Rating: 
Summary: The title says it all
Review: A compendium of short stories about time travel. Some intriguing ideas, but most end just when they're getting somewhat interesting. It felt like the short-story format was a cop-out for writers who couldn't flesh out a full narrative or really dig into the past or the future beyond a superficial description. (BTW, the stripe of paint on the house in "Palimpsest Day" seemed very familiar -- does anybody remember this being in another story, but to cooler effect?)
~Addendum, 9/17/04: Thanks much to Hilary for IDing Jack Finney's "I'm Scared," from his excellent short story collection "About Time," as the origin of the timeslipped paint stripe concept.
Rating: 
Summary: A Mixed Bag
Review: All anthologies have stories that are terrific, stories that are deadly dull, and stories inbetween. For me, there were too many stories in this book in the second and third category and only a very few in the "terrific" category. If you're a time travel bug, then okay. If you're not, then find yourself something else to read.
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre and Below
Review: As a time travel fanatic, I try to get my hands on every time travel book I can find. This one really didn't live up to my expectations. Why? Well, most stories were either unoriginal, or started nice but the ending was completely predictable. This was, literally, a collection of boring stories. I think one of the things I like about time travel books, is that the ending can be really tricky - there are so many ways such stories can have a punch line, and even after reading many of these books I still find myself surprised most of the time. Sadly, it wasn't the case with this collection of stories..
There was only one story which was more or less okay, "Blood Trail", about a police officer who is sent in time to try and find the identity of a serial killer. The officer is not allowed to change anything, but he CAN try and gather information about the killer which will enable catching him in the present. However, the officer really, really doesn't like to see people killed in front of his eyes...
To summarize: if you have nothing else on your list, go for it, or even if you just MUST read every time travel book you can find (like me). However, don't expect anything above average, and most stories don't even live up to that.
Rating:
Summary: A little more meat
Review: I always love time travel stories, and I've read some great anthologies, but this one left me feeling that there could have been more. "Time Machines" by Bill Adler, is a great anthology of time travel stories. Or if you want a full novel, I'd go for "Timeline" by Michael Crichton or "Twilight" by Nicholas Stember, both excellent reads.
Rating:
Summary: A little more meat
Review: I always love time travel stories, and I've read some great anthologies, but this one left me feeling that there could have been more. "Time Machines" by Bill Adler, is a great anthology of time travel stories. Or if you want a full novel, I'd go for "Timeline" by Michael Crichton or "Twilight" by Nicholas Stember, both excellent reads.
Rating:
Summary: A little more meat
Review: I always love time travel stories, and I've read some great anthologies, but this one left me feeling that there could have been more. "Time Machines" by Bill Adler, is a great anthology of time travel stories. Or if you want a full novel, I'd go for "Timeline" by Michael Crichton or "Twilight" by Nicholas Stember, both excellent reads.
Rating:
Summary: Parts are *way* past imperfect...
Review: I was really looking forward to receiving this book after I ordered it, having read other time travel anthologies such as _Timegates_, _Tales in Time_ and others. But _Past Imperfect_ is aptly -- or should I say "appedly" -- named, for it's packed full o' typos. Seriously, I've never read a professionally published book with so many misspelled words, words left out, etc. Kind of takes you out of the moment when you're reading, no pun intended.As for the stories themselves, only a few of the twelve were worth the read: "Palimpsest Day" and "Gift of a Dream" stand out, but others were fairly old-hat, "oops, I just killed my future self"-type tales, or ones that were high on technical merit but short on human feeling. If you're a time-travel fanatic and want to read all-new stories, you may want to skim this book, but be prepared to trip over typos. A better option, in my opinion, would be to peruse some oldies but goodies in _About Time_, a collection of time-related stories by Jack Finney.
Rating: 
Summary: Gathers some top name writers
Review: Martin Greenberg and Larry Segriff's Past Imperfect provides a strong, involving collection of short stories all centered around time travel, paradoxes, and alternative worlds created by time travel. From a scientist with a time machine who finds himself stealing his own invention to visitors who intend to observe the past with an eye to changing it, this gathers some top name writers (Diane Duane, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, and more) and provides original tales.
Rating:
Summary: Only if you LOVE time travel stories
Review: Past Imperfect has its ups and downs. Of the twelve stories included in this anthology, only 4 are first rate: Blood Trail, A Touch Through Time, Mint Condition and In the Company of Heroes. These stoies made me devour them, only as a good story can. The rest vary from dull to awful. If you are just getting acquainted with time travel, avoid it.
Rating:
Summary: Great anthology
Review: This collection of twelve wonderfully well-written tales centers on the paradox of time travel with some tales going back into the past and other forward into the future. This reviewer's personal preferences are those tales that focus on the impact of someone altering an acceptable historical event (unless someone drifts back and takes away the EC comic involving sending a probe back to the dinosaur age that I read as a child). Each entry is fun and supports the limitless possibilities of what if that makes time paradoxes so engaging and imaginative, and time streams so impossible to grasp. These dozen are very good and entertaining. These strong authors provide readers with near perfect contributions for inclusion in PAST IMPERFECT. Harriet Klausner
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