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Time Gypsy
A modern postdoctoral physicist gets the opportunity of a lifetime: to travel backward in time and meet her heroine, Dr. Sara Baxter Clarke.
But there is something else that Carol McCullough never could have expected in the shockingly oppressive world of 1956: Love. Time Gypsy is a journey into the past where time travel, academic rivalry, and romance intersect, where the scientists are women and have hearts as well as brains.
Funny, sweet, and brave, this is an adventure the reader will never forget.
'Time gypsy' originally appeared in Bending the Landscape: Original Gay and Lesbian Science Fiction Writing edited by Nicola Griffith and Stephen Pagel
But there is something else that Carol McCullough never could have expected in the shockingly oppressive world of 1956: Love. Time Gypsy is a journey into the past where time travel, academic rivalry, and romance intersect, where the scientists are women and have hearts as well as brains.
Funny, sweet, and brave, this is an adventure the reader will never forget.
'Time gypsy' originally appeared in Bending the Landscape: Original Gay and Lesbian Science Fiction Writing edited by Nicola Griffith and Stephen Pagel
33 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
104 people want to read
About the author
Ellen Klages
74 books244 followersEllen Klages was born in Ohio, and now lives in San Francisco.
Her short fiction has appeared in science fiction and fantasy anthologies and magazines, both online and in print, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Black Gate, and Firebirds Rising. Her story, "Basement Magic," won the Best Novelette Nebula Award in 2005. Several of her other stories have been on the final ballot for the Nebula and Hugo Awards, and have been reprinted in various Year’s Best volumes.
She was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award, and is a graduate of the Clarion South writing workshop.
Her first novel The Green Glass Sea, about two misfit eleven-year-old girls living in Los Alamos during WWII, while their parents are creating the atomic bomb, came out in October 2006 from Sharyn November at Viking. Ellen is working on a sequel.
She has also written four books of hands-on science activities for children (with Pat Murphy, et al.) for the Exploratorium museum in San Francisco.
In addition to her writing, she serves on the Motherboard of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, and is somewhat notorious as the auctioneer/entertainment for the Tiptree auctions at Wiscon.
When she's not writing fiction, she sells old toys and magazines on eBay, and collects lead civilians.
from ellenklages.com
Her short fiction has appeared in science fiction and fantasy anthologies and magazines, both online and in print, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Black Gate, and Firebirds Rising. Her story, "Basement Magic," won the Best Novelette Nebula Award in 2005. Several of her other stories have been on the final ballot for the Nebula and Hugo Awards, and have been reprinted in various Year’s Best volumes.
She was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award, and is a graduate of the Clarion South writing workshop.
Her first novel The Green Glass Sea, about two misfit eleven-year-old girls living in Los Alamos during WWII, while their parents are creating the atomic bomb, came out in October 2006 from Sharyn November at Viking. Ellen is working on a sequel.
She has also written four books of hands-on science activities for children (with Pat Murphy, et al.) for the Exploratorium museum in San Francisco.
In addition to her writing, she serves on the Motherboard of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, and is somewhat notorious as the auctioneer/entertainment for the Tiptree auctions at Wiscon.
When she's not writing fiction, she sells old toys and magazines on eBay, and collects lead civilians.
from ellenklages.com
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
November 19, 2019
Anthologized in Mammoth, Bending (as noted in the blurb) and The Time Traveler's Almanac... always check isfdb.org when looking for a short story or for more by an author who specializes in same.
August 29, 2020
4.5 Stars
rounded up to 5 Stars.
April 10, 2021
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNNNNHHHHSNSHHAHHWEOIRUWEOINSJNFS
I'm calm, I swear.
I'm calm, I swear.
February 4, 2014
I just read this story in the anthology The Mammoth Book of Time Travel SF and then came running to Goodreads to see what else Ellen Klages has written.
Very enjoyable story about a woman in 1995 who became interested in physics because of articles that she read about a woman scientist in the 1950s. Now she has the opportunity to be a guinea pig in a time-travel machine prototype. If it works, she can meet her inspiration from forty years ago...
Very enjoyable story about a woman in 1995 who became interested in physics because of articles that she read about a woman scientist in the 1950s. Now she has the opportunity to be a guinea pig in a time-travel machine prototype. If it works, she can meet her inspiration from forty years ago...
August 14, 2017
A lovely neat ending (a MUST for any good time-travel story imho) and lively main ladies, but I would've enjoyed this a lot more without the heavy handed, in-your-face feminist AND queer issues. Not everything has to be a social commentary, just give me my fluff!
September 26, 2013
This 2003 chapbook is an excellent, longish short story from small-press publisher Tachyon Publications in San Francisco. It's a time-travel tale that drives home what the anti-gay-and-lesbian world of the 1950s was really like from a contemporary perspective. Ellen Klages is a remarkably talented writer. It's not terribly easy to find but you can buy it from the publisher at http://www.tachyonpublications.com/bo... or look for the 1998 anthology in which it originally appeared, "Bending the Landscape."
March 15, 2017
Absolutely stunning writing. This is an amazing read. I'm not saying much about it as I do not wish to spoil anyone's experience regarding the plot itself. That said, her characterizations so are wonderful and her methods of comparing the differences time wise in the locales is brilliant. Living in this area and knowing these locations intimately I given quite the pause and food for thought while reading. Extremely effective!! This is hands down one of the best short fiction novels I've ever had the pleasure of reading.
December 25, 2021
I liked some parts, particularly how strange a world can seem that’s just 40 years prior. It’s perhaps more interesting than time travel leaping back centuries.
This brief novella needs more depth though. I didn’t feel like I got to know who the love interest is, much less believed this is a real relationship. The science fiction also got short shrift - our heroine’s idea of what she can and can’t do in the past to avoid changing history lacks any nuance.
This brief novella needs more depth though. I didn’t feel like I got to know who the love interest is, much less believed this is a real relationship. The science fiction also got short shrift - our heroine’s idea of what she can and can’t do in the past to avoid changing history lacks any nuance.
March 16, 2015
I just finished this story in the Mammoth Book of Time Travel SF, and OMG! A story of lesbians and time travel?! Yes, please! And now I must read EVERY single thing Klages has written.
November 13, 2018
This short story is included in Portable Childhoods, which is where I just read it. How can Ellen Klages create such remarkable worlds and stories in such short formats? It's remarkable and I am in awe. This is one of my favorites so far.
February 12, 2020
I absolutely loved this story! It's brilliant, beautiful, and heart-warming. A perfect love story, a perfect heist story, and a perfect time travel story rolled into one. (Anthologized in The Time Traveler's Almanac.)
June 10, 2018
Read in "Bending the Landscape: Original Gay and Lesbian Writing." This was really good, especially considering how short it is.
August 6, 2023
I just read this in a Time Travel anthology--this is one of the best time travel short stories I've ever read, and I've read a LOT! Thank you Ms. Klages!
January 30, 2025
Time travel!
Strong women!
A mystery!
Loved this story. Apart from the bit in middle about the police....
Highly recommended!
Strong women!
A mystery!
Loved this story. Apart from the bit in middle about the police....
Highly recommended!
March 21, 2025
Sweet love story.
March 2, 2017
With feminist and lgbt themes, 'Time Gypsy' is a short science fiction piece on time travel and the prohibited love of two scientists. Even though its only a short story, the author successfully creates well-rounded, emotional characters and constructs a rewarding plot.
February 24, 2016
Read as part of The Time Traveller's Almanac.
Carol McCullough is a physicist who conducted research on Dr. Sara Baxter Clarke, a physicist who disappeared in 1955, presumed drowned after driving off a cliff. It is understood that Clarke was researching time travel at the time of her death. McCullough receives an unexpected opportunity to travel back in time to meet Clarke, with the express purpose of obtaining Clarke's complete research so that the problem of time travel can be solved.
Oh, if only life were that simple, eh? McCullough successfully travels back in time, and meets Clarke. We are not told how. We know that she is placed in a room and everyone else leaves. We also know that there is only enough energy (the energy consumption required being extraordinarily great) for one trip back and one forward - to send and retrieve McCullough. This was intriguing. But then to top it off, there's the human element. Firstly, McCullough finds it very difficult to outright request the research. There's something about asking that of an idol. And then, perhaps more to the point, McCullough discovers that Clarke, like herself, is sexually attracted to women, and so begins a relationship between the two women, complicating matters further.
This is a very good story. Klages's writing is uncluttered and vivid, drawing one in to the world of Clarke and McCullough. Even though short, the reader cares for the characters and wants to see a good outcome to the story - one doesn't want McCullough to betray Clarke, or Clarke to die.
And I have to say, I adore the title. Lovely touch, and very relevant.
Carol McCullough is a physicist who conducted research on Dr. Sara Baxter Clarke, a physicist who disappeared in 1955, presumed drowned after driving off a cliff. It is understood that Clarke was researching time travel at the time of her death. McCullough receives an unexpected opportunity to travel back in time to meet Clarke, with the express purpose of obtaining Clarke's complete research so that the problem of time travel can be solved.
Oh, if only life were that simple, eh? McCullough successfully travels back in time, and meets Clarke. We are not told how. We know that she is placed in a room and everyone else leaves. We also know that there is only enough energy (the energy consumption required being extraordinarily great) for one trip back and one forward - to send and retrieve McCullough. This was intriguing. But then to top it off, there's the human element. Firstly, McCullough finds it very difficult to outright request the research. There's something about asking that of an idol. And then, perhaps more to the point, McCullough discovers that Clarke, like herself, is sexually attracted to women, and so begins a relationship between the two women, complicating matters further.
This is a very good story. Klages's writing is uncluttered and vivid, drawing one in to the world of Clarke and McCullough. Even though short, the reader cares for the characters and wants to see a good outcome to the story - one doesn't want McCullough to betray Clarke, or Clarke to die.
And I have to say, I adore the title. Lovely touch, and very relevant.
August 18, 2015
I read this as part of The Mammoth Book of Time Travel SF - this is a beautifully accomplished story, fluidly written, and it blew me away.
I was sad when it came to an end, because it was such a pleasure to read.
I love it to bits, and I'm putting the rest of Ellen's work on my To Read list x
I was sad when it came to an end, because it was such a pleasure to read.
I love it to bits, and I'm putting the rest of Ellen's work on my To Read list x
March 2, 2016
4/5 Rating Review coming 02/04 and will posted first at MyLifeMyBooksMyEscape as part of the Time Traveler's Almanac group read.
Follow along with #TimeTravelThursday
Follow along with #TimeTravelThursday
April 29, 2016
The title bugs me, but other than that I love the story!
December 21, 2015
I read this in The Time Traveler's Almanac.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews