Description:
Ian Randal Strock's short fiction travels from the deep past to the far future, from the horrifying to the fascinating, and from just next door to the farthest reaches of the imagination. These stories represent the first three decades of his writing career, and according to 35-time Hugo nominee Stanley Schmidt, "display a delightful diversity of thought-provoking ideas and engaging storytelling."
Analog Editor Trevor Quachri says "This is the kind of classic, clever idea-oriented SF you'd find in the Golden Age, but built for today. Recommended for your witty friends, history buffs, time-travel fans...."
Whether it's stories about inventing time travel in order to avoid being late for work, dying young to achieve immortality, colonizing the stars via conspiracy theory, or the big one: learning how to recognize your time-traveling self, Hugo Winner Robert J. Sawyer says "Strock's intellect shines through on every page of this fabulous collection."
Brief description: Ian Randal Strock is an author, editor, publisher, and historian known for his contributions to speculative fiction, publishing, and popular history. He is the 2025 winner of the Skylark Award and two previous AnLab Awards. As the owner of Fantastic Books and Gray Rabbit Publications, Strock has worked extensively as a science fiction editor and independent publisher while also writing fiction, nonfiction, and commentary on history, language, and politics. He is the author of books including Punctilious Punctuation, Wandering Through Time, The Presidential Book of Lists, Ranking the First Ladies, and Ranking the Vice Presidents.
Review Quotes:
"This is the kind of classic, clever idea-oriented SF you'd find in the Golden Age, but built for today. Recommended for your witty friends, history buffs, time-travel fans, and anyone curious for a peek behind the curtain at magazine publishing."
-Trevor Quachri, Editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact
"The short-short story is one of the hardest kinds of fiction to pull off, and few since Fredric Brown have done it as often or as well as Ian Randal Strock. But that's not all he does. Wandering Through Time displays a delightful diversity of his thought-provoking ideas and engaging storytelling."
-Stanley Schmidt, former Editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, 35-time Hugo Award nominee
"Ian Randal Strock is a literal genius-a card-carrying member of Mensa-and his intellect shines through on every page of this fabulous collection. This is a wonderful sampler of just the sort of stories I love to read."
-Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of The Downloaded
Ian Randal Strock is the Harry Turtledove of short-short SF.
His alternate-history stories have punch. The take on a geographically divided America in the time of the Civil War rings strongly in "Shall Not Perish from the Earth." I think it's Strock's best tale.
In the "Necessary Enemy," it's always wars, it seems, that drive humankind's progress and destiny.
"Rockefeller on the Rocks" proves that unique tales, true or not, of U.S. vice presidents could perhaps work, with sufficiently advanced technology. Why can't we replace veeps with robots? Who would know?
-Andrew Andrews, True Review