Chronicles of the Hourglass: Short Stories About Time (A Shadows and Thorns Book)

Ready to reveal the true nature of time?

Inside this cleverly woven collection of short stories, timeless myths and cutting-edge science collide. Step into ancient valleys where hours slow to a crawl, cross enchanted bridges that reveal how speed, distance and time entwine, and visit a well where time slows to a stop.

Each fantasy tale uncovers a real principle of time — drawn from the edges of science, the wonders of space and gravity, and humanity’s deepest questions.

This is not a textbook. It is a storybook for the curious. For seekers of wonder, for thoughtful children, for adults still bold enough to ask: What is time… really?

Each short story draws on real scientific, philosophical and practical ideas, reimagined through myth and magic — including:

• How gravity can slow the flow of time (Einstein’s Relativity, Event Horizons & Gravity Wells)
• How massive objects can bend light itself (Gravitational Lensing)
• How speed, distance, and time are connected
• Why time flows in one direction (The Arrow of Time / Entropy)
• Why hours, days, and years differ across planets and how your brain can change your experience of time
• How moving faster slows your experience of time (Time Dilation, Special Relativity)
• The idea that all moments — past, present, and future — may exist at once (The Block Universe, Eternalism)
• The strange link between particles across space and time (Quantum Entanglement)
• The possibility of alternate timelines or parallel realities (Many-Worlds & Branching Time)
• How time might loop back on itself in paradoxes (Causal Loops, Bootstrap Paradox)
• The theoretical end of time when energy runs out (Heat Death of the Universe)
• The possibility that time could, in theory, run backwards (Time Reversal Symmetry)
• How practical choices like time blocking, delegation, automation, and prioritisation multiply time
• Why knowing when to stop can save years of wasted effort (The Sunk Cost Fallacy)
• How small daily actions, over time, create immense change (The Compounding Effect)
• And the ever-present question: Can we change time, or only our understanding of it?

For those who seek, those will find, a way to learn, and speak about time.