This Time Tomorrow
by Emma Straub (Riverhead, 2022); audiobook read by Marin Ireland (Penguin, 2022)
Literary novelists don’t always shine when dabbling in SF. Straub here proves herself an exception, drawing on a harrowing life experience (terminal illness of a parent) to craft a paean to timeless relationships, choices made, and living in the moment. Excellent characterisation.
Jughead’s Time Police
by Sina Grace; ill. Derek Charm (Archie Comic Publications, 2019)
A reboot that seems overly pleased with itself for doing something old in a chaotic, unoriginal, one-joke-food-obsessed way. Charm’s drawing style is a point of difference (though not a particularly inspiring one). Grace amuses himself but doesn’t tell much of a story.
Making History
by Stephen Fry (Hutchinson, 1996)
audiobook ready by Stephen Fry and Richard E. Grant (Penguin, 2021)
A cleverly conceived, assiduously researched but poorly paced take on the classic ‘Kill Hitler’ time alteration tale. Fry writes in a conversational style and displays an undoubted gift for off-the-cuff storytelling. As a novelist, however, his expressiveness manifests too often as waffle.
Spring Forward, Fall Back
ed. Todd Sanders (Air & Nothingness Press, 2022)
Two collections of time-travel short stories presented back-to-back in the style of the old Ace Double SF books. The tales in question are rich conceptually and soaked with atmosphere, bringing unique imaginative twists to a well-worn genre. A trove of all-new nostalgia.
The Time Travel Diaries
by Caroline Lawrence (Piccadilly, 2019); audiobook read by Simon Scardifield (Bonnier, 2019)
Solid MG adventure grounded in historical fact. Sometimes the story feels less like fiction and more like a construct through which to impart knowledge about Roman Britain, but Alex is a level-headed protagonist and Dinu and Plecta add some heart to proceedings.
Johnny and the Bomb
by Terry Pratchett (Doubleday, 1996); audiobook read by Richard Mitchley (BBC Audiobooks, 1997)
Pratchett gifts middle-grade readers the perfect introduction to time travel, albeit that his mid-1990s ‘now’ is itself receding into history, in rapid pursuit of the Second World War ‘then’. Thought-provoking and wryly funny, with memorable characters and a rich vein of dialogue.
Limited Wish
by Mark Lawrence (47North, 2019); audiobook read by Matthew Frow (Brilliance, 2019)
Lawrence restarts the time-travel story of One Word Kill, thus bringing to life a new iteration of twisty paradoxes. The narrative voice is just as engaging and the plot is cleverly stitched but it’s still more a reimagining than a new work.
Just One Damned Thing After Another
by Jodi Taylor (Accent, 2013); audiobook read by Zara Ramm (Bolinda, 2014)
Taylor’s first-person narrative voice is good-humoured and enjoyably raffish. Max and St Mary’s have real personality. However, the plot reeks faintly of extemporisation and the character foreshadowing is often rather overt. Clumsy word juxtapositions detract from the prose, leaving a pulpy impression.
One Word Kill
by Mark Lawrence (47North, 2019)
audiobook read by Matthew Frow (Brilliance, 2019)
Lawrence makes good use of the 1980s setting and constructs a well-paced, not-too-unbelievable plot around the speculative element (time travel). The book’s main appeal, though, is its quintet of idiosyncratic but down-to-earth characters. These are particularly well-served by Matthew Frow’s audiobook reading.
How to Stop Time
by Matt Haig (Canongate, 2017); audiobook read by Mark Meadows (Clipper, 2017)
The jumping about throughout history is all fine and dandy—Haig does setting well—but the protagonist verges on insipid and so the journey, though pleasant enough, becomes an unremarkable trundle towards an underwhelming destination (despite the female characters offering some spark).