It had been too long since I had read a proper speculative novella, so I jumped at the chance to read N. Joseph Glass’ forthcoming book on the fictitious inventor of time travel. “Overlap” is everything you want in a near-fiction piece; it’s realistically grounded, technologically forward, filled to the brim with human emotion, and touched with enough of a Black Mirror edge to keep you a little creeped out and hooked on every word.

The Blurb:

“This interview with the man who ‘sort of’ invented time travel is a touching story of love, regret, loss, and the hope for redemption. Nearing the end of his life, wealthy ‘time travel’ inventor Marcus Hollister—famously known for creating the technology behind Vacations in Time —wishes to tell his story to a hopeful young reporter, Jessica Matthews. Why her? Why now? She was most interested in his motivations for creating a means of time travel, how it came to be nothing more than a recreational tool, and why he shut down the multi-trillion-dollar business it spawned. Their one-hour meeting stretched into three days, in which they discovered some secrets were best kept buried.”

Review:

Marcus Hollister is near the end of his life. He has invented the world’s most important, explosive, and dangerous technology; he has seen its rise and fall, and he is finally ready to tell his story to one particular young reporter.

“Overlap” feels like the best of classic Black Mirror; it is poignant and hard-hitting, focusing on the human condition and the lengths people will go to accomplish their aims– whether that be grieving widowers creating a pseudo time travel to see a version of their spouse, or criminals using those inventions for their own deplorable intents. It is at times chilling– an elegant and raw take on the control of technology and the power of those who live above and outside of the law. Other times, Glass depicts a touching story of a grieving man trapped in his regret and desperate for a second, third, and fourth chance.

Final Thoughts: It is nearly impossible to say much more without giving away the entire story, and this is a story you want to go into blindly. It is moving, bittersweet, and so smart.

Rating: 4/5 stars

“Overlap” releases on October 30, 2023. Preorder it on Amazon and Goodreads!

Thanks to the author for an advanced review copy of this novella!