3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years

This is a clever story, told in a tone not of apathy but of informed, dispassionate resignation, by a man employed by a time travel tourism company as an operator who presses the buttons that send people back into the past and receives them, a second later for him, and either three days, or nine months, or twenty-seven years later for them.

At first, the operator seemed to be a device for explaining the limits, possibilities, risks and rewards of time travel tourism. If that was all there was to this story, it would still have been a stimulating, quirky and original model of time travel, but, as the story progresses, it becomes clear that the operator is educated well-above the role that he plays, that he has spent many years reflecting show more on time travel and that he has some, as yet undisclosed, connection to it.

I thought the final section of the story, when the operator’s history and motivation is revealed, lifted the story up another level, giving it an emotional context that explained the operator’s tone and made the story memorable. show less

In this Kindle exclusive short story, the employee of a company that provides time-traveling excursions discusses the types of clients who want to go back in time, usually very wealthy people who want to change history to suit their opinions. The varied reasons for why people want to visit certain historical events, and how the company does its best to ensure a good experience for the client are gone over, along with the results that the employee often sees upon the client's return. If they return.
This one will make you think about what you would do.

Amazon Prime First Reads selection. This was a nice little diversion while I was waiting at the dentist's office. I really enjoyed it, and I generally don't like open endings. I would have liked a longer story, but it felt complete as is. It's told from the viewpoint of a technician working for a time traveling organization. He describes other people and their jumps, but there is no dialogue.

A very interesting short story from Scalzi. It seems to be part of a series by various authors so I will check out some of the other ones that have high ratings in here.

This is a very interesting take on the ethics of time travel. The premise being that as soon as you enter any part of the past it will create a parallel timeline. Nothing you do will affect the timeline that you have just left, but you will definitely impact the one you just created. You then have opportunities to return to your original timeline at the three day, nine month and then 27-year marks. (There is also an 800 year return mark.) There is quite a bit of humor and also a lot of food for thought.

Tourists can pay to travel to the time and place of their choosing and stay for either 3 days, 9 months, or 27 years, then return. Some do so to try and effect change in that reality, others for a vacation, and still others for reasons of their own. Our narrator, the technician responsible for sending clients through the portal, then retrieving them seconds later, is one of the latter.

An enjoyable enough story, but one, which of necessity, requires a fair amount of telling in order to explain the premise. Scalzi's humor though is as enjoyable as ever.

Time, Time, Time, See What's Become of Me
Review of the Amazon First Reads Kindle eBook edition (October 1, 2025), released in advance of the official publication by Amazon Original Stories in eBook format & by Audible Originals in audio format (November 1, 2025).

Presumably the client goes back to their life, where everyone they know has aged, like me, only that one second. The client, however, has aged three days, or nine months, or twenty-seven years. They have been through a time machine, after all. This is how the time machine works.
There are additional resonances at (again, not precisely) 810 years and 243,000 years. Humans can’t use those. We are told to stress to the clients that the twenty-seven-year resonance is, practically

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speaking, their last chance to come home.

I completely enjoyed this latest Amazon Original Story. Perhaps that was because its multiverse angle tied into my recent read of Jorge Luis Borges' The Garden of Forking Paths. In a future age time travel has become possible, but the expense means it is primarily for the elites.

The actual mechanics are not explained, only that certain "resonance" periods allow for a return. The common time travel paradox that you can't go back in time because it might effect our present in a potentially catastrophic manner is conveniently bypassed by the multiverse theory that it is another universe that is being disturbed.

Too much information here would be a spoiler. Suffice it to say that this is a view of one day in the working life of the time machine operator, who describes various clients and their situations. At the end there is a twist reveal about the operator themselves.

Soundtrack
It has nothing to do with the story, but I couldn't help but think of the Simon and Garfunkel song A Hazy Shade of Winter, which also provided the words for my lede. The song was recorded & released as a single in 1966, and later on the Bookends (1968) album. You can hear the song on YouTube here or on Spotify here.

Trivia and Links
3 Days ... is the 1st of 6 stories in The Time Traveler's Passport anthology collection from Amazon Original Stories. The complete collection will be released on November 1, 2025. The promo for the collection reads:

Six short stories. Infinite possibilities.
Embark on a mind-bending journey through time with six of today’s most visionary authors. Brimming with humor and heartache, this collection of short stories maps the roads we took to get here and the paths that lie ahead. The present may be a gift, but the future and the past both come with a price. Curated by John Joseph Adams, New York Times bestselling anthologist.

Amazon Prime First Reads advance reading copies (ARCs) are available to Amazon Prime subscribers. They offer advance reads of books in Kindle eBook format one month before the date of official release. The current month's selection is available here (Link goes to Amazon US, adjust for your own country or region).

You can watch for current and past Amazon Original Stories which are usually paired with their Audible Original narrations at an Amazon page here (link goes to Amazon US, adjust for your own country or region). show less

This was a short story that I got from Prime Reading. Its part of a new series of time travel stories. This one posits a world where time travel is possible, but only for tourism (Scalzi explains the "science" of why you can't really do any research in going back in time). The narrator is a technician who runs the device that allows people to to back to a specific period in time. They come back, virtually, instantaneously , but it was really at specific intervals. They can either spend 3 days, 9 months, or 27 years in the past. If they miss one of the windows, they're stuck there. A fun story.