Broken Time Blues: Fantastic Tales in the Roaring ’20s

Edited by @JaymGates and @ErikaHolt

Find the title on Amazon where you can also read a full description of the book and about the editors.

I read the kindle version of this book even though I had picked up a copy (and had it signed by at World Fantasy Con). I had the pleasure of meeting Jaym and Erika there as well. I was not given a copy of this book and I was not paid for this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

The idea of Spec-Fic from the 1920s intrigued me. At first, due to my own ignorance of the era, had assumed that each story would be filled with bathtub gin, rum runners, and speakeasys. Perhaps something about the depression.

I was wrong. Sure some of those elements were present, but the stories ran the gamut from magical to fantastic to out of this world. The authors (and editors) did their homework. I’m a stickler for details and when something feels out of place, I have a tendency to look something up. I only ran into a couple of snags that once I stopped, looked up the detail, I was pleasantly surprised to find the story accurate.

Aside from the details, the collection of stories were consistently different in tone, atmosphere, theme, and even locale. From the mean streets of Chicago, to a backwoods distillery, each story kept up a great pace to make the book a fun and fast read. Usually with a collection you’ll run across one story that runs across the grain, but with this collection I was surprised that each flowed well from one to the next.

I’d be hard pressed to choose just one story out of the batch that I’d call my favorite. As I look over the list I keep thinking, oh, I really liked this part of this story, and I liked this one a lot. This story was fun, and that story started out gritty, but gave me hope at the end. To be honest, I love this collection as a whole. I highly recommend this collection. For only $2.99 for the kindle edition, it’s a steal! Grab it. Read it. Enjoy it.