Time For Change (Realms of Our Own) by David G. Johnson

Time for Change (Realms of Our Own)

An ageing bounty hunter is looking for a quick and easy payday. Jackpot! A lucrative contract pops up with a huge bonus and a short time frame; the perfect formula flipping to an eager-beaver hunter for a few bucks. When an old rival shows up willing to pay ten times the normal flipping fee, the veteran hunter knows there is more to this contract than meets the eye. Teaming up with his rival, the reluctant pair set off across the galaxy to unravel the mystery of the bizarre contract and the fugitive running from the galaxy’s biggest weapons developer, Chronotech Industries. The hunters find themselves locked in a web of temporal technology and galactic politics in Time for Change. 

Realms Of Our Own is a new model in Science-Fiction anthologies. Rather than a single, shared story setting, the common element in Realms Of Our Own are the characters. Each author in the series reinvents the ten recurring characters in their own unique, multiverse story and setting. This short story, Time for Change, is the installment in the ROOO Multiverse by David G. Johnson, author of the Christian Speculative Fantasy series Chadash Chronicles (Saga of the Everking, Fool’s Errand, Mystic’s Mayhem, and Paryn’s Gold). 

The Guru's Review: 

This is an exciting venture for the authors involved in this new and unique concept. 

What excited me was not just the description in the Amazon blurb about this new concept, but how Johnson describes it from his Introduction,

What about a collective anthology?...An anthology? No one likes anthologies, Besides, this has all been done before.....Not another "common setting, contributing authors" anthology made famous in the speculative fiction genre....but something new. What if, instead of a constant setting with varying characters, the characters were the varying characters, the characters were the anchoring constant while the settings were allowed to flow freely, bound only by the borders of the realm of speculative fiction?

....we need to collect ten to twelve contributing authors....each pitch a unique character with no set restrictions, then have each of the contributing authors write their own unique speculative fiction story involving all ten characters in some way. The result would be like a picture of alternate realities or parallel universes where these same characters had very different lives, experiences, and adventures. The normally unpopular format of an anthology would take on a life of its own as a doorway, which would transport the readers from world to world, from reality to reality, giving them a tour of the multiverse while also providing a tasty showcase for a collection of authors or would-be authors of speculative fiction.  

So based on the above, I set out reading this volume, only because it is the first published days, I think, before the current three volumes had been released.  

I really enjoyed this first story. This is the first story outside of the Chadash Chronicles trilogy where Johnson has a different writing style and it adds to the versatility of the talent of this author. Despite it being short, 41 pages, it grabbed me and I was instantly transported into this world of the bounty hunter. The main characters of Molon Hawkins and Karyn Littleton are very well cast and developed. Molon has lots of attitude and this adds to liking him as a loveable rogue while Karyn is very competitive and considers herself just as good as any male bounty hunter. 

I loved the banter between these two as they sought to hunt down Indalrion Tay. Despite some angst between them at the beginning, they end up working very well together and make quite a team. 

In true Johnson form, the world he creates in this short, is well thought out and developed. I loved the description of the Lubanians and the Garwafs and like the Chadash Chronicles, shows Johnson is a master of creating very convincing species and creatures. This helps in forming the basis of this world in this short. I also loved the political and economical landscape of this world being created in the mind of the reader by the account of Indalrion Tay as he describes his reasons for the theft of the weapon from Chronotech Industries.  This had me totally absorbed and due to this, I was frustrated when it ended as I was very content being in this world and I really wanted more of this. It would make for a really great full length novel if this was expanded into this length. 

I am very impressed with this unique concept and I look forward to reading the next one, Rewind by Jeremy Bullard, again, only because it was the next one released after this short. 

Highly Recommended.