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Dear Abby by Terry Bisson
01/01/2004 . Source: Sue Davies 
pub: PS Publishing. 108 page book. Hardback: Price: £25.00 (UK), $40.00 (US). ISBN: 1-902-880-76-5. Enlarged paperback: Price: £10.00 (UK), $16.00 (US). ISBN: 1-902-880-75-7. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.pspublishing.co.uk
Time machines being what they are unavoidably deal with rather depressing subjects - the inescapable passing of time, death and it seems a Godless universe.
They concentrate on the physical not the metaphysical taking us eventually to the end of the Universe. Where do you go with a time machine? If you go into the past, you have some choices to allow changes and create 'Time Cop', yikes, or do you merely observe and report on past events. Move forward you get to the point of there being no further events to observe.
The future is finite. The tales lead us to a melancholy point. Seeking out meaning in time travel will always lead to despair. 'Dear Abbey' is the name of a formula that will save the Earth from its greatest enemy - human beings No one really know the cost to the Earth or man himself. Cole, already responsible for a little pro-environment sabotage, is recruited by his fellow lecturer Lee who happens to have a time machine in his pocket.
Using the porch swing sitting in the basement, they travel forward seeking out the formula. Something goes wrong and instead of being observers they are forced to participate in the future they may have helped create. A series of encounters with the human race as it moves along its time-line to extinction leads to the inevitable questions of what really matters.
Contained within this narrative seems to be the message that we cannot merely be observers but must participate and enjoy life for what it is not what we hope it might be. A story about time travel that suggests we would be wiser to live in the present than make a big deal out of the future. It is beautifully written but as I progressed through it, I found myself becoming as bogged down as the characters as they continue to encounter various groups until the stars start blinking out.
Although an astounding piece of writing, I realised I prefer my fantasy less grounded in reality which sounds strange when you consider this piece starts with a time machine.
The fantastical piece of machinery merely serves to underline the author's purpose of taking us on a trip of his own imagined future for the Earth which is pretty gloomy.
Man cannot envisage life without him after his own death and this exercise in extrapolation highlighted that point for me. I suppose I prefer my fantasy to be escapist rather than pointing out that nothing really matters.
Don't read this if you are a bit depressed because it is no festive tale of joy Change in perspective of the narrator brings you in and out of involvement in the same way as the protagonists but I never felt engaged with them as real people.
I admire the writing and the scope but I prefer to take my last drink before the big bang with Arthur Dent at the Restaurant at the end of the Universe.
Sue Davies
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