Double Identity

by Donald P. Bellisario, directed by Aaron Lipstadt

Sam does a double leap at one location: First into hitman Frankie LaPalma at the moment when he and Don Geno’s former girlfriend are in the sack together, and then as Don Geno himself.

— Michael Main

Who ever heard of one lousy hairdryer blacking out all of the East Coast?

Quantum Leap (s01e06), “Double Identity” by Donald P. Bellisario, directed by Aaron Lipstadt (NBC-TV, USA, 21 April 1989).

Love and Glass

Stranded at the end of the world, Wells’s Traveller has only one companion, a Morlock descendant whom the Traveller dubs George, until others appear, including the predator called The Queen of Hearts.

The Time Traveller asked him whether he was the last of his kind, George touched his shoulder, and within that look passed understanding.

“Love and Glass” by Michael Scott Bricker, in Bones of the World (SFF Net, September 2001).

Doxies

by Brandon Alspaugh

Angela’s mother takes her to a support group—Children of the Post-Contemporary, aka the Doxies—where the children reluctantly talk about what it’s like to have various futuristic features and a father from the future.

She was a walking paradox, her mother said. And she must never make waves, never draw attention, never accomplish something or participate or pop her head out, for even a second. If she changed the future, her father might not exist, and neither would she.

“Doxies” by Brandon Alspaugh, in Apex, Fall 2006.

Wikihistory

by Desmond Warzel

The time-travel bulletin board has a recurring problem.

Haven’t you noobs read IATT Bulletin 1147 regarding the killing of Hitler?!

“Wikihistory” by Desmond Warzel, in Abyss and Apex, October 2007.

Kelmscott Manor: In the Attics

by Adele Gardner

The noble Englishman William Morris travels through time hoping to finally set the world right for socialism via the time machine of his friend Bertie.

— Michael Main

I suppose you remember that young writer, H.G. Wells—Bertie, we called him—who used to come to Hammersmith for the meetings of the old Socialist League. He seemed quite taken with News from Nowhere, my vision of the future.

“Kelmscott Manor: In the Attics” by Adele Gardner, in Challenging Destiny, December 2007.

And Happiness Everlasting

by Gerald Warfield

“And Happiness Everlasting” by Gerald Warfield, in Timelines: Stories Inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, edited by J. W. Schnarr (Northern Frights Publishing, September 2010).

By His Sacrifice

by Daliso Chopanda

In a hidden underground compound, a group of scientists raise nineteen children including Saul Baron, who years ago warned us of the coming nuclear disaster and saved the world.

The man chuckled at himself because of the bewilderment on Saul’s face. “The fuckin’ messiah and you don’t even know it.”

“By His Sacrifice” by Daliso Chopanda, in Timelines: Stories Inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, edited by J. W. Schnarr (Northern Frights Publishing, September 2010).

Conditional Perfect

by Jason Palmer

Like all the other yahoo teens, Paitin and his buddies head to an alternate past for a Friday night of violent hunting whomever they happen to spot from their hovercrafts. But unlike the others, Paitin plans to stay behind to be with unReal Sandra.

Paitin shook his head. Civics 101: conditional perfects are neither citizens nor their ancestors. Therefore, they are not real.

“Conditional Perfect” by Jason Palmer, in Timelines: Stories Inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, edited by J. W. Schnarr (Northern Frights Publishing, September 2010).

Correspondence

by Ruthanna Emrys

Dena Feinberg, a psychology grad student who dreams of being a hard scientist and/or a Victorian time traveler, writes a compelling message on a stone table for future time travelers.

The hard part was figuring out what to say. I needed something that would matter enough to the inventors of time travel that they would want to come visit me, right along with Jesus and Galileo and Heinlein.

“Correspondence” by Ruthanna Emrys, in Timelines: Stories Inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, edited by J. W. Schnarr (Northern Frights Publishing, September 2010).

The End of the Experiment

by Peter Clines

In the twenty-first century, on the very spot in London where Wells’s Traveller first had his dinner party, physics student Jon has a similar party with his own friends and his own tiny model of a time machine.

At the heart of it was a small seat carved from wood, almost a saddle, and before it was a console, barely two inches across, decorated with levers of what looked like glass and bone.

“The End of the Experiment” by Peter Clines, in Timelines: Stories Inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, edited by J. W. Schnarr (Northern Frights Publishing, September 2010).

Midnight at the End of the Universe

by Eric Ian Steele

Wanting to see the end of time, Matheson travels forward in his quaint machine only to be greeted by the athletic and immortal telepath, Rococzky Saint-Germain, who is somewhat disdainful of time travelers. Together, they watch the universe collapse.

Even so, he grew nervous each time he left the pod—ever since that encounter with the Fascist Government of Greater Britannia in the twenty-second century. Not to mention the alligator population that plagued London after the Great Flood in the twenty-third. That had caught him completely unawares.

“Midnight at the End of the Universe” by Eric Ian Steele, in Timelines: Stories Inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, edited by J. W. Schnarr (Northern Frights Publishing, September 2010).

One One Thousand

by Willaim R. D. Wood

When Dr. Heller’s scientific contraption goes awry and threatens the universe, it’s fortunate that the machine is also a time machine to take Aaron back one day, albeit in a manner where his time rate is a thousand times faster than (most of) those around him.

Static past. Unmoving. Like wandering around in an old, overexposed photograph.

“One One Thousand” by Willaim R. D. Wood, in Timelines: Stories Inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, edited by J. W. Schnarr (Northern Frights Publishing, September 2010).

Perpetual Motion Blues

by Harper Hull

In a future world being evacuated by spaceships, four travelers try over and over again to get to the evac point, each time with all of them being slightly older versions of themselves.

What this mean, Howard explained, was that the traveler could only jump to a time and place where they had previously existed. The traveling version of the person would take the place in the world of the old version, with all the knowledge they had gained since that time kept intact.

“Perpetual Motion Blues” by Harper Hull, in Timelines: Stories Inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, edited by J. W. Schnarr (Northern Frights Publishing, September 2010).

Professor Figwort Comes to an Understanding

by Jacob Edwards

In a series of flashbacks over Professor Figwort’s eighty-year life, we learn of his first love letter (the failure of which prompted his discovery of time travel) and his three subsequent great discoveries.

It was then that he devined a solution to his new-found problems: he would travel back in time and stop himself from disturbing Miss Bonsoir in the first place—on any level, molecular or otherwise. Yes, that ought to do it. While he was there, he might even return those now-overdue library books.

“Professor Figwort Comes to an Understanding” by Jacob Edwards, in Timelines: Stories Inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, edited by J. W. Schnarr (Northern Frights Publishing, September 2010).

Rocking My Dreamboat

by Victorya Chase

Jameson is a jerk. He pretends to love his mother, with whom he shares a house. He discovers time travel via a Legoland Time Machine and uses it to destroy women who “dumped” him. Yep, this guy is a real “winner.”

— Tandy Ringoringo

He looked at the sole red logo and decided it was the on button. He thought about where he’d like to be, and pushed.

“Rocking My Dreamboat” by Victorya Chase, in Timelines: Stories Inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, edited by J. W. Schnarr (Northern Frights Publishing, September 2010).

Spree

by John Medaille

An unnamed man who can shoot supersonic baseballs and bullets through time starts his time travel agenda by assassinating Hitler. And so on.

The Time Traveler tinkers with the pitcher, increasing the torque and velocity of its engine and by the little, sickly hours of the early morning he is finally able to successfully launch three Major League regulation baseballs into the late Mesozoic Era.

“Spree” by John Medaille, in Timelines: Stories Inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, edited by J. W. Schnarr (Northern Frights Publishing, September 2010).

Sunlight and Shadows

by John Sunseri

“Sunlight and Shadows” by John Sunseri, in Timelines: Stories Inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, edited by J. W. Schnarr (Northern Frights Publishing, September 2010).

The Time Traveler

by Vincent L. Scarsella

“The Time Traveler” by Vincent L. Scarsella, in Timelines: Stories Inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, edited by J. W. Schnarr (Northern Frights Publishing, September 2010).

Time’s Cruel Geometry

by Mark Onspaugh

We learn what really happened after the Time Traveller left his 1895 London house for the final time, and along the way we also learn the answer to what happens should he meet himself.

In those trials he saw her die more than a dozen times, and it nearly drove him mad. If he was not sure he could rescue her, he might have set the controls for the far distant future when the sun would engulf the Earth.

“Time’s Cruel Geometry” by Mark Onspaugh, in Timelines: Stories Inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, edited by J. W. Schnarr (Northern Frights Publishing, September 2010).

The Woman Who Came to the Paradox

by Derek J. Goodman

Reggie heads to 19th century Austria to kill baby Hitler, but once there he runs into Reggie-B (among others).

“When you stopped me from stopping me,” Reggie-B said, “you ceased to exist because I never became you. But if I never became you then you never existed to stop me from stopping me.

“The Woman Who Came to the Paradox” by Derek J. Goodman, in Timelines: Stories Inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, edited by J. W. Schnarr (Northern Frights Publishing, September 2010).

XMAS

by Douglas Hutcheson

In a world where Japan won World War II and went on to conquer the world, a father (amidst pesky attacks) recounts history (including the roles played by time travel) to his two spoiled children.

I thought you were old enough for big-kid toys.

“XMAS” by Douglas Hutcheson, in Timelines: Stories Inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, edited by J. W. Schnarr (Northern Frights Publishing, September 2010).