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A review by logickat
The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century: Stories by Arthur C. Clarke, Jack Finney, Joe Haldeman, Ursula K. Le Guin, Larry Niven, Theodore Stu by
4.0
Time-travel plays a role in each story, but often in unexpected ways. These stories are clever and entertaining. Overall a very good collection.
“Yesterday Was Monday” by Theodore Sturgeon
***A man stumbles backstage of “life”.
“Time Locker” by Henry Kuttner
****Weird but cool take on the paradox of time travel, involving a time-warping locker.
“Time’s Arrow” by Arthur C. Clarke
*****Paleontology meets time travel, leading to a chilling discovery.
“Death Ship” by Richard Matheson
*****A trio of space travelers find a crashed ship on an alien planet, and then things get very interesting. I did not see the ending coming on this one, and it was great!
“A Gun for Dinosaur” by L. Sprague De Camp
****Hunters travel back in time for the ultimate game.
“The Man Who Came Early” by Poul Anderson
***A soldier is accidentally and unexpectedly transported a thousand years back in time. Not surprising, he has difficulty fitting in.
“Rainbird” by R. A. Lafferty
****After a long life, an inventor travels back in time to give his younger self advice.
“Leviathan!” by Larry Niven
***Time travel is used to collect souvenirs of the past.
“Anniversary Project” by Joe Haldeman
****Far-future beings travel back in time to find someone who knows how to read. Interesting concept of the evolution of humans over a million years.
“Timetipping” by Jack Dann
*Confusing story that has characters popping in and out of the time.
“Fire Watch” Connie Willis
***Historians of the future are able to travel back in time to study the past first-hand. For his course final, a student goes back to the Blitz in 1940’s London.
“Sailing to Byzantium” by Robert Silverberg
****A man from the past is living in the far-future and not really fitting in. I did get bored by some of the long-winded descriptions of the cities, but the twist I didn’t see coming brought the story back for me. I didn’t really understand the ending. But I still liked it.
“The Pure Product” by John Kessel
**A man from the future runs around randomly murdering people. I never got why. Dark and disturbing.
“Traplanda” by Charles Sheffield
***A wealthy eccentric hires an adventure guide to help him find a treasure. Turns out treasure means different things to different people.
“The Price of Oranges” by Nancy Kress
****A man goes back in time to bring back happiness for his daughter, and he succeeds in an unexpected way.
“Another Story or A Fisherman of the inland Sea” by Ursula K. Le Guin
*****An experiment in teleportation inadvertently results in giving a man a second chance.
“Yesterday Was Monday” by Theodore Sturgeon
***A man stumbles backstage of “life”.
“Time Locker” by Henry Kuttner
****Weird but cool take on the paradox of time travel, involving a time-warping locker.
“Time’s Arrow” by Arthur C. Clarke
*****Paleontology meets time travel, leading to a chilling discovery.
“Death Ship” by Richard Matheson
*****A trio of space travelers find a crashed ship on an alien planet, and then things get very interesting. I did not see the ending coming on this one, and it was great!
“A Gun for Dinosaur” by L. Sprague De Camp
****Hunters travel back in time for the ultimate game.
“The Man Who Came Early” by Poul Anderson
***A soldier is accidentally and unexpectedly transported a thousand years back in time. Not surprising, he has difficulty fitting in.
“Rainbird” by R. A. Lafferty
****After a long life, an inventor travels back in time to give his younger self advice.
“Leviathan!” by Larry Niven
***Time travel is used to collect souvenirs of the past.
“Anniversary Project” by Joe Haldeman
****Far-future beings travel back in time to find someone who knows how to read. Interesting concept of the evolution of humans over a million years.
“Timetipping” by Jack Dann
*Confusing story that has characters popping in and out of the time.
“Fire Watch” Connie Willis
***Historians of the future are able to travel back in time to study the past first-hand. For his course final, a student goes back to the Blitz in 1940’s London.
“Sailing to Byzantium” by Robert Silverberg
****A man from the past is living in the far-future and not really fitting in. I did get bored by some of the long-winded descriptions of the cities, but the twist I didn’t see coming brought the story back for me. I didn’t really understand the ending. But I still liked it.
“The Pure Product” by John Kessel
**A man from the future runs around randomly murdering people. I never got why. Dark and disturbing.
“Traplanda” by Charles Sheffield
***A wealthy eccentric hires an adventure guide to help him find a treasure. Turns out treasure means different things to different people.
“The Price of Oranges” by Nancy Kress
****A man goes back in time to bring back happiness for his daughter, and he succeeds in an unexpected way.
“Another Story or A Fisherman of the inland Sea” by Ursula K. Le Guin
*****An experiment in teleportation inadvertently results in giving a man a second chance.