PotsandPlots

I went into a bit of a holding pattern in June. The heat made coherent thought impossible, which made researching new books somewhat difficult.

Nevertheless, three new books scraped across my frazzled consciousness.

The Traveler by Joseph Eckert

Gav Reads on Bluesky, always a good source of book info, mentioned The Traveler by Joseph Eckert. This features a time travel mechanism where Scott Treder keeps leaping forward in time. This would be bad enough, but to make matters worse, the timespan that he jumps doubles in length each time. Before long, Scott is jumping so far forward that he is missing out on his life. Most notably he hasn’t seen his son, Lyle, growing up.

The Traveler tells the story of how Scott and Lyle attempt to find their way back to one another.

Time To Burn by Ellery Lloyd

More Bluesky, and more time travel, from the ever-tempting Sunday role call by book whisperer extraordinare, Runalong Womble. Time To Burn is another thriller, this time featuring tech moguls and time travel experiences.

It is now possible to travel back in time to witness history in the making. The rich can use the whole of recorded history as their playground. A film-maker is recruited to record the wonder of the process, but it all goes wrong when a billionaire time-traveller returns bloodied, traumatised and with one of their party missing.

I love the concept of this one. A ripple effect time travel mystery. Can’t wait to check it out.

Sunward by William Alexander

The Ursula Le Guin prize shortlist was announced this week. Funnily enough, prize shortlists are pretty good places to find reading inspiration. Although weirdly, I often find them intimidating.

This list is no exception. It looks to be filled with a collection of ethereal science fiction that critics go nuts for, but usually leaves me bewildered. One name did catch my eye, however.

I read William Alexander’s Goblin Secrets to my son years and years ago. (13 years ago, it turns out.) It’s a wonderful book. We read the follow up, Ghoulish Song and then I sort of lost track of Alexander’s output after that. I think, perhaps being a US author his other books didn’t make it to the UK.

I was thrilled to see he had a book on the shortlist, and I immediately placed an order for Sunward.

From the Le Guin prize announcement:

“Sunward builds from one deceptively simple question: What if robots needed to be raised? Weaving world-expanding comedy with a vision of parental care that encompasses beings built as well as born, Alexander considers caretaking and community alongside power and resistance. In his future, another way of living is possible—though getting to it is never easy.”

These sound very similar to the themes explored in Goblin Secrets, so I cannot wait to read Sunward. It’s a slender 200 pages too, so hopefully I can squeeze it in soon. The cover is amazing too.

So a short month this month. More hot weather is on the way. Who knows what gems July will highlight.