Time Loopers: Five Tales from a Time War

Books of Cthulhu #5

by David Hambling (Contributor), Byron Craft (Contributor), Matthew Davenport (Contributor)

Get rich. Wield incredible power. Get revenge.

But avoid paradox, or get erased from the timestream so you never existed.

Time travel offer endless possibilities and limitless dangers. What would you do if you could go back and relive your past? What if others could too? Who polices time? How do you win a time war?

Four tales from a time war by veteran SF authors:

Time’s Revenge
Craig repeats the same day, getting ever closer to pulling off the perfect murder. He just wants to make a fortune, but who gave Craig this power and why is the killing so important to them?

Time Trapped
Librarian Irene has started traveling through time, but someone else controls her destinations. As history starts to unravel, can Irene prevent a terrible future she has already seen?

The Comatose Man
In his attempt to right an old wrong, Ross accidentally unleashes something far worse. Can the past fight an invasion from the future?

The Terror Out of Time
Dimitri-Laurent de Marigny is a criminal mastermind with a plan to finally realise his dream of immortality. But has de Marigny really understood the price that he – and the world – will pay?

Bonus story - A Stitch in Time
Time travel operative Art is on a simple mission to correct a previous mistake. But why is his partner behaving strangely, and are missions ever really simple?

Genres: Science Fiction, Cthulhu Mythos

266 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 9, 2020

Reviews

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 5 out of 5]

TIME LOOPERS is a fantastic science fiction horror anthology that deals with time travel as well as occult subjects like H.P. Lovecraft's Great Old Ones. I think I enjoyed the first story by David Hambling the most as it dealt with a time traveling assassin who may be stuck in his own personal hell because his opponents have access to time travel too. Who exactly can "win" and what are the parameters for losing? The others are nicely related to Miskatonic University, Yog-Sothoth, and other creatures I absolutely love. It was a bit of a twist moving from the first story to occult-horror but I still enjoyed it.

David Hambling, Matthew Davenport, and Byron Craft are three authors I've enjoyed the works of in the Cthulhu Mythos. It was thus surprising to have the fact this is set in the Cthulhu Mythos hidden by both the cover as well as the title. Either way, it is a story about the Great Race of Yith, humanity, and shoggoths being caught up in a time war against one anothers.

The fact this is happening is not immediately apparent but is rapidly revealed throughout the tale. There's technology found in an ancient book and in an app on your cellphone that allows you to constant reset your day--but who would provide this to ordinary citizens and why? Lots of interesting work here and I strongly recommend this to Lovecraft fans.

[Adam Selby-Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m always on the look-out for something different and original to review in the Science-Fiction genre, especially as I’m in the mood to read something lighter than the Horror genre these days, so I was delighted to be contacted by author Matthew Davenport to see if I wanted to review the latest collection he had a story in. I’m a huge fan of Davenport and his writing, especially his delightfully and unashamedly pulpy Professor Doran series, which blends together the titular rough and ready archaeologist with a host of Lovecraftian monsters and deities, so I was interested to see what he had penned this time. That interest only grew when I saw who his co-authors were for the collection – not only was there Byron Craft, author of the excellent Arkham Detective series, but also the stellar David Hambling whose Lovecraftian fiction is a particular favourite of mine. Joining these veterans was author John A. De Laughter, and while I hadn’t come across him previously, I knew his writing would have had to have been impressive to join the other authors in contributing to the collection. An impressive array of contributors was matched by an eye-catching piece of cover art from publisher Crossroads Press, and an engaging back-cover blurb that promised four stories set within the same cosmos-spanning Time War setting.
I do appreciate it when collections open with an introduction that explains the background to the setting, as it helps to ground the reader and give an idea of what is going to be encountered within the contained stories. David Hambling does an excellent job here, not only introducing the collection as a whole, but also providing a concise and examination of the Time-Looping trope alongside some examples from recent film, TV and published fiction to further ground the concept in the reader’s mind. He ends with an ominous warning about the potential dangers of looping endlessly through time, which seamlessly leads into his contribution to the collection, Time’s Revenge.

Hambling gives us the intriguing scenario of a man trapped in a time loop while he plans the many steps required to achieve the perfect murder, yet also suffering from the effects of constantly experiencing the same day over and over again. Names, dates, even specific memories are all washed away by the repetition of time, and only the clever idea of memorizing mnemonic phrases allows protagonist Craig to remember the key details he requires to further his murderous plans. Websites, phone numbers, combination codes become his only companions, leaving behind the memories of his old life before the loop, and his sanity slowly crumbles as he loses track of the number of cycles he’s gone through.
We follow Craig as he makes use of his endless cycles in memorizing small yet consequential details, which in turn allow him to do things like seamlessly steal high-powered guns from an arms dealer in central London, while in turn learning the exact moves required to avoid or incapacitate armed thugs who seem to know what he’s trying to do in the loops. Hambling gives us some brilliant insights into Craig’s strange, timeless world, where he can kill the same person dozens – if not hundreds – of times in order to practices removing them from the equation, yet also cherish the same, line-for-line phone conversation with his girlfriend despite knowing exactly what she will say, when, and the precise inflection. A mesmerising and labyrinthine time-travel mystery is expertly spooled out by Hambling, in a manner that inexorably pulls us along with Craig, and yet the more details the author reveals, the stranger and more unsettling the situation becomes. Who is Craig trying to murder, and why are these armed gangsters getting in his way? And why are certain, crucial memories inaccessible to him – why was it so important once to learn to speak Arabic, for example? Hambling has not only written a first-rate time-travel mystery, but has also deftly built in some fascinating ethical and moral conundrums as well for the reader to consider. It’s heady, complex stuff that could easily have become overwhelming, yet Hambling pulls it all together with remarkable ease and charm. Time’s Revenge concludes with a series of twists that unfurl with whiplash speed, one after another, introducing a wider universe that becomes the basis for the rest of the stories in the collection.

Hambling is followed by Byron Craft’s The Comatose Man which takes us to 1955 and Arkham Police Lieutenant Elijah Ward, who is presented with the titular comatose man, who appeared in an alley with no clue as to where he came from, except for several strange, futuristic devices on his person. Simultaneously interleaved with Ward’s story is that of modern-day university lecturer Ross MacIvor, striving to prove the concept of time-looping in the hope of achieving some secret mission involving his family. His career flat-lining, things change when a mysterious courier delivers a set of baffling blueprints and strange objects, with the apparent goal of creating a ‘Windlass’, an ancient device associated with the dreaded Necronomicon. As Ross begins tinkering with time and investigating the possibility of time-looping, Ward finds his attention divided between the objects left by the stranger, and the twisted, occult creatures that still lurk in Arkham’s shadows; only by using his personal knowledge of the creatures, and the resources of the department, can he fend them off. It’s an interesting concept, and one that ties into the picture of 1950s Arkham that Craft brings to life: a town that’s been caught up in the rising tide of the post-war economic boom, aided by the GI Bill that has accelerated house-building and the birth rate, but also one stuck awkwardly and perilously between modernity and ancient times.
There’s plenty of action as the plot progresses, with Ward and his partner forced to fight off increasing numbers of terrifying creatures appearing through Arkham, until a veritable horde of them begin assaulting the town, somehow connected to the mysterious stranger. Craft’s descriptions of these Lovecraftian monstrosities are dead on, really bringing you into the mood of the piece, and are all the more effective by being buttressed by the sections featuring MacIvor and his ever-growing obsession. The story also features a surprising and emotionally-laden discussion of society’s attitude towards those who are physically disabled, and how cruel jokes and barbs can affect both the disabled and their families. These elements affected me more than perhaps the average reader because of how much they reflected my own experiences; though I am not so affected, I have a son with a learning disability who is often judged just as harshly and critically by strangers and those around him. It’s a relatively brief part of the story, but it does Craft great credit as a writer, and adds depth and humanity to the tale. The way in which the two timelines intersect is clear from nearly the beginning, but Craft makes that a strength through gripping writing and a prodigious imagination. Watching as MacIvor and Ward intersect is genuinely thrilling, Craft ratcheting up the tension as the particulars of the men’s collision are revealed, and MacIvor’s attempts to avert a family tragedy has inadvertent yet terrifying results. It all leads to a thoroughly enjoyable ending; one that satisfies both in terms of the story itself, but which also ties into the wider mythology being developed across the five tales in the collection.

I was looking forward to Matthew Davenport’s contribution to the collection and Time Trapped certainly didn’t disappoint. Our protagonist is Irene, a librarian at Arkham Public Library who enjoys her work and her co-workers, despite being snowed under by bills that always require urgent attention. It’s a happy and fulfilling job without any particular excitement, despite the strange nature of some of Arkham’s residents when visiting the Library, until Irene finds herself examining a tattered, unmarked book that turns up on the returns cart. She feels a strange connection with the book, and begins to obsess over it to the extent that it affects her work, and after taking the book home one night, wakes up to discover that she has travelled through time somehow. Not only that, but she’s swapped bodies with someone, and that someone has his hands in a boy’s guts trying to stop him bleeding to death. It’s a shocking twist and one that Davenport pulls off with his customary flair and writing skill, and things only become more complex and dangerous for Irene from them on. It becomes clear that someone – or something – is using the ancient book to send her back and forth in time; and not just time, but alternate realities as well, as people, locations and even history begin to change for our hapless librarian. The new realities Irene is forced to visit become more and more disturbing, with the entire scenario developing into a sort of twisted, Lovecraftian version of Quantum Leap; everytime Irene leaps into another body, she’s forced into a deadly game of cat and mouse with unknown assailants and with an objective that’s opaque, confusing and routinely deadly for someone near her. It’s a brilliant storyline, and one that Davenport uses to brilliant effect to keep the reader off-guard, constantly guessing alongside Irene as to where she’s being sent and what she is supposed to achieve; or fail to achieve, as increasingly appears to be the point.

The story’s links to the rest of the collection soon come to the fore, featuring characters from those tales, and it becomes clear that Irene’s fate is part of a much wider war that spans the entire galaxy. This is the first time that the Time War mentioned in the collection’s title becomes clear to the reader, and it’s a genuinely stunning moment in both range and nature, as Davenport suddenly pulls the rug out from reader and protagonist. We are shown just how vast and incomprehensible the conflict is, in the best traditions of the Lovecraftian genre, and how small (and yet vital) Irene is in the war. It seems like this is a setting that Davenport was only able to scratch the surface with through this story, and I desperately want to see more written about it. The characters are just as engaging, particularly Irene – she has a huge amount of personality despite the small wordcount, and I enjoyed her musings about the strange people who visit the library looking for the weird and occult texts, complete with cheeky mention of Ramsay Campbell’s Gla’aki. Davenport makes it easy to sympathise with her unwilling and deeply traumatic journey, and the feeling of being a particle-sized cog in a conflict between forces that can control time itself. Rewarding readers of his previous series, there’s even a cameo from a future descendant of Davenport’s Nazi-fighting, Shoggoth-slaying Professor Doran, which is a nice touch; the third book in the Doran series will go to the summit of my review pile whenever it gets published.

The fourth tale is The Terror Out of Time by John A. DeLaughter, the one author that I hadn’t previously encountered before starting the collection. His story concerns one Dimitri-Laurent de Marigny, a billionaire who pursues the goal of eternal life, and believes the key is in the secrets of the Dyer Expedition that returned from Antarctica in the 1920s, the few survivors raving about inhuman frescoes, strange unearthly fossils, and creatures that killed most of their colleagues. De Marigny arranges for veteran Henry Armitage to lead a new expedition to Antactica, retracing the Dyer Expedition’s steps and then finishing the archaeological job they started nine decades ago. De Marigny is a driven, ruthless individual who wields unimaginable power in the world and uses it to his advantage constantly. DeLaughter gives him an interesting, occult background that shows why he’s so obsessive and driven, which in turn makes him rather unique as both protagonist and antagonist. Visited and harassed by Lovecraftian creatures from a very young age, de Marigny vowed to reassert control over his mind, psyche and destiny, and crush the alien minds trying to control him. That, in turn, means becoming immersed in occult and Lovecraftian affairs to a frankly insane degree, filtering through information never intended for human viewing or consumption.

Switching from de Marigny to Colonel Armitage, we follow the new expedition into the Antarctic in search of the occult wonders discovered by Dyer, these new explorers armed to the teeth and ready for anything. Soon they encounter freakish natural phenomena, and enter an area of Antarctica that man was not supposed to tread in, to their cost. As the story progresses, DeLaughter’s storytelling manner gives it the air of an epic, with an underlying tension that seems to include not just Antarctica, but the world as a whole. It’s a deeply impressive achievement, and helps to give the collection a sort of cosmic scale that the other stories had only hinted at previously. Once the soldiers and scientists encounter the native residents of the area, things devolve quickly into running firefights and panicked flight that echo the most frantic parts of John Carpenter’s The Thing. When samples are recovered – at great cost – and taken to de Marigny, he soon discovers the price for deliberately tangling with the Elder Gods and their creations, becoming enmeshed in a terrifying, incomprehensible landscape of Shoggoths, Elder Things and creatures even more terrifying in their inhuman nature.

Closing the collection is the Epilogue, A Stitch in Time, apparently written by all four contributors and focusing on time-travelling agent Art, who appeared in several previous tales. Forced to travel through time and space infinitely, jumping from body to body, Art finds himself at his latest mission in Antarctica alongside a fellow time-jumping agent, tasked with tidying up some multi-tentacled loose ends from a previous story in the collection. We get some intriguing insights into how Art travels between assignments, his previous achievements (including a darkly humorous moment defusing a nuclear bomb while inhabiting a five-year old) and the ways to adapt to new bodies and their unique skills. But just as he thinks the mission is going successfully, betrayal and enemy action combine to leave him in a perilous position, with a horrific truth about the time war revealed to him and a cosmos-spanning decision to take. It’s a short but sweet tale, and a fantastic way to cap off the collection as a whole.

Time Loopers: Four Tales from a Time War is so many things at once: immersive, complex, deftly written and imbued with a tremendous amount of imagination that effortlessly blends the Lovecraftian and time-travel genres together to create something fresh and original. Each author has contributed something unique to the collection, stories that act both as stand-alone tales, yet also mesh themselves together to form a multi-faceted and endlessly fascinating setting that simply begs to be explored in more detail. While all four authors have written superb stories, the contributions by Hambling and Davenport stand out as the stars of the collection, demonstrating their innate understanding of the concepts involved in general, and in particular their mastery of the Lovecraftian genre. Time Loopers: Four Tales from a Time War is a triumph for authors and publisher alike, delivering a fresh take on the time-travelling concept, and I’m eager to see what the quartet can deliver when they return to the setting in the future (or would that be the past?)

[E.B. Lunsford · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re a fan of sci-fi or time travel, this book is for you. The introduction sets the scene for the book, and lets you know what to expect. All the stories within are well-written, nicely paced, and tie in with the overall theme of the book. The epilogue brings it all together and reveals how each story compliments each other to make a better whole.

-Time’s Revenge by David Hambling
This story has engaging characters and an interesting premise but was a little too fast-paced at times. The main character keeps reliving the same day over and over in his quest to commit the perfect murder. This story explores the ramifications of repeating the same day too many times.

-The Comatose Man by Byron Craft
This story sucked me in from the very first page with a detective in the fifties trying to unlock the mystery of a comatose man as all hell breaks loose around him. This is an unique story that explores what happens when someone goes back in time to prevent an event from ever happening. It was engaging and well-written throughout.

-Time Trapped by Matthew Davenport
My favorite story of them all. This story is about a librarian who becomes fascinated with a spell book said to be used for traversing the planes of existence. She thinks it all a ruse until she finds herself transported for the first time. As quoted from the story: “How was a simple librarian college kid supposed to handle alien gods, shoggoths, time-traveling dogs, and now Terminator-level Sarah Connor bullshit on top of all the time travel I was supposed to be doing?” This author really knows how to suck you in and hold you there until the very end.

The Terror Out of Time by John A. DeLaughter
This was the only story in this collection that I struggled to get into. It was very descriptive, but sometimes the author explained things that didn’t need to be explained. My favorite part was the twist ending.

-Epilogue: A Stitch in Time
I like how all the authors came together to write the epilogue. The protagonist appeared in several of the other stories, and I enjoyed learning more about him. I really loved how the epilogue tied everything together and revealed more of the time war going on behind the scenes in the other stories.

Overall, I think this book is well-worth the purchase. It has a little bit of everything from sci-fi to time travel to alien gods. I was pleased with the sprinkling of horror throughout. I will definitely be reading more of both Craft and Davenport in the future.

[Philip Hemplow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like themed anthologies. It's always interesting to see how different authors tackle the same subject, and compare their approaches and writing styles. The individual entries in this one are relatively long (except for the bonus story at the end) so you're getting a decent-sized slice from each contributor. These run the gamut from being steeped in Mythos lore and references to having no Lovecraftian angle at all. All are fairly action-packed, with guns galore, but the extent to which the action takes centre stage varies from writer to writer. Some digress into discussions of the science and physics behind their ideas, others don't. Some are relentlessly pulpy, carried along by sheer enthusiasm, others are more plot driven. Which ones will resonate with you will come down to your personally preferred style, but odds are there'll be something in here for you. Given the theme, it's no surprise to see old friends like the Hounds of Tindalos and the Yithians putting in appearances, but the biggest menace is usually humans being irresponsible with time and causality -- which tracks, let's face it.

If you're in the mood for some fast-paced, imaginative mayhem that doesn't outstay its welcome, you could do a lot worse.

[Jersy]

While the stories weren't really for me, for different reasons, they were well written and I really liked how they handled the time loop elements. Especially seeing how the loop influences the protagonists personal life and mentality in the first story was great, however it was very much a action/spy story, which just isn't my jam.
After reading that one, I was pretty aware that the others probably wouldn't be my type of story, which maybe influenced how I read them. They were different from each other and offered a nice variety, though, and the introduction was very effective, but I don't feel qualified to review this any further.
*I have received an arc via netgalley for a free and honest review*

[Anita Dow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a complete newbie to Lovecraftian fiction and the time looping paradoxes got me doing mental gymnastics but I appreciated the way these four writers joined their stories into this collection with a common theme.

Episode 1 – Time's Revenge by David Hambling
This is a plot that has been so cleverly constructed with time looping paradoxes that it is difficult to write about. As a new reader of this type of weird fiction I found it hard to retain all the clever clues but I could see what the author was doing as I read this 'Groundhog Day' scenario. Craig has been stuck in the same day for ages but it is certainly not boring–in fact it is unsettling and leads him to become involved with rather sinister characters Despite him becoming very wealthy his time looping flags up a number of questions about how much choice we actually have in our lives and who is in control.

Episode 2 – The Comatose Man by Byron Craft
Continues the use of the Windlass device and the setting is Arkham, Massachusetts. An unconscious man is found and local police are required to investigate. His personal effects give no clue to his identity and some are made of materials not seen by the officers before. He has a Massachusetts Drivers License but not in a format they recognise. His Arkham address does not exist in the phone directory. His d.o.b is 16 years from now. The story is told from two viewpoints–the officer in charge of the case and a fledgling Physics lecturer at Miskatonic University, Arkham, who is developing a theory on time looping. A lot of neatly woven clues get joined up in a satisfying conclusion.

Episode 3 Time Trapped by Matthew Davenport
Sees a female assistant in Arkham Public Library having various strange time looping scenarios where she inhabits the body of people of a different, age, gender and skill set. The Book of the Windlass is clearly a clue to her time travelling. The mysterious time looper Art features once again –in another iteration of his own. The heroine is getting her head around time looping–despite the paradoxes. After adventures in various time periods of the past, present and future she realises something very sinister is happening and things become rather Lovecraftian.

Episode 4 The Terror Out of Time by John DeLaughter
This is my favourite plot out of the whole collection– it is clever, macabre and almost believable in the way it is written. The story opens with reference to a relatively unknown expedition to Antarctica, undertaken on behalf of Miskatonic University, which discovered alien artefacts, biological specimens and the ruins of an ancient, non-human civilisation. That mission returned very little physical evidence and the historical accounts had all but disappeared. All that was known was that the expedition ended in tragedy and mysterious deaths at the hands of alien creatures. A fresh expedition is arranged by an elusive backer to recreate the journey and uncover the truth about the alien settlement and what became of the missing explorers. If you are a Lovecraft fan I'm sure you will appreciate this sinister horror story.

Epilogue A Stitch in Time by all 4 authors
Cleverly joins the recurring themes of time looping, the Windlass, Arkham, Miskatonic University and the mysterious character Art. It is done quite seamlessly and I was unable to detect where one author began or ended his section of writing. Or, perhaps that's not the way they did it. It certainly rounds off this intriguing collection which is sure to appeal to fans of horror, time loops, weird fiction and HP Lovecraft. Oh–and just a warning–do be careful with the colour purple.

[ManOfLaBook.com · Rating 4 out of 5]

For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

Time Loopers: Four Tales from a Time War by David Hambling, Byron Craft, Matt Davenport, and John Delaughter is a science fiction book of five interconnecting short stories. Mr. Hambling is an English freelance journalist and author. Mr. Craft is a screenwriter, published articles, and an author of Lovecraftian horror. Mr. Davenport is a published author with many sci-fi and horror books under his belt. Mr. Delaughter is a writer of horror and Lovecraftian anthologies.

The book consists of five stories:

Time’s Revenge by David Hambling – The main character keeps living the same day over and over again, which he can reset with an app on his phone. The protagonist has lived the day so often that he goes through the routine of investing money, making millions in case he’ll make it to the next day. But he’s not the only one that can reset the day.

The Comatose Many by Byron Craft – A comatose man shows up in as mall town in the ‘50s, with an ID placing his birth 20 years in the future, as well as magical gadgets. The story explores the consequences of going back in time trying to prevent an event from happening.

Time Trapped by Matthew Davenport – Irene, a librarian, discovers a book of spells used to travel through planes of existence. She, of course, thinks it’s all fake until she transports for the first time with all the consequences, intended and unintended, it entails. Irene doesn’t only travel in time, but between planes of existence, taking over someone’s body and being manipulated by something, or someone, she doesn’t know, on missions she doesn’t understand.

The Terror Out of Time by John A. DeLaughter – This story tells of a billionaire, Dimitri-Laurent de Marigny, who is obsessed with the idea of eternal life. De Marigny sends an expedition to find the secrets of the 1920s the Dyer Expedition that returned from Antarctica, the few survivors talking about strange creatures, creepy fossils, and more.

A Stitch in Time – the epilogue which brings it all together. This short story is from the point of view of Art, one of the time travelers that appears in all the other stories. Art is trying to tie up loose ends from the mess left by the protagonists of the previous stories.

Books like Time Loopers: Four Tales from a Time War by David Hambling, Byron Craft, Matt Davenport, and John Delaughter are always difficult to write about since, usually, the quality and style varies between authors. This book, however, has all five stories which are well written and interesting. Even though they are written by the different authors, the stories are similar enough and in the same vain that it doesn’t really bother the reader.

The concept is fine, I’ve read similar books (sections written by different authors) and I realize it takes a lot of work and communication to make them work. The key, I believe, is to give the authors enough information to tie the stories together, but also much freedom to make them their own.

I really enjoyed four out of the five stories. One story was, for me, a little difficult to follow and somewhat convoluted, but overall it’s a very enjoyable book with great takes on time travel, as well as traveling between worlds.

The collection opens up with an introduction explaining the background, settings, and an idea what to expect from the rest of the book. The introduction is something which I really appreciated (even though I disagreed with the author’s assessment of the excellent movie Edge of Tomorrow), because it gave me a heads up of what to expect and not feel lost within the first several pages of the first story.

This is a book which is sometimes complex, but mostly full of fun and very interesting concepts. The writing is good despite, or because, the different styles. The book has a bit of everything sci-fi, horror, and even a group of alien gods, and it’s always interesting to have one book to check out how different authors tackle the same, or at least a very similar, subject.

[Karen Penske · Rating 5 out of 5]

The warring of loopers

Time looping has its challenges as I saw in these four different stories. Enjoyed the conflicts and angles that each author bought to life... and death. The war of good and evil, right and wrong brought forth consequences that were unexpected. Especially enjoyed Byron Craft’s contribution.

[Marcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time Challenged

It is amazing that four different authors with four different styles can contribute such unique variations with a thread tying them to the same story. Enjoyed the different approaches to the concept of time travel. Recommend this for all time travel buffs!

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Disclaimer: I was given this book for free to review* If you enjoy movies such as The Looper, Happy Death Day, Groundhog Day, and so on forth. You will enjoy this as well. 4 Tales plus one bonus of well selected tales packed in the anthologies. It is very nice to see a mixture of authors trying their crafts on Time travelling themes. Some of the stories does get sprinkled with a little of Cthulhu Mythos references. I would also think it will please some of the Whoivans. Each tales is standalone which can be read quickly, granted it may be a little jarring (as expected with Time travelling stories) but with the smaller bite-sized it is easy to quickly re-read the parts again. I would encourage people to give this one a read since there is bound to be something that resonates with the reader due to variety in the collection.

[angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5🌟

This is a collection of 4 stories with time looping and time war as a theme. I love stories with time elements on it and I was excited to read this one.

Among the 4 stories, I like the 1st one the most. I've read it months ago and I remember it being action packed and time loop was used in an interesting way.

The 2nd story was short and felt a bit disjointed. The 3rd one is okay-ish but a bit confusing. The 4th one is connected with the 3rd story and so is the epilogue. I quite like that Art is on the epilogue.

The last story has lots of infodump and it kinda lost me, lol.😅

Overall, it was an okay read for fans of time travel and aliens.

*Thanks to the publisher for granting me access of this book via Netgalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest thoughts and opinions of the book.*

[Myles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time traveling sci fi was not something I knew I needed until I read Time War. Even better, each story uses parts from the Cthulhu Mythos to varying degrees. The story that takes most advantage of the mythos is also my favorite of the book: The Terror Out Of Time by John DeLaughter. If you're looking for a fun and interesting sci fi that blends time travel with Lovecraft then look no more. I hope these authors decide to do another book with this concept.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very compelling collection of stories

Not sure why but this was probably the best volume of the six Books of Cthulhu series. overall. Each story was compelling and fast paced. It was a plus to read the last story which was a collaboration by all the authors. Lots of plot twists throughout. You will enjoy this book.

[Bill Philibin]

Five authors, six stories, very well done!

David Hambling - Time’s Revenge - This story was excellent. I will definitely look for more by this author. Classic sci-fi done well.
Byron Craft - The Comatose Man - This was decent and I liked it, but it almost seemed like the Lovecraft elements were added into the story, sometimes unnecessarily.
Matt Davenport - Time Trapped - Good Time travel story, intertwined with the Mythos. Nicely done
John Delaughter - The Terror Out of Time - This one started off really strong but then fizzled off a little in the second half of it
C.T. Phipps - Academic Legacies - This was very good, typical Phipps… which is a good thing.
Collaboration - A Stitch in Time - This had elements from all the other stories, and was good