Looking For a Good Book

The Time Traveler’s Passport collects six short stories commissioned by Amazon or their Prime readers. I recently read/reviewed a collection of horror stories written/published in this same vein. This collection centers around – you guessed it – time travel.

While I recognize a couple of author names in this collection, the only author I’ve read prior to this is John Scalzi. If this collection were a shopping mall, Scalzi would be the anchor store – the one that gets people interested in looking through the whole thing. It is interesting, then, that his work would lead off the stories.

“30 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years” by John Scalzi

While I do really like reading Scalzi’s work, I wasn’t sure, going in, how this would go. I’ve not read much of his short fiction and I was afraid it was going to be gimmicky. It was quite straight-forward, nearly all of it an info-dump, setting us up for the gotcha ending. But I liked it. It was a fun, quick read. Entertaining, as Scalzi usually is, but not over-the-top, which he can sometimes be. If you’re a Prime subscriber, this is worth the free download, easily. — 4 stars

“Making Space” by R. F. Kuang

This struck me as much more of a horror story, though the time travel implications are definitely there. The mood was set up nicely and the eerie feelings came through the entire read. I even liked the concept with the child-less couple taking in the lost child. And that child knowing of events before they happen can get creepy. But then the story seems to go off the rails. Is it simply intended to be didactic? It succeeds, then. Just be creepy? It succeeds. But I just didn’t really get anything from it. — 3 stars

“For a Limited Time Only” by Peng Shepherd

Russ is a company salesman who travels through time. He wants a transfer but keeps getting denied. The reasons, the reader discovers, might just make you cry. I wasn’t really enamored with this story. I found it a bit dull, actually, though I note that many readers were really moved by this.  I found it a little over the top trying to create an emotional reaction. — 3 stars

“A Visit to the Husband Archive” by Kaliane Bradley

In a dystopian world, a person can go to the Husband Archives and check out an intimate partner. Esther checks out a husband – one who is older, because the common knowledge is that the older husbands are much better than the newer ones. Experience counts for something. This husband actually has memory of a time before this was conventional. I thought the time travel aspect was a bit tenuous, but I was really captivated by this world and Bradley’s writing.  I wanted to read more of this and this is an author who shows that they can be extremely creative. I’ll be on the lookout for more by Kaliane Bradley. — 4 stars

“All Manner of Thing Shall Be” by Olivie Blake

Vampires stuck in a time loop. Maybe? I really struggled with this story. I’ve not read anything by Olivie Blake prior to this and this definitely did not make me want to read anything else.  I felt this was more about form and style than about substance or story. I give it credit for attempting something different, but it didn’t work for me. — 2 stars

“Cronus” by P. Djèlí Clark

A young Black woman navigates through a racist dystopia where the white, rich are attempting to change history in their favor. Possibly the best story in the collection, but it can be difficult to read (emotionally) given how hard it hits home these days (though, honestly, it unfortunately hits home in just about any era). I would definitely like to read more of Clark’s work, but something tells me I will find it emotionally exhausting. — 4.5 stars

Overall, my ratings average to just under 3.5 for the collection. it will be interesting to see if Amazon continues to offer these short stories/novelettes with a similar theme. I believe the stories are free, individually, for Prime subscribers. But will more people join Prime just to get these stories?

Looking for a good book? The Time Travelers’s Passport Collection features six short stories – sometimes vaguely having to do with time travel – by six different authors. As with just about any collection or anthology, the stories vary in the quality depending on the reader’s tastes.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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The Time Traveler’s Passport Collection

authors: various

publisher: Amazon Original Stories

ISBN:  01986THETIMET

ebook, 210 pages