Tick Tock, Ya Don’t Stop: 5 Great SFF Books About Time

3 weeks ago 16

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Liberty Hardy is an unrepentant velocireader, writer, bitey mad lady, and tattoo canvas. Turn-ons include books, books and books. Her favorite exclamation is “Holy cats!” Liberty reads more than should be legal, sleeps very little, frequently writes on her belly with Sharpie markers, and when she dies, she’s leaving her body to library science. Until then, she lives with her three cats, Millay, Farrokh, and Zevon, in Maine. She is also right behind you. Just kidding! She’s too busy reading. Twitter: @MissLiberty

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Happy new year, friends! The passage of a specific amount of time, a calendar year, often inspires people to make changes and shed old habits like a skin, so I am going to tell you about a few great books about snakes! Just kidding, they’re about time, going forwards, backwards, and all over. And they all give readers a lot to think about.

Here and Now and Then by Michael Chen

Mike Chen’s debut is about a time traveler who becomes trapped in San Francisco after his most recent mission. With no way back to the future and no hope of rescue, Kin Stewart eventually settled into his surroundings, got a job, got married, and started a family. But now his rescue team has arrived, almost two decades later, and wants to take him back to 2142, where only a few weeks have passed since he left, and his other family is waiting for him. What’s a former time-traveling secret agent to do?

The Hike by Drew Magary

What starts out for Ben as a quick hike to stretch his legs during a work trip turns into a never-ending walk filled with bizarre and illuminating adventures in this fantastic novel. Ben’s stroll brings him face-to-face with all kinds of obstacles and creatures, including monsters, giants, and a foul-mouthed crab. What is the point of this walk that seems to go on forever? Who or what is keeping him here? And why does the crab swear so much?

All Access members, read on for three more excellent SFF books about time.

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

This is my favorite of Emily St. John Mandel’s novels so far. It’s beautiful and melancholy, and details the stories of a man crossing to Canada, an author who is visiting Earth from the moon for her book tour when a pandemic breaks out, and a detective trying to solve the mystery of some unusual happenings. They are all connected—and readers of ESJM’s previous novels Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel will also recognize some of the details and characters mentioned.

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore

And since it’s a new year, how about a time slip novel about a young woman with a January 1 birthday who finds herself propelled through time? As Oona Lockhart counts down to the new year in 1982, waiting to turn nineteen, she’s suddenly jolted awake in a new body. Well, it’s her body, but now she’s fifty-one. As she tries to comprehend how it happened and what is going on in her life, 365 days later, it happens again. And again. Each new year, a version of herself at a different age, never sequential. What can she learn about her present by experiencing her future?

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Okay, so this isn’t really an SFF book, but I wanted to mention it because it is a wonderful examination of friendship and the passage of time. It follows two brilliant friends, who create a video game together, over three decades, through love, loss, illness, and death. Read it when you’re in the mood to think about your hopes and dreams and if you’re really where you want to be in your life. You know, light stuff.

Okay, star bits, now take the knowledge you have learned here today and use it for good, not evil. If you want to know more about books, I talk about books pretty much nonstop (when I’m not reading them), and you can hear me say lots of adjectives about them on the BR podcast All the Books! and on Instagram.