Review: ‘Time has no meaning when you are trapped in a bottle.’
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 15, 2014
Centuries ago, humankind left earth.  Ten thousand starships transported passengers to destinations throughout the galaxy.  They took their literature with them, but much of this literature was lost in the period before the creation of the Galactic Commonwealth.  While some stories, once known as the ‘Arabian Nights’ survived, those stories have changed over the centuries.  Different versions of these stories have become folklore on barbarian worlds: the stories have been transformed or transmuted, corrupted or enhanced by the changing worlds they are told in.  And now, they have been rediscovered.In these thirteen stories, we read of the war between Men and Jinn, of Hafwen (sometimes Halfwen) and her story, of Nouredan and Nesjella, of Elgelt of Gloune, and Aubwoo.  We learn (with Hekaib) that it is best not to be early for some appointments.The stories vary in length, some stand alone, others are interwoven.  Some characters we meet but once, while others appear in different stories.  While my favourite is the story of Halfwen (or Hafwen), the story of Nouredan and Nesjella is the centrepiece of the collection.  Definitely echoes of the ‘Arabian Nights’ and I was also reminded at times of some of Herodotus’s descriptions of peoples in ‘The Histories’.I enjoyed reading this collection of stories, and am likely to reread at least some of them.  In many ways, these are traditional stories in an alternative world setting.  Is it science fiction?  Not really, it’s more fantasy: the distant galactic future provides some (as yet) unknown possibilities, but these are secondary to the stories being recounted.  If you enjoy short stories, if you enjoyed the ‘Arabian Nights’, you may well enjoy ‘1,001 Lightyears Entertainments’.  I did.‘He never again left the city, though on occasion he wondered what parts of his life were memories and what parts were dreams.’Note: I was offered, and accepted, a copy of this book for review purposes.Jennifer Cameron-Smith