Sandwiched between the horrors of the two Great Wars, the 1920s stand out as a glittering, transformative spectacle in history. Spurred by World War I, waves of immigration, innovation, and cultural change surged through America and the rest of the world. Not for nothing does that era bear the names the Roaring 20s, the Golden Twenties, and the Jazz Age. It was brief, glitzy, seedy, and marked by competing tensions; perhaps destined to crash in spectacular fashion.

For fictional purposes, the grit and glamour of the decade combine into the headiest of potions. Flappers and jazz stars; ugly racial inequalities; veterans in hidden gin joints drowning their sorrows with cheap alcohol brought from the mountains by men with fast cars and faster tongues.

Broken Time Blues captures the raging spirit of the times, both light and dark, and adds a twist of fantasy and science fiction.

Come on a ride with us, through the speakeasies and the mountain stills. Grab a drink and read stories about things that might have been, or maybe were.

Illustrated by Galen Dara and Evan Jensen.

Stories and Contributors:

The Sharing by James L. Sutter

Chickadee by Frank Ard

Semele’s Daughter by John Nakamura Remy

The Automatic City by Morgan Dempsey

Button Up Your Overcoat by Barbara Krasnoff

Nor the Moonlight by Andrew Penn Romine

Jack and the Wise Birds by Lucia Starkey

Madonna and Child, In Jade by Amanda C. Davis

Der Graue Engel by Jack Graham

The Purloined Ledger by Ari Marmell

Fight Night by Ryan McFadden

A Drink for Teddy Ford by Robert Jackson Bennett