a highly unusual foray, set in 1941-1980, during which the American government acquires technology that through the application of biochemistry, complexity theory, game theory, and quantum computing strives to create and manage alternate timelines. the changing landscape takes us through the creation of bebop to the ending of WW2 to a revisit of the Kennedy assassination, and gradually creates a chaotic set of lightly-managed futures in which some people move across the world into differing Whens without really noticing, with individual memories adjusting to the changes in a process compared in detail to the creation of music. a truly original idea, and the minute detail of the story as time and space pass through the narrative, changing gradually into a different modern world, makes it work. highly recommended. ( )

Mixes jazz, physics, world war II, espionage into a wonderful stew of alternate history. If the names Jimmie Lunceford, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie (oh come on you have to have heard of Dizzy!), and Thelonious Monk don't mean anything to you, read this book. And if you aren't then seized with a desire to go listen to some jazz, well then, there's not much hope for you. Check out this Spotify playlist of Jazz mentioned in the book: http://t.co/cMTXMGKTds

Goonan always does Hawaii well, also (read the Bones of Time if you have not). ( )

This is a wonderful novel. It starts with Sam Dance hearing about Pearl Harbour on the radio. He finds out that his brother, serving in the US Navy, was killed there.This sets off the main theme of the novel, a continual rumination on why things happen and how different outcomes would have been better.

Two elements are used to give form to this continual 'why' question. One is a device, which continually changes shape to allow it to blend with the surrounding technology, and the other is music, jazz in particular, which is used to illustrate the ability to create the new by changing elements on the fly.

The device is first given to Sam by Dr. Eliani Handtz, a Hungarian physicist who will pop up again in the novel. Handtz teaches physics, and in her meeting with Sam, introduces him to her own weird synthesis of physics and biology that she believes will lead to a better understanding of human nature, and end the human race's propensity for fratricidal warfare. The device initially resembles the AA gun radar aimer that Sam and his buddy Wink are working on. By the end of the book it has passed through a variety of forms, ending up as part of a board game in the Dance household. Along the way it has also been at crucial foci like Hiroshima and a concentration camp.To add spice, the major Intelligence agencies are also after the device...

This novel sounds rather sad and grim but the jazz motif acts as a liberator of good feelings. Sam and Wink are lucky in getting to see some of the great jazz musicians of the time, although the military police jail them for being in 'off limits' clubs. What they hear inspires them to start their their own band, first playing dance music at venues in England, then more cutting-edge material after D-Day takes them to a comfortable billet at a German cafe.

After the war Sam and Wink part but at a company reunion discover that they live in different realities. Wink's world inspires Sam to hunt out his current Handtz device, which he discovers his radical daughter has been using...

The only false note of the novel for me comes with its climax in the Sixties, which seems too pat and concentrates on one obvious event too much for hindsight to credit.

Why did this book wait five years for a paperback version? ( )

This is probably one of the worst books I have ever read. The main character is completely devoid of flaws, he is a handsome genius who is also approachable, funny, musically talented, popular, kind, with a strong sense of wrong and right; that is to say this character is extremely boring and I hated him about twenty pages in. The storytelling was consistently poor and in some points even unreadable. I don't think the author has a science background, the physics of her universe were described either in strictly philosophical terms instead of employing any actual science. The worst part is when she tries to use music theory to explain physics, it's a miserable failure. Skip this book. ( )

I should have liked this book, because I love music and science fiction. The two of them together should be like heaven. But I found that the author tries to explain music in words that don't do a good job of conjuring up the experience, and seems to try to draw parallels between jazz and other aspects of life that just don't make sense and couldn't bring in a suspension of belief. She writes explicitly in her afterward that "the physicists, chemists, and biologists of the nineteenth and twentieth centures birthed modernity and its reflection and interpretation in literature, art, and music. Our art and our science are inextricably linked." That idea is the basis of a good part of the text, but I simply don't buy it. Jazz has definite roots, and they aren't in physics or chemistry or biology. The people involved with jazz knew little or nothing of those disciplines. There is a relationship in that both areas developed contemporaneously and both probably resulted from aspects of society. Yet, creativity in music and creativity in science are fundamentally different. For one thing, musicians strive endlessly to invent something brand-new, and it need not be founded on the past. Scientists strive endlessly to learn something new, and it is always based on what's been discovered in the past. The author has an interesting idea, but it just doesn't make sense to me though the author believes it.

There is a lot in the book about the development of radar which in my opinion makes good history of science but not a very interesting plot for a book of fiction. I do give the author credit for a good try, though! The author writes that her own father was involved in the development of radar, and portions of his actual written memories from the war are incorporated into the book verbatim. This had to be a great challenge to write, and was surely a work of love. Yet I think this self-imposed restriction on the content of the book hurts the narrative.

I wasn't able to get into this book from either of my supposed "lightning rods" and was disappointed. Someone else who relates to music differently or who would enjoy reading the history of some real technical developments interspersed with some far-future timetravel device will have different mileage. Not my cup of tea. Perhaps the next book she writes will appeal to me more. ( )