Some Like It Cold
- by John Kessel
- Short Story
- Science Fiction
- Adults
- Definite Time Travel
- English
- “Some Like It Cold” by John Kessel, Omni, Fall 1995.
Sure, others have pulled that 20th century actress forward to make modern films with spectacular failure, each attempt spawning a branch universe unconnected to the 21st century of time traveler Det Gruber, but none of the others took into account the psychological factors in the way that Det’s employers have done.
—Michael Main
She may be a wreck, but she wants to be here. Not like Paramount’s version.
Tags
(13)
- Time Periods
- Circa AD 1960 to 1969: August 1962
- Circa AD 2000 to 2099: 2043
- Timeline Models
- Branch-and-Return Timeline: moment universes
- Branching Timelines: Although a new timeline occurs (“Maybe some of them wouldn’t be built in this time line any more, thanks to me.”), travelers return to their own timelines (“Not one gram of evidence existed that a change in the past moment-universe had ever affected our own time.”).
- Time Travel Methods
- Themes
- Time Travel Protests: “[T]hey shouted and carried picket signs, ‘END TIME EXPLOITATION.’ ‘INFORMATION, NOT PEOPLE.’ ‘HANDS OFF THE PAST.’”
- Real-World Tags
- Albert Einstein: Det changes his appearance to look like Einstein, but we also wondered whether his valet is Einstein.
- Jesus: Jesus, still hotter than a pistol, was the lead on Variety. He smiled, new teeth, clean shaven, homely little Jew, but even through the holo he projected a lethal charisma.
- Marilyn Monroe
- William Shakespeare: How was Shakespeare even going to understand the twenty-first century, let alone write VR scripts that anybody would want to experience?
- Fictional Tags
- George Gershwin: Who really wanted to listen to new compositions by Gershwin?
- Groupings
Variants
(1)
- “Some Like It Cold” by John Kessel, Omni, Fall 1995.