Time Rider

“Time Rider” is a collection of nine speculative short stories,  published in Iran by Tandis Books on October 2021 and includes a preface written by Behzad Ghdimi– the known Iranian speculative writer, and each story comes with an illustration by Mahour Pourghadim.

The book was well received by the Iranian audience.

The stories are written in different science fiction sub-genres such as dystopia, bio-punk, alien invasion, generation ships, post-apocalypse, time travel, space travel and etc. They engage the readers with deep and touching themes such as love, death, hope, loneliness, despair and …

Isolation: 4300 words

The first story of the collection is written in the sub-genre of bio-punk and deals with the themes of isolation and the deep and bitter feeling of human touch deprivation. It examines the virtual reality as the new reality that tries to substitute the lost natural life and human contact.

“Isolation” takes place many years in the future. Due to a genetic defect, humans are allergic to other human DNAs and if in contact, they will show an anaphylaxis reaction and die. They live in isolated cells and spend most of their time in virtual reality. Sayeh is a scientist that leads the experiments carried out on specific children with marked DNAs, hoping to find a cure for the anaphylaxis defect. After decades of experimentation and losing so many children to the tests, they have finally achieved results: nine test subject couples were able to stay alive in the same room and not show any allergic symptoms.

Sayeh anxiously watches the tenth couple come in contact in the test room. She is scared to see the couple go into allergic shock and die in front of her. She closes her eyes and opens them as she hears the loud cheering from the test team (each in their own isolated rooms). She sighs with relief since the results are finally confirmed and assertive. But Sayeh feels a great hole inside of her. She knows the next generation can be free of the isolated cells and go back to their natural way of life but it is already too late for her generation. She visits her boyfriend in the VR and they both talk about the great breakthrough and the celebrations that are going to be held. Sayeh seems sad and broken. She is deprived of human touch forever; the only thing that she believes makes her real. All she wants is to touch and feel another human being in reality, not VR or from behind the many layers of isolated suits.

Sayeh asks her boyfriend to come and meet her in the test rooms of the lab…

Skinner: 4000 words

“Skinner” is written in the sub-genre of alien invasion and explores the theme of invasion as an act of rape and assault. It also shows how people deal with a situation that seems to be dead end. “Hope” may be the only natural instinct that keeps the survivors alive.

In a near future, aliens invade earth. Upon their arrival, they destroy all the communication systems and bring down the power. Therefore earth becomes dark and disconnected. People are trapped in their home towns with no electricity, water, gas and other utilities. The towns have a post-apocalyptic outlook and it’s not going to take long before people start tearing each other apart for food and water.

Siavash, a young photographer and the narrator of the story, leaves his flat to go to the alien landing place outside of Tehran. He has heard that no one has come out of the area alive but he prefers to see the aliens and be killed by them, rather than wait for people to turn into zombies, killing each other for food and necessities. As he steps out, his girlfriend Yassi is waiting for him. Yassi wants to come along and Siavash can’t stop her. They follow the rout that Yassi had found, climbing the Darabad Mountain and going down the northern alley to the landing place.

As they arrive at the mountain ridge, they see the weird structure made by the aliens. It looks like a giant black bee hive. They camp there for the night and try to have fun on their supposedly last night, but it turns bad for Yassi as Siavash doesn’t listen to her and rapes her. The next morning, Yassi is still upset. They go down the mountain and walk by the emptied roads and villages until they see the giant flying aliens that are wearing clothes made by different pieces of human skin, stitched together.

Siavash and Yassi are captured by the aliens…

Time Rider: 4100 words

The third story of the collection “Time Rider” shares the title of the book. It is written in the sub-genre of time-travel and apocalyptic stories. It has a romantic tone to it and it uses the form of love letters to tell the story.

Time-riders come from future and are searching the whole history to find what causes a deadly pandemic that kills many people on earth. They recruit people from the twenty first century and send them back and forth to specific places and points in time to find a clue. Those who go forward in the future can move through time with their bodies but the past-riders leave their bodies in the capsules and appear in the past as whispers.

The story is written in the form of three letters written by two colleague/secret lovers. In the first letter, the writer expresses his love to his lover saying that their missions will end shortly and for their last mission they can finally be together as they are both being sent to the future. He also says he has brought her a precious gift and explains where it is hidden. This letter has a very romantic tone and indirectly explains how the time-riders operate.

The second letter is from the female lover to the writer of the first letter. She says she has found the precious Sassanid necklace and explains how this necklace was the source of the deadly pandemic. According to her the frozen necklace had kept the deadly virus alive and hidden through centuries and after it was unfrozen, it spread fast. She also mentions that everyone has died including her lover (the writer of the first letter). The third letter is found among the Sassanid necklace. It is written by the writer of the first letter and explains how he managed to bring back the Sassanid necklace to the present time. The letter explores the time of the Sassanid defeat from the Muslim army and notes that there were two deadly plagues at the time.

Time Rider is a complex story that combines science fiction with romance and historical events. It has a special prose, combining the tones of romantic stories with hard science fiction.

The Blue Dusk 1800 words

This story takes place on Mars in a near future. The first crew of the Mars establishment project are sent there to start building the foundations of the future settlement and wait for other groups of humans to arrive.

Sahar is an orthopedic doctor and the only crew member from the Middle East. After an explosion in the camp, everyone dies except for Sahar and another crew named Lars, who is badly injured and cannot walk.

Sahar is left stranded on Mars. She feels lonely and hopeless. She finds out that the project is cancelled and there will be no more people coming to Mars. Even though she hides this news from Lars, Lars kills himself and Sahar is left alone. She tries to keep herself busy and sane but eventually she loses herself.

The story is narrated by Sahar in a first person point of view. She uses stream of consciousness to go back and forth in time and explain what has happened. Sahar loves contemporary Persian poetry and there are many references to Forough and other poets in her narration. “The Blue Dusk” explores the theme of love, human dependency, loneliness and solitude.

Superstar: 8500 words

This is the longest story of the collection and happens in the near future. It has a mild comedy tone and a noir atmosphere.

Ali, a young writer, wakes up in a weird hospital-like place. He has a metal cap on his head with wires connected to it. He takes out the cap and looks around seeing many people in deep coma, lying on beds connected to similar metal caps and wires. He eventually gets up and covers himself with a sheet. He doesn’t remember why he is there and what happens. All he remembers is bits and pieces about a party and his girlfriend Maryam. He manages to get out of the bunker that has many rooms filled with many unconscious people. When he finally gets out he wanders through the alleys and roads of Tehran. Everything has changed and he eventually finds out that he was asleep for ten years. What amazes him more is seeing large billboards showing the face of “Pishgam” and saying he is the new art genius in the world. Ali remembers Pishgam as Maryam’s professor and doesn’t know how he has become the greatest idle in the city.

He goes to his parents’ house, but they no longer live there and Ali finds out that he was announced dead ten years ago. He goes to the police but they dismiss him saying that he is mad. He starts remembering what happened to him. He had made a deal with Pishgam to take part in an experiment. The experiment was meant to help Ali become more creative but he had never woken up from it. He sets off to the Pishgam Museum that is being advertised all over the town. He wants to confront Pishgam and find answers.

In the museum he runs into Maryam! She has been working for Pishgam all these years. She says Pishgam has a device that helps him create the best genuine art, from fiction books to films, sculpture, painting and etc. Ali takes Maryam to the bunker and wants to show her how Pishgam is stealing other artists’ ideas. Ali believes that artists are put to sleep and Pishgam is accessing their unconscious and making art by using their thoughts, memories and visions. Maryam seems shocked but goes along to see if the claim in true.

In the bunker Maryam seems calm and relaxed and Ali finds out that Maryam has been working for Pishgam from the start, directing Ali to her professor as the next victim…

This story speculates about the true nature of art and the value of creation. It has many references to Iran’s monopoly literary circle that is trying to silence individual voices.

The Hostile Newborn (The Hatching): 1300 words

The Hostile Newborn is a post-apocalyptic story that takes place in the far future. This story has a very strong, detailed and visual world building and explores the theme of human survival and natural evolution.

After a severe climatic change and the melting of icebergs, the world was drowned in water. Only birds and a small population of humans have survived. The birds are evolving day by day and they are getting larger. They are the rulers of the new world and mankind has to hide himself from these giant predators.

A man with two of his sons set off on a dangerous mission to hunt for eggs. The journey is hard and frustrating. They get back to camp safely and victoriously as they have brought three giant eggs for the camp.

They warm themselves by the fire and people attend to their usual choirs that are consistent to their life style, getting ready for the long and wet winter ahead of them. The grandmother starts to make dinner but she finds the egg to be a little off. She is right! The egg is not from a bird, a baby snake breaks the shell and starts attacking the camp.

Exhale: 4000 words

This story takes place in a generation ship that orbits the earth. Each year very few new-comers arrive at the “Serenity Ship” to replace the lost manpower. The population is tightly kept on Serenity and people are not allowed to have babies without authorization.

The story starts in the vacuum. A woman is dying in the space and she is remembering and retelling her story as she is trying to avoid her last exhale.

She was born and raised on Serenity and had fallen in love with a man that had come to their ship a few years ago. Hoping to get permission to have a child with this man, she overlooks all of his unusual and abusive behavior and even helps him cover up his criminal activities. But putting up with the role of the victim doesn’t play well for her.

She witnesses sabotage, stealing and a murder and knows that her boyfriend is behind all of this. She thinks that her boyfriend has used a metallic earth ball to kill the victim and believes it must be the same earth she had at her cabin.

As she stands by the airlock to get rid of the murder weapon, her boyfriend arrives with the real murder weapon and throws her out of the airlock.

The narrator goes back and forth in time, explaining her life on Serenity and her hopes and dreams. She regrets the choice of staying silence against her boyfriend’s abusive behavior.

“Exhale” is written in the sub-genre of space travel and generation ships. It explores the theme of love, marriage, deception and domestic violence.

Guilt: Zero Percent 3400 words

In a near future, people have special devices that can determine and show what emotions they are experiencing and what is the percentage of each emotion. People can read the emotions of others around them. This has led to a reduction of crime rates. Also advanced lie-detector devices help the police and they can catch criminals very easily.

A woman is found dead in her apartment. She was hanged from the ceiling. The police suspects the husband but his emotions do not add up with the emotion criteria of a killer and he apparently has an alibi for the murder time. The husband tells the police that her wife was having an affair with her boss.

The police interviews the boss and he also doesn’t have the emotion criteria of a killer. They use lie-detectors and make sure that the boss is innocent.

The husband kills the boss in a similar way and when the police comes to the scene, he lies about it, saying that the boss was already dead when he arrived. Police finds evidence linking the husband to the murders, but their evidence is not admissible because the lie-detectors and emotion sensors do not back them up. According to the new police criteria based on emotion sensors and lie-detectors, the husband is innocent and goes free.

This story is written in the sub-genre of dystopia and deals with the idea of advanced technology verses unknown human nature. It also explores the theme of love, betrayal and possession.

The Annual Breathing 2400 words

This story takes place in a near future when the earth’s air is not breathable due to over pollution and lack of oxygen. People have to wear oxygen masks all the time outside. Oxygen generators are placed indoors to generate breathable air.

Once a year, the government turns on advanced and expensive massive, super fans to make the city’s air breathable for a few hours. This time is called the Annual Breathing and it is celebration time!

Nahid works in a factory and can hardly afford her oxygen tank and provide for her teenage son. Just before the Annual Breathing, she finally receives her salary and decides to buy new clothes for her son, so he can get out and meet his friends after two years of being inside.

As she finishes her shopping, she has to exchange her oxygen tank and replace it with a new one. A biker approaches her and steals her new tank. She is helpless and without oxygen. As she draws her final breaths she remembers her childhood and reminds herself of all the hopes and dreams she has for her son…

This story, although written in a dystopian setting, speculates about the harsh effects of global warming and carbon dioxide emissions. It also explores the theme of poverty and motherhood.