Friday, July 01, 2016

Added to my virtual bookshelf ... Downtime by Cynthia Felice


In her book "Downtime," Cynthia Fleece offers us a love story and a science fiction story ... maybe it's the guy in me, but I wish there could have been a little more 'science' in the story.

Don't get me wrong ... I enjoyed the read, and I recommend it to others. It's a recent addition to a long tradition of stories that illustrate the complications that arise when love blossoms across a disjointed time stream. Rod Serling tackled it 50+ years ago in "The Long Morrow" ... and before that, there was F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." It's still makes for a good story today in films and television ... and in books like "Downtime."

My gripe about 'more science?' I blame it on my biblio-upbringing. Fifty-some years ago, my introduction to science fiction was through hand-me-down paperbacks of stories by Isaac Asimov and Arthur Clark, and later on some Robert Heinlein and Ray Bradbury ... good fiction, good storytelling, with generous doses of of good (if hypothetical at the time) science and technology added to the mix.

While I read through "Downtime," eager to get to the conclusion to see how the characters might fare and the story might end, I also found myself wishing for a little more detail on the jelly bean, the stellerator ... and, of course, that all-important elixer.

BUT, while I've devoted a lot of words to my little gripe ... it really is a LITTLE matter. All-in-all, I recommend "Downtime" to you as a good read, and a good addition to that tradition I mentioned earlier ... illustrating the complications that arise when love blossoms across a disjointed time stream. You'll want to read "Downtime" to the end ... and discover whether those complications might be overcome.
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NOTE: I received a free e-copy of this work through LibraryThing in exchange for a review.

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