Time Gate

Time Gate

by Robert Silverberg, Robert Sheckley, Poul Anderson

The creative geniuses of 21st-century America have made a computer breakthrough--the simulation of thinking, feeling personalities from history, from Socrates to Genghis Khan--and the results are startling

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Science Fiction Fantasy

277 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

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Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.

Reviews

[StarMan · Rating 2 out of 5]

RATING: 2 suns (maybe more if you are a historian). I fell asleep twice.

REVIEW: 5 authors/stories. More philosophy than SF. Conversations & shenanigans with A.I. historical figures.

BONUS POINTS FOR: (not a spoiler): Joan of Arc, who is mentioned on the back cover.

DEMERITS FOR: An almost complete lack of suspense, action, or thrills.

[Science and Fiction · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories by various authors centered around a theme proposed by Silverberg: virtual recreations of historical figures such as Socrates, Joan of Arc, Thomas Jefferson, and others. I’m not a big fan of the short story format, as the good ones just seem to get started when they are cut off. I wouldn’t recommend anyone go out of their way to purchase a new copy, but if you find one used, or a copy at your library, there are two stories here that might be worth your time, one by Silverberg and one by Poul Anderson. Silverberg pits the virtual Socrates against the virtual Pizarro (the fifteenth century conquistador). There is some good humor, but just as it was getting good I turned the page and discovered there was no more . . . it just ended with the two walking off into the void in search of other characters. These sixty-two pages could have been the first quarter of a very good novel.

The contribution by Poul Anderson was probably my favorite as he pits Machiavelli against Frederick the Great in a cunning war of worldwide economic dominance. Anderson has a knack for brief descriptors that never seem to repeat themselves yet always put a quick image of the character’s thinking in the reader’s mind. But once again, just as things were getting really interesting it ends. I guess I just prefer more development and complexity over a longer arc.

I found the other contributors like Gregory Benford a big step down, like maybe they didn’t really have their heart in it. There is also a Vol. 2 of this series which I’ve rated even lower.

[Eddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at what could be possible if we could use technology to replicate historical figure's personalities. Several different stories in a continuing storyline over several years. Each story written by a different author. A little like an anthology, but with a theme/story weaved through. It was interesting, but I don't think I'd recommend it around, I enjoyed it, but it didn't' grab me hard enough.

[Durval Menezes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredibly great book (easily deserving a full 5-stars) that I've read about 30 years ago and still vividly remember a large part of.

It's basically a linked collection of short histories about using AI techniques -- so, a lot of prescience there, when looked back upon from where we are now in 2024 -- but not for the petty, utilitarian let's-replace-cheap-humans-doing-mediocre-jobs-for-something-even-cheaper-and-more-mediocre purposes (most of?) the AI companies are working on today: in the book, AI is used for the much more interesting purpose of recreating the personalities of dead, exceptional people, and interacting with them (or, more frequently, let them interact with each other).

The book starts with a dialogue between Socrates and Pizarro (? or another Spanish conquistador -- I'm writing this from memory, and it's been 30 years...) and their interaction is absolutely memorable. Further on, there's a debate between Joan D'Arc (defending Faith) versus Voltaire (defending Reason) with a fantastic, unforgettable twist towards the end.

And my son (which is many years younger than me and also has read that book a few years more recently) vividly remembers a dialogue between Bakunin and Queen Victoria which has greatly impressed him.

This book was lost to me so far, having been given away along with the rest of my library when I last moved residences a few years ago (a friend of mine used to say, "every two moves are the equivalent of a three-alarm house fire", truer words have never been spoken -- but this specific move was, for different reasons, the equivalent of a burn-down-to-the-ground, save-only-what-you-can-carry five-alarm house fire) and when I mentioned one of the stories to my son yesterday, he remembered this book *immediately*, both its title and author, which enabled me to find it again.

Now I have its EPUB loaded in my ebook reader (yay! progress! :-)) and plan on giving it a through re-read as soon as I finish my current book. Will update this review when that's done.

2024/06/30 I've started reading it. See my progress notes.

2024/07/07 Finished my re-read. Still a great book, worth of my original 5/5 stars rating; but I find my individual story preferences have changed: the one that most impressed me on my original read 30 years ago, now doesn't impress me that much; OTOH, a story that I didn't even remember, now impresses greatly. Interesting how these things changed over the years.

Individual story notes and ratings follow:

"Enter a soldier. Later: enter another": first tale is a short story by none less than old man Silverberg himself, and it's a true *joy* to read. The interplay of Francisco Pizarro and Socrates of Athens, as well as the reactions of the 'real world' programmer and his manager who are observing them, is simply fantastic, and one of the parts I most dearly remembered from my previous read, over 30 years ago. 4.5/5 stars.

"The Resurrection Machine": chronological follow-up by Robert Sheckley. The tech keeps evolving and now The Company digitally resurrects Bakunin & Cicero. They briefly interact and are then separated, but proceed to outwit their 'real world' masters, each in his own way. Touches on the matter of whether 'digital persons' and 'real world' ones are so different after all, or are both just made out of data. 4.5/5 stars.

"The Statemen", by Poul Anderson: two big corporations digitally resurrect Maquiavelli and Frederic The Great to help them in their fight against each other, then end up getting much more than they bargained for... bonus points for the setting for the initial scene being in Niterói, Brazil (a place I know very well). 4.5/5 stars.

"The Rose and the Scalpel", by Gregory Benford: Joan D'Arc and Voltaire are digitally resurrected so they can debate Faith vs Reason (you can guess who is representing what); the result is going to influence the destiny of AI personalities; surprising developments follow. I enjoyed this story greatly when I read it the first time, not so much now; hopefully because I'm more sophisticated (got a philosophy degree, and have read more than a few other books by/about Voltaire and Joan D'arc in the meantime) and not simply older and more jaded. 4/5 stars.

"How I Spent my Summer Vacation", by Pat Murphy: nice coming-of-age story, pits Queen Victoria and Mikhail Bakunin (returning from the 2nd story above) against each other on the proper upbringing of a single-parent teenage girl. Not only one, but three distinct plot twists at the end. And the ending leaves the door open for a sequel or three, which would have been great but AFAIK didn't happen. Could have been much longer (it's only a dozen pages or so). 5/5 stars.

The book ends with an afterword that, like some of the individual stories, almost begs for a sequel. It's really too bad one never came.

I keep my original rating of 5/5 stars for the book as a whole, it really deserves it.

[Nicholas Batura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was okay. Some SF doesn't age as well as others. I'd put this one in the "doesn't age as well as others" category. The stories were fun, but they weren't as mind blowing in today's tech-heavy world as they probably were upon initial publication.

[Bruno Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

A inteligência artificial explorada em 1989 em historias organizadas por Robert Silverberg, com a criação de simulacros de pessoas famosas da história como Sócrates , Voltaire, Machiavelli e Pizarro, entre outros , é relativamente interessante mas não brutalmente fascinante

[Beniamin Iordache · Rating 1 out of 5]

speram sa fie fain dar stilul e oribil

[Carlo]

San Antonio vacation

[John Love IV · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of short stories that follow each other one after another, and each seem to be well written. I can't say I disliked any of the stories. I thought Fredrick the Great vs Machiavelli was a really good story and then it was followed by Voltaire vs Joan of Arc over religion. Very thought provoking stories all around.

I think this could be an interesting novel idea in many ways, taking various ideas to further levels. See what I mean about thought provoking. If you like the concepts of time travel and sci-fi issues, you should really try this book.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not even finish this book. I could just not get into it which is very unusual!