In PLACES OF TIME, not everyone was happy with the breakup of the old Soviet Union-least of all an eccentric genius, Sergei Lichizev, who blames America for its downfall. So, when he creates a machine that allows him to manipulate time, his first and greatest ambition is to eliminate America, and restore the Soviet Union to its former glory. But it's complicated... TIMESTOPPER shows us an inventive professor with a unique way of manipulating time, while his beautiful female assistant has absolute and adoring faith in his brilliance. Or does she?... THE FLOWER THIEF features a young man earning extra money peddling flowers to passersby on the street, but he gets his wares from a very unsavory supplier, and that's just the beginning of his troubles. And two stories featuring the character Jackson Cruz: In LITTLECLOUD, Cruz is part of a team that clears and evaluates orbital debris around Earth, and on one particularly routine day he finds something that changes his humdrum life; in THE ULTIMATE SPY he's back on Earth job hunting and takes on a job that he hopes will be challenging, but which ends up being much less-and much more-than he had hoped for.