Time's Fool, and Other Stories — Grant Carrington

"I have the whole universe as my theatre now."
"Time's Fool," and accompanying stories, "Annapolis Town," "Stella Blue," "On the Deck of the Starship," and "The Worm Beneath the Skull," introduce a world where complex melodies set the score for lives and loves meeting through time.
"Through a world of ordered wealth, to the underworld where raw, free talent reigned, Garcia sought what was missing in his life. Master musician, at the top of his art, will an offer to make him immortal fill the void in his existence and his music?"
Travel with the Timedippers and the Immortals from the present to the far-distant future in this lyrical story arc that asks the price of life.
Time's Fool:
The city was now clearly visible all around them, a panoramic view. All the strings of light seemed to converge on this building, like spokes in a wheel, although Garcia knew it was only an illusion, like the illusion that the Earth was the center of the universe. Across the spokes, other rays of light crossed and recrossed, moving out in waves of light from the building to the distant horizon, until they disappeared in the distance. The jewels of the city glowed and glittered all around them.
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 thought, 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.
He was alive, come what may, come death and extinction, as surely it must. You can't go back, he thought, 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?
Annapolis Town sets the stage for a story arc covering centuries and light years with a simple, lovely tale of music, love, and the dangers of manipulating time. Placed in 1970's Annapolis, "Annapolis Town" introduces Timedippers, and the musical innovations that carry through the future.
Stella Blue pick up the tale an unknown time into the future, where a divided society grasps for life and feeling in a world where the wealthy grasp 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 too much future to look forward to blunt his art?
On the Deck of the Starship takes the tale of Timedippers and musicians to the stars, as Philip Steinbrunner, Garcia's lighting technician, 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 wraps up 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 lessons of those who came before, learning what the famed Garcia meant when he said, "Without the worm, there is no rose."
More tales of the Timedippers will appear in Grant Carrington's upcoming story collection, Annapolis to Andromeda.
In 2014, Grant Carrington returns to the "Time's Fool" world with new novel, "Down in the Barraque."