The Time Traveller’s Almanac Ann & Jeff Vandermeer, editors Having just finished Mike Ashley’s cherishable collection The Mammoth Book of Time Travel SF (published by Robinson), I have to confess that I was not too inspired by the notion of another such collection — particularly one that weighed in at nearly 1000 imposing pages, and could only be read in positions where the arms were thoroughly supported. But how wrong I was! For someone like me — whose favourite SF novel is Wells’ The Time Machine — Ann & Jeff Vandermeer collection The Time Traveller’s Almanac is absolute catnip. It boasts an unparalleled collection of time travel pieces form a host of authors: Wells’ nonpareil template, of course (should that be time-plate?), but also Ray Bradbury’s A Sound of Thunder (how could that classic story not be in any time travel volume?) and entries from just about every major writer in the genre. The book is designed (one would have thought) to be dipped into at intervals rather than read consecutively; in fact, the ideal way to read it would be to travel back in time after finishing each story to the point one started at. But with that possibility somewhat remote, this is a truly mesmerising collection — even for those not normally tempted by SF. The Time Travellers Almanac, edited by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer, is published by Head of Zeus
