Palely Loitering

I truly don't understand time travel stories that have a paradox. Over the years, I've come to accept them as a genre, with authors deliberately embracing illogic paradoxes, but I think this story would have been better without it, and it could have been easily edited without hurting the overall message: the start of our protagonist's obsession could have been easily written as a coincidence. I agree with a few reviewers that the particular time travel mechanic could have been used to a greater effect - but than again: not what the story is about. Priest managed to write a wonderful story about overcoming youthful trepidation. The way he evokes childhood expectations at the beginning of the story makes it moving too. It won the BSFA for Best Short Fiction.

Review of the full short story collection on Weighing A Pig: