The Future of Another Timeline

By: Annalee Newitz

Narrated by: Laura Nichol

Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Locus Award Finalist!

"A revolution is happening in speculative fiction, and Annalee Newitz is leading the vanguard." (Wil Wheaton)

From Annalee Newitz, founding editor of io9, comes a story of time travel, murder, and the lengths we'll go to protect the ones we love.

This program includes a bonus interview with the author, as well as an author's note and historical material read by the author.

1992: After a confrontation at a riot grrl concert, 17-year-old Beth finds herself in a car with her friend's abusive boyfriend dead in the backseat, agreeing to help her friends hide the body. This murder sets Beth and her friends on a path of escalating violence and vengeance as they realize many other young women in the world need protecting too.

2022: Determined to use time travel to create a safer future, Tess has dedicated her life to visiting key moments in history and fighting for change. But rewriting the timeline isn’t as simple as editing one person or event. And just when Tess believes she's found a way to make an edit that actually sticks, she encounters a group of dangerous travelers bent on stopping her at any cost.

Tess and Beth’s lives intertwine as war breaks out across the timeline - a war that threatens to destroy time travel and leave only a small group of elites with the power to shape the past, present, and future. Against the vast and intricate forces of history and humanity, is it possible for a single person’s actions to echo throughout the timeline?

Praise for The Future of Another Timeline:

"An intelligent, gut-wrenching glimpse of how tiny actions, both courageous and venal, can have large consequences. Smart and profound on every level." (Publishers Weekly starred review)

"You close the book reeling with questions about your own life and your part in changing the future." (Amy Acker, actress, Angel and Person of Interest)

©2019 Annalee Newitz (P)2019 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

2019 The Guardian (UK) Best Books of the Year
2019 NYPL Book for Reading and Sharing
2019 Hudson Booksellers Best of the Year
2019 NPR Best Book of the Year

"Newitz's carefully built narrative of time travel and conflict is rooted in the drive and joys of intersectional feminism, sex positivity, and acceptance... This riot of a book will have readers delighting both in the thrilling battle over timelines in an intricate, alternative world and in the joys of inclusive feminist solidarity." (Booklist starred review)

"Where the book really shines is in its page-turning plot and thoughtfully drawn characters...the story charges along until Newitz suddenly ties it all together with breathtaking finesse. An ambitious adventure that keeps the surprises coming." (Kirkus starred review)

"[Newitz] highlights the truths of our past and possibilities of our future. The fantastical elements do not hide the all-too-real horrors women could face, but intelligence and hope are woven into every level." (Library Journal starred review)

Not for me

I bought this after reading a sort of positive review in the New York Times. I usually like alternate timeline stories but from the beginning I had a hard getting into the story, and they totally lost me when the time machine turns out to be operated by geologists (no, I'm not making this up) tapping onto rock... Uh, yeah. So an hour and a half in I'm returning it. Maybe it gets better but I guess this is just not my kind of sci-fi (I just don't see much sci in the fi here).

Right up my alley

I'm a sucker for anything with unapologetic women and time travel. When you put them together I'm happy as a clam.

The publisher's and editor's reviews give good overall summaries of the book without giving too much away, which I appreciate. I do think that it's important to touch on the amount of research and effort that the author put in to adding historical characters, events, and places to this book. Their efforts include writing a song with Desi Lopez to immerse the listener in the universe that they have created.

Unlike some time travel books the whole package is worth the listen. Each present that the main character is in is given a full story: a high school student struggling with narcissist parents in the 90s, a feminist time traveling scholar in the future invested in preserving women's rights and trans existence, said woman traveling back in time to historically accurate (and painstakingly researched) pasts to try to make changes to her own future... each lovingly crafted to the point that I would have listened to a full book on any.

As an aside, this book passes a reverse Bechdel Test which I think is interesting.

Pretty dismal attempt

I really disliked this one. It is not really sci fi. If you want to listen to a bunch of silliness about transgenders, abortions, rapes, racism, and plastic dildos....this is your book.

Abysmal narration

I didn’t finish this; I got a refund. I quit in the middle of chapter 4 (5, according to Audible reckoning). There was no distinction between characters. The only way I knew the difference was because the chapters tell you who’s narrating. But even when “Tess” was narrating,, there was no differentiation when other characters were speaking. It’s a big disappointment, as the story was intriguing.

Painful to listen to

A pretty interesting concept, executed in the worst possible way. You might like it if you're into extreme feminist literature (think "vagina hats") , otherwise stay away.

Very little about a lot

There are a lot of interesting premises touched upon in the book that hook you in the beginning.
A little before half way things start to get sloppy and boring with too many parallel superficial stories and very little character development.
The end felt rushed and inconsequential

Punk Pandering

A time traveling story featuring women, people of color, inclusive to nonbinary/non gendering confirming humans, AND has punk music leanings was something I was so very excited about. I felt like this book was made for me and maybe that set the novel up for unrealistic expectations because after reading and reflecting on this, I feel underwhelmed and as if the punk elements were used as a device to get people to read, like it was a tool and not punk at all. I do respect what the author was trying to do, I just felt like the story itself fell short of that mark. I still do not understand why the killings actually occurred other than the first one. I don't understand how there is no culpability for thrill kills and it's later used as the saving element of a story - it was like watching a movie that built up for an hour just to have it neatly end with no actual depth in the last half hour because the budget couldn't support it. The research involved for this book, I found that more interesting that the actual book and that's the saving grace of why I gave it three stars as opposed to two. I'm not upset for reading this, it was not a horrible book - I just really expected a lot more. I will be checking out Annalee Neitz's other novels because if anything - creativity and inclusion in Sci-Fi is exactly my jam.

Fantastic Feminist Sci-Fi

I enjoyed this book so much it combined my love of intersectional feminism and time travel. What’s not to love?

lacking

just overall lacking, tried getting into it several times and it just never got me hooked.

it's her voice....

I just could not get past the narrators voice . no inflection, all the characters sounded the same. just not for me, I can not comment on story ,it seemed convoluted at first and I just wandered off like a child at Walmart, and NO ONE came to get me..