Loose Ends

by Paul Levinson

In this Hugo, Nebula, and Sturgeon Award nominated (1997) novella, Jeff Harris goes back in time to prevent the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.

Genres: Time Travel

52 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 1997

About the author

Paul Levinson, PhD, is an author, professor, singer-songwriter, media commentator, podcaster, and publisher. His first novel, The Silk Code, won the Locus Award for best first science fiction novel of 1999. Entertainment Weekly called his 2006 novel, The Plot to Save Socrates, “challenging fun”. Unburning Alexandria, sequel to The Plot to Save Socrates, was published in 2013. Chronica - the third novel in the Sierra Waters time travel trilogy - followed in 2014. His 1995 award-nominated novelette, "The Chronology Protection Case," was made into a short film, now on Amazon Prime Video. His 2022 alternate history short story about The Beatles, "It's Real Life," was made into a radioplay, streaming free, and an audiobook, in 2023, and it won the Mary Shelley Award for Outstanding Fiction. "It's Real Life" was expanded into a novel, It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles, and published in 2024. Paul Levinson was President of the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA), 1998-2001. His nine nonfiction books on the history and future of media -- Human Replay: A Theory of The Evolution of Media (1979/2017), Mind at Large: Knowing in the Technological Age (1988), Electronic Chronicles (1992), Learning Cyberspace (1995), The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution (1998), Digital McLuhan (1999), RealSpace (2003), Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009, 2012) -- have been translated into 16 languages around the world, and have been reviewed in The New York Times, Wired, and major newspapers and magazines. Two shorter books, McLuhan in an Age of Social Media and Fake News in Real Context, were published in 2015-2016, and are frequently updated. Levinson appears on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and numerous other television and radio shows and podcasts. His 1972 album, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was reissued on CD and remastered vinyl and is available on Bandcamp and iTunes. His first new album since Twice Upon A Rhyme -- Welcome Up: Songs of Space Time -- was released by Old Bear Records on CD and digital, and Light in the Attic Records on vinyl, in 2020. Levinson is Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University in NYC.

https://www.facebook.com/paul.levinson/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paullevin...
https://paullev.substack.com/
https://x.com/PaulLev
https://bsky.app/profile/paullev.bsky...
https://www.threads.com/@paullevins
https://mastodon.social/@PaulLev
https://spoutible.com/PaulLev
https://paullev.libsyn.com/
https://www.youtube.com/c/PaulLevinson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le...
https://www.imdb.me/paullevinson

Reviews

[Jim Cherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

We’re all time travelers! It’s a one way trip to the future with a chance to influence history as we go along. But the fantasy that makes up short stories, novels, and movies is to be able to go back in time to alter known history.

As noted in Paul Levinson’s “Loose Ends”, there seems to be focal points in time that would draw time travelers to certain events such as the assassination of JFK. Levinson is also aware this is a focal point for writers (even Stephen King has been drawn to that particular focal point in history). Just as writers of previous generations might have focused on stories of killing the adolescent Adolph Hitler, or stopping the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand or Abraham Lincoln, Levinson is aware of this and uses it to great effect in “Loose Ends.”

“Loose Ends” is a baby boomer’s time travel story. A time traveler from the future who is trying to stop the explosion of the Challenger rocket, he is pulled to the early 1960’s and he thinks to stop the Kennedy assassination. John Lennon and a Beatles song play an integral part in the resolution of the story. “Loose Ends” is what a time travel story should be, a fun read that leaves you asking the question ‘what if?’ if only towards our influence on history.

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loose Ends by Paul Levinson

Jeff Harris goes back in time to attempt to stop the space shuttle The Challenger from exploding. He runs into some difficulties along the way. A nice short story on time travel. I do not do spoilers so I won't say much more. But the story is very good and I highly recommend to those who love time travel stories.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

A fantastical tale of time travel shenanigans. How do you change the future of time travel is possible? Well, obviously by going to the past to prevent that which affected the future. But, what if the universe does not like your meddling, and would prefer to the any "Loose Ends". Is that how things progress, or can the past really be changed? An excellent exploration of these ideas as well societal differences between generations. A worth while read.

[Manly Manster · Rating 1 out of 5]

It’s not a terrible book.

It’s about a man going back in time to stop the challenger explosion. Unfortunately, he is really unprepared. He didn’t even bring any money to survive. He is just spending what he had in his wallet.

When his time travel puts him too far back in the past, he is just stuck. Since he is not prepared, he has to get a job like a regular person till the intended date gets here.

I thought that was stupid. Don’t go back in the past if you don’t even have a plan for when things go wrong. He didn’t even bring any helpful technology to make things easier.

The book isn’t about anything scientific or futuristic. He didn’t bring or plan for anything like that. So it’s just about what he does to pass the time.

He didn’t even bring a list of winning lottery numbers!

Imagine being from the future, but stuck in a dead-end job in the past!! Just no planning at all!

So sad!

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick read. It was particularly interesting timing to read this around the same time I read The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. Time travel and changing the path of history is an interesting playground.

There was a lot of focus on the Beatles. I can say that I like and admire their work, I can't say I know enough to pick up the clues given in the story that were so vital to the story... and that made it a challenge for me to rate the story higher. I like the authors work, I like his writing style and have since "Silk Code" but that was a real detractor for me.

If you've read the story, it does make me wonder if the Beatles will be a historic point of reference given the relatively recent item where musicians of a certain age didn't know who Sir Paul was, or that he had once been in this other band...

[Anna Tan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty interesting, but rather short. Oh well, as it said, it's a novella.