If you’ve ever seen a Git graph for a large, multi-user project, the comparison to time travel becomes almost obvious. Throw in riot grrrls and you’ve got a mix I couldn’t resist—so I dived into the audiobook, expertly narrated by Laura Nichol.
I know, the term feminist sci-fi might make some people scroll away, and if I add tags like historically accurate, white-feminism critique, intersectional lit, queer culture, or reproductive rights, the audience could shrink further. But for me, time travel and punk were enough to hit play. And honestly? I thought I was ready for whatever was coming. But this story still managed to take me by surprise.
What I got was a fast-paced journey with murder, sex parties, geology, and a fantastic take on timelines—concepts that sounded a lot like my programming day job, with edits, branches, and the occasional (time) merge conflict.
As someone who’s pretty anti-spoiler, it’s tough to reveal much more without giving things away. But I can say that the compact storytelling, the impressive world-building, and the layered characters completely drew me in. And time travel—did I mention that? It’s one of my favorite and also most disliked storytelling devices. So many time-travel stories fall apart if you think about the mechanics logically, but Annalee Newitz pulled it off beautifully. I’d place this book alongside the excellent 2007 Spanish movie Los cronocrímenes (aka Timecrimes), which is way too unknown, even among geeks.
I was surprised to learn that The Future of Another Timeline is already five years old. Even without the context of the U.S. presidency at the time, the events hit close to home, especially if you consider the future of women’s reproductive rights now.
This book is full of important lines that feel like an introduction to worlds that might be overlooked by sci-fi readers like myself, who’ve grown up in predominantly white, male spaces. I hope this changes. Small steps toward a bigger goal, right? Or, as Annalee Newitz puts it:
Collective action means that when someone does something small or personal, their actions can change history too.
This thought gives me a bit of hope—even after the book’s final line, which struck me harder than any of its darker moments:
I remember abortion being legal in the United States.
Image by This_is_Engineering
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