Tempting Tales of Time Travel

Two intreging books about time travel

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas

In this article, I will be exploring two books about time travel that are very different from other novels in this genre. These two stories have a strong focus on the female characters and have structured rules around the act of time travel.

In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, time travel is possible, but the rules, circumstances and restrictions around it make it difficult and unappealing for all but the most persistent and serious.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold is set in our universe, in the current day and focuses on a basement coffee shop in downtown Tokyo. This coffee shop has a distinct difference from any other: the possibility of traveling in time.

However, taking the journey through time from the cafe comes with many rules and restrictions that can have serious consequences. The first requirement is that the individual seeking to travel in time must sit in one particular seat. Unfortunately a ghost has made herself comfortable in this seat (reading her book and drinking coffee) and the only time a would be time traveler can sit in the spot is the rare time once a day when the ghost briefly moves.

There are many other restrictions to visiting the past or future, including the requirement that you cannot leave the cafe and you can only see people who have visited the cafe in the past or future. You must stay in your seat and you must drink your coffee before it gets cold, leaving only a short time for your journey. If you fail to follow all the rules, there can be dire consequences leaving you stuck in time and in place.

Even with these rules, there are a few who still wish to go back or forward in time in the hope of changing something or connecting with someone.

There are some sweet, and some bitter sweet stories from those who travel to the past, aided by the patient cafe staff who act as guardians to the unusual portal in downtown Tokyo.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a novel that focuses on the intimate personal relationships of the characters rather than big effects or changing the world.

The Psychology of Time Travel is another novel that challenges assumptions made in many other stories of time travel.

The book begins with four researchers inventing the means to time travel. The researchers are all women, but vastly different in backgrounds, personality and motivations, yet consider each other the closest of friends.

In their first trip, the women travel forward in time to visit themselves 10 minutes in the future. The fact that time travellers can visit their past and future selves (even multiple times) is crucial to the story.

After establishing safe time travel, the Ministry of Time Travel is created, known as the Conclave. This is a bureaucratic department that houses the time travel machines, regulates the use of time travel and employs staff (normally investigators) to travel in time to solve crime and mitigate problems.

When one of the founding women of time travel is found murdered in the basement of the Toy Museum, a murder mystery through time is skillfully revealed through the story.

The use of the Time Travel Conclave, with its beuracratc rules and regulations, gives a unique background to the story and logical rules for time travel to follow. It also looks at how time travel affects the travellers and the psychological impact of knowing the future before it happens.

The time travelers find themselves unable to relate to non travelers and create their own culture, customs and language in an attempt to make sense of their lives in multiple time lines.

The novel also explores possible outcomes of time travel, such as taking a document listing time travel recruits from the future and using it to bypass the recruitment process for the current year, with surprising and unintended results.

I loved the characters in this book, as they are all strong, unique women of many dimensions, often living multiple careers and passions as they avoid or embrace time travel.

I loved the scope of ideas, the amazing characters and the detective work throughout the book. I would highly recommend The Psychology of Time Travel to anyone who loves time travel and mysteries.