(Updated Feb. 7, 2012)

Did you know that scientists at Cornell University invented a time cloak— they hid an event for 40 trillionths of a second—and tinkered with the speed of light? A common theme in science fiction and comics, time travel has been explored in wide-ranging works of fiction from H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine to Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife. And Red Room authors, from James Patterson (Daniel X) to Karl Alexander (whose Time After Time was made into a popular 1979 film) have explored time travel, dystopian futures, and nonlinear time in their short stories and novels. Two weeks ago, we asked Red Roomers to blog about their favorite time travel stories.

A few posts stood out:

• The fantastic possibilities for change, romance, and heightened states of being are what make time travel such a rich source of great stories. Author J M Cornwell ably shows how they combined in the popular made-for-TV movie Somewhere in Time in her blog post of the same name. 
• Speaking of heightened or altered states, member Beth Mann posted two short stories that underline how the alternatives time-travel stories present can let us live out out wildest fantasies. Their intensity and adult subject matter of "Lowlifes and Hot Springs" and "Drug Dust Fairies and Fizzy Blue Seas." 
• Member Cindy Sullivan is "increasingly convinced that whilst we have infinite pathways in life, our future realities create/shape our present circumstances." She shows how time travel stories led her to this in her fascinating post "Time Future."

The bloggers will receive books by Red Room authors:

• A music scholar wins the chance to travel back in time to 19th century to meet her musical idol. But what happens when she refuses to return? That's the intriguing premise of Louise Marley's novel The Brahms Deception.    
• Another scholar gets the chance to live in the 19th century; this time, it's a middle-school student who's sick and tired of being the middle child. Find out what happens when she gets transported to the world of Louisa May Alcott's classic in Lauren Baratz-Logsted's Little Women and Me.    
• The aftermath of 9/11, a murder mystery, and a secret laboratory in the basement combine to send the protagonists of The Prodigal Hour by Will Entrekin on "a journey across time and space that will challenge (their) every notion of ideas like 'right' and 'good.'" 

All of the time-travel blog posts are here; I hope you'll find your favorites and leave a comment letting the blogger know what you liked about their writing. All of Red Room's past blog topics are here. Thanks as always for blogging!

–Huntington W. Sharp, Senior Editor, Red Room