Joshua David Bellin

"People don't change, Querry. We're the descendants of the madmen who destroyed the planet. Why should we be any different?"

This one was just weird
It had me pretty solid until about chapter 15. Then it just seemed...to go off in a direction that I couldn't quite understand or like.

Querry was easy to like. I did like getting to know the whole colony - even seeing the struggle with Yov and Wali. It was realistic even if I didn't like it.

The skaldi were equally fascinating and the eerie idea that we don't know what they actually look like - only that they can be everyone and no one.

but the final explanation and the final "hope" was just too off to me.… (more)

This has what one might call a dual-dual setting. Chapters alternate between before two giant space vessels leave earth and a thousand years in the future when the passengers come out of an extended hibernation. In the early chapters, you're following Cam in the wealthy upper world and Sophie in the poverty-stricken lower world. One look at a hacked video stream of Sophie advocating for equal treatment of those in the lower world is all it takes to set Cam on a new path that is far beyond anything he could imagine. It's compelling, filled with surprises, and has a very satisfying conclusion.… (more)

I loved the first ACCIDENTAL TIME TRAVELER’S COLLECTIVE and was so excited to see there would be another collection of stories! I enjoyed each and every story in this collection. I apologize if I have misspelled names or anything else. I was taking notes as I read and my handwriting is hard to read at times…

Status Green-Identical twins have a really fun training mission to 15th century France to prevent a timeline paradox by bad forces. This had some really great world building and I loved the idea of the training mission. Neat ending, too!

Lake Lorelai-Elizabeth is an engineer who witnesses a dam failure in the present day at Lake Lorelai and then goes back in time to when the dam is being constructed. Can she prevent the accident? I loved the historical aspects of this, especially when no one would believe she was an engineer. Also loved her connecting with the real Lorelai and this also had some great twists!

Muse-I loved the wonderful descriptions in this one, especially of the marketplace and of the potterymaking!

The Suitcase-Sully and Beryl are sent to retrieve a time tourist who has run amok in 1922 Paris. I loved Sully and Beryl right away, and this had all the elements that make a great story, adventure, a great villain, a great twist, and fun historical context! Loved it!

Professor MacBeth-Oh I really loved this! Tessa and John get to go back in time and have a little medieval adventure and the past is not all the fun it seems when you aren’t experiencing it without all the smells and upset stomachs. Tessa leads time travel tours and she takes John to Scotland. I loved the great descriptions and thought the author made it both perfectly gritty and also humorous!

For Her-This was a fun, quirky story with a twist I didn’t see coming! David creates a time machine to go back 30 years and save Tara from a doomed fate, but the consequences are not what he intends! This was fun!

Convergence-This story ripped my heart out. So well told. A young man has the ability to time travel in dreams and change the past, but when he’s forced to choose between saving a family member and altering time so that he never meets his spouse, what will he choose? I loved the paradoxes and interesting “what if” questions this one raised!

Plan V-Valentino Walker’s wife is going to destroy the world. What a catchy hook. This was a fun story. I really enjoyed it!

Timeout-This was a poignant story that was really well told. A mother and son are dealing with grief and loss and a timeout chair that can reconstruct brain waves. Good messages with a sci fi twist.

Swift to start-This was fun! Loved it!

Split Lives of Medusa-This was a really neat concept of split persons, where someone chooses to go down two different life paths and splits into two different people. I loved all the “what ifs” this raised!

The Third Christmas-I love Susan Hancock’s Anstey series and loved getting a glimpse into William Wrenn and Beth’s lives, William’s fears for Kat’s future as she comes of age and will she begin courting human men or her mother’s Aurigan kind? I loved seeing several different Christmases and especially a surprise visitor at the end!
5/5 stars… (more)