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The Golden Nineties
In twenty-fifth-century China, Zhu Wong is part of a paramilitary cadre dedicated to enforcing the Generation-Skipping Law, but when she is arrested for attempted murder, she must travel into the past, to San Francisco in 1895, to search for a slave woman. Reprint.
418 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1995
2 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Mason
75 books72 followersStay safe and well in 2021! Please visit my website at http://www.lisamason.com for all my print books, ebooks, screenplays, Storybundles, interviews, blogs, my husband Tom Robinson's bespoke jewelry and artwork, cute cat pictures, and more!
My second collection, ODDITIES: 22 Stories, is available now as an ebook on Kindle worldwide and as a print book in seven countries, including the U.S. and the U.K. The collection includes stories previously published in OMNI, Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Full Spectrum 5, and others, plus six new stories. A Locus Magazine Notable Book.
I've got eight other books available as beautiful trade paperbacks (and ebooks): CHROME, Summer of Love, The Gilded Age, The Garden of Abracadabra, Arachne, Cyberweb, One Day in the Life of Alexa, and Strange Ladies: 7 Stories.
Summer of Love was a Philip K. Dick Award Finalist and San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book, The Gilded Age was a New York Times Notable Book. My Omni story, "Tomorrow's Child," sold outright as a feature film to Universal Pictures and is in development.
My second collection, ODDITIES: 22 Stories, is available now as an ebook on Kindle worldwide and as a print book in seven countries, including the U.S. and the U.K. The collection includes stories previously published in OMNI, Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Full Spectrum 5, and others, plus six new stories. A Locus Magazine Notable Book.
I've got eight other books available as beautiful trade paperbacks (and ebooks): CHROME, Summer of Love, The Gilded Age, The Garden of Abracadabra, Arachne, Cyberweb, One Day in the Life of Alexa, and Strange Ladies: 7 Stories.
Summer of Love was a Philip K. Dick Award Finalist and San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book, The Gilded Age was a New York Times Notable Book. My Omni story, "Tomorrow's Child," sold outright as a feature film to Universal Pictures and is in development.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 7, 2024
It's always a pleasure to read something by Lisa Mason. This is a time travel book. Zhu, a young Chinese woman from the 25th century, is awaiting sentencing for a crime in which she may or may not have killed someone. She is asked to travel back in time. It's implied that doing this will reduce her sentence, so she agrees. Zhu is a member of a radical group that wants the strict guidelines on limitations on children enforced, as population growth continues to damage the environment.
Most of the book is Zhu's adventures in 1895 San Francisco as she tries to complete her mission. Rather than joining a Christian mission house in Chinatown as planned, she ends up as bookkeeper/assistant to Jessie, the prosperous madam of several bordellos. There she gets involved with Daniel, a young man from a once-wealthy family who takes a room at Jessie's home, where she rents rooms to men.
Mason's writing about San Francisco in that era is a delight. She has obviously done her research, and I trust her depiction of what life was like for various classes and races of people, and of places and events. I know the city fairly well, so neighborhoods and institutions were familiar, though this was before the 1906 earthquake. There are appearances by, or mentions of, a number of historical people including Jack London, who has a couple of cameos. Donaldina Cameron, the proprietor of the Christian home, was a real person, and (I assume) the home is portrayed accurately.
Zhu has an implanted AI guide/mentor, Muse, which helps her get around, gives her guidance on how to complete her assignment, and does some nagging for a while. Things do not go as planned, and Muse starts being inconsistent. Between that and her memories, Zhu gets the message that she may be in a time travel paradox where the events are changing.
The book includes flashbacks to the future, so we get some understanding of Zhu's life and how she got in her current situation. This is an interesting future, even though we only see small pieces of it. It's apparently the same one, and same time-travel institute, as Summer of Love: A Time Travel, which I read and loved many years ago and now need to re-read (something very rare for me).
Most of the book is Zhu's adventures in 1895 San Francisco as she tries to complete her mission. Rather than joining a Christian mission house in Chinatown as planned, she ends up as bookkeeper/assistant to Jessie, the prosperous madam of several bordellos. There she gets involved with Daniel, a young man from a once-wealthy family who takes a room at Jessie's home, where she rents rooms to men.
Mason's writing about San Francisco in that era is a delight. She has obviously done her research, and I trust her depiction of what life was like for various classes and races of people, and of places and events. I know the city fairly well, so neighborhoods and institutions were familiar, though this was before the 1906 earthquake. There are appearances by, or mentions of, a number of historical people including Jack London, who has a couple of cameos. Donaldina Cameron, the proprietor of the Christian home, was a real person, and (I assume) the home is portrayed accurately.
Zhu has an implanted AI guide/mentor, Muse, which helps her get around, gives her guidance on how to complete her assignment, and does some nagging for a while. Things do not go as planned, and Muse starts being inconsistent. Between that and her memories, Zhu gets the message that she may be in a time travel paradox where the events are changing.
The book includes flashbacks to the future, so we get some understanding of Zhu's life and how she got in her current situation. This is an interesting future, even though we only see small pieces of it. It's apparently the same one, and same time-travel institute, as Summer of Love: A Time Travel, which I read and loved many years ago and now need to re-read (something very rare for me).
March 5, 2018
I read Summer of Love six years ago, and loved it. I have been keeping an eye open for this, its sequel, ever since. I happened to spot a copy at a library book sale recently and snatched it up. Unfortunately, I cannot say that I loved this book. My somewhat dim memory of why I liked Summer of Love so much is that I really enjoyed the characters, and was impressed by the historical detail.
When I first started reading The Golden Nineties, I thought that it had one of those same qualities going for it: Mason had obviously done her research and was imbuing this book, too, with historical detail. Alas, for me, I think this ended up being part of why I did not enjoy reading this book. There may have been fine and wonderful things about San Francisco in the 1890s, but if so, Mason glossed over those features in favor of highlighting all that was unjust, ignoble and downright ugly about this period. Even that would not necessarily have sunk the book for me. What did was the fact that I really did not like any character in the book.
The plot was curious enough to make me want to finish the book to see how it ended, and although the ending was not entirely satisfying, the last portion of the book was my favorite part of it.
I would wholeheartedly recommend Summer of Love. I would advise those who seek out this book after reading that one, however, that this is a very different, and much darker, story.
When I first started reading The Golden Nineties, I thought that it had one of those same qualities going for it: Mason had obviously done her research and was imbuing this book, too, with historical detail. Alas, for me, I think this ended up being part of why I did not enjoy reading this book. There may have been fine and wonderful things about San Francisco in the 1890s, but if so, Mason glossed over those features in favor of highlighting all that was unjust, ignoble and downright ugly about this period. Even that would not necessarily have sunk the book for me. What did was the fact that I really did not like any character in the book.
The plot was curious enough to make me want to finish the book to see how it ended, and although the ending was not entirely satisfying, the last portion of the book was my favorite part of it.
I would wholeheartedly recommend Summer of Love. I would advise those who seek out this book after reading that one, however, that this is a very different, and much darker, story.
July 15, 2022
Like the author's "Summer of Love" a very enjoyable read that meanders quite a bit in the middle but ends on a bang. The two novels are very similar - a time traveler from the 2400s heads back to the past (1960s and 1890s respectively) with an assignment to make sure events happen as they are supposed to in the past. In both cases the protagonist develops relationships with "locals", their assignment goes a bit awry, but somehow they manage to set things right-ish (hopefully that's not a spoiler). Stylistically the novels are similar too - we get chapters that alternate between the protagonists and 2-3 characters who they are close to. Also similarly, the plots of both novels really start to sag in the middle, but, again, the endings for me really stick the landing, tying up the plot threads but also the emotional threads.
In some ways I think "Summer of Love" is a little more successful, in that the assignment of the protagonist stays present even through the meandering plot, and also the other characters whose viewpoint we get are more involved in the assignment. Here Zhu's assignment frankly disappears for a good chunk of the action, and also it doesn't ever really involve Jessie or Daniel, our other viewpoint characters. So between, say, pages 200 and 300 this was starting to feel like a bit of a slog (I did not care about Daniel's real estate transactions!), but the last 60 or so pages really brought things together. We learn more about Zhu's assignment which makes the rest of the plot make more sense, and again I think the author does a great job of tying all the emotional and thematic elements together.
In some ways I think "Summer of Love" is a little more successful, in that the assignment of the protagonist stays present even through the meandering plot, and also the other characters whose viewpoint we get are more involved in the assignment. Here Zhu's assignment frankly disappears for a good chunk of the action, and also it doesn't ever really involve Jessie or Daniel, our other viewpoint characters. So between, say, pages 200 and 300 this was starting to feel like a bit of a slog (I did not care about Daniel's real estate transactions!), but the last 60 or so pages really brought things together. We learn more about Zhu's assignment which makes the rest of the plot make more sense, and again I think the author does a great job of tying all the emotional and thematic elements together.
October 8, 2015
I picked this up a couple of years ago at Powell's. When I was in high school, I read another novel of hers, "Summer of Love." This is a well-woven, intriguing story that ties slightly to SoL. Having doubled in age and acquiring countless distractions along the way, I unfortunately didn't devour it with the same gusto.
Mason has a knack for character development, forcing you to love them all despite their shortcomings. Both books rely heavily on historical San Franciscan culture. I'd recommend this book to anyone with a particular fondness for the Bay Area, as well as those interested in time travel science fiction.
Mason has a knack for character development, forcing you to love them all despite their shortcomings. Both books rely heavily on historical San Franciscan culture. I'd recommend this book to anyone with a particular fondness for the Bay Area, as well as those interested in time travel science fiction.
July 9, 2009
fantasy/scifi,women authors
March 24, 2013
Great time travel book, well-researched and rich in San Francisco history. Very moving with a poignant, well-earned ending. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews