Ruth and Ann's Guide to Time Travel, Volume II

by Ann Stolinsky, Ruth Littner, Abigail Gervase

This anthology follows the same theme as Ruth and Ann's Guide to Time Travel Volume I. In this anthology, 30 authors provide their amazing visions on the theme of time travel, showing their storytelling skills while delighting readers. These stories take readers to the past, alternate present, and the future. 

357 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2024

Reviews

[Mike Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This second volume of Ruth and Ann’s Guide to Time Travel, contains a new roster of time travel stories beyond the offering in Vol I - and it doesn’t disappoint! Like all good time travel stories, the emphasis is less on the “how” temporal changes are achieved, and more on the impact of the experience of the travelers. We have science experiments gone awry, historical explorations, paradoxes - and in each example, the focus is on how the travelers deal with the altered circumstances and realities they face. There’s pathos, irony, romance, humor. All in all, a great Followup to Vol I!

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a delightful collection time travel stories, exploring the many and varied reasons why someone might hop in a time machine and start monkeying around with the timeline.

One of These Days by Abigail Gervase – Soldiers are trapped in a time loop, with limited ability to g outside the set course of evets, dying over and over and over as they relive the day, hoping each time to achieve their objective and end the damn loop. Perfectly captures the mix of boredom and terror any solider will report feeling in action.

cowfire.txt by Andrew Majors – A scientist is desperate to try and undo the damage he inadvertently released, hoping the past is not unchangeable.

So You’re Stuck in a Time Loop by Brandon Barrows – A clever little con job, showing just how profitable time travel could be for the unscrupulous.

Land of Aur by CJ Erick – A time traveler to ancient Egypt is, understandably, mistaken for a god.

Sweep Me to My Revenge! by Darrell Schweitzer – An academic uses time travel just to make a point about his anti-De-Vere-wrote-Shakespeare argument. Too bad he didn’t think the temporal mechanics through!

Science Fair by David Partington – This story perfectly captures ‘90’s teenagers in all their affected Valley Speak glory, as well as the feeling of high stakes in academic competitions when that was all teenagers had for agency.

Apology Note from My Roommate by Elizabeth Davis – A hilarious story that perfectly captures the whine of that guy we’ve all known who refuses to ever take responsibility for anything, even when apologizing.

Sugar Kane and Henry Ford by Garrett Rowlan – A trippy time travel story of using people from the past to try and change history, fully capturing the despair of the main character.

Happy Birthday! by Gary Every – Having seen and done it all, a traveler decides to conquer time as his next accomplishment, not seeing where hubris so often leads.

Saving Time by Gary Zenker – A time traveler discovers time travel takes a heavy toll on the body, but is willing to give up years to try and help his younger self. VERY evocative detail of both the setting and emotions.

You’ve Won by Heidi Voss – Amazing how foreign the early aught’s have already become, as an inadvertent time traveler reveals in a pre-social media world.

Your Fondest Wish by James Harper – Some smug time travelers can only go so far before their actions catch up with them.

The Joker and the Thief by James Pyles – A Mona Lisa job joes sideways as copies of more than just paintings collide in this fascinating art heist time travel story.

Homecoming by Janet A. Hopkins – Reincarnation plays out along a family line as times change yet stay the same. An excellent slice of American Southern Gothic.

Saving Sarah by John Haas – A parent desperately tries to save his child, not thinking the consequences through of what saving one life will do to another.

The Lost Rose of York by Kara Race-Moore – I wrote this! A tale of a forgotten princess from the War of the Roses and almost unfathomable future.

Fast Lane (Or Road Rage on the Hypertime Expressway) by Ken Altabef – In this wonderfully detailed world, we see time travel as a literal highway, allowing people to drive time travel cars to any point in time for something as simple as a Sunday picnic. Too bad the traffic drives the main character to road rage!

Dallas Through the Looking Glass by Ken Goldman – A time travel take on the Kennedy assassination, showing just how ripe that historical event is to get truly trippy and still be no weirder than some of the real theories out there.

Past Present by Kerry Gans – A woman gets her heart broken right before a tour of historic English sites – leaving her befuddled and confused. And then the time travel starts…

The Lives and Time of the Domestic Cat by LN Hunter – The mystery of the domestic cat is solved/created by a group of VERY strange time travelers, sending our hungover heroine on quite the unexpected journey.

There’s Always Time by Lance Schonberg – This one made me cry. Dementia is its own form of hellish time travel – everywhen is now, so no wonder those with it are so confused. And completely understandable the time traveler would want more time.

Life and Death and Bongo Drums by Larry Hodges – Clever. If there is a personification of Death as the Grim Reaper – why not a personification of Life as well? And, just for fun, playing with the old chestnut of Killing HitlerTM

The Rules of the Game by Marisca Pichette – Like so many time travel stories, here the rules are clear that History cannot be changed - whatever you do is going to turn out to have already happened. But, shift to the next academic field over, what about Literature? A delightful fantasy take on the genre that has a lot of fun playing with the tropes.

Impersonating Jesus by Michael A. Ventrella – Ventrella makes a lot of meta jokes in his take on time travelers wanting to see if Jesus was real – in this case students who are gonna be in so much trouble when they get back.

The Harvest by Rik Hoskin – A metaphysical time travel story, in which spirituality turns out to be as important as the tech, as a VERY greedy serial killer makes a grand speech.

A Squirrel in Time by Sandra Skalski – A hilarious story of a scientist testing his time machine and the person he is pissing off with his tests. Honestly laughed out loud at the twist ending.

Motivation by Steve Davidson – A regular Friday night at the bar gets weird when the time travelers start to show up, all wanting to congratulate the guy who just invented time travel. Excellent use of 1st POV, perfectly capturing the regular guy's take on events.

Paradise Redundant by; Toni V. Sweeney – Told from the POV of a local in 11 century England, a time traveler has got himself into some hot witch-related waters and needs a little a little help from said local, who has no clue what is happening. And fun twist at the end!

The Term Paper by Trisha Ridinger McKee – A student is working on an academic project, determined to finish. Great use of mystery as answers are carefully spaced out.

One One Thousand by William R.D. Wood –Desperation rips through every sentence as a group of scientists frantically try to use time travel to undo what they've unleashed - you can practically see all the big budget special effects.


Happy travels!

[Karen Eisenbrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good news for readers who enjoyed RAGTT Volume I! Volume II brings even more time travel stories with a range of tones and clever ideas. Comedy, horror, hard sci-fi, romance, thriller, and more are all represented. Twists and paradoxes abound. Every tale raises the questions: what would you go back and change, or merely witness, and why?

I enjoyed every one of these 30 stories. I found “Saving Sarah” by John Haas particularly moving, with a grieving father spending years building a time machine to save his daughter’s life, only to have an unexpected stowaway become an integral part of the mission. At the thriller end, both “cowfire.txt” by Andrew Majors and “One One Thousand” by William R. D. Wood involve scientists desperately trying to undo universe-ending catastrophes brought on by time travel, using more time travel. Sandra Skalski’s “A Squirrel in Time” is a hilarious account of a petty battle across centuries between a far-future inventor of a time machine and a present-day owner of a dishwasher that receives time-traveling lab animals. In “Impersonating Jesus” by Michael A. Ventrella, a grad student writing a dissertation on the life of Jesus accidentally kills him and has to take his place or risk changing the future…or did he already?

And so on, thirty delightful thought experiments into the meaning and importance of time. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys speculative short fiction.

I received an advance-reader ebook from the publisher.