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Time and Again

4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 · rating details · 5,087 ratings · 795 reviews

Finally on audio -- one of the most beloved tales of our time!
Science fiction, mystery, a passionate love story, and a detailed history of Old New York blend together in Jack Finney's spellbinding story of a young man enlisted in a secret Government experiment.
Transported from the mid-twentieth century to New York City in the year 1882, Si Morley walks the fashionable "L...more

Paperback, 400 pages

Published May 1st 2012 by Orion Publishing Group (first published 1970)

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Aug 09, 2009 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I had been casually looking for this book for years after a friend/English Lit instructor at Dixie College recommended it to me. I finally found in my local Deseret Industries, a definite treasure. This is a wonderfully gentle book about a New York man who travels back through time to the 19th century. It is a lovely blend of science fiction, historical fiction, and romance and I heartily recommend it. I am strangely taken by the Victorian era, especially Victorian New York City and this book ma...more

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Aug 09, 2009 Jayne rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone

Recommended to Jayne by: can't remember

I'm usually not a fan of science fiction but I enjoyed this story of time travel to New York City in the 1880's. It's a good story that includes love, intrigue and makes the reader experience that time period as Jack Finney transforms the reader through his descriptions of the sights, smells, and sounds of NYC in the 1880's.

7 likes · like · see review

Aug 30, 2012 Judi Niermann rated it 3 of 5 stars

AT the library, they went down in the stacks and pulled out a first edition illustrated copy of this book. It's from 1970 and looks like it's done a fair bit of time travel. Looking forward to this read!
It was a good love story and Jack Finney sure seemed to do a lot of wonderful research on 1882 New York. I loved all the old photos and sketches.
Wondering what would happen kept the pages turning. Not being a New Yorker, I felt bogged down in some of the detail. The underlying story was good. Hi...more

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Jun 08, 2009 H. rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people obsessed with the 1880's

Recommended to H. by: Dad and sister

Shelves: fiction-sf, dont-own

If Simon Morley, protagonist of Finney's Time and Again, had any real personality beyond his nickname being "Si," perhaps the book's loose ends and rough edges would have distracted less. But he is neither a complex and interesting original nor a heavy-handed archetype. He's more of a blank slate onto which we might project ourselves, the first-person writing tone that of an amateur blogger who is trying his hand at a journalistic account of a very exciting place. No matter the topic, if the wri...more If Simon Morley, protagonist of Finney's Time and Again, had any real personality beyond his nickname being "Si," perhaps the book's loose ends and rough edges would have distracted less. But he is neither a complex and interesting original nor a heavy-handed archetype. He's more of a blank slate onto which we might project ourselves, the first-person writing tone that of an amateur blogger who is trying his hand at a journalistic account of a very exciting place. No matter the topic, if the writing is boring so must be the reading.

Here, plot must take the place of character but, unfortunately, it has many weaknesses, and often what strength it appears to have is mere fluff: the author's showing off of his in-depth research on the 1880's.

There is beauty in the idea of simplicity and novelty as the route to time-travel, but Finney's simplicity is just that: it falls short. The idea is that with enough study on a time and place, a person can mentally transport themselves to this other time. This is put forth as a government project, and Finney attempts an exploration of the human motivation to use knowledge that shouldn't be used, to negative ends.

So many obvious questions pop up, left unanswered, that the ridiculousness gets in the way of the story. It comes off as badly thought-out and amateurish. How does a time-traveler come equipped with money? How does he will himself to a specific day? How does time pass in the present while one is in the past? Why isn't the government asking these questions? Why isn't the government watching more carefully? Why is it so easy for random people to be able to do this when apparently it's so hard for others who spend ages studying and have huge amounts of government money spent on them?

It's all very sloppy. Luckily there was another storyline of some mystery and suspense that kept things moving.

[minor spoiler:]
The romance, however, did not convince or engage. It's hard to fall in love with characters that do not have much character to them, and harder still to care whether they fall for each other. I think the breaking point for me was when Morely decides to interfere in his love interest's life upon the epiphany that the people of the 1880's are just as human and worthy as those of his time. He realizes this after spending time with an impoverished man who works 14-hour days freezing his ass off for $1.50/day so his children won't join the thousands of orphans around the city. So Morely decides that these are real people, and his action against their real pain is to... save his crush from a bad marriage.

The morality of this story seemed as confused and vague as the character, actually, and it gets quite full of it at the end.

If I hadn't come to this book with high expectations, I might have been more accepting of the mildly diverting mystery storyline, but I think I would have been less forgiving of the onanistic travel book descriptions of buildings and carriages, and verbatim quotes from newspapers of the time.(less)

12 likes · like · see review

Aug 09, 2009 Philip rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

TIME AND AGAIN is probably the most famous novel about time-travel published in past half-century, and one of the most convincing. I first read it around 1976 or 1977, when it was already becoming hard-to-find (fortunately it was brought back into print in the early 1980s and has remained available every since). I fell in love with it from the very first reading, and have re-read it several times since. It's an "illustrated novel" that's illustrated with photographs and woodcuttings of the early...more

10 likes · like · see review

Aug 09, 2009 melydia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Though the story is about time travel, this is not what one would commonly consider a science fiction novel. Simon Morley, a bored illustrator living in 1960s New York, joins a top secret government program that sends him back to 1882. Rather than your standard time travel machine, temporal distances are covered through self-hypnosis and a bunch of hand-waving involving vague references to Einstein. But never mind all that. Since the narrator is from modern times, his descriptions of New York of...more

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Aug 09, 2009 Jaclyn rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love to read. I read because it's fun for me. Pretty much anything I read, it's fun for me.

But I can't remember the last time I've had THIS MUCH fun.

So, a recap: Simon Morley is an illustrator working in the advertising business in 1970s New York. He is recruited to join a top-secret U.S. government project. Scientists, applying a statement of Einstein's, think they have figured out a way for people to travel back and forth in time. Si is chosen as one of the first time travelers. Although he...more

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Aug 09, 2009 Tracey rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of time travel and/or those interested in turn of the 20th century NYC

Shelves: re-read, nyc, alt-history

Perhaps one of my favorite time travel novels, I picked up my copy of Time and Again for a re-read earlier this week.

Si Morley, an advertising illustrator who is living in New York & feeling somewhat unfulfilled in life, is approached by a mysterious man who asks him to commit to a secret project. Not having much else to look forward to (even his relationship is somewhat desultory), he agrees. The project, under the aegis of the US government, is time travel by means of self-hypnotism &...more

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Aug 23, 2011 bookczuk rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: didn-t-want-to-put-it-down, favorite-author, satisfying, time-travel-reincarnation-etc, worth-the-reread

Oh I love this book!!! It is one of may favorites, and I have a permanent copy on my shelves at home, and have BookCrossed many.

When I first read this book, about 30 years ago, I picked it up with great reluctance. The person who recommended it to me had a track record for suggesting some really awful books. I was so pleasantly surprised. It is one of the few books I re-read, and every time I am delighted. The world Si stepped into is one that my family first saw when they came to New York City...more

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Aug 09, 2009 Eli Stevens rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was strange. There were times when I couldn't put it down, and it was facinating, and others, when I seriously considered not finishing it.

I'm really glad that I did.

It's obvious that the book isn't a modern read, it's got a some what old way of thinking to it. (Even though it was only written in the 80's)

My only arguement against 'Time and Again' is that it is sometimes too descriptive and long winded. Chapters that should have been expounded were too short, and other's that were bori...more

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Jun 18, 2012 Janet rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you like any of the following things, you will love this book: 1. New York; 2. very light sci-fi; 3. time travel; 4. history; 5. urban development; 6. strong lead characters; 7. wondering how any one thing could have altered your life forever. I LOVE this book!

4 likes · like · see review

Aug 09, 2009 Rick rated it 2 of 5 stars

Finney is a giant in this genre (a blend of science-fiction and mystery), but I had a little trouble getting into it. The story, written in 1970 (with a sequel, "From Time to Time" written in 1995), concerns a time traveller's attempts to alter history. Finney's prose was a little flowery for my taste. I liked them (I wouldn't have finished reading both of them if I hadn't), but there were times that I found it rather slow going. Try the "Time" series of books by Allen Appel, and see how they co...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 09, 2009 Angela rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: time travel nuts, history buffs

I sincerely call this my favorite book and have probably read it 6+ times since I was 12. Someone else mentions that it makes time travel actually believable. When I was younger I found myself wondering if I was in a place that I could hypnotize myself to travel back in time.... but anyway... the historical references and descriptions show the great thought put into this and allow you to feel like you're really there.

But on the flip side, it can be pretty slow at times and kinda sappy. Hopefully...more

4 likes · like · see review

Aug 04, 2011 Lisa H added it · review of another edition

I knew I would enjoy this book at page 19, “Because I’ve always felt a wonder at old photographs not easy to explain. Maybe I don’t need to explain; maybe you’ll recognize what I mean. I mean the sense of wonder, staring at the strange clothes and vanished backgrounds, at knowing what you’re seeing was once real. That light really did reflect into a lens from these lost faces and objects. That these people were really there once, smiling into a camera. You could have walked into the scene then,...more

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Apr 04, 2013 Gale rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi-young-adult, survival

"Tempted by the Past"

Graphic artist Si Morely of NY City is recruited by a group of visionaries who run the Project--a highly-classified scientific experiment involving traveling back into the past. Once he can accept this temporal impossibility (Einstein would argue), Si enthusiastically throws himself into the project, which involves study, practice and total immersion into the NY of 1882. The vehicle is not a machine--rather a building which still exists from the target date in the past.

Bu...more "Tempted by the Past"

Graphic artist Si Morely of NY City is recruited by a group of visionaries who run the Project--a highly-classified scientific experiment involving traveling back into the past. Once he can accept this temporal impossibility (Einstein would argue), Si enthusiastically throws himself into the project, which involves study, practice and total immersion into the NY of 1882. The vehicle is not a machine--rather a building which still exists from the target date in the past.

But can Si merely Observe and enjoy the flavor of bygone days in his favorite city? How can he obtain the real feeling of this same place in a parallel time, without actually becoming involved with the actual people who are living then? Who knows the risk of slightly altering even trivial things--the "twig in the stream" effect which concerns the conscientious directors? Too much meddling, however well-intentioned, could wreak havoc with the future, which must be protected at all costs. How far does the Board have the right to play god, to alter events in the inviolate past, in order to suit themselves or their American ideas? Does any man or group have the right to rewrite/revise history, as in Orwell's 1984?

Si also has a personal mission: to discover the details of a mysterious death in his girlfriend's step-father's family. An odd burial out west, an almost burned letter of confession, plus a note to arrange a clandestine meeting provide sufficient lure for adventurous Si, but what will happen if the hero himself becomes involved with a lady in the past? Jack Finney's plotting is highly innovative, offering surprises and twists up to the very end. His meticulous research recreates the milieu to perfection, though he spends countless paragraphs to describe buildings and locations which are meaningless to readers unfamiliar with New York City. My main concern is the uneven pacing; he stalls us for pages, then suddenly overwhelms us with non-stop action--until we are panting along with the protagonists.

My only concern is the uneven pacing; we are quixkly mesmerized by the plot; then suddenly we are oerwhelmed by a long list. Finney's research is meticulous but not necessarily of dramatic interest to spellbound readers. Complete with woodcuts, photographs and quotes from actua newspapers, this book takes readers back to the great fire of 1882. But has conflicted Sy been recruited into the Past?

All things considered, this is one dilly of a Time Travel novel! Complete with woodcuts, photographs and quotes from actual newspapers, this book takes readers back to the great fire of 1882. But to which world will Si give his loyalty? For sci fi addicts from 16 up--You Are There style fictionalized writing!

(September 10, 2012. I welcome dialogue with teachers.)(less)

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Jan 28, 2013 Smcleish rated it 3 of 5 stars

Originally published on my blog here in April 2003.

Because of the famous film, Finney is best known for (Invasion of) The Body Snatchers, but he wrote a dozen or so novels over about four decades; Time and Again is probably the next most famous. It is still, after thirty years, a time travel novel with many differences from the ideas on the subject which have become commonplace in the science fiction genre, and thus it remains worth reading for any fan despite its obvious flaws.

Si Morley is an a...more Originally published on my blog here in April 2003.

Because of the famous film, Finney is best known for (Invasion of) The Body Snatchers, but he wrote a dozen or so novels over about four decades; Time and Again is probably the next most famous. It is still, after thirty years, a time travel novel with many differences from the ideas on the subject which have become commonplace in the science fiction genre, and thus it remains worth reading for any fan despite its obvious flaws.

Si Morley is an artist, but feels as though his current job in advertising (drawing bars of soap) is a dead end. So he is interested when approached by a stranger with an interesting proposition - how would he like to become involved in a government project so secret that Si can't even be told what it is about until he joins it?

The secret is, of course, time travel. The discovery has been made that position in time is a subjective thing, that it is the knowledge we have of past events that determines when the present is. (For example, knowing that Kennedy was assassinated places the present after 1963, knowing I'm 34 means it's 2003.) The point of this is that by appropriate training and self hypnosis time travel becomes possible; if you can forget everything which happened after a particular date and will yourself into the mindset of a person of that time, then suddenly that date becomes the present for you. Si uses this method to travel to the New York of the early 1880s, before the skyscraper, before the automobile. There, he investigates a minor (invented) historical mystery, and is strongly attracted to a young woman of the time.

There seem to me to be serious flaws in the premise by which this method of time travel is supposed to work, starting with the philosophical one that it makes the fundamental nature of time simultaneously subjective and objective - position in time depends on our knowledge of events, and yet the relative orderings of these events is given by their position in time, which is determined by what? Even if we allow the passage of time to be subjective for a conscious being and yet objective for an unconscious object, it seems to me that it is impossible for such changes as are required for time travel to occur in our minds, particularly given our consciousness of alterations in our own bodies. A good example of this problem is that Si grows a beard to fit in to the male fashion of the 1880s, and surely he would have been unable to get away from realising that it was only a few weeks old.

More seriously, to travel in time leaves the traveller on a tight rope, surely to be bounced back as soon as any conscious thought of future events intrudes. For the sake of the plot, Finney must ignore this, so that Si is constantly aware of who he is and of the changes due to take place in the century he has travelled - he even makes a sketch showing how one of the streets will look. Finney is also self indulgent, in that he is unable to resist displaying some of the fruits of his research, which makes Time and Again seem in places like a guide book complete with photos and drawings.

Having catalogued some of the flaws, what are the strengths of this novel? The main one is that Finney conveys far more of how different the world of even the relatively recent past would seem to a time traveller; in its usual Wellesian, machine driven mode, time travel fiction is often very blase about how easy it is to fit in, and certainly about how little culture shock the traveller would suffer even from the details of their new environment. The open acknowledgement of two different times being involved gives Finney an advantage over the traditional historical novel, too; Si can comment on things in a way not possible outside the science fiction genre.

The two foci of the novel are the rapid pace of change since 1882 as exemplified by Si's reactions to nineteenth century New York, and the character of Si as narrator. Little room is left to flesh out the other characters, who are left as ciphers. The interest of the novel is rather along the lines of collections of old photographs of landmarks, as commonly seen filling up space in local papers; this lessens the impact of the novel for someone with no particular interest in New York.

Time and Again could be better, even if most of its flaws are integral to the way that Finney has set up his mechanism for time travel. It is, as I have said, of interest to aficionados, but is not really going to convert anyone not already interested in the science fiction genre. (less)

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Jan 23, 2013 Liz Barton rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm a sucker for a time travel story. I must admit that I found it somewhat difficult to suspend my disbelief around the descriptions of time travel in this book, though. The book tells the story of Si, who is recruited for a secret government time travel project. Despite the fact that the project has been going on for some time with many recruits but very limited success, Si has no problem time traveling. What's more, his girlfriend travels with him one time, without the benefit of the training...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 09, 2012 Ahmed Dawod rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Mohamed Tarek

Recommended to Ahmed by: Stephen King

I found a reference to this novel in 11/22/63 and I said to myself if Stephen King said that Jack Finney's 'Time and Again' is the best time travel out there then it must be read.
First of all, I admired the ingenuity of Finney's method of time travel. I mean (WOW) he really is creative. Something unique, something that never came to any mind before or after and also something mentally logical.
The events are very exciting and there is a lot of suspense and thriller, but there are two things tha...more

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Oct 13, 2012 Carrie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I struggled getting into this book; I finally tracked down an audio version, which forced me to keep going through the mundane descriptions in the first few chapters. Ultimately, it was an entertaining book, though I would not categorize it as "literary" due to a weak plot and character development (in connection with the plot); it was the overall writing of scenes that drew the three stars for me. Although it is a time travel novel, and the time travel aspect is relevant to theme development, i...more

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Jul 29, 2012 Anita rated it 2 of 5 stars

I love time travel books, and this one is considered a classic so I expected a great read. I got one third of the way through (136 pages) before putting it aside. The plot lacks tension and often doesn't even make sense. One doesn't expect science fiction to be realistic, of course, but it does need internal logic if the story is to be at all credible. A government office creates replicas of places like the Dakota and Central Park so people can dress in costume, live on the sets, and pretend it'...more

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Jul 21, 2012 Faye Hicks rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This storyline offered an intriguing premise but I didn’t enjoy this book quite as much as I expected (or wanted) to, based on the publisher’s description and others' reviews (and especially Stephen King's endorsement of it in 11/23/63). Perhaps it was just that it’s a bit dated; I often find it irksome to read books from the 1970s and earlier because of the different attitudes towards women back then. This book is not overtly sexist, but the underlying tone - that men do the important stuff and...more

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Jul 21, 2012 Tim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, sci-fi, owned

I found it hard to relate to at times. The pacing of the book starts slowly, with a somewhat dull recounting of the stylings of the early 1880's. This gave the beginning of the book a non-fiction like feel that made reading through the beginning tiresome at times.

It's obviously written from a different era, and I don't mean the 1880's. The book was written in the early 1970's, and the style seemed dated to me as some older books do. That being said, I did enjoy the historical fiction as narrated...more

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May 31, 2012 Heidi rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: gilded-research

I found this novel valuable because I am writing a novel that takes place in 1886 and this was a treasure trove of research. But that's where it stops. Jack Finney's characters are unbelievably wooden, and because I didn't care about them I really didn't care about the rather weak mystery they were emeshed in. So I skimmed rather than read. I've gone through the book a number of times for all of its great research, and every time I force myself to pick up a little more of the plot, but frankly i...more

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Mar 03, 2012 Lucas rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a story about time travel. The hero becomes part of a top secret government project. The project's founder has a theory that every time period exists simultaneously, and if a person can let go of all the mental bonds that keep them attached to his/her time, they can forge new ones in another age and move between the two eras with relative freedom. The hero accomplishes this and travels from the New York of the 1960s to the one of the 1880s. And because its a top secret government project...more

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Nov 10, 2011 Katherine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Read this for the first time and remembered loving it then. Picked it up recently and was not as impressed as I was then, but still found it a fun read. Some of the lengthy descriptions of 1880's NY dragged for me, but I blame my own lack of knowledge for that. Had I known the words for various fashion elements, etc. I probably would have reveled in the descriptions. As it was, I couldn't picture what was being described and so was, I don't know, bored? frustrated?

The ending is excellent and do...more

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Jun 08, 2011 Angela rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2003, bookcrossed-or-otherwise-set-free

I started reading this book about June 22, 2003, and while interesting, initially it failed to thoroughly capture my interest. But yesterday, at about half-way through, when I was just about to put the book down for good and pass it on to the next in line, one sentence caught me. The narrator observes that a particular sign now haunts his nightmares. Well then. Now I want to know what happens in the rest of the novel.

Finally, after an excruciatingly slow start, the story caught my attention at...more

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Nov 14, 2010 Grace rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. "He (Einstein) always meant exactly what he said. When he said light has weight, he meant that the sunlight lying on a field of wheat actually weighs several tons. And now we know--it's been measured--that it really does. He meant that the tremendous energy theoretically binding atoms together could really be released in one unimaginable burst. As it really can, a fact that has changed the course of the human race. He also meant precisely what he said about time: that the past, back there around...more

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Apr 25, 2010 William Kertzman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Time and Again lets you see through the eyes of Simon Morley, an illustrator in New York who has become bored of his average lifestyle. The book starts with us hearing about how dull Simon’s life is and how he desperately wants something to change. Luckily for Simon, a man named Ruben Prein found him regarding a new job. We soon discover the Ruben is from the government and that he knows every detail about Simon’s life. Mr. Prein wasn’t able to tell Simon anything about this “dream job” except...more

Time and Again lets you see through the eyes of Simon Morley, an illustrator in New York who has become bored of his average lifestyle. The book starts with us hearing about how dull Simon’s life is and how he desperately wants something to change. Luckily for Simon, a man named Ruben Prein found him regarding a new job. We soon discover the Ruben is from the government and that he knows every detail about Simon’s life. Mr. Prein wasn’t able to tell Simon anything about this “dream job” except that this was the change he needed. Accepting job offers from strangers who know everything about you may not seem like the greatest idea but Simon eventually accepts. Simon thought that maybe it was a simple test subject job but he soon discovers that he is one of the few who can travel back in time to the 1800s.

This books mixes science-fiction and history together in a way that makes the book entertaining and at the same time gives a good perspective on life in the 1800s. Jack Finney has an amazing ability to bring scenery to life. Along with his amazing detail, throughout the book there are pictures and sketches of New York which give you a better idea of what Simon is seeing. Combining his writing with the images helps show the culture shock that Simon is experiencing.

Although he has proven he can describe characters surroundings, he needs to work on character development. The characters all had potential to be memorable but not enough time was spent on them. There is one scene where Simon and his girlfriend Kate go back in time and there wasn’t anything about how they felt or what they thought. This was disappointing and made the book much less appealing.

It was hard to get interested in this book because in the first few chapters nothing goes wrong for Simon. Everything goes his way and in my personal opinion, books are more interesting when there is a problem that the main character needs to solve. Towards the end the book improves a lot and it is worth reading just to get to the second half.

I enjoyed this book towards the end and it gives you a great idea of what life was like in the 1800s.
(less)

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Apr 16, 2010 Bill rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book. It took a while to get into it because the writing and characterizations were rather stilted at the beginning. But once I got into it, I really enjoyed it.

Once it gets rolling, the plot is really fun and suspenseful. A mystery about why someone's grandfather committed suicide that gets unraveled as the main character takes part in a government research project to see if human beings can travel in time. And it has a completely unpredictable twist near the end.

Finney does a fab...more

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Mar 18, 2010 Angela rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Parts of this book dragged, but I really liked it overall. I've always thought I might belong to a different time than my own, so the popular idea of time travel appeals also to me. Loved the original way of telling the story with the photos, drawings, woodcuts, etc. The history was fascinating.

I especially love the paragraph on page 387: "I was stunned. I was, and I knew it, an ordinary person who long after he was grown retained the childhood assumption that the people who largely control our...more

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About Jack Finney

Mr. Finney specialized in thrillers and works of science fiction. Two of his novels, "The Body Snatchers" and "Good Neighbor Sam" became the basis of popular films, but it was "Time and Again" (1970) that won him a devoted following. The novel, about an advertising artist who travels back to the New York of the 1880's, quickly became a cult favorite, beloved especially by New Yorkers for its rich,...more Mr. Finney specialized in thrillers and works of science fiction. Two of his novels, "The Body Snatchers" and "Good Neighbor Sam" became the basis of popular films, but it was "Time and Again" (1970) that won him a devoted following. The novel, about an advertising artist who travels back to the New York of the 1880's, quickly became a cult favorite, beloved especially by New Yorkers for its rich, painstakingly researched descriptions of life in the city more than a century ago.

Mr. Finney, whose original name was Walter Braden Finney, was born in Milwaukee and attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. After moving to New York and working in the advertising industry, he began writing stories for popular magazines like Collier's, The Saturday Evening Post and McCall's.

His first novel, "Five Against the House" (1954), told the story of five college students who plot to rob a casino in Reno. A year later he published "The Body Snatchers" (later reissued as "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"), a chilling tale of aliens who emerge from pods in the guise of humans whom they have taken over. Many critics interpreted the insidious infiltration by aliens as a cold-war allegory that dramatized America's fear of a takeover by Communists. Mr. Finney maintained that the novel was nothing more than popular entertainment. The 1956 film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" was remade twice.

Mr. Finney first showed an interest in time travel in the short- story collection "The Third Level," which included stories about a commuter who discovers a train that runs between New York and the year 1894, and a man who rebuilds an old car and finds himself transported back to the 1920's.

He returned to the thriller genre in "Assault on a Queen" (1959) and tried his hand at comedy in "Good Neighbor Sam" (1963), a novel based on his experiences as an adman, played by Jack Lemmon in the film version.

In "The Woodrow Wilson Dime" (1968) Mr. Finney once again explored the possibilities of time travel. The dime of the title allows the novel's hero to enter a parallel world in which he achieves fame by composing the musicals of Oscar Hammerstein and inventing the zipper.

With "Time and Again," Mr. Finney won the kind of critical praise and attention not normally accorded to genre fiction. Thomas Lask, reviewing the novel in The New York Times, described it, suggestively, as "a blend of science fiction, nostalgia, mystery and acid commentary on super-government and its helots." Its hero, Si Morley, is a frustrated advertising artist who jumps at the chance to take part in a secret project that promises to change his life. So it does. He travels back to New York in 1882, moves into the Dakota apartment building on Central Park West and experiences the fabulous ordinariness of a bygone age: its trolleys, horse-drawn carriages, elevated lines, and gaslights. This year Mr. Finney published a sequel to the novel, "From Time to Time."

Mr. Finney also wrote "Marion's Wall" (1973), about a silent-film actress who, in an attempt to revive her film career, enters the body of a shy woman, and "The Night People" (1977). His other fictional works include "The House of Numbers" (1957) and the short-story collection "I Love Galesburg in the Springtime" (1963). He also wrote "Forgotten News: The Crime of the Century and Other Lost Stories" (1983) about sensational events of the 19th century. (less)

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Quotes from Time and Again

“Would you have references?"
"I'm awfully sorry but I haven't. I just arrived in New York, and don't know a soul. Except you." I smiled but she didn't smile back. She stood hesitating, and I said, "It's true that I'm an escaped convict, an active counterfeiter, and occasional murderer. And I howl during the full of the moon. But I'm neat.” — 2 people liked it

“So all in all there wasn't anything really wrong with my life. Except that, like most everyone else's I knew about, it had a big gaping hole in it, an enormous emptiness, and I didn't know how to fill it or even know what belonged there.” — 2 people liked it

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