The Hunter Out of Time

by Gardner Francis Fox, Jack Gaughan (Illustrator), Frank Franzetta (Illustrator)

Kevin Cord, adventurer of the 20th Century, or Chan Dahl, docile outcast of the far future..which was he? For the two looked exactly alike, their fingerprints were identical, and only one of them was still alive.

The pursueers from the future snatched the remaining man, took him back across the eons, across Time's forbidden Red Line, to search his brain. For buried in the mind of Chan Dahl was the answer to who was to rule the cosmos.

But they had the wrong man--and with all time and space as a hiding ground, Kevin escaped...

Genres: Science Fiction, Pulp, Fiction

126 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Gardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic book historians estimate that he wrote more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC Comics.
Fox is known as the co-creator of DC Comics heroes the Flash, Hawkman, Doctor Fate and the original Sandman, and was the writer who first teamed those and other heroes as the Justice Society of America. Fox introduced the concept of the Multiverse to DC Comics in the 1961 story "Flash of Two Worlds!"

Pseudonyms: Gardner F. Fox, Jefferson Cooper, Bart Sommers, Paul Dean, Ray Gardner, Lynna Cooper, Rod Gray, Larry Dean, Robert Starr, Don Blake, Ed Blake, Warner Blake, Michael Blake, Tex Blane, Willis Blane, Ed Carlisle, Edgar Weston, Tex Slade, Eddie Duane, Simon Majors, James Kendricks, Troy Conway, Kevin Matthews, Glen Chase

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is fun little space opera/time travel adventure novel that would've been at home in an old pulp like Famous Fantastic Mysteries or perhaps Planet Stories. It's fast-paced and action-packed enough that you don't notice that's improbably silly unless you stop and look for it. It starts off at high-speed and doesn't stop, even when a little romance creeps in. "I saw myself dying on the other side of the street" is the first line, and the chase romp is on. It was published by Ace in 1965 in a short (4 1/8" x 6 3/8") edition with a Grey Morrow cover and interior illustrations by Jack Gaughan -and- Frank Frazetta. It was definitely worth the forty cents cover price.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kevin Cord couldn't have known that a beer run would lead him to his doppelganger, Chan Dahl, dying in the street. Kevin is mistaken for Chan and is abducted to face trial in the future for crimes he didn't commit. Kevin's troubles are just beginning.

A cool premise, not really meant to be scrutinized. Too many questions pop up if you do. Kevin holds up fantastic under the stresses he is exposed to; I certainly couldn't have done it.

Not my favorite from Mr. Fox, but recommended none the less.

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hunter Out of Time by Gardner F. Fox (1965) has the best opening hook I've seen: "I saw myself dying on the other side of the street. I was leaning against a lamp post with one hand at my middle as blood oozed over my fingers where I held that awesome wound. ... As I watched, I saw myself sag as my knees bent..."
But within a few chapters it deteriorates into a trite, 1930s style space opera, the protagonists chasing and being chased by the antagonist back and forth through time. For a time travel yarn, the logic flaws in the plot make it even worse.
When the heroes try to find a key point in time (and space) the bad guy (the Darth Vader of time travel) is guarding, knowing he's chasing them and laying traps for them, they land some distance from the goal and walk through the jungle right into his traps. With their "timeler" they can go to any point in time and space; they could easily take their time researching in libraries & museums exactly what they're after, then go straight to the place ahead of the bad guy. Mistakes like this are made numerous times, the author apparently oblivious to the advantages of the time travel devices as he described them. He gives the impression the heroes must hurry to get to the critical time just in time, but don't even try to get close enough in space. In some scenes they stay a few seconds away where they can observe while not being observed (which doesn't make sense anyway) but they don't use this ability in other scenes where they run right into an attack.
They don't use time travel to any advantage at all in the whole novel! It's just used as another dimension to chase back and forth. If they had, or if in any way it had lived up to the great opening, I could give this novel 3½ or even 4 stars. As it is I'd only give it 2½ but bump it up to 3 for that great opening.

[Kevin Carr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pulp fiction! Found this little gem in a used book store in Spokane. I was looking for something quick, adventurous and sci-fi, and this definitely fits the bill. (And only $2 at that).

I found out later that the author, Gardner Fox, was a DC Comics writer and is credited for creating The Flash. This makes sense, as the book is 100% plot, moves super fast, and could easily be a comic book. In fact, I'd LOVE to read this as a comic. It'd also make a fun B-Movie.

I gave this two stars because--while it's fun to read--it's not necessarily good or bad. It just is. Some of the world building is cool and the gadgets are fun, but the tale is mostly forgettable. One awkward thing: how the narrator constantly obsesses over the body of the sole female character, Glynna. I mean, this was written in the '60s, I get it. But she's only eye candy and does nothing more than depend on men to make decisions. She starts out strong but ends up a sobbing mess of a '60s stereotype.

Kudos, however, to the main character for having a name similar to mine: Kevin Cord...

[Matthew Smonskey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an extraordinarily dated book. This isn't necessarily a negative for people who love to go back and read old genre works.

How the book chooses to handle characters is extremely weak compared to modern standards. The main male character doesn't have any real depth, and his motivations are superficial at all points. He even admits it comes down to him wanting to fight for the main female lead. Speaking of that female lead, this is one of those time capsule books where the author probably thought the female character was strong and progressive. It doesn't hold up today at all. She still ends up being the super pretty girl with nice legs who knows how to fight. Not much beyond that.

Plot/story-wise: the opening is pretty cool. It does hook you quickly. Beyond that, there are a few elements to the story that is original in the world of time travel. The concept of barriers in time that a time machine can't get past and the associated mystery of that is fun. It had some potential. The book doesn't really take advantage of that; further, the rules around time travel are so confusing in this story that is damned hard to follow. It also hurts the potential excitement or stakes in the story when I don't really get it.

Hey, it is a short quick read.

[Rob Lanning · Rating 2 out of 5]

Info dumping and exposition thinly disguised as dialogue. Lifeless characters whose actions/motivations make no sense. World building could have been cool if it wasn’t just sort of explained via dialogue by the female character to the protagonist (which made no sense, considering she was convinced he was a fellow time-traveler who would need their future society explained to him). The opposite of the golden “show, don’t tell” rule in writing. Thankfully, it was short.

[Det Cornforth]

Time forever.

I would have given a five star rating if it had not been for a proliferation of grammatical and spelling errors. The story was also too short considering what it was based on.
However, this story made an interesting read.

[Apocryphal Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short, pulpy novel about time-travelling aliens threatening earth with a lot hand-wavy future tech, unlikely aliens, and an unconvincing romance. Blissfully short, like this review.

[Kasey Turner · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up at a LFL in Utah. And I was excited to find it as I have a bit of a collection of old scifi pulps.

Best part: this was published when books could still fit in your back pocket! Also, there's a cool little Frazetta sketch at the beginning.

Kevin's beer run went very wrong:
"I saw myself dying on the other side of the street. I was leaning against a lamp post with one hand at my middle as blood oozed over my fingers where I held that awesome wound. ... As I watched, I saw myself sag as my knees bent..."
The next thing he knows, he's met his time-traveling doppleganger, been kidnapped by a pretty girl with a ray gun, and been nearly brainwashed by some bald alien bad-guy with Ming the Merciless ambitions.

This is some real vintage pulp scifi. There's all the classic tropes: the man out of time, the damsel in distress, the bug-like aliens, the mustache twisting villians, ray guns, strange technology.

It's a pulp read. Don't expect anything deep. Don't look too hard at the plot. Don't think too hard about the technology. Realize it was written before we landed on the moon by a man who churned out books and comics under several psuedonyms at a pretty quick rate..

Kevin's beer run went very wrong:
"I saw myself dying on the other side of the street. I was leaning against a lamp post with one hand at my middle as blood oozed over my fingers where I held that awesome wound. ... As I watched, I saw myself sag as my knees bent..."

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pulp Sci-Fi at it's best. This twisted time travel tale reminded me of the writing style of Lionel Fanthorpe. Which certainly is not meant as an insult to Gardner Fox, whose literary achievements speak for themselves.

[Jeff Wyonch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pedestrian golden-age sci-fi, with a time traveling twist.