Coode Street Roundtable 2.1: Annalee Newitz’s The Future of Another Timeline

Welcome to the first episode of the second season of The Coode Street Roundtable, a monthly podcast from Coode Street Productions where panellists James Bradley, Ian Mond, Gary K. Wolfe, and Jonathan Strahan, joined by occasional special guests, discuss a new or recently released science fiction or fantasy novel.

Annalee Newitz’s The Future of Another Timeline

This month James, Ian, Gary and Jonathan discuss the latest book from Annalee Newitz. It’s described by publisher Tor Books as follows:

1992: After a confrontation at a riot grrl concert, seventeen-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?

If you’re keen to avoid spoilers, we recommend reading the book before listening to the episode (serious spoilers start around the ten-minute mark).

If you don’t already have a copy, The Future of Another Timeline can be ordered from:

• North American booksellers
• UK booksellers
• amazon.com.au

We encourage all of our listeners to leave comments here and we will do our best to respond as soon as possible.

Books mentioned this episode

James mentioned:

• Russell Hoban, Riddley Walker
• Paul Kingsnorth, The Wake
• Alastair Reynolds, Permafrost
• Michelle Tea, Black Wave
• Connie Willis, Doomsday Book

Gary mentioned:

• Elizabeth Hand, Curious Toys

Ian mentioned:

• Claire North, The Pursuit of William Abbey
• Meghan Elison, The Road to Nowhere Trilogy

Jonathan mentioned:

Kelly Robson, Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach

 

Next month

The Coode Street Roundtable will return at the end of October with a discussion of Alix E. Harrow's The Ten Thousand Doors of January.