<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Time Travel Stories - a time honored sci fi tradition
Review: A collection of time travel stories are what make this genre the fantastic journey that it is. Other fine reads I've experienced if you love a time travel novel are Michael Crichton's "Timeline" and Nicholas Stember's "Twilight"... both fantastic time travel reads.
Rating:
Summary: Time Travel Stories - a time honored sci fi tradition
Review: A collection of time travel stories are what make this genre the fantastic journey that it is. Other fine reads I've experienced if you love a time travel novel are Michael Crichton's "Timeline" and Nicholas Stember's "Twilight"... both fantastic time travel reads.
Rating: 
Summary: Bill Adler Jr - spoiler extrordinaire
Review: An occasionally interesting collection of 22 short stories, written over a wider timescale than is normally seen in anthologies, albeit the inclusion of Edgar Allan Poe's 1850 contribution is one of several which invalidate the word 'machine' in the title! This claims the collection to be 'the best ever written', but apparently not from any poll, simply the opinion of editor Adler. It would have been nice to see genuine claimants such as Robert A Heinlein's 'All You Zombies' included, but apparently the editor considered his own rather insipid tale to have more merit. This self-indulgence comes to a head with the inclusion of an editorial spoiler at the beginning of each and every story. Unless you make a point of avoiding reading these, the whole effect of a professionally unfolded plot is destroyed. Left to their own devices, without the interference of intrusive editing, this collection of varying quality stories would deserve a 3.
Rating:
Summary: Good, eclectic, fun collection of time travel tales
Review: This is what a theme-based anthology should be! The title is slightly misleading since not all of the tales involve time "machines" although all are tales of traveling through time in one way or another.Some fine authors are represented in the 22 stories here: Edgar Allen Poe and Rudyard Kipling, John W. Campbell and Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Rod Serling, Connie Willis and Larry Niven, Jack Finney and Anthony Boucher. And more. When Adler picked these tales, he chose well. Earliest story is from 1850 (Poe), most recent from 1997. There are tales of people visiting the dinosaur era, all sorts of people visiting Important Historical Events, a hilarious tale of an agent from the Marriage Prevention Bureau (they send people back to interfere with what would end up being bad marriages), a strange story about a test pilot ending up in the extreme far future, a story based on the "What if I had..." daydreams people tend to have, another strange tale about finding ways around "can't change the past," a story about time travelers who set out to find "missing" aliens they know MUST be somewhere, or somewhen. My favorites: Jack Finney's charming classic "The Third Level" about a man taking a "wrong" turn in New York's Grand Central Station and ending up in the past, "The Twilight Zone" episode "The Odyssey of Flight 33" where a commercial airliner finds itself going into the past, even as far back as the dinosaur eras, and a charming buddy-story about two very intelligent, capable college professors who go back in time simply to drink, chat and be merry with historical figures. There is a (what should be frightening) tale about a three year old girl who figures out time travel and uses time travel for her hide-and-seek games. My beef: Ray Bradbury is indeed in this anthology with "A Touch of Petulance," when I had expected "A Sound of Thunder," considered a classic of classics. Still nice to see a Bradbury tale, even if his characters didn't step on that butterfly. Sources/bibliography are included, so the reader will know when and where the stories came from. That's something I expect, and appreciate, when an anthology provides them. Not just in the pre-index but at the beginning of each story when possible. Adler's paragraph size comments (at the beginning of each story) were nice as well. Recommended for people who like time travel stories. These are fantasy-type science fiction stories where the people have fun moving about through time. Highly recommended for fans of time travel stories. These stories are "fun" tales without much of the high-tech technobabble about physical realities and limitations.
Rating: 
Summary: Time Travel stories!
Review: Time Machines: The Best Time Travel Stories Ever Written has some very interesting stories. I think Granddad's Time Machine should have been included! You can read it... GRANDDAD'S TIME MACHINE! By PAUL M. CURRAN It is a bright, sunny day in the quiet country-side. After saying "See you tommorrow" to his friends a little boy of ten runs towards an elderly, slightly over weight man. "Granddad" he screams and hugs him. "There's something important I want to tell you! How would you like to go on an adventure with me," the Granddad asks? "Yeah" the boy replies. Later that day the man takes this boy into his bedroom and points at a wardrobe. "There's a time machine in this room," the man says with great seriousness. The boy laughs but the man opens his brown wardrobe. There's a huge, old battery at the bottom with wires all over the wardrobe. The man invites the boy in, closes the doors and presses a switch. Nothing seems to happen until the doors open. The bedroom is a lot more untidy now. "How did this mess happen so quickly?" the boy asks. "I haven't cleaned it yet Shane. We're in the past." Shane looks so confused. "What. Can we go out?" Shane asks. "We need to be careful. I don't know what time it is. But we got to check this out." They walk into a newsagent to check the newspaper date. "We're two months in the past" gasps Shane. "I have a cottage in England where we can stay," the grandfather explains. Shane is excited to have two months off school but also worries about his mum not being around. "The time machine only works once" the grandfather reveals. "I want you to remember what has happened to you. Print it into your memory. Don't bother trying to explain it to others. People won't believe you, not even your parents but you know the truth." Shane nods to agree. The two months fly because they both enjoy it. Parties, cinema and days out pass the time. But when time catches up with them Shane has completely and honestly forgotten what his homework was. He can't explain why to the teacher and gets a bad comment in the Form Book. The following year his grandfather dies and Shane in now the only person alive who knows a time machine once existed. Some boys in his class moan about how stupid time travel is after a seven year old boy shouts that he wants a time machine for his birthday. Shane smiles and poses a question. "What makes you think the past no longer exists" Shane asks them. No answer is given. Shane decides not to tell anyone what happened to him. But one day he might confess the truth to someone because it's painfully lonely for him. Perhaps to his own grandson one day. Time will tell. His parents never found out about his granddad's time machine. There is very little chance they would believe that one year ago Shane became a time traveller. "Hey Shane. Do you wanna come to my house for a party? It's gonna be mad" a boy asks Shane "Yeah. I'd love to" Shane promises but still looks sad. "What's wrong?" the boy asks. "It was a year ago today that my granddad died. He was like a friend to me" Shane responds. "Do you wanna talk about it?" his friend asks. Shane nods and agrees to talk... Copyright © 2003 PAUL M. CURRAN This short story is dedicated to my friend Colin Cooke.
Rating:
Summary: Time Travel stories!
Review: Time Machines: The Best Time Travel Stories Ever Written has some very interesting stories. I think Granddad's Time Machine should have been included! You can read it... GRANDDAD'S TIME MACHINE! By PAUL M. CURRAN It is a bright, sunny day in the quiet country-side. After saying "See you tommorrow" to his friends a little boy of ten runs towards an elderly, slightly over weight man. "Granddad" he screams and hugs him. "There's something important I want to tell you! How would you like to go on an adventure with me," the Granddad asks? "Yeah" the boy replies. Later that day the man takes this boy into his bedroom and points at a wardrobe. "There's a time machine in this room," the man says with great seriousness. The boy laughs but the man opens his brown wardrobe. There's a huge, old battery at the bottom with wires all over the wardrobe. The man invites the boy in, closes the doors and presses a switch. Nothing seems to happen until the doors open. The bedroom is a lot more untidy now. "How did this mess happen so quickly?" the boy asks. "I haven't cleaned it yet Shane. We're in the past." Shane looks so confused. "What. Can we go out?" Shane asks. "We need to be careful. I don't know what time it is. But we got to check this out." They walk into a newsagent to check the newspaper date. "We're two months in the past" gasps Shane. "I have a cottage in England where we can stay," the grandfather explains. Shane is excited to have two months off school but also worries about his mum not being around. "The time machine only works once" the grandfather reveals. "I want you to remember what has happened to you. Print it into your memory. Don't bother trying to explain it to others. People won't believe you, not even your parents but you know the truth." Shane nods to agree. The two months fly because they both enjoy it. Parties, cinema and days out pass the time. But when time catches up with them Shane has completely and honestly forgotten what his homework was. He can't explain why to the teacher and gets a bad comment in the Form Book. The following year his grandfather dies and Shane in now the only person alive who knows a time machine once existed. Some boys in his class moan about how stupid time travel is after a seven year old boy shouts that he wants a time machine for his birthday. Shane smiles and poses a question. "What makes you think the past no longer exists" Shane asks them. No answer is given. Shane decides not to tell anyone what happened to him. But one day he might confess the truth to someone because it's painfully lonely for him. Perhaps to his own grandson one day. Time will tell. His parents never found out about his granddad's time machine. There is very little chance they would believe that one year ago Shane became a time traveller. "Hey Shane. Do you wanna come to my house for a party? It's gonna be mad" a boy asks Shane "Yeah. I'd love to" Shane promises but still looks sad. "What's wrong?" the boy asks. "It was a year ago today that my granddad died. He was like a friend to me" Shane responds. "Do you wanna talk about it?" his friend asks. Shane nods and agrees to talk... Copyright © 2003 PAUL M. CURRAN This short story is dedicated to my friend Colin Cooke.
<< 1 >>
| 
