Beasts of the Earth

by Ernie Lindsey

Eleven months after Lucy Quinn died of brain cancer, her mother struggles with hourly grief while her oncologist father is pulled through a portal to a time of Noah and unicorns.

Dutton nudged forward, arm shaky, stick wobbling, and when the tip pierced the surface, he was caught unawares by the forceful tug from the other end. He didn’t let go fast enough, stumbling forward, falling into it with two faint words whispering in his mind: Jess . . . Lucy. . .

“Beasts of the Earth” by Ernie Lindsey, in The Time Travel Chronicles, edited by Crystal Watanabe (Windrift Books, 2 November 2015).

The Diatomic Quantum Flop

by Daniel Arthur Smith

A college tripper and his three buddies use a nanodrug and sensory deprivation tanks in order to experience increasingly longer periods of time inside a simultaneous, non-linear, Eastern religion fashion—a useful way of viewing the world when you’re at a casino.

The conversation I was having was déjà vu, but at the same time I was already into tomorrow, and back to earlier in the evening walking up Marty’s porch, looking at the huge Om symbol on the psychedelic tapestry that curtained his window,

“The Diatomic Quantum Flop” by Daniel Arthur Smith, in The Time Travel Chronicles, edited by Crystal Watanabe (Windrift Books, 2 November 2015).

Eighty-Three

by Erik Wecks

Starting at age thirteen, Noah jumps through his life—to his time as a kid, a college student, a movie producer, Rachel’s husband, and an old man—sometimes forward and sometimes backward, but (nearly) always landing in a prime-numbered year and never quite sure whether he’s really time traveling or, if he is, whether he’s able to change things.

If I remember right, I don’t have much time, so let me get to the point. What’s really hard to understand is whether or not you can change stuff.

“Eighty-Three” by Erik Wecks, in The Time Travel Chronicles, edited by Crystal Watanabe (Windrift Books, 2 November 2015).

Excess Baggage

by Carol Davis

By chance, fourteen-year-old Toby Cobb gets in the path of time-traveler John Asher who’s headed to save an important woman from the great San Francisco earthquake. As a result, both of them end up trapped in a wasteland.

You can’t change history, dude. Known fact. You can’t mess with things. Create paradoxes. You could much everything up so you don’t even exist, like in Back to the Future. And, like, every time travel story known to man. You shouldn’t even be telling me this.

“Excess Baggage” by Carol Davis, in The Time Travel Chronicles, edited by Crystal Watanabe (Windrift Books, 2 November 2015).

Extant

by Anthony Vicino

Three paratroopers—Kaelyn, Zoe, and Maddix—are having a really bad jump, but fortunately they can always unwind time by a limited number of seconds.

Time reversed, dragging at my atoms like a boat suddenly throwing down its anchor whilst traveling at full speed. Nausea and vertigo twisted about, dancing just beyond the perimeter of my mind before slamming into my chest and driving the air out of my lungs.

“Extant” by Anthony Vicino, in The Time Travel Chronicles, edited by Crystal Watanabe (Windrift Books, 2 November 2015).

Meddler

by Ernie Luis

Miller, who deals in illicit drugs sent from the future, knows the eventual fate of each of his clients, but he can never intervene, not even when his all those people are dying one after another.

I boot up my laptop and search for an old report I got on Jeff when he first started coming in. A report from the future. We call it an insight document. And it tells us everything we need to know about the future of our clients.

“Meddler” by Ernie Luis, in The Time Travel Chronicles, edited by Crystal Watanabe (Windrift Books, 2 November 2015).

The Nothing Gate

by Tracy Banghart

Teenager Juniper Young is a pariah in her own Maine town because her father was one of the messengers about the climate change that did come true. However now he’s funding a solution.

It’s an escape, of sorts. But. . . but not outward.

“The Nothing Gate” by Tracy Banghart, in The Time Travel Chronicles, edited by Crystal Watanabe (Windrift Books, 2 November 2015).

Red Mustang

by Michael Holden

Sixty-five-year-old Jimmy Spaulding, a combination handy-man/petty-thief, agrees to drive an old Grace Clark to an unknown destination in return for her not pressing larceny charges against him.

I liked the story’s atmosphere, but felt that the author needed better research about prices in the 60s. By my calculations, that red Mustang must have held about 70 gallons of gas—leaded gas, that is—given the price they paid for a fill-up. And back in hippie days, teen talk should have been peppered with “cool” far more than “like.”

Pulling back the tarp, I exposed a chromed grill and red paint. Peeling it back fruther, careful not to drap the tarp and bugger up the finish, I found more chrome, more red paint, and red vinyl upholstered seats. As I uncovered more and more of the car, a vague feeling of familiarity crept over me.

“Red Mustang” by Michael Holden, in The Time Travel Chronicles, edited by Crystal Watanabe (Windrift Books, 2 November 2015).

Shades

by Lucas Bale

Every five years on the dot, William Edward McIntyre jumps forward ten years in time. Will doesn’t fully understand the pattern given that this latest jump wasn’t just ten years. And there are other things that he doesn’t understand such as why, after his first jump, he was in a world where his parents had never had a child.

Five years later, on September 1st, 1980, just after midday, I ceased to exist for a second time. There was no flash, no blinding light or thunderouse drama. No perfect sphere of swirling lightning. I just blinked and everything changed. If I remember it right, on September 1st, 1990, which is where I was when I next opened my eyes, it was raining.

“Shades” by Lucas Bale, in The Time Travel Chronicles, edited by Crystal Watanabe (Windrift Books, 2 November 2015).

The Traveler

by Stefan Bolz

After a twelve-year-old boy’s father dies, the boy finds directions for making H.G. Wells’s time machine in the father’s workshop.

What followed were twenty pages of neatly written text intertwined with drawings, sketches, and mathematical formulas. Then several pages with lists of materials.

“The Traveler” by Stefan Bolz, in The Time Travel Chronicles, edited by Crystal Watanabe (Windrift Books, 2 November 2015).

The Time Travel Chronicles

Anthologies