Wanderers of Time

by John Wyndham, John Beynon

John Wyndham wrote strong, imaginative fiction years before fame came his way, and this is a collection of some of his pieces from those days.

Already remarkable are his sense of movement, his sense of invention, his sense of style. The title story of this collection foreshadows frighteningly such later novels as The Kraken Wakes and The Midwich Cuckoos with its suggestion of time when man is no longer the dominant creature on Earth.

And The Last Lunarians and The Derelict of Space show how well he researched his material, long before space ships had struck out for the moon and the idea of inter-planetary travel had become commonplace.

This is truly another fascinating piece of evidence of John Wyndham's remarkable talent as a seer and storyteller.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Time Travel, Science Fiction Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Fantasy

160 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris was the son of a barrister. After trying a number of careers, including farming, law, commercial art and advertising, he started writing short stories in 1925. After serving in the civil Service and the Army during the war, he went back to writing. Adopting the name John Wyndham, he started writing a form of science fiction that he called 'logical fantasy'. As well as The Day of the Triffids, he wrote The Kraken Wakes, The Chrysalids, The Midwich Cuckoos (filmed as Village of the Damned) and The Seeds of Time.

Reviews

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short collection of stories that were written in the Golden Age, mostly 30's as far as I can tell.

For those of you not in the know, Wyndham wrote one of the first best horror/SF dystopias in 1951 called The Day of the Triffids, plummeting a stolid middle-class England into a world full of blind men and women (save a handful) living and dying in droves while man-eating plants like in The Little Shop of Horrors picks off whoever is left. The style, the excitement, and the quality are palpable.

These short stories here came out before then, and like most of the Golden Age SF that came out, its very dated by today's standards and some are outright passe. The time travel stuff, for example, is kinda wild and sometimes seems like carbon copies of all the others, while the space-travel stuff is usually pretty wild.

The breakdown:

Wanderers of Time - my least favorite. Basically, it's an undertow of time machines causing ripples and popping travelers out of time. Time to get off the isolated island after a shipwreck!

Derelict of Space - easily my favorite. A salvage operation, with rumors of treasure, becomes a kerfuffle when governments turn it into a black-flag operation and a PR nightmare that presages the opening salvos of WWII BEFORE WWII. It's absolutely nuts, not wild like some adventure, but scarily plausible every step. How perceptions and the BIG LIE can take over everyone's talking points and the truth gets lost in the old legend of lost treasure. You can guess what the lost treasure is. :)

Child of Power - very decent.
Pretty weird and scary sensitive child comes into extra senses in the modern '30's and is either used or not quite used by others. Mostly it's a character study of the kid from the parents' point of view. It's odd and a warning at the same time. Reminds me of Wyndham's later Chocky.

The Last Lunarians - okay first contact story. It's really more of a warning, but what kind of contact story isn't?

The Puff-ball Menace - my second-favorite story in the lot. Mycelium and bio-warfare in rural towns. Wild end. :)

Wyndham is no author to sneeze at. :)

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spur of the moment read in December 2022 - 4.5 ⭐️

5 wonderful short stories from one of the British Masters of Sci-Fi who gave us the fabulous The Day of the Triffids.

Wanderers of Time - An excellent novella that is in some ways reminiscent of HG Wells' The Time Machine involving numerous time travellers that get sucked to a dystopian future and battle to escape.
Derelict of Space - A disaster in space leaves 2 people under the spotlight and shunned for the rest of their lives until the posthumous publication of what really happened.
Child of Power - Talk in a Lake District pub one evening turns to human evolution and a doctor tells a story of an ex patient of his, a young boy he seemed to here radio waves
The Last Lunarians - An expedition to the Moon discovers ruins and strange artefacts , unfortunately they awaken something they wish they hadn't.
The Puff Ball Menace - A foreign power comes up with a ingenious way to bring Britain to its knees, but will it work

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories here were actually written in the 1930s, and in many ways are as dated, 'pulp' and ridiculous as one would expect. Otoh, I did thoroughly enjoy them. Wyndham was smart, creative, and underappreciated. These five are particularly delightful because they could have been dragged out to be novels, but were left as concise, quite tight stories.

"It is a funny thing that for most men the whitest conscience is no protection from some apprehension in the presence of police." (Ah, I'm not the only one!)

Mention of the Third Reich and Germany's movements towards aggressiveness: "They made a mess of 1914. They came a cropper in 1940. And now they're working up for it again." (I know nothing of history, but I do wonder what he imagined happening that would have stopped the Holocaust. Would that he'd been right.)

[Jeff Koeppen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the fourth collection of John Wyndham short stories I’ve read, and my least favorite of the bunch. The five stories in this book are amongst Wyndham's earliest, all written in the 1930s. All are science fiction. The lineup is as follows:

"Wanderers of Time": a bunch of time travelers get stuck in the far future where ants and their machines are running the show.

"Derelict of Space": a space ship being salvaged breaks loose, re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, and destroys a town in Germany. The captain and crew are arrested and an investigation ensues.

"Child of Power": a child is discovered to have the ability to sense electrical currents, magnetism, radio waves, etc. He also picks up signals he can't explain.

"The Last Lunarians": a spaceship traveling to the moon has to make a unexpected landing in an unexplored area and discovers a tomb of extinct moon people. Or are they?

"The Puff-Ball Menace": a deadly fungus is released in England by an enemy nation and the citizenry look to find a way to eradicate the threat.

I thought the story "Wanderers in Time" was a mess, and it was my least favorite. My favorite of the bunch was "The Puff-Ball Menace" because it felt Wyndham-like, a bit like his masterpiece The Day of the Triffids.

I've read all the Wyndham short stories I own, now time to finish reading his novels.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is okay I guess, but there wasn’t a huge amount of depth to it. Then again, Wyndham was writing under a pseudonym here and so perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. It’s clearly of lesser importance to him than some of his more well-known stuff like The Day of the Triffids, and that’s okay.

It wasn’t bad, either. It’s just a pulpy sci-fi time travel tale, a perception that was helped by the physical attributes of the copy that I had, which was from about 1972. Even with the tiny print, 160 pages isn’t a lot of space, and so it’s the kind of book that you can whizz through in a day or two and then completely forget about.

Would I recommend it? Yes for Wyndham fans and sci-fi buffs, otherwise probably not. It’s of its time.

[Wendle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel trite saying it, because i say it after every Wyndham book i read, but there is nothing this man writes that i don’t love. I’m sure i’m not capable of fully explaining why, either. There is just something in a combination of his writing style and the subject matter that are just perfect to me.

Wyndham creates these worlds so easily. He doesn’t necessarily provide a lot of information–he provides just enough. He doesn’t describe the entire world, he describes aspects pertinent to the story at hand, to the characters at hand, and leaves you to fill in (or not) the rest as you wish. I think because of this, because he stops short of giving too many details to these worlds, it makes it easier to imagine them being this world. The world we’re living in now in the not too distant future, in the far flung future, or even just tomorrow. And that gives a sense of connection and recognition to every story–even the ones set in space.

These stories and concepts just interest and intrigue me immensely. They’re fun, but they’re suspenseful. They’re obviously fictitious, but they’re easily relatable. They’re just bloody good.

A longer review can be read at my book blog: Marvel At Words.

[Teemu Öhman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a 1973 compilation (7th impression from 1982) of six John Wyndham stories that he wrote in the 1930s. The book also includes a short introduction “Before the Triffids” by Walter Gillings. It was clearly written for some other edition, because he talks about a story called Spheres of Hell. However, in this edition that story is titled The Puff-ball Menace. Oh well.

The Wanderers of Time
A somewhat different time travel story, and an interesting view about the future of the Earth. I got the impression that Wyndham didn’t really quite know what to do with all the ideas and characters he had in the story. Perhaps this could have been better as a novel?
3.75/5

Derelict of Space
An interesting working man’s view about the future of space business and politics. This was published in 1939 when the Nazis were already a major problem, and without spoiling too much, it shows in the story. The story is, unfortunately, very pertinent today.
3.75/5

Child of Power
A bit of a slow starter, but turned out to be a very good story about a small-town doctor and a strange child. Wyndham clearly was intrigued by children with abnormal powers, as later seen in The Midwich Cuckoos. The setting is reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke’s Tales from the White Hart.
4.5/5

The Last Lunarians
Also known as The Moon Devils, by which I title I read this two years ago, so I didn’t re-read it now. This is what I wrote then:
Archaeologists from Earth are studying lunar tombs, with the expected results. This was an entertaining little novelette (12 pages in the magazine) that Wyndham wrote using one of his earlier pen names, John Beynon Harris. This was the cover story of Wonder Stories magazine in April 1934. The archaeologists are exceedingly stupid and from modern perspective their methods are just awful, but as light 1930s scifi entertainment goes, the story is quite OK. It's very different from the novels that Wyndham's famous for, though.
3.75/5

The Puff-Ball Menace
This is essentially an early version of or an alternate take on The Day of The Triffids. However, I liked this more than the Triffids. Like strange kids, also strange plants and fungi were clearly something that Wyndham was interested in.
4.25/5


Overall, The Wanderers of Time is very good classic pulp era scifi compilation. Thanks to the recurring themes, it’s a must for Wyndham fans, albeit it is obviously different from his famous novels.
4.25/5 (although I do know that strictly arithmetically this would be 4/5)

[Lars Dradrach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early Wyndham - a mixed bag with a few highlights

The title story is a classic H.G.Wells like time travel story, enjoyable but also very simplistic, with people of all ages speaking English and understanding each other immediately and of course the classic gender categorisation of the time.

the mysterious growths - a clear pre study to “the day of the triffids” with a fungus infection used as a biological weapon, is the best story in the collection.

[Mike McDevitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's plenty of sequel potential in 'Wanderers of Time'- like: where the devil did Betty get off to? Dated but diverting.

[Johan Haneveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

9- This collection of five stories was a quick read, but I wouldn't have minded staying longer in the worlds thought up by John Wyndham. Somehow when people ask me after my influences I always say I read a lot of Asimov and Clarke growing up, but I fail to mention Wyndham. But I devoured his books ravenously too. Especially 'Day of the Triffids' left its mark on my imagination and the 'cosy apocalypse' in a lot of his stories found its ways in my first SF-stories. I must have read most of these stories as a teenager as well, as I recognized their plots, but that did not diminish my enjoyment. I think of the golden age SF-authors John Wyndham is the one that fits most my own writing style. His stories are all set in different worlds based on a sometimes outrageous 'what if' (what if most people are blind and there are carnivorous plants), then logically thought through and vividly described - Wyndhams descriptions really bring these worlds to life for my imagination. The characters are competent and knowledgeable, but a bit less gung ho than their American counterparts. There is philosophy but there's also lots of adventure and action. And I like that, even if it betrays my like for 'pulp'. The stories collected here were all first published before the second world war, so: in the time of pulp SF. In these stories there are trees growing on Ganymede and there are still pockets of air on the moon. Even so, the salvage of a wrecked space ship in 'Derelict of Space' is convincing, even now. And Wyndham has a certain cynicism (he's no American pulp author) that gives some of his stories a modern feel, like the fake news in 'Derelict of Space' and the way a story is spun by the media. Also the way people won't accept the danger of a strange fungus in 'The puff-ball menace' and so endanger themselves (Wyndham would not be surprised by the conspiracy theories in our day and age). And the way a parent doesn't want his gifted son to go to college was well presented too. These stories are all very different and I enjoyed them all. Some more than others. I think 'Derelict of Space' was the best overall. I liked the adventure of 'Wanderers of Time' too - and this was a weird world beautifully brought to life. I liked how the hero doesn't treat the future humans with their large heads as monsters (and vice versa). But other intelligent life forms he starts to incinerate without trying to communicate. That's an artefact of the time it was written in, but it irked me as a modern reader. The same holds for 'The Last Lunarians' where even though the human explorers are the ones responsible for the plight of the titular characters they hardly show any remorse or sympathy. The story 'Child of Power' was very powerful. A doctor discovers the baby of a couple in the poor town his practice is located in has a sixth sense ... The ending still works very well, and is very well telegraphed (another reason I like these stories, they are well plotted out!). 'The puff-ball menace' was also ahead of it's time, it reminded me of 'The triffids' but also of 'The girl with all the gifts' - a story that was in my opinion influenced a bit by Wyndhams stories. This collection re-ignited my love of Wyndhams stories, and I will read some more soon!

[Kirk Macleod · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't honestly say when I read my first John Wyndham novel, but if I had to guess it would have probably been sometime in Junior High (88-91) and was most likely either Day of the Triffids or The Midwhich Cuckoos.

For me his books were an early introduction to post-apocalyptic fiction and his mix of end of the world terror with a sort of middle class 50s United Kingdom mindset was a great introduction to the sub-genre for me.

Over the past few years I've collected a number of his books and this month dug into my first, Wanderers of Time which is a short story collection of some science fiction he wrote in the 1930s. With stories ranging from Time Travel to space adventure and two pretty interesting horror stories (one a sort of Mummy on the moon and the other a terrifying example of bio terrorism), I was quite impressed and am definitely looking forward to reading more.

[Kryptonian Fletch · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of John Wyndham's early short stories (written in the 1930's)

An overall 3 rating ...

The first (and longest) story 'Wanderers of Time' is a 2 out of 5 at best ... its an aimless pulp science fiction like found in any pulp magazine of the age, the bad ones. A waste of time reading.

"Derelict of Space" and "The Last Lunarians" are the same... maybe very slightly better

None of these having even the hint of John Wyndham's style or talent infused in them.

BUT ... "Child of Power" is pure John Wyndham ... a solid 4 of of 5 ... maybe close to a 5

AND ... "The Puff-ball Menace" is a solid 5 out of 5 ... on par with Triffids and Kraken ... too bad its the shortest of the short stories :)

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you find yourself writing dialogue like, "I don't want to bore you with technicalities and detailed accounts of my findings" after that character has just bored the reader with pages of technicalities and detailed accounts of his findings, that information is extraneous.

These were adventure stories with good ideas at their cores, bogged down with way too much explanation by the narrator. The only good story in this was The Puff-ball Menace, and that's what drags the rating up to two stars.

[James Kinsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's something about the drier, more formal tone of old sci-fi I really like. Possibly the anti-sensationalist air it gives, the air of sober assessment, all beards and pipe-smoke. The five stories in this collection all have that air, and make for delightful reading. Although definitely a product of when they were written, that's not the same as to say they've dated. The Last Lunarians may provoke a chuckle from a post-Apollo audience, but mostly these are just good stories, with some neat underlying ideas.

[Martti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another short story collection I picked up from the antiquities of Visby. I believe the material could be called "pulp fiction"? Format-wise a good summer read book to take with you.

The first story has given it's name to the collection and immediately reveals to mess with time. Some people travel to the future, find themselves in a boring mess and struggle to get out of it. When a story is so boring, you cannot help yourself finding flaws. Like we are to believe the language has peaked at English in the next thousands of years? I was constantly thinking back to Rick and Morty and their rule not to time travel. "We're removing ourselves from this sloppy fd up story and let snake time travel eat it's own tail." "That's about as much curvature as you're going to get from a time travel story."

Second story deserves some respect for writing about realistic liquid fuel propelled spaceflight along with problems of airlocks and life support air purifiers. But he was unable to foresee the computing machines as all orbital calculations here seem to have been performed by the fearless captains. Also the global package switched information network was a bit too much as the protagonist needs to request a weather report via radio. Then hard sf turns into alternative political history drama with nazis and kinda fizzes out into nothing.

In the third there is a boy who can "see" radio signals. That one also kinda fizzes out without reaching anything.

The fourth is a horror story of an expedition to the Moon, discovering ruins with some alien mummies inside. Wyndham likes to use a story in a story structure a lot. Yet again here with The Last Lunarians. I don't understand the fondness. The outside-parenthesis story adds nothing and is just dead weight.

[Simon Hedge · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories from the early career of John Wyndham. All originally appeared in Gernsback's Wonder Stories as far as I can tell.
The title story "Wanderers of Time" is very pulp, pulling the old trick of setting out to feature a scene ideal to create a lurid cover image for the magazine (cf Seabury Quinn)
"Derelict of Space" starts out like sub E.E. 'Doc' Smith 'spaceships and verniers' nonsense, but turns into something more intriguing. Worth a read.
The subject of "Child of Power" is the mutant 'next evolution of man' trope, with Wyndham making you parse many instances of speach typed to convey a strong regional dialect. Never one of my favourite things to do.
"The Last Lunarians" is some utter nonsense about a survey party arriving on the moon and waking the natives from suspended animation.
Finally, "The Puff-Ball Menace" is interesting for seeming to be a first stab at the catastrophe story-line he would make much better use of in later works like 'Triffids' and 'Kraken'

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It should perhaps have been titled The Puff Ball Menace and Other Stories, as that is the best of them, and the actual title story, 'Wanderers Of Time', is not much more than a Boys Own adventure that while entertaining and readable, is not particularly innovative or memorable.

Wyndham's writing style is excellent as always, even at this early point in his career, and is always a pleasant and measured read, laced with a wonderful Englishness.

I have other books of Wyndham's short stories to read , and I have no hesitation in doing so, for with Wyndam you always know what you're going to get. Ripping yarns of space, spaceships and, occasionally, badly behaved horticulture.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Wyndham is among my favorite authors. This short collection of stories is from his earliest days as an author, the early to mid-1930s.

One can discern the seeds of later work here. "Child of Power" has a familiar inkling toward the novel "Chocky" and "The Puff-Ball Menace" touches on themes and narrative tools to appear later in "The Day of the Triffids" as well as "The Midwich Cuckoos." I also wonder if Jack Finney read "The Puff-Ball Menace" and gathered some small inspiration for "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published in 1973, 'Wanderers of Time' is a collection of 5 sf short stories originally published over the years 1933-1939. The stories are very dated, yet also quite creative at times and, for the most part very readable still after all these years. The lead story, which is more of a novella, is arguably the weakest of the five, and the second story 'Derelict of Space' only slightly better but the remaining three are just amazing. An enjoyable snapshot of old-school sf.

[Rock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of short stories written in the 1930's, with the titular "Wanders of time" being the weakest IMHO.

My first Wyndham. I'm inclined to say these were poor stories, well told. Everything seemingly needs a frame story as if the author is slightly embarrassed about his own work, and none of them really have a proper satisfying ending, rather they just kind of peter out.

But the writing itself is compelling and it makes me keen to read some of his 'better' work.

[Benj · Rating 2 out of 5]

Obviously very dated, but recognisably John Wyndham. Could have been a lot worse!

I think the worst bit was the introduction, which seemed to have been written by someone who didn't know anything about this book or John Wyndham's later novels!

[Jonathan Waugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are 5 short stories in this collection,

Wanderers of Time
Derelict of Space
Child of Power
The Last Lunarians
The Puff-ball Menace

The last of these is my favourite. The introduction to this story is... ok (it is perhaps a bit outdated) but the story itself is gripping.

[Uz Z · Rating 2 out of 5]

What's not to love about a classic sci fi? The ideas are fresh. It's to the point in action and dialogu... But some of the descriptions really lost me as being unnecessary. I couldn't get past the second chapter. And ashamed to say it as the rest was soo captivating..

[Richard Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this as an extremely battered paperback when I was quite young. Returning to it was delightful. This is a collection of thought-provoking short stories in the classic tr.adition of sci-fi. For me at least, there's something about the older sci-fi novels that I love.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5* a good collection of interesting sci-fi ideas

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A timeless collection of John Wyndham (writing as John Beynon) stories. Amazing to think these stories were written in the 30’s.

[Matt Yeager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Puff-ball menace and Derelict of Space were the hilights.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very early work, not nearly as good as his later stuff.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Puffballs was ingenious, especially with the idea it wasn't alien
Last Lunarians good & old fashioned creepy
Don't think Child of Power reminded me of Midwich Cuckoos - actually thought it was more like a description/metaphor for hyperacusis, useful for parents to understand?

[S L Hedley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of short SiFi stories, mainly around space exploration. Some better than others.