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A review by emmacatereads
Someone in Time: Tales of Time-Crossed Romance by Jonathan Strahan
4.0
I LOVE time travel romance so this short story collection was instantly intriguing. Once I realized the author lineup included some of my favorite sci-fi/fantasy authors (Cathrynne M. Valente, Zen Cho, Alix E. Harrow, etc) I bumped this forward on my to-read shelf. Little did I know, this collection is also gorgeously, heartwarmingly, unabashedly queer - at least 10 of the 16 stories feature explicitly LGBTQ+ characters or romances. It makes sense for a book about romantic love to be a celebration of all its many manifestations, but that doesn't change the warmth kindled in my heart by representation featured prominently in my favorite genre.
My top three stories were:
1. The Difference Between Love and Time by Cathrynne M. Valente: A funny, heartfelt tale of woman who is courted across the span of her life by a physical manifestation of the space-time continuum. I want to print this story out and frame it over my bed so I can read it anytime I feel lost, alone, or at all wavering in my faith in the transcendent and eternal power of human connection.
2. Time Gypsy by Ellen Klages: A queer scientist travels back in time to meet her hero, a female physicist from the 1950s. This story provides a deeply painful reminder of the affront to human rights suffered by queer people in midcentury America, while also touching on issues of misogyny in academia and gentle love story between two brilliant gay women. As a bisexual scientist myself, this really hit hard.
3. A Letter to Merlin by Theodora Goss: A woman in climate ravaged future on the edge of death is brought into a program run by scientists from a dwindling future in which her consciousness is projected into important people from the past in an effort to change the future. Her assignment? Queen Guinevere. Probably the most compelling story conceptually and a fresh take on the time loop trope, providing a perspective on the future that is both melancholy and strangely hopeful.
My top three stories were:
1. The Difference Between Love and Time by Cathrynne M. Valente: A funny, heartfelt tale of woman who is courted across the span of her life by a physical manifestation of the space-time continuum. I want to print this story out and frame it over my bed so I can read it anytime I feel lost, alone, or at all wavering in my faith in the transcendent and eternal power of human connection.
2. Time Gypsy by Ellen Klages: A queer scientist travels back in time to meet her hero, a female physicist from the 1950s. This story provides a deeply painful reminder of the affront to human rights suffered by queer people in midcentury America, while also touching on issues of misogyny in academia and gentle love story between two brilliant gay women. As a bisexual scientist myself, this really hit hard.
3. A Letter to Merlin by Theodora Goss: A woman in climate ravaged future on the edge of death is brought into a program run by scientists from a dwindling future in which her consciousness is projected into important people from the past in an effort to change the future. Her assignment? Queen Guinevere. Probably the most compelling story conceptually and a fresh take on the time loop trope, providing a perspective on the future that is both melancholy and strangely hopeful.