Time's Fool and Other Stories — Grant Carrington

This lyrical story collection asks the price of life, as you travel alongside the Timedippers and the Immortals, from the present to the far-distant future. "If his heart was pounding now, it was not in fear but in exultation. He was alive, come what may, come death and extinction, as surely it must. You can't go back, he though, and you can't stand still. He had to go forward or he would surely die. That was where his strength and his art lay, in the constant fight against Death, spitting in its very face, not in conquering it and then living in a fearful immortality. So he would die. So what? In the meantime, he would live life to its fullest, not cringing before time." Annapolis Town sets the stage for a story arc covering centuries and light years with a lovely tale of music, love, and the dangers of manipulating time. Annapolis Town introduces the Timedippers, and musical innovations that echo through the future. Stella Blue carries the tale into the future, where a divided society grasps for life and feeling in a world where the wealthy grope after the richness of emotion in the songs of the underclasses. Young Garcia finds his musical voice in tragedy. Time's Fool, originally published as a stand-alone novel, is Garcia's tale of the temptations of time and immortality. With music his life, would eternal life blunt his art? On The Deck of the Starship takes the tale of Timedippers and musicians to the stars, as Philip Steinbrunner answers the questions of life, love, and time for himself in a haunting tale of the price and power of love. The Worm Beneath the Skull concludes the Time's Fool tales on a planet at the far rim of human space. Struggling to choose between freedom and life, young musician Madeira finds voice through the music and the lessons of those who came before, learning what the famed Garcia meant when he said, “Without the worm, there is no rose.”