If it was truly possible to vacation in time, I would visit early America on the off chance I’d meet Benjamin Franklin. I always thought it would be great to share a meal with him and talk about politics and electricity. Maybe fly a kite together. George Washington could join us—I’m still curious about the whole wooden teeth thing. And I’d like to chat with Thomas Jefferson about his recommended authors. After all, Jefferson wrote one of my all-time favorite quotes: “I cannot live without books.”
So early America for me.
But just for one of my timely sojourns.
Then there’s Rome in the time of Caesar—I could spend a week or two there. I studied Latin in high school and have kept up with it enough that on a good day I just might be able to make it through a marketplace to sample the wines and wares. I’ve no interest in watching whatever bloody act would be taking place in any arena.
Or maybe I’d go back to see the very first football game ever. I am a football junkie. That would be a seriously delicious kick, especially if I could get a seat on the 50-yard line.
I think I’d even give prehistoric Africa a try, just to see the dinosaurs. Real dinosaurs, not the skeletons on display in museums or the cinematic ones of Jurassic Park and the like.
Yeah, now that I’m thinking about it, if I was going to take a vacation in time it would have to be for the dinosaurs.
Up close and personal with a stegosaurus first, then a meet-and-greet with Ben Franklin.
Fortunately for you, the authors in this collection went to all manner of interesting places not on my list—a veritable whirlwind tour across the globe and through the centuries. They opened my eyes to some interesting possibilities.
Allister Timms took a risky vacation during World War I. Robert Vardeman went looking for a costly work of art, Jody Lynn Nye discovered a classic romance, and Vicki Steger found paradise. Greg Cox’s traveler found danger, Chris Pierson’s found John Lennon, and Michael Stackpole’s found Jesus.
Each vacation in this anthology will stir your imagination and make you think about your own possible Timeshares journey.
Where would you go?
Or, more precisely, when would you go?
Enjoy the trips Timeshares offers up in this collection.
Me? After reading all of the tales I’m thinking paradise might not be so bad. Maybe I could take John Lennon and Leonardo da Vinci with me.
—Jean Rabe
The Authentic Touch
Kevin J. Anderson
Kevin J. Anderson is the author of more than one hundred novels, forty-seven of which have appeared on national or international bestseller lists. He has more than twenty million books in print in thirty languages. He has won or been nominated for numerous prestigious awards, including the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the SFX Reader’s Choice Award, the American Physics Society’s Forum Award, and the New York Times Notable Book Award.
Mainz, Germany, 1452
All these dirty, crowded medieval towns looked the same to him. He double-checked the small glowing screen on his locator/communicator/emergency signal. Yes, Mainz, Germany. 1452. Right on target.
He was no historian and had no aspirations to become one. To him, historical settings were to be studied on an entertainment screen or read in a novel, not to be experienced firsthand. But a job was a job . . . and the job had taken him here.
His name was Bill—“Bill the PR Man.” Not a very memorable name, but his parents had given