Quick review of The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz

The Future of Another Timeline occurs on an alternative Earth. In this universe, some artifacts can be used for time travel. In a few locations throughout Earth, there are six mounds of rock that, when hit in the right combination, allow time travel throughout Earth’s history. Time geologists use them not only to view history but also to edit it. This differs from most time travel stories, in which the characters usually worry about changing history and causing unexpected results. The time geologists can’t make massive instantaneous changes (like killing Hitler) to history. The changes must occur slowly, like planting a seed of thought in a person’s mind. In the version of the timeline in the novel, the suppression of women is gradually increasing. This causes a group of time geologists to fight back by editing the timeline.

I learned a bit about a few historical figures, like Anthony Comstock, an actual special agent in the 1890s who was allowed to intercept and read every suspected radical liberated woman’s mail and arrest them for anything he deemed obscene. The book also has a parallel story about one of the main characters trying to prevent a death in the 1990s.

The novel did peter out a bit at the end, but overall it was a good read.

 

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