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Hold-Time Violations
Ellie is on her way to visit her comatose mother when her sister sends her to repair physics. Each universe has skunkworks that generate the universe within it, making this multiverse a set of matryoshka dolls. The skunkworks that generate this universe have become faulty, and the physical constants suddenly...aren't. In order to fix the skunkworks, to make physics self-consistent again, and to make the world work as it's supposed to, Ellie will have to remember everything her mother has taught her.
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First published September 23, 2015
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About the author
John Chu
71 books117 followersJohn Chu is a microprocessor architect by day, a writer by night. His fiction has appeared or is forthcoming at Boston Review, Bloody Fabulous, Asimov's Science Fiction, Apex Magazine and Tor.com. His story "The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere" won the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 14, 2020
This was a really neat idea, but I'm not sure I properly understood it. I like the concept, and I enjoyed the characters, but for such a short story I'm not at all sure that I could explain what happened.
October 30, 2015
Originally posted at: http://thebookplank.blogspot.com/2015...
I missed a lot of good short fiction during my vacation. Hold-Time Violations is definitely one of them. John Chu is well known for his short fiction stories. One of his stories even won him the Hugo Award for Short Stories back in 2014. What drew me to Hold-Time Violations was the challenging and promising synopsis. I like my science fiction with a challenge and definite thought behind it and this is precisely what John Chu delivers.
Hold-Time Violations starts of rather innocent. Ellie is on her way to visit her mother and needs to catch the train. But this is pretty much the only normal thing there is. Soon you learn that there is much more going on in the world. Because as of today nobody has tried to kill Ellie for starters. Apprently her sister Chris likes to "challenge" Ellie every now and again. The next thing that you learn about is the skunkworks that make the actual universe for what it is. Ellie herself is a skunkwork Builder, she build universes. Her sister made it apparent that there is something faulty in the current skunkworks that needs to be fixed. Ellie first has to do this before she can go to her mother. However it there is a catch. Besides the Builders of the skunkworks there are also other parties. Opposing parties, for example the Isolationist who see that the skunkworks are never wrong and if they change, aka turn faulty, it is what should have happened. And thus Ellie has to watch her step when correction said skunkwork. Danger lies at the end of each pipe.
I have to give full credits to John Chu for world building. His imagining of a world connected with pipes and other plumbing things is something I haven't read before and definitely filled up my imagination. The backdrop of the story is an emotional story about Ellie and her mother, which the ending even more so verifies.
However what left my mind in a spin was the plotline and thinking about the different parties. Ellie's mother is sick, but can be brought back to health by well tinkering with the skunkworks, what a builder like Ellie does. If you look at the Isolationists, who see every event as meant to be, I got to thinking that they actually have much more sense, because can you ethically change everything to suite your goal? Perhaps in this universe you can, but doesn't that then mean that as a Builder you play God? Can you go to far in changing the skunkworks each and every time? No wonder there are fights between them. Hold-Time Violations is a great provocative read. Make sure you read it guys.
Read the full story here
I missed a lot of good short fiction during my vacation. Hold-Time Violations is definitely one of them. John Chu is well known for his short fiction stories. One of his stories even won him the Hugo Award for Short Stories back in 2014. What drew me to Hold-Time Violations was the challenging and promising synopsis. I like my science fiction with a challenge and definite thought behind it and this is precisely what John Chu delivers.
Hold-Time Violations starts of rather innocent. Ellie is on her way to visit her mother and needs to catch the train. But this is pretty much the only normal thing there is. Soon you learn that there is much more going on in the world. Because as of today nobody has tried to kill Ellie for starters. Apprently her sister Chris likes to "challenge" Ellie every now and again. The next thing that you learn about is the skunkworks that make the actual universe for what it is. Ellie herself is a skunkwork Builder, she build universes. Her sister made it apparent that there is something faulty in the current skunkworks that needs to be fixed. Ellie first has to do this before she can go to her mother. However it there is a catch. Besides the Builders of the skunkworks there are also other parties. Opposing parties, for example the Isolationist who see that the skunkworks are never wrong and if they change, aka turn faulty, it is what should have happened. And thus Ellie has to watch her step when correction said skunkwork. Danger lies at the end of each pipe.
I have to give full credits to John Chu for world building. His imagining of a world connected with pipes and other plumbing things is something I haven't read before and definitely filled up my imagination. The backdrop of the story is an emotional story about Ellie and her mother, which the ending even more so verifies.
However what left my mind in a spin was the plotline and thinking about the different parties. Ellie's mother is sick, but can be brought back to health by well tinkering with the skunkworks, what a builder like Ellie does. If you look at the Isolationists, who see every event as meant to be, I got to thinking that they actually have much more sense, because can you ethically change everything to suite your goal? Perhaps in this universe you can, but doesn't that then mean that as a Builder you play God? Can you go to far in changing the skunkworks each and every time? No wonder there are fights between them. Hold-Time Violations is a great provocative read. Make sure you read it guys.
Read the full story here
December 27, 2022
Physics violations up at the multiverse skunkworks. Hot stuff. Cool illo, too.
Sample:
"The skunkworks pre-date humanity and no human had ever made any changes to this section. Any actual mismatch in construction should have been found eons ago. Still, she checks, hoping that’s what the problem is. The alternatives are all far worse." . . .
The skunkworks match the blueprint in construction. They don’t match the blueprint in function, though.
“Fuck me.” She slams a foot against the sphere. . . ."
http://www.tor.com/2015/10/07/hold-ti...
Sample:
"The skunkworks pre-date humanity and no human had ever made any changes to this section. Any actual mismatch in construction should have been found eons ago. Still, she checks, hoping that’s what the problem is. The alternatives are all far worse." . . .
The skunkworks match the blueprint in construction. They don’t match the blueprint in function, though.
“Fuck me.” She slams a foot against the sphere. . . ."
http://www.tor.com/2015/10/07/hold-ti...
April 18, 2020
No ma kustutasin selle kogemata ära ja pidin tagasi sisse kandma ja mis iganes siin kirjas oli, ma enam ei tea. Vabandust.
Ahhaa! Goodreads veel mäletas: "Veel üks metafüüsilise inseneritöö teos nagu ka tema see eelmine, mida ma lugesin, pika nimega. Mulle praegune meeldis rohkem, miskipärast, kuigi iseenesest on need päris sarnased. Erakordsete isade-emade lastest, kes peavad kummalist mõttearhitektuuri parandama." See oli siin kirjas. Hea.
Ahhaa! Goodreads veel mäletas: "Veel üks metafüüsilise inseneritöö teos nagu ka tema see eelmine, mida ma lugesin, pika nimega. Mulle praegune meeldis rohkem, miskipärast, kuigi iseenesest on need päris sarnased. Erakordsete isade-emade lastest, kes peavad kummalist mõttearhitektuuri parandama." See oli siin kirjas. Hea.
December 23, 2019
Rep: Chinese-American mcs, mlm side character
October 19, 2020
3.5 stars, rounded up.
March 21, 2022
Far too clever a story for me. I had trouble understanding what was going on.
November 24, 2017
Review first posted on My Blog.
Ellie lives in a world where she is what is known as a builder, one who can work within the skunkworks that create all the known universes. There are pipes and machines underneath that control the physics of each universe but sometimes things go out of whack and a builder is sent in to fix things. Today Ellie is just going to visit her mom until her sister sends her to fix the physics of the skunkworks instead (and instead of sending someone to kill her which is actually much more normal for their relationship). Now Ellie is trying to find the problem before the Isolationists show up, a group who thinks that whatever happens was meant to be and the skunkworks should be left alone. The only problem is that when Ellie discovers the problem, it's much more than just a simple fix.
This is the second short story that I've read by this author and I'm amazed again at his world building skills. This one was a bit harder to get into and I had to really slow down to fully get all the relationships and how the world worked but it was well worth it.
Ellie lives in a world where she is what is known as a builder, one who can work within the skunkworks that create all the known universes. There are pipes and machines underneath that control the physics of each universe but sometimes things go out of whack and a builder is sent in to fix things. Today Ellie is just going to visit her mom until her sister sends her to fix the physics of the skunkworks instead (and instead of sending someone to kill her which is actually much more normal for their relationship). Now Ellie is trying to find the problem before the Isolationists show up, a group who thinks that whatever happens was meant to be and the skunkworks should be left alone. The only problem is that when Ellie discovers the problem, it's much more than just a simple fix.
This is the second short story that I've read by this author and I'm amazed again at his world building skills. This one was a bit harder to get into and I had to really slow down to fully get all the relationships and how the world worked but it was well worth it.
February 18, 2016
Interesting world building concepts, and plot. In the book, each universe has skunkworks that generate the universe within it, making this multiverse an infinite set of matryoshka dolls. The skunkworks that generate this universe have become faulty, and the physical constants suddenly aren't. In order to fix the skunkworks, to make physics self-consistent again, and to make the world work as it’s supposed to, Ellie will have to remember everything her mother has taught her.
While I liked the ending, it is a little abrupt, and the story would have worked out more if more space was given to Ellie's mother, to better understand her values.
While I liked the ending, it is a little abrupt, and the story would have worked out more if more space was given to Ellie's mother, to better understand her values.
November 13, 2015
While the individual pieces of this story are interesting (the world of pipes and nested universes, the conflict with isolationists, the main character), they just didn't come together in a satisfying way for me.
February 20, 2016
The idea of compound universes/skunkworlds build of pipes that transport data is an intriguing part of the story. Reminded me a bit Railsea. But the plot did not work for me, in particular, food metaphor in the middle of the story felt out of place.
October 8, 2015
Interesting and emotional for a short story.
October 12, 2015
I love the idea that there are actual pipeworks holding the universes' physics in place, and that they can break down or be sabotaged.
March 14, 2016
Chu at his mind-blowing best. Each universe contains the skunkworks for generating the one below (universes nested like Russian dolls). When something goes wrong, someone has to go in and fix it.
October 26, 2015
I am very interested to read more stories from this world. It sounds so interesting!
November 15, 2015
A fascinating, mind-bending, twist on the old multiverse tale. With a heart-wrenching twist. But I'm so angry with Ellie's sister...
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February 2, 2016Physics-fixing as a family business; FBP recast as a domestic fable, when to be honest FBP already had quite enough family stuff for me. But the final twist has a certain neat power.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews