The Girl Who Lost Time By TN Dockrey

Tell us what you thought about the April 2010 issue!
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Lester Curtis
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Post by Lester Curtis »

I agree with bottomdweller; the first half had me very interested to see where this girl's intense quest would take her, and then -- poof! it turned into something like the old Barsoom stories, where J. C. could go to Mars just by wishing to. Worst was a lack of any resolution. Seemed like the author got to the place where a solution to the time problem needed to be presented, and couldn't really think of one.

I was intellectually disappointed after such a promising build-up.
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Robert_Moriyama
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Missing the point?

Post by Robert_Moriyama »

I dunno -- I wouldn't call being condemned to bounce around time and space, completely out of control (hence the "ending in the middle of a sentence" bit at the end), occasionally appearing in inhospitable conditions, but never aging, never dying "a grand adventure". It would be like being a fly stuck to a Jelly Baby[sup]TM[/sup] in The Doctor's jacket pocket, going from one potentially interesting place to another at apparently random intervals -- but never able to really appreciate any of them, never able to connect with another human being beyond a few words or a fleeting glance.

Unlike Sam Beckett in "Quantum Leap", Francesca lacks even the comfort of knowing that she is accomplishing something positive in her unending travels. Unlike Quinn and friends in "Sliders", she lacks even the overriding motivation of surviving to make the next jump (in the hope of eventually going home) -- for one thing, she seems to be immortal (however much time she has spent cumulatively on all the jumps so far, she still feels no hunger or thirst or even physical fatigue). For another thing, SHE HATED HER HOME. Her fondest wish at the outset was to get away from her neglectful yet needy work-obsesses father and her barely-tolerated brother.

She wanted to break free of Time's grip -- and she succeeded. She never considered just how lonely that success might make her, or how futile that freedom might be.

RM
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

Jack London (1876-1916)
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