Confessional And Veldt

In Island in The Sea Of Time, SM Stirling does not give us an easy ride to a happy ending:

first we think that Walker will survive to be a continuing villain in the trilogy;

then we think that he will die in combat with Alston;

then we think that Alston and Swindapa might die as well;

then we find out what happens.

Also:

first we think that Alston and Swindapa will return to Nantucket;

then we think that Swindapa will remain in the White Isle;

then we wonder if both will remain;

then we find out what happens.

Now I await Volume II, to arrive by post.

The following passage, written about The Sandman, is equally applicable to blogging about Poul Anderson and related writers:

"...Neil Gaiman's stories in The Sandman descend concentrically through a narrative maze to a room at the center, where you expect to find a confessional and instead step into a veldt that stretches as far as the eye can see."
-Steve Erickson, Introduction IN Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: Dream Country (New York, 1995), pp. 7-9 AT p. 8.

Next, let's have an overview of time travel fiction written by, at least, HG Wells, CS Lewis, Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson and SM Stirling.