John Brunner / (not) Alastair Reynolds
Jun. 20th, 2007 09:42 pmMore on SF:
John Brunner, Times Without Number
This book contains three linked short stories about time travel, set in an alternate universe in which the Spanish Armada succeeded. So Spain conquered England in 1588 and went on to create an empire in Europe and America, absorbing the other European countries. The stores are set in "modern" times (the book was published in 1969), although their modern times look quite different to ours. The plots revolve around misuses of time travel and their investigation by the Society of Time. Time travellers are supposed to just observe the past in order to protect against paradoxes, but of course there are those who bend the rules. So the reader gets both an alternate history and stories about the paradoxes of time travel. This book was good lightweight fun.
Tchernabyelo asked whether I had read any Alastair Reynolds. The answer is, "Yes, but I can't remember anything about them". That's probably not a recommendation, then - although they weren't howlingly awful, either.