Book info

• Title The Time Traveller's Almanac
• Author Ann VanderMeer
• Year 2013
• Genre Short Stories

The Time Traveller's Almanac is the largest, most definitive collection of time travel stories ever assembled. Gathered into one volume by intrepid chrononauts and world-renowned anthologists Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, here is over a century's worth of literary travels into past and the future. The anthology covers millions of years of Earth's history – from the age of the dinosaurs to strange and fascinating futures, through to the end of Time itself. The Time Traveller's Almanac will reacquaint readers with beloved classics and introduce them to thrilling contemporary examples of the time travel genre.

Thoughts

A collection of short stories about time travel? Heaven. This book collates old and new from across the genres to pull together an epic book stacked full of time travel goodness. I love the concept of time travel so this was right up my street. As with any collection of short stories, there are some that appeal and some that don’t, but there were far more hits than misses.

The double-sided story of a man visiting his younger self, the romantic look at what ifs, the colonisers arriving on a half speed planet, the house that gets stuck in a time loop, and so much more. The Red Letter Day story, about having the opportunity to send just one letter to yourself and the ramifications of that, still swirls around in my head.

The variety is great, from stories so real you feel like it could happen, to the more fantastical sci-fi prose pushing at planetary boundaries, to little snippets of “factual” fun - time travel songs, and what you should wear when you travel as fashions change.

I picked at this book over the course of a couple of months, indulging in a story here and there, every now and again. It was brilliant, and I’m off in search of more time travel collections as we speak!

Rating: 4 / 5