This is a short story anthology by alternate-history fiction author Harry Turtledove, published in 2002. I found this book shortly after it was published, and read it in college, including the titular story pair “Forty, Counting Down” and “Twenty-One, Counting Up”, the first and last stories of the anthology. The plot of both involves a 40-year-old embittered divorced man inventing time travel to go back to meet his 21-year-old self in the hopes of preventing the relationship with the love of their life from failing in the first place. One story gives the point of view of the protagonist at 40, the other at 21.
As luck would have it, I was 20 or 21 the first time I read it, the same age as the younger version of the protagonist, and besides a re-read a few years later, hadn’t touched the book since. I’m 40 now though, and it occurred to me the other day that it would be interesting to re-read the pair of stories now that I could experience it at the age of the older version of the protagonist.
I just finished the re-read, and interestingly, I feel like I identified this time more with the younger version, whereas the first time I’d read it, I had identified more with the older version. Lot of thoughts about this “change-your-own-past” story bouncing around my head right now. Anyone else read this story pair, especially at two different ages? Any other fiction that you’ve read on a similar theme that had an impact on you?
by FoldAdventurous2022