Welcome to Time Travel Week on this blog! For the next week I’ll be presenting Time Travel books and movies you might find engaging. I’m starting with a Robert Silverberg novel from 1968 where the Future comes to visit us. Vornan-19 appears in Rome on Christmas Day. He claims he’s from the year 2,999–a thousand years in the future. The U. S. Government assembles a team of scientists to study Vornan-19 to determine if he is truly from the future or if he’s just a brilliant con-man pulling off a hoax on the world. Particle physicist Leo Garfield–who has actually moved a particle two seconds into the past–joins the team in hopes of learning the secrets of time-travel from Vornan-19. But the man from the future is vague and enigmatic. The Masks of Time shows a world on the brink of the Millennium looking for direction. The Masks of Time was nominated for a Nebula Award. Time is very tricky in this book!
I’ve liked Silverberg’s short stories and novellas a lot and many have a time travel theme. I’m looking forward to seeing what else is coming on Time Travel Week, a week I’d like to visit! TIME AND AGAIN is one of my all-time favorite books.
Jeff, I considered TIME AND AGAIN but decided to go with some more obscure choices. Maybe I’ll do TIME AND AGAIN for Time Travel Week next year!
TIME and AGAIN for me too. I like ones that don’t lean too heavily on science.
Patti, have you seen the movie version of TIME AND AGAIN?
Hooray for the return of Time Travel Week! Silverberg’s time-travel stories and novels are among my favorites in the genre.
Bill, Silverberg does Time Travel intelligently. His perspective is always a little different.
I really enjoyed Silverberg’s time travel novels and stories too, some were full of crazy paradoxes.
Here’s an interesting (imho) comment on some of them:
http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2011/07/times_three_by_.shtml
Now I’m waiting for more things to come from you, George – thanks in advance!
Wolf, thanks for the link! I think you’ll enjoy the rest of Time Travel Week!
I did read the novella version of “Hawksbill Station” in Silverberg’s Collected Stories.
Jeff. HAWKSBILL STATION set the bar for Time Travel stories pretty high.
I didn’t mean for you to do TIME AND AGAIN, since I’d guess a lot of people have read it. I just meant it’s a favorite. I’m glad to read about books I don’t know.
Jeff, Jack Finney’s TIME AND AGAIN is a terrifc Time Travel novel. I might have to reread it soon.
I read this – if it’s the one I think it is – a long time ago. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week, before the future becomes the past!
Rick, I read a lot of Silverberg back in the Sixties and Seventies when he was so prolific. I hope you and the other visitors to the blog enjoy the Time Travel books and movies I’ll be presenting the rest of the week.
I’m a big fan of Silverberg. His Up the Line is another great time travel novel.
Steve, I had trouble deciding which Silverberg Time Travel novel to feature this week. UP THE LINE is terrific. I picked THE MASKS OF TIME because I assumed even Silverberg fans might not be familiar with it.
I just remembered:
Isaac Asimov in 1955 (!) also wrote a time travel novel with a very interesting premise:
The End of Eternity
It was quite a surprise for me – totally different from his usual stuff. Will you write about it too?
Wikipedia has a nice article on it which also mentions Poul Anderson’s Corridors of Time and other books related/inspired by Asimov’s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_Eternity
Wolf, I loved THE END OF ETERNITY when I read it as a kid. And I enjoyed Poul Anderson’s TIME PATROL stories, too!
I picked up some Silverberg both at Half Price Books and on my trip to Minnesota recently. I haven’t read much of his fiction, but have enjoyed the few short stories I’ve read and I love his articles in Asimov’s.
Carl, Silverberg has a wide range of writing talent. You’ll be pleased with his novels.
He has been one prolific author, that is for certain.
Carl, not only was Silverberg prolific but the quality of his work is very high.