Tim Powers' novella, Salvage and Demolition, is a film noir love story showing time travel may not be neat and orderly. I read it in one sitting.
Rare book dealer Richard Blanzac receives a several box from the estate of a failed beat poet, Sophie Greenwald. The contents of the books sends him back in time, several times, each trip landing a few hours before the last. Can he solve the mystery, running through time in reverse? Can two people fall in love in a matter of hours? Hours spent out of order?
As always, Powers gives you exactly the right information to make you feel at home in his San Francisco, 1950s or present day. His take on film noir is spot on, not parody. A short story like this leaves me wanting to re-read his other work.
