Interview: Jason A. Adams on Misbehaving Time
In Jason A. Adams’ Misbehaving Time, time slips on its own—no mad scientists, no machine in the garage, just the universe taking its eye off the ball for a second and dropping ordinary people somewhere they never meant to be. Across five stories the trouble keeps turning into a second chance—a better week, a do-over, one last gift—from a comic visit by a temporal mechanic to “Breakin’ Up Christmas,” a story rooted in an old Appalachian tradition that, Jason admits, still puts a little sand in his eye.
The Interview
Kris Rusch says most writers race past the moment a character realizes the world has gone sideways—but you set up camp there. Why do you like lingering in that bewilderment?
I just think about how I’d act in that situation. I mean, opening the front door on Elm Street and seeing a bunch of knights and peasants riding by would sort of throw me, you know? So how would I deal with that? What medieval/futuristic challenges would I have to solve with my GenX brain?
In these stories there’s no mad-scientist tinkering—time just misbehaves on its own, the universe taking its eye off the ball for a second. What opens up for you when nobody’s at the controls and time simply slips?
For me, this was great fun. There’s no ulterior motives, no revenge, no MegaCorp from Saturn trying to steal the riches of the past. It’s just one of those days, those other days. This lets me take plain people and throw them into situations where they have to rise above, willingly or not. Plus, a whole lot of time travel stories involve going into the past. I’ve seen a few where someone goes forward, but I still have fun watching my people lose their minds, when everyone else is having a perfectly normal Tuesday in 1347.
You write all over the map—SF, horror, romance, Appalachian folk tales—but the mountains of Southwest Virginia seem to seep in no matter the genre. How does Appalachia find its way into something as far-flung as time travel, invited or not?
Part of it is the great characters that I bump into every day. The culture here is very much of a make do and get by attitude. None of the people in my stories are based on any one person, but I could take you around the hills and hollers and show you what bits of who I threw in the story blender. Also, we mountain folk are born and bred yarn-spinners. Most people around here are descended from Scots-Irish roots, so we’ve got tall tales, exaggerated rascals, stories of Little People, ghosts, goblins, and haints in the blood.
Across these five stories, time travel keeps turning into a second chance—a better week, a do-over, one last gift—rather than a disaster waiting to happen. What draws you to that hopeful side of it?
I’m a sucker for a happy ending, or at least a hopeful ending. I’ve written a few stories that don’t turn out so well, but for the most part I want to leave my characters and my readers smiling. Or curious for more. I also think the Universe Machine is somewhat self-regulating and tries to keep things in whack instead of out.
You’ve said “Breakin’ Up Christmas” always puts a little sand in your eye. Without giving away what happens in the story, what made that one feel closest to the bone?
Part of it is the chance to meet people before life started life-ing, when there was all the time in the world ahead of them. Part is that chance to give someone one final gift that brings joy into the sadness.
You and Kari Kilgore share a home, and now also a StoryBundle, both writing about time travel. What’s it like working the same territory at once? Do you trade notes and theories about how time would actually behave, or deliberately keep to your own corners of it?
We’re such different writers that there’s no overlap in our storying unless we do it deliberately. I love seeing what she does with a topic we’re both pursuing, because it’s almost always something I never would have thought of myself. We’ve put out several anthologies of our stories in the past, and plan to do more. Keep an eye out for something from us that’ll play in our shared playground again.
What are you working on now—and what’s fun or exciting about it?
I’m currently finishing a short story for a Kickstarter stretch goal which follows the characters from “Verum Familia.” It’s always fun to revisit folks I had such a good time with before. The story will be going out to the people who backed Winter Delights in the very near future.
About the Author
Jason A. Adams writes across the spectrum, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, Appalachian folk tales, and romance, of course.
Jason’s stories also appear in several issues of Pulphouse Magazine, Mystery, Crime, and Mayhem, Uncollected Anthology, and Thrill Ride.
Jason, a recovering Air Force brat who grew up all over the US and Japan, now perches in the mountains of Southwest Virginia with his excellent author wife Kari Kilgore, several spoiled-rotten house critters, and assorted wild visitors from the nearby forest.
Find Jason
Misbehaving Time is available now in the Escape from 2026 StoryBundle, curated by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. 15 exclusive books of alternate history and time travel—pay what you want, starting at $5. Customers can choose to direct a portion of their payment to World Central Kitchen. The bundle runs through June 25, 2026.