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Thu Nov 13 2025

Clare Mulroy | Books Reporter

Happy Thursday, booklovers!

I've been thinking about time travel a lot lately, especially since singer Janelle Monáe claimed to have traveled back to the 1970s to watch David Bowie perform. Just days later, I pondered time travel with two authors I admire – R.F. Kuang and Olivie Blake.

Kuang and Blake are two of the writers on "The Time Traveler's Passport," a new short story collection from Amazon Publishing. In Kuang's story, "Making Space," a childless couple takes in a strange, supernatural child. Blake's "All Manner of Thing Shall Be," follows a group of vampire roommates who bicker and time travel via flamingo pink bus.

Can time travel fiction soothe us in a rapidly changing world?

z_wei, Getty Images/iStockphoto

We talked about silly things, like where we'd time-travel if given the chance (see their answers here ), but we also talked about the deeper themes at play in time travel fiction. It's more than partying with Renaissance figures or meeting your parents when they were young. All books, regardless of genre, hold up a mirror to society. They help us make meaning of the world.

Kuang and Blake both see it as a coping mechanism for contentious times. Science fiction can be a narrative protest, a way for the powerless to grasp power, a vision for the futures we want and don't want.

"Everyone's thinking right now about whose future matters and who takes responsibility for the present," Kuang says.

What science fiction have you read that makes you think? Let me know your thoughts at cmulroy@usatoday.com or by reaching out on Instagram. Thanks for reading USA TODAY Books this week!

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