There Will Be Time

Last updated
There Will Be Time
ThereWillBeTime Cover.jpg
First edition (h/b)
Author Poul Anderson
Cover artistDavid Wilcox
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Science fiction
Publisher Doubleday (hard cover)
New American Library (paperback)
Publication date
1972
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages181

There Will Be Time is a science fiction novel by American writer Poul Anderson. It was published in 1972 in a hardback edition by Doubleday and in 1973 in a paperback edition by New American Library.

Science fiction genre of fiction

Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction, typically dealing with imaginative concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, and extraterrestrial life. Science fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations, and has been called a "literature of ideas".

Poul Anderson American writer

Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career in the 1940s and continued to write into the 21st century. Anderson authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and short stories. His awards include seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.

Doubleday is an American publishing company founded as Doubleday & McClure Company in 1897 that by 1947 was the largest in the United States. It published the work of mostly U.S. authors under a number of imprints and distributed them through its own stores. In 2009 Doubleday merged with Knopf Publishing Group to form the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, which is now part of Penguin Random House.

Contents

The story is about a young man who has a genetic mutation that allows him to move through time. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1973. [1]

The Hugo Award for Best Novel is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The novel award is available for works of fiction of 40,000 words or more; awards are also given out in the short story, novelette, and novella categories. The Hugo Awards have been described as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction" and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing".

Plot

Jack Havig was born in the American midwest in 1933 with a genetic mutation that allows him to travel through time. He learns that an apocalypse will occur sometime in the 21st century due to over-pollution and nuclear warfare. Farther still in the future, a New Zealand/Micronesian culture known as "the Maurai Federation" will eventually dominate the world and impose their vision of a less industrialized, more ecologically balanced world. Jack reasons that there must be others born with the same innate ability to travel through time. In his initial search for them, he visits Jerusalem at the time of the Crucifixion. Jack is discovered by other time-travelers who are agents of a time-traveling organization called the "Eyrie," that is based in the far future and is led by a racist man born in 19th century United States. Initially Jack joins the group, but eventually rebels against them when he discovers and experiences first hand the extent of the Eyrie's rampant brutality and inhumanity as they attempt to achieve their goal of stopping the Maurai ascendancy. To defeat the Eyrie, Jack returns to the 20th century and devises a plan of his own to recruit time-travelers and create a "tribe" that will return to the future to destroy the Eyrie.

Nuclear warfare conflict or strategy in which nuclear weaponry is used to inflict damage on an opponent

Nuclear warfare is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is used to inflict damage on the enemy. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can produce destruction in a much shorter time and can have a long-lasting radiological warfare result. A major nuclear exchange would have long-term effects, primarily from the fallout released, and could also lead to a "nuclear winter" that could last for decades, centuries, or even millennia after the initial attack. Some analysts dismiss the nuclear winter hypothesis, and calculate that even with nuclear weapon stockpiles at Cold War highs, although there would be billions of casualties, billions more rural people would nevertheless survive. However, others have argued that secondary effects of a nuclear holocaust, such as nuclear famine and societal collapse, would cause almost every human on Earth to starve to death.

New Zealand Constitutional monarchy in Oceania

New Zealand is a sovereign island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, and the South Island —and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, and plant life. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland.

Micronesia Subregion of Oceania

Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, composed of thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a shared cultural history with two other island regions: Polynesia to the east and Melanesia to the south.

Much of the story takes place in various times of the past, present, and future, including an extended interlude where Jack is sent on a mission by the Eyrie to medieval Constantinople; where he saves the life of a Greek girl during the carnage of the Fourth Crusade and eventually marries her.

Constantinople capital city of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire, the Latin and the Ottoman Empire

Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman Empire (330–395), of the Byzantine Empire, and also of the brief Crusader state known as the Latin Empire (1204–1261), until finally falling to the Ottoman Empire (1453–1923). It was reinaugurated in 324 from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, and dedicated on 11 May 330. The city was located in what is now the European side and the core of modern Istanbul.

Fourth Crusade 1204 Crusade that captured Constantinople rather than Jerusalem

The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first conquering the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid Sultanate, the strongest Muslim nation of the time. However, a sequence of economic and political events culminated in the Crusader army sacking the city of Constantinople, the capital of the Greek Christian-controlled Byzantine Empire.

The future depicted in the book is the same as in Anderson's Maurai cycle.

Maurai

The Maurai series is a series of short stories and a novel by Poul Anderson set in a resource depleted, post-apocalyptic earth several centuries in the future. The series is named after its most frequent protagonists, citizens of the Maurai Federation. The Maurai dominate the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Fearful of the social and ecological implications of a return to large-scale industrial society, they use their considerable might and covert resources to prevent other nations from developing nuclear power.

See also

By His Bootstraps science fiction short story by Robert A. Heinlein

"By His Bootstraps" is a 20,000 word science fiction novella by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. It plays with some of the inherent paradoxes that would be caused by time travel.

Robert A. Heinlein American science fiction author

Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science-fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and retired Naval officer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", He was among the first to emphasize scientific accuracy in his fiction, and was thus a pioneer of the subgenre of hard science fiction. His work continues to have an influence on the science-fiction genre, and on modern culture more generally.

<i>The Man Who Folded Himself</i> novel by David Gerrold

The Man Who Folded Himself is a 1973 science fiction novel by American writer David Gerrold, dealing with time travel. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1974 and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1974. The book explores the psychological, physical, and personal challenges that manifest when time travel is possible for a single individual at the touch of a button. References to both the American Airlines Flight 191 crash and the destruction of the World Trade Center Twin Towers, events which did not occur until 6 years and 28 years respectively after initial publication, were added in the 2003 edition.

Related Research Articles

Vorkosigan Saga book series by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Vorkosigan Saga is a series of science fiction novels and short stories set in a common fictional universe by American author Lois McMaster Bujold. The first of these was published in 1986 and the most recent in May 2018. Works in the series have received numerous awards and nominations, including five Hugo award wins including one for Best Series.

<i>The Time Machine</i> science fiction novel by H. G. Wells

The Time Machine is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895 and written as a frame narrative. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposely and selectively forwards or backwards in time. The term "time machine", coined by Wells, is now almost universally used to refer to such a vehicle.

<i>Time Enough for Love</i> novel by Robert A. Heinlein

Time Enough for Love is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first published in 1973. The work was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1973 and both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1974.

Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction sub-genre of science fiction taking place after the end of human civilization

Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of science fiction, science fantasy or horror in which the Earth's technological civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; natural, such as an impact event; man-made, such as nuclear holocaust or resource depletion; medical, such as a pandemic, whether natural or man-made; eschatological, such as the Last Judgment, Second Coming or Ragnarök; or imaginative, such as a zombie apocalypse, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics or alien invasion. The story may involve attempts to prevent an apocalypse event, deal with the impact and consequences of the event itself, or it may be post-apocalyptic, set after the event. The time frame may be immediately after the catastrophe, focusing on the travails or psychology of survivors, the way to maintain the human race alive and together as one, or considerably later, often including the theme that the existence of pre-catastrophe civilization has been forgotten. Post-apocalyptic stories often take place in a non-technological future world or a world where only scattered elements of society and technology remain.

Alastair Reynolds British novelist and astronomer

Alastair Preston Reynolds is a British science fiction author. He specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. He spent his early years in Cornwall, moved back to Wales before going to Newcastle University, where he read physics and astronomy. Afterwards, he earned a PhD from the University of St Andrews. In 1991, he moved to Noordwijk in the Netherlands where he met his wife Josette. There, he worked for the European Space Research and Technology Centre until 2004 when he left to pursue writing full-time. He returned to Wales in 2008 and lives near Cardiff.

<i>The End of Eternity</i> 1955 science fiction novel by Isaac Asimov with mystery and thriller elements on the subjects of time travel and social engineering

The End of Eternity is a 1955 science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, with mystery and thriller elements on the subjects of time travel and social engineering. Its premise is that of a causal loop – a type of temporal paradox in which events and their causes form a loop.

Gordon R. Dickson Canadian-American science fiction writer

Gordon Rupert Dickson was a Canadian-American science fiction writer. He was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2000.

Hyperion Cantos science fiction book series by Dan Simmons

The Hyperion Cantos is a series of science fiction novels by Dan Simmons. The title was originally used for the collection of the first pair of books in the series, Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, and later came to refer to the overall storyline, including Endymion, The Rise of Endymion, and a number of short stories. More narrowly, inside the fictional storyline, after the first volume, the Hyperion Cantos is an epic poem written by the character Martin Silenus covering in verse form the events of the first book.

Time travel in fiction concept and accompanying genre in science fiction

Time travel is a common theme in fiction and has been depicted in a variety of media, such as literature, television, film, and advertisements.

<i>Engine Summer</i> novel by John Crowley

Engine Summer is a novel by American writer John Crowley, published in 1979 by Doubleday. It was nominated for the 1980 National Book Award for hardcover science fiction, as well as both the British Fantasy and John W. Campbell Awards the same year. It was rewritten from Crowley's unpublished first novel, Learning to Live With It. It has been illustrated by Gary Friedman (1979) and Anne Yvonne Gilbert (1983).

William Renald Barton III is an American science fiction writer. In addition to his standalone novels, he is also known for collaborations with Michael Capobianco. Many of their novels deal with themes such as the Cold War, space travel, and space opera.

<i>Orion Shall Rise</i> novel by Poul Anderson

Orion Shall Rise is a science fiction novel by American writer Poul Anderson, published in 1983. It is part of his Maurai series.

<i>Journey Beyond Tomorrow</i> novel by Robert Sheckley

Journey Beyond Tomorrow, reprinted with the title Journey of Joenes, is a 1962 science fiction/satire novel by American writer Robert Sheckley, first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in two parts October and November 1962, and the following month by Signet Books.

<i>Time Travelers Never Die</i> book by Jack McDevitt

Time Travelers Never Die, written by Jack McDevitt, is a 2009 science fiction book about time travel and the consequences it can cause. The novel is a reworking of McDevitt's 1996 novella of the same title, which in 1997 was nominated for both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award. McDevitt rewrote the story because he was inspired to work with time travel once again.

Quest for the Future is a science fiction novel by A. E. van Vogt. It was first published by Ace Books in 1970.

<i>The Dark Between the Stars</i> (short story collection) book by Poul Anderson

The Dark Between the Stars is a 1981 collection of previously-published science fiction short stories by American writer Poul Anderson.

References

  1. "Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award: 1973 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End.