3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years
John Scalzi
Fun twist at the end
John Scalzi‘s 3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years is the first book in a new Amazon Original series of novellas, The Time Traveler’s Passport, by “six of today’s most visionary authors,” meaning Fantasy and Science Fiction. When I say “first,” I mean only that 3-9-27 is listed first on the Amazon page for the series. As far as I know the stories are unrelated and not in any particular order. I learned about 3-9-27 from Scalzi‘s blog. Since it’s short and Scalzi is a known quantity it was a low-risk choice for a quick read. I will probably read the rest on the same basis.
The result was the usual result of low-investment low-risk projects. I got the reward I was expecting. It was worth it, but not extraordinary.
3-9-27 is told in the first person by an employee of a business that offers time-travel services to temporal tourists. Our hero’s job is essentially just to push a button for each client. Clients are sent back to a date and place of their choice. They return by entering a retrieval portal after either 3 days, 9 months, or 27 years, those being the intervals after which physics permits return. Not at all is also an option. The first 88% of 3-9-27 is essentially just educational. It is Scalzi explaining to you, the reader, how this time-travel system works and how clients use it.
Scalzi, as I said, is a known quantity -- he’s been writing for a long time, and he manages to make this education interesting.
It is at 88% that you get your reward. The story takes a twist that I, at least, did not see coming. I’ve been reading for 70 years, I am not often surprised, and it is usually welcome. This one was.
3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years on Amazon