In the Quake Zone

Description

Time-quakes are disrupting Los Angeles in the sixties. A soul-scarred Vietnam vet takes a job as a time-raveler, sewing up the loose threads of unraveled lives, but now he's on a case that threatens to unravel his own life. Why are young men are disappearing from West Hollywood? Is there a serial killer preying on the nascent gay community? Or is there some darker force at work? A brilliant and disturbing short novel, gritty and realistic, filled with recognizable details. This crossover mix of science fiction and noir mystery evokes a not-yet-forgotten time and place on the threshold of change. Selected by Gardner Dozois for inclusion in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Third Annual Collection (2006) and winner of the 2007 Spectrum Award for Best Short Fiction, it's a stunning depiction of a forgotten slice of gay life before Stonewall. In The Quake Zone is a journey into one man's heart of darkness and what it takes to come out the other side. This is David Gerrold writing at his passionate best. Contains mature material. (Some readers have speculated that the hero of this short novel is an alternate-world version of the hero in thirteen o'clock. What do you think?)