Time Pressure

Life in Nova Scotia in the early '70s had just about everything your average hippie could hope for: beautiful scenery, tolerant locals, lots of other hippies and lots of drugs. So thinks Sam Meade, a guitar-playing American refugee from the Vietnam War draft, who is well on his way to becoming a hermit in his cabin, ""Heartbreak Hotel.'' But all that changes when Sam discovers a beautiful naked woman asleep in his woods during a blizzard. Partly because he is an avid science fiction reader, and partly because he can find no other explanation for her behavior, Meade is convinced she is a time traveler and prepares himself and his best friend Snaker for the moment she regains consciousness. When she does awaken, Meade finds himself involved in a project that crosses time, reality, mores and gender. Winner of the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards, Robinson has picked up some of the threads of past works, specifically those in Mindkiller. Readers unfamiliar with Robinson's folksy narrative, meandering pace and penchant for the tangential, may weary of this story, which takes an unusually long time to start, then moves along smartly until it is slowed and ultimately killed by a somewhat long-winded attempt at tying up all the loose ends. Although Robinson's creative imagination is admirable, the execution of his ideas leaves much to be desired. (October 1)