In Search of Lost Time (Conversation Pieces) (Volume 56)

After beginning chemo for a rare cancer, Hildy discovers an extraordinary talent—the ability to see and take other people’s time. She also discovers there’s an underground market for quality time. After all, who has enough time? The dying, especially, want to get more of it, but giving it to them means taking it from someone else. How moral is she? How will she juggle the black marketers’ strong-arm tactics and her own quandaries about stealing something so precious and vital that it can never be replaced?

Review

”It's a curious story, leaving the reader with more questions than answers about what’s really going on, to say nothing of the morality of the process (not that it isn’t questioned). Hildy herself is an interesting character, recovering not just from cancer but from the death of her married lover, and the people she encounters are likewise a bit off-center. I was intrigued throughout….”

Rich Horton, Locus

Karen Heuler’s stories have appeared in over 100 literary and speculative journals and anthologies, from Alaska Quarterly Review to Weird Tales. She’s won an O.Henry award, is frequently nominated for Pushcart and Best American Short Story awards, and was a finalist for the Iowa Short Fiction award, the Bellwether Award, and the Shirley Jackson Award. Her last collection (Other Places Aqueduct Press) set women out on adventures throughout the universe. Visit her website at karenheuler.com