I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. I'm a frequent reader of both romance and sci-fi and most of these stories had a unique spin on combining the genres. I appreciated that many of these stories were written by and about women and people in the LGBTQ+ community. My enjoyment of the stories certainly varied across the collection; a few were spectacular and really captured my imagination while a few I found a bit lacking. The stories I liked the most walked a line between bittersweet and heartfelt optimism and many had me intrigued and asking questions right up until the end. If you're looking for this collection to present a specific thesis or theme aside from the genre, this might not be the collection for you. I'd recommend this anthology to most sci-fi readers and while I binged the entire book in a couple of reading sessions, the stories can be read independently.

Thank you to Rebellion/Solaris and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC of this book.

This anthology of time-travel short stories was a wonderful break between other books, plus with being unrelated short stories from a wide variety of authors, it is so easy to pick up when you have the time and put back down again without losing the thread. I found some of the stories more compelling than others, but there were definitely no duds in the books as far as I'm concerned.

The standouts to me were:

Alix E Harrow's Roadside Attraction - a man continues to use time travel to find his "destiny" only to eventually realize he may not be the main character of the story and his "destiny" has been in front of him the whole time

Zen Cho's The Past Life Reconstruction Service - a heartbroken man continues to go back in time to visit his past lives only to stumble his ex in each life - his soulmate, no matter the form they're each inhabiting.

Sarah Gailey's I Remember Satellites - an agent is sent back in time to rewrite history, only to encounter her current lover, also an agent, where they break the rules in order to spent the rest of their time together

Rowan Coleman's Romance: Historical - individuals connect and fall in love across time, and try to continue to communicate through books

If you love romance and real science fiction then you’ll love this, there is something for everyone. I enjoyed almost all of these stories. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As with all anthologies, there was a good amount of variance in quality—particularly re: enjoyability— in this book. With some being knockouts and others veering on dull. But, there are a few statements that can be broadly applied to the anthology as a whole.

1. While there was a solid amount of diversity in gender identity and sexual orientation within the stories; the contributing authors were overwhelmingly white. Because we are dealing with time travel, and in many of the stories dealing with history directly, the ones that allowed us to step outside of a western/white viewpoint were some of the most unique and interesting; but they were few and far between.

2. While all of them deal with love in some form, very few of the stories deal in romance. By this I don’t mean that they don’t live within the constraints of the modern day romance genre—expecting some amount of lightness and a HEA. Rather, for some, the relationships or connections built between any given characters were not all that convincing. The “romance” elements here felt easily replaceable or removable in many of the stories—perhaps due to the more conceptual nature of their premises. While there are some exceptions I feel the anthology as a whole could benefit from being labelled differently, as there was a more consistent focus on one individual’s journey with love (concept) than romance between two or more characters.

That’s all.

Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on May 10, 2022 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.


Someone in Time is the latest anthology edited by anthologist Jonathan Strahan, featuring a set of well known (and some less well known) authors, such as Alix E Harrow, Zen Cho, Seanan McGuire, Sarah Gailey, and more. Each story fits into a theme: stories involving some form of time travel and some form of romance - whether that be romance between to two individuals of two different time periods, of two different time travelers throughout time, or something wholly different.

As usual with any anthology, the quality of each story varies, especially here, where the stories try to tackle the theme from some very different approaches. But as with the usual Strahan anthology, and with the authors involved, there are some very memorable stories here that are worth your time if you enjoy SF/F romance.



Someone in Time features 16 short stories by 16 different authors. The authors and stories are as follows:

Roadside Attraction by Alix E. Harrow
The Past Life Reconstruction Service by Zen Cho
First Aid by Seanan McGuire
I Remember Satellites by Sarah Gailey
The Golden Hour by Jeffrey Ford
The Lichens by Nina Allan
Kronia by Elizabeth Hand
Bergamot and Vetiver by Lavanya Lakshminaryan
The Difference between Love and Time by Catherynne M. Valente
Unbashed, or: Jackson, Whose Cowardice Tore a Hole in the Chronoverse by Sam J. Miller
Romance: Historical by Rowan Coleman
The Place of All The Souls by Margo Lanagan
Timed Obsolescence by Sameem Siddiqui
A Letter to Merlin by Theodora Goss
Dead Poets by Carrie Vaughn
Time Gypsy by Ellen Klages

As mentioned above the jump, Someone in Time features stories that all invovle some form of travel through time and space - although sometimes not as literal as direct time travel. And sometimes the time travel is kind of peripheral to the rest of the story, despite it being the theme of the anthology. And the result does have a number of stories I didn't particularly love....but also a number I really really liked, that make this anthology easy to recommend.

So you have some really strong stories like:

Alix E Harrow's Roadside Attraction, featuring a man who keeps randomly jumping back in time looking for some destiny, even as he clearly begins falling for a man who is just right there at the time machine;

Zen Cho's The Past Life Reconstruction Service, which features a man jumping back into his past lives, only to find constantly there the spirit of the man he let break up with him there constantly, making him realize what he really lost;

Lavanya Lakshminaryan's Bergamot and Vetiver is a story from an author I hadn't read before but that I really liked, of a time traveler coming back to an ancient land searching for answers to save their future, only to fall in love and then realize their future is performing a devastating theft on their watch;

Ellen Klages' Time Gypsy is probably the most conventional of the stories, in which a person goes back in time to find their idol, a female professor who died in a mysterious accident and falls in love with them, but it is executed really well.

And well the other stories are pretty good too, such as Sam J Miller's story, which is itself a M-M take on a different short story published once online. But for my money, the best story and the most fascinatingly creative, is Catherynne M. Valente's The Difference between Love and Time, which features a girl in a relationship with.....the personification of the Space-Time Continuum itself. It's seriously great, and I absolutely loved it....and probably should remember it for Hugo Nomination next year.

Again not everything works and there were a few more stories than usual in anthologies I read here that pretty much didn't work for me, but the highs were delightful, and that makes it all worth it.

I love a good anthology. Sometimes I am not in the mood or dont have the time for a full length book and need something bite sized, that is where anthology’s and collections come in. I have a couple of them that feature characters from some of my favorite series. The thing about anthologies is that the stories can be hit or miss. You might like one authors writing but not anothers, you might find an author you have never heard of and enjoy or you might come to dislike one that you have heard a lot about but havent read yet. Anthology’s are a fantastic way to dip your feet into a genre, theme, or author pool to see if it, or they, are for you.

I am a huge fan of time travel books. Especially time travel romances. I could not even tell you how long I have been reading them or where my love for them started, but probably, best guess, it was Jude Deveraux, A Knight in Shining Armor. The idea of finding your soulmate across time has been featured in novels for ages, with time travel being featured all the way back to Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol in 1843. So when I heard about the Someone in Time anthology, I knew I had to have it.

If you are looking for a compilation of diverse characters, this may not be the book for you. While gender and sexuality of the characters are a bit more on the diverse side, the majority of the characters in these stories are white. The are a couple stories that feature older characters as well. Also if you are looking for what authors might picture the future to be, you will be disappointed. The majority of the stories are about traveling back in time and don’t feature much exploration of the characters current time before travel.

One of my favorite parts of this compilation is that before each story it features a little “about the author” so that if you enjoy their writing, you can go explore some of their works, if you haven’t yet. You will find an array of stories short and long throughout this anthology. I thoroughly enjoyed most of the tales woven throughout this book and will definitely be taking a peek at a couple of authors whose works I haven’t read yet.

I love a good collection of short stories, and this book certainly didn't disappoint. I really enjoyed the variety of stories - I hadn't imagined how many different ways the idea of 'time travel + romance' could be interpreted and written by different authors - and the diverse characters and settings. Some of the stories felt neatly contained within the short story format, whereas others felt like merely a snippet of a whole world the author had created, which I think is testimony to the amount of research and consideration behind each story. I enjoyed all the stories for different reasons, with my top favourites being 'Time Gypsy' and 'Unbashed, Or: Jackson, Whose Cowardice Tore a Hole in The Chronoverse'. I would recommend this book to sci fi and romance fans alike.

This collection of short stories combines time travel and romance in sixteen very different but similarly unique takes on "time-crossed romance", and in thus combining two of my most favourite genres it was exactly my cup of tea.

Needless to say there were some stories I enjoyed more than others, but there was not a single one I didn't like, so I think it is fair to say that this is an exceptional good example of a successful anthology.

I enjoyed the many different kinds of romances and time-traveling scenarios depicted here and loved how the general tenor of all of these stories creates a very wholesome atmosphere - even though not all the stories necessarily have happy endings.

Another thing I loved about these stories was the diversity of the romances depicted and the ample LGBT representation in them.

I love time travel, I love some romance and and usually don't love short stories so unfortunately this particular combination didn't work for me. If the story was good, I deeply wanted more, and if the story wasn't good, it was just long enough to annoy me that I had to read through it to get to the next one. The romances are hard to get a feel for in a short story because there just isn't enough room for the kind of development I need to really believe in a relationship, especially in a meet-cute/just getting together situation. Overall, I had a good time reading this book but it just told me I want more long-form books like this with the time travel romance concept, and I hope some of these writers get to write it.

Thank you NetGalley and Rebellion, Solaris for this e-ARC!

My interest towards science and/or speculative fiction is growing wild this year. And this short stories collection about romance in time travelling has just elevate it a bit more!

There are 16 stories in this book. I can say I love all of them. They're all unique, smart, sweet, and thought-provoking at the same time. I can barely pick favorite. But since I think it's gonna be a long essay if I wrote about all 16 of them, I'm gonna pick 5 stories that I love the most.

1. The Past Life Reconstruction Service - Zen Cho
A genius story because it's not just about time travel to the past, it's a person's journey to his past LIVES. Reincarnation, it is!

Rui Wang, a rich movie director on a verge of collapse, was trying to revisit his past lives after his failure on several films and his messed-up relationship with his now ex-boyfriend, Yiu Leung. He tried to recover from everything that been weighed up on him, but instead he found Yiu Leung in every life he visited, as his spouse. Rui Wang started to wonder, maybe Yiu Leung was his real soulmate after all, and he should fight for his relationship.

My heart melt reading this story :')

2. Bergamot and Vetiver - Lavanya Lakshminarayan
"The first rule of temporal research is do not mess with causality. That doesn't apply to me. I have to destroy my future in order to save the past."

WHAT. AN. OPENING. PARAGRAPH.

As soon as I read that I knew right away I'm gonna love the story!

Orumurai, a time traveler from the future, had to visit the past to learn about the water system on 2501 BCE, There Oru meet Enre, an expert who told them all about the water system, and they fall in love. But little did they know that 'the future' was up to no good. Oru had to choose between the future or the past.

It's an alternative history because there's Author's note that tells all about Indus Valley Civilization, the civilization being referred to in the story. And how the author arrange the plot is genius it blows my mind!!!

3. Romance:Historical - Rowan Coleman
A bookshop romance between a boy and a girl, but they're from another timeline. One day the boy accidentally found a gap that bridges the future and the past and he tried to communicate to the girl ever since THROUGH THE BOOKS. Yes. They communicate through books title. HOW CUTE IS THAT??? And the plot is sooo smart I really love it!

4. A Letter to Merlin - Theodora Goss
A girl from a dystopia future is recruited as a time traveler to the past. She must live as Princess Guinevere, King Arthur's wife, to maintain history. Unfortunately, the more she played Guinevere, the more she fell in love with Arthur. In this story, she wrote her feelings in a letter to Merlin, telling the sorcerer that she hate the fact that she has to betrayed Arthur every time. Such a heartbreaking and beautiful story.

5. Time Gypsy - Ellen Klages
Queer women in STEM??? YES!
Dr. McCullough had always adore a genius professor Sara Baxter Clarke since she was a little kid, and one day, she was offered the chance to go to the past and met her hero. McCullough couldn't say no to the once in a lifetime opportunity and found herself transferred to the 1956 to met Dr. Clarke. Turns out, they fell in love and Dr. McCullough found the terrible secret behind her boss's success.

This story will give us insight into the lives of women in the STEM field who are always underestimated. And it also tells us about the lives of the LGBTQ+ community in the 1950s and it's really heart-wrenching how they were treated inhumanely.

The other 11 stories are also so, so good., but I can't write them one by one. All I can say is, all the stories in this book provide a new perspective on time traveling, the concept is fresh and captivating, and the romance in it is really sweet.

I strongly recommend you to read this book, especially if you love science/speculative fiction like me!

I like anthologies by default. It allows me to sample different works and find new favorite authors to follow. This collection is enjoyable and I finished it in one sitting. I'm partial to romance/time travel angst. I'm looking forward to a reading several more from these authors.

Someone in Time is the best of the best of the best. Anthologies are always hit or miss for me, but each story in Someone in Time had at least one moment I loved. All the stories share themes of romance and some time travel/manipulation, but each is singular in how it approaches said travel - sometimes it leans toward sci-fi and sometimes it’s magic/fantasy. I loved reading each author’s take. Every story was unique and even the stories that stick to the classic time travel trope rules were fresh and fun. If I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be The Difference Between Love and Time by Catherynne M. Valente.

Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion for sharing this ARC with me!

This short story collection about time travel is a really fun idea. Different authors writing about scenarios in the future, in the past, and everywhere in between. Sometimes the time travel is technology and sometimes it's an ancient cup that transports the characters through their adventures. All the stories are unique and really offer different slices of possibilities. I enjoyed the premise.

Unfortunately, as a whole, the collection didn't wow me. I think that's just a general problem with anthologies; some stories are really going to work for you and some...really won't. My individual star ratings for all the short stories varied widely.

The authors were mostly women, and about half of the stories did have LGBTQIA+ characters, which was great. I didn't see a lot of diversity representation otherwise.

I would also NOT call these stories romance. As in, "these are romance plots." They are scifi stories with a handful (out of 19) that have some kind of happy for now endings. I guess you can take the subtitle as "these contain some romantic elements" but please don't mistake this collection for a romance collection about time travel. They are a time travel collection with some romance.

Someone in Time is a collection (of largely queer) short stories of time travel romance. As someone who loves all things time travel/time slip, I was very excited to read this, especially when I read the author line up. The mix of stories are poignant, touching, funny, and relatable—minus the sci-if bit, of course. It is hard to pick favorites, as there is no bad story among the bunch. I particularly enjoyed the absolute variety of time travel methods and reasons to do so. This was one of the most enjoyable short story volumes I’ve read. Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity.

This collection is the metaphorical pot of gold at the end of the metaphorical rainbow for those who love exploring romances in time travel.

Fortunately for me, I'm one of those people!

Time travelling stories are so alluring because they offer a perfect way to explore themes like determinism, fate, soulmates, free will, all through a magical lens that keeps the reader hooked. Love stories affected by time travel are a favorite of mine exactly because of this: the opportunity to make a relationship go back and forth, put it through the test of time. Quite literally.

The problem with novels that deal with time travel is that they are often too preoccupied with explaining exactly how the mechanics work in that world they built. Short stories aren't constrained by this. They state their process quickly and then get down to business. It's a delight to experience.

My personal favorite was, to no one's surprise, Catherynne M. Valente's. Her prose always enchants me, and she had the most unique take on this collection's theme. I was also pleasantly surprised by Carrie Vaughn's story. I had never read anything by her and after this, I'd like to change that.

All in all, this is the perfect collection for those wanting to dip their toes into the space-time continuum and watch how it twists and bends love and lovers alike.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC via NetGalley!

This is cracking collection of short stories about time travel and love. There isn’t a dud amongst them. So many times, so many realities, so many different perspectives on love, many of them queer, all of them wonderfully written.
Some focus more on the love, be it the beginning (eg. Roadside Attraction), the after (eg. The Past Life Reconstruction Service) or the precious moments in between (eg. Unbashed, or: Jackson, Whose Cowardice Tore a Hole in the Chronoverse). Others the world they leave behind (eg. First Aid) or the world they’ve travelled to (eg. Bergamot and Vetiver, which had one of my favourite lines in the whole anthology: “To thirst is to be alive, but to devour is to be monstrous.”)
I think my favourite story was Romance: Historical by Rowan Coleman, in which two bookseller fall in love between the shelves—quite literally.

Through the unforgiving river of time, we are thrown on a journey of fantastical stories full of longing and unspoken possibilities.

Someone in Time is a compilation of everything I love in fiction -magical realism, sci-fi, wibbly wobbly timey wimey love that feels impossible, and therefore it's rewarding and satisfying in a way that only our feeble human minds can't grasp when faced with the enormity of our own timelines. Star Crossed Lovers written into the fabric of reality, and finding their way back to each other - is there anything more romantic than that?

A delightful servin of bite-sized portions from some of the most incredible authors of our day. I've long been a fan of several of these artists, but also found some new loves.

Self confessed romantiphobe here. So why did I put my hand up to read a romance anthology? In my defence, there’s time travel, one of my very favourite things to read about and do. [Shh! You’re not supposed to mention that bit.]

Also, there are contributions by two of my favourite authors, Alix E. Harrow and Seanan McGuire, so it was kind of inevitable that this book would find its way to me in every timeline.

Roadside Attraction by Alix E. Harrow

When Floyd approaches the pillar of sandstone covered in graffiti, he’s certain he knows what he’s searching for.

“Did you find your destiny?”

The Past Life Reconstruction Service by Zen Cho

Rui is using the Past Life Reconstruction Service because he’s seeking inspiration.

“Your dream won’t affect anyone or anything else. The most it can do is change the world inside you.”

First Aid by Seanan McGuire

Taylor has been preparing for her one way trip to Elizabethan England for years.

“There was no going back. There never had been.”

I Remember Satellites by Sarah Gailey

When you work for the Agency, a short straw trip means you’re not coming back.

“Everybody draws the short straw in the end.”

The Golden Hour by Jeffrey Ford

Mr Russell is trying to write his novel when he meets the time traveller.

““Past or future?” I asked.
“Where the clues lead, young man. Where else?””

The Lichens by Nina Allan

There’s something important in the past that’s not accessible in Josephine’s time. Meanwhile, I’m sitting here fantasising about the idea of books being able to be transported to the past.

“So you know about lichens?”

Kronia by Elizabeth Hand

So many fleeting moments, finding one another over the course of lifetimes.

“Unrecognized: I never knew you.”

Bergamot and Vetiver by Lavanya Lakshminarayan

To save the past, this time traveller is willing to destroy their future.

“To thirst is to be alive, but to devour is to be monstrous.”

The Difference Between Love and Time by Catherynne M. Valente

Loving the space/time continuum can be complicated.

“Be my wife forever, limited puddle-being.”

Unbashed, Or: Jackson, Whose Cowardice Tore a Hole in the Chronoverse by Sam J. Miller

It all comes back to this moment.

“Walk me home?”

Romance: Historical by Rowan Coleman

Communicating through books is probably the most romantic thing ever.

“Beth steadied herself; after all she had spent her whole life in training for this moment, preparing unreservedly to believe in the impossible.”

The Place of All the Souls by Margo Lanagan

In that realm, they’re perfect. In this one, they’re happily married … but not to one another.

“Whatever came of the discovery, there was at least a moment’s peace to be enjoyed, now that she knew.”

Timed Obsolescence by Sameem Siddiqui

Two time travellers meet throughout time.

“Was discovering random historical factoids what drew you into this line of work?”

A Letter to Merlin by Theodora Goss

Guinevere loves Arthur in every lifetime.

“You’re going to be dead in twenty-four hours. Would you like to save the world?”

Dead Poets by Carrie Vaughn

The love of poems and poets.

“The study of literature is the process of continually falling in love with dead people.”

Time Gypsy by Ellen Klages

Sara Baxter Clarke has been Dr. McCullough’s hero since she was a child.

“I’m offering you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

I have four favourite reads in this anthology: the two I was here for in the first place (no big surprise there) and two by authors who were new to me.

Rowan Coleman’s story made me tear up. It was also the only story that made me interrupt the reader sitting beside me (who was partway through a chapter of the book they were reading), declaring that they need to read this right now. In case you’re wondering, I was forgiven; they loved it as much as I did. It’s just such a beautiful story.

Ellen Klages’ story, where heroes can live up to your expectations, had me railing against injustice even as I was feeling all mushy about the growing love between the protagonists.

The bottom line? If a romantiphobe can find so much to love about this anthology, then the rest of you are in for a treat.

Content warnings include mention of abortion, death by suicide, domestic abuse, homophobia, miscarriage and sexual assault. Readers with emetophobia may have trouble with a few sentences.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Solaris, an imprint of Rebellion Publishing, for the opportunity to read this anthology. I’m rounding up from 4.5 stars.

This is such a fantastic collection of love-through-time short stories! I normally do not enjoy sci-fi or anthologies, but I've been finding that I am rather enjoying them! Some of these stories I liked more than others, but you won't find one that was bad!