June 2021 - "Legions In Time" by Michael Swanwick

[Jim]

June 2021's short story is Legions in Time by Michael Swanwick recommended by Peter. (Thanks!) It's free to read on Asimov's Science Fiction's site here:
https://web.archive.org/web/200412081...

[Peter]

"Time criminals of the Dawn Era!" his voice thundered from a hidden speaker. "Listen and obey!"

I hope you all like this one as much as I do. I need to reread it myself.

[Jim]

I just read this and it was OK but nothing special. Swanwick wrote that his story was inspired by A. E. Van Vogt's "Recruiting Station", which just speeds along like racehorse afire, and thought I'd try to write something similar." I read ""Recruiting Station" about 4 years ago and don't really remember much except I thought it was very pulpish even for 1942. I'm sure it was based on van Vogt's feelings about the huge recruitment effort and the draft at the beginning of WW2. Swanwick's story doesn't have this hook to drive his story and it falls a little bit flat. His attempts at recreating a pulpish feel doesn't work since that only happens part of the time leaving a a mixture of writing styles from pulpish to a dry mid-50's style that sounds more like Heinlein than van Vogt.

[Jim]

A quick search didn't find a copy of A. E. Van Vogt's "Recruiting Station" in Gutenberg or anywhere reputable for free except in an old copy of Astounding magazine which is on Archive.org. You can read it here:
https://archive.org/details/Astoundin...

[Jim]

It's been published under several titles including "Masters of Time" and "Earth's Last Fortress".

[Peter]

Well, I re-read it, and I'm not very impressed this time, either. Most time-travel stories don't make a lot of sense, including this one. But some make gripping reading. Not this one, I'm afraid. The story won the 2004 Hugo for Best Novelette, so he was obviously doing something right. Maybe it was just me, felling grumpy.

[Peter]

Jim wrote: "A quick search didn't find a copy of A. E. Van Vogt's "Recruiting Station" in Gutenberg or anywhere reputable for free except in an old copy of Astounding magazine which is on Archive.org. You can ..."

Thanks. The Van Vogt hasn't aged well, but it's interesting to see his storytelling technique. And that Swanwick used it as a template for his, much better story. 1942! Quite awhile back. Here's Swanwick's blog post on his story: http://floggingbabel.blogspot.com/201...

[Jim]

My favorite time travel story will always be Heinlein's "—All You Zombies—" from 1959.

[Peter]

Jim wrote: "My favorite time travel story will always be Heinlein's "—All You Zombies—" from 1959."

That is a classic!

[Leo]

Interesting this. I have a translated copy of Van Vogt's story. I'm gonna read them both later this month.

[Ed]

David DeGraff teaches college courses on Science Fiction, including one on the history of time travel stories. So, you can expect him to know the various forms of such stories pretty well. That knowledge is on display in his very short fun story The Theory and Practice of Time Travel: A Syllabus, hot off the presses in "Translunar Travelers Lounge" volume 4. I recommend it.

[Jim]

Another of my favorites doesn't involve people traveling in time but instead an object traveling to the past. It's "The Little Black Bag" from 1950 by C.M. Kornbluth.

[Jim]

Jim wrote: "Another of my favorites doesn't involve people traveling in time but instead an object traveling to the past. It's "The Little Black Bag" from 1950 by C.M. Kornbluth."

Another classic with a powerful message & a fantastic ending. I've read it, listened to it, & seen it on TV several times. Some of the TV episodes changed it & not for the better. The OTR programs have kept it the same, IIRC.

[Ar]

3/5 for me, I think that the story could benefit greatly by making Ellie a bit more "deserving" of being the chosen one to defend mankind.

[Ar]

Ed wrote: "David DeGraff teaches college courses on Science Fiction, including one on the history of time travel stories. So, you can expect him to know the various forms of such stories pretty well. That kno..."

Have to check that one out, the title seems enticing.

[Peter]

Jim wrote: "Another of my favorites doesn't involve people traveling in time but instead an object traveling to the past. It's "The Little Black Bag" from 1950 by C.M. Kornbluth."

Yes, and here it is:
https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/kornbluth...
Great old story. This might be my favorite Kornbluth.

[Oleksandr]

I finished the story and it was ok, but not really award worthy, or at least my tastes differ significantly from those of voters

[Ryan]

I liked it alright, though I think it could have been fleshed out more. The time travel aspects were confusing, and could have benefitted from more depth, although that could also just have added confusion, considering how gnarly time travel can be. I haven't read any stories about intertemporal battle in this manner, so that was fresh and interesting.

[Jim]

I tried reading both this & 'Recruiting Station'. I only made it about 3/4 of the way through either before my attention flagged. They just didn't work for me.