time Travelers” by Jason Heller
“Time Travel in Theory and Practice” by Stan Love
“Trousseau: Fashion for Time Travelers” by Genevieve Valentine
“Top Ten Tips for Time Travelers” by Charles Yu

THE TIME TRADERS By Andre Norton

the time traders
I’m pretty sure The Time Traders by Andre Norton (aka, Alice Mary Norton) was the first time travel novel I ever read. And, of course, I’ve read it numerous times over the years. The main character is a criminal called Ross Murdock. Murdock is given a choice: undergo a new medical procedure called Rehabilitation or volunteer to join a secret government project. Hoping for a chance to escape, Murdock decides to join Operation Retrograde and is taken by Major John Kelgarries to a secret base under the ice near the North Pole. Here, Murdock is teamed with an archaeologist, Gordon Ashe, Murdock undergos training for the role of a trader of the Beaker culture in Bronze-Age Europe. Imagine Murdock’s surprise when he actually travels in time back to the Bronze Age! And, of course, a crashed alien starship enters into the plot. I loved this book as a kid, especially the memorable Virgil Finley cover. Do you remember your first time travel book?
THE TIME TRADER SERIES:
The Time Traders (1958)
Galactic Derelict (1959)
The Defiant Agents (1962)
Key Out of Time (1963)
Firehand (1994) (with Pauline M Griffin)
Echoes in Time (1999) (with Sherwood Smith)
Atlantis Endgame (2002) (with Sherwood Smith)

A WRINKLE IN TIME By Madeleine L’Engle

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I loved A Wrinkle in Time when I was a kid. I must have read it a dozen times over the years. Madeleine L’Engle’s story of Meg Murry, a teenager who attempts to rescue her father who is being held prisoner on another planet, is pure magic. Meg has to travel in time and space on her quest. This is the first SF book I can remember reading where the main character is a young woman. A Wrinkle in Time brought a lot of readers into the science fiction genre. L’Engle wrote more books in the series but none of them is better than the first one. Do you remember reading A Wrinkle in Time as a kid?
TIME QUINTET:
A Wrinkle in Time (1962), (Newbery Award Winner), ISBN 0-374-38613-7
A Wind in the Door (1973), ISBN 0-374-38443-6
A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978), ISBN 0-374-37362-0
Many Waters (1986), ISBN 0-374-34796-4
An Acceptable Time (1989), ISBN 0-312-36858-5

TERMINATOR GENISYS

Terminator-Genisys-Poster-feat-640x445
In the future, machines called Terminators seek to eliminate Humanity. But, the macines are defeated by humans led by John Connor. Yet the machines try another desperate strategy: they use Time Travel to send a Terminator back in time to kill John Connor’s mother (so Conner is never born). That was the plot of the first Terminator movie. But, that attempt on Sarah Conner creates a fractured timeline that threatens the future. Terminator Genisys is a “reboot” of the Terminator series. The threat of murderous machines from the Future has fascinated me from the beginning of this franchise. I’ll be seeing Terminator Genisys tonight. Do you have a favorite Terminator movie?

THE MASKS OF TIME By Robert Silverberg

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the masks of time3
The Masks Of Time2
Welcome to Time Travel Week on this blog! For the next week I’ll be presenting Time Travel books and movies you might find engaging. I’m starting with a Robert Silverberg novel from 1968 where the Future comes to visit us. Vornan-19 appears in Rome on Christmas Day. He claims he’s from the year 2,999–a thousand years in the future. The U. S. Government assembles a team of scientists to study Vornan-19 to determine if he is truly from the future or if he’s just a brilliant con-man pulling off a hoax on the world. Particle physicist Leo Garfield–who has actually moved a particle two seconds into the past–joins the team in hopes of learning the secrets of time-travel from Vornan-19. But the man from the future is vague and enigmatic. The Masks of Time shows a world on the brink of the Millennium looking for direction. The Masks of Time was nominated for a Nebula Award. Time is very tricky in this book!

I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS

I'll see you in my dreams
Blythe Danner plays a widow named Carol whose life changes when two men enter her life. Lloyd, the Pool Guy, is a typical Millennial living with his mother and working a dead-end job. Sam Elliott plays Bill, a member of a nearby retirement community who is smitten by Blythe (what guy wouldn’t be?). I also enjoyed Blythe’s friends: June Squibb, Rhea Perlman, and Mary Kay Place. This is a pleasant movie with a good cast. No surprises. GRADE: B

THE AUDIENCE

THE AUDIENCE
Helen Mirren plays the Queen…again. This play was offered as part of the Fathom Event series at our local Regal Theatre. On Tuesdays at 6:30 P.M. the Queen meets with the current Prime Minister to discuss the current political situation for 20 minutes. The Audience captures these meetings with the 12 Prime Ministers over the years. The play is not chronological so watching Helen Mirren transform from the Queen in her 80s to the young Queen in her 40s–and back again–is incredible! The meetings sometime take on the flavor of therapy sessions as the Prime Ministers and the Queen have to deal with crises. The meeting with Margaret Thatcher and the Queen is particularly prickly. I liked the interaction between the Queen and Harold Wilson the best. I’m sure tickets to The Audience go for $100 or more on Broadway. But a ticket to this version of The Audience only cost $20. A bargain! I recommend these Fathom Events. GRADE: A

FORGOTTEN BOOKS #326: THE GOLDEN AGE OF MURDER By Martin Edwards

the golden age of murder
Martin Edwards’ marvelous The Golden Age of Murder: The Mystery of the Writers Who Invented the Modern Detective Story presents a fascinating cast of characters. Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Anthony Berkeley, G. K. Chesterton, Gladys Mitchell, Margery Allingham, John Dickson Carr, Christianna Brand, Michael Innes, and a dozen more now obscure mystery writers were members of the Detection Club. Edwards weaves the aspects of their individual stories around the activities of the Club. I had no idea these writers were so quirky! I wanted to drop everything and read some Anthony Berkeley when I learned how snarky he was. The Golden Age of Murder will energize readers and trigger a renewed interest in Golden Age detective novels. And, The Golden Age of Murder should win every mystery award in sight! Don’t miss this extraordinary book!
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction
Members of the Detection Club elected 1930-49
Part One: The Unusual Suspects
The Ritual in the Dark
A Bitter Sin
Conversations about a Hanged Woman
The Mystery of the Silent Pool
A Bolshevik Soul in a Fabian Muzzle
Wearing Their Criminological Spurs
The Art of Self-Tormenting
Part Two: The Rules of the Game
Setting a Good Example to the Mafia
The Fungus-Story and the Meaning of Life
Wistful Plans for Killing Off Wives
The Least Likely Person
The Best Advertisement in the World
Part Three: Looking to Escape
“Human Life’s the Cheapest Thing There Is”
Echoes of War
Murder, Transvestism and Suicide During a Trapeze Act
A Severed Head in a Fish-Bag
“Have You Heard of Sexual Perversions?”
Clearning Up the Mess
What It Means to Be Stuck for Money
Neglecting Demosthenes in Favour of Freud
Part Four: Taking on the Police
Playing Games with Scotland Yard
Why was the Shift Put in the Boiler-Hole?
Trent’s Very Last Case
A Coffin Entombed in a Crypt of Granite
Part Five: Justifying Murder
Knives Engraved with ‘Blood and Honour’
Touching with a Fingertip the Fringe of the Great Events
Collecting Murderers
No Judge or Jury but My Own Conscience
Part Six: The End Game
Playing the Grandest Game in the World
The Work of a Pestilential Creature
Frank to the Point of Indecency
Shocked by the Brethren
Part Seven: Unraveling the Mysteries
Murder Goes One Forever
Appendices
Constitution and Rules of the Detectives Club
Bibliography
Index
Index of Titles

FORGOTTEN MUSIC #53: STICKY FINGERS BY THE ROLLING STONES

STICKY FINGERS
Just in time to kick off their “Zip Code Tour,” The Rolling Stones released this new, remastered version of their classic album, Sticky Fingers. These songs never sounded so good! The Rolling Stones are performing in Western New York at Ralph Wilson Stadium (where the Buffalo Bills play) on July 11. Of course, the concert is completely sold out. The ticket prices ranged from $400 to $10,000. I won’t be at the concert, but I’m listening to this classic Stones album as I write this.
SET LIST:
Disc 1
1 Brown Sugar (3:49)
2 Sway (3:53)
3 Wild Horses (5:44)
4 Can’t You Hear Me Knocking (7:15)
5 You Gotta Move (2:33)
6 Bitch (3:37)
7 I Got The Blues (3:54)
8 Sister Morphine (5:34)
9 Dead Flowers (4:05)
10 Moonlight Mile (5:57)
Disc 2
1 Brown Sugar (with Eric Clapton) (4:07)
2 Wild Horses (Acoustic) (5:47)
3 Can’t You Hear Me Knocking (Alternate version) (3:24)
4 Bitch (Extended version) (5:52)
5 Dead Flowers (Alternate version) (4:17)
6 Live With Me (Live version) (4:22)
7 Stray Cat Blues (Live version) (3:48)
8 Love In Vain (Live version) (6:41)
9 Midnight Rambler (Live version) (11:26)
10 Honky Tonk Women (Live version) (4:14)

KIND HEALTH GRAIN GRANOLA BARS: DARK CHOCOLATE CHUNK and OATS & HONEY WITH TOASTED COCONUT

kind granola bars
Ingredients You Can See & Pronounce” says the Kind granola packaging. And, it’s true! I’m always on the lookout for healthy snacks that are low-carb. Kind granola bars fit the bill. Each of the two bars I sampled only had 8 grams of carbohydrate. These bars are Gluten Free (isn’t almost everything) and non-GMO. The Dark Chocolate Chunk bar and the Oats & Honey were only 150 calories. Kind offers granola bars in dozens of flavors, many of them much higher in carbohydrates especially the fruit ones. But, if you’re looking for a tasty snack, I’d reach for a Kind granola bar. Yum!