- The Wheels of If and Other Science Fiction
Infobox Book |
name = The Wheels of If and Other Science Fiction
title_orig =
translator =
image_caption = first edition of "The Wheels of If"
author =L. Sprague de Camp
illustrator =
cover_artist =Hannes Bok
country =United States
language = English
series =
genre =Science fiction short stories
publisher = Shasta
release_date =1948
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback)
pages = vii, 222 pp
isbn = NA
preceded_by =
followed_by ="The Wheels of If and Other Science Fiction" is a
1948 collection ofscience fiction stories byL. Sprague de Camp , first published in hardback byShasta and in paperback byBerkley Books in1970 . It has also been translated into German.The book contains short works of fiction by the author.
Contents
*"Foreword"
*"The Wheels of If":Allister Park, a prosecutor and local politician is thrown into aparallel universe where due to very minor differences in the course of history, North America has been settled by descendants of the Vikings and New York is replaced by New Belfast. He endeavors to get back into his own universe using his ingenuity to gain influence in his new surroundings.
*"The Best-Laid Scheme":This parody on othertime travel stories is about a scientist who uses a time travel device to threaten all of North America with destruction through time travel paradoxes, and the secret agent attempting to stop him using a copy of the device.
*"The Warrior Race":Earth has been taken over by the Centaurians, former humans who came back from space as a supremely ethical and powerful people. The heroes in the story, aided by an enigmatic historian, are mostly trying to salvage their corrupt economic schemes.
*"Hyperpilosity":An apparent plague makes people grow bodily hair similar to that ofGorilla s. Two doctors attempt to find a cure while large-scale societal changes happen around them.
*"The Merman":Vernon Brock is a biologist who experiments with turninglung s intogill s. After accidentally performing the transformation on himself, he is stuck underwater, unable to communicate, and attempts to resolve the situation using his limited knowledge.
*"The Contraband Cow":In a future where many states have been united into a democratic state and the numerically superior Hindus are enforcing a ban on bovine meat, a young scientist working onin vitro meat gets into trouble with police and with meat smugglers.
*"The Gnarly Man":An anthropologist meets a curious "ape-man" at a circus, who turns out to be a 50000 years oldNeanderthal who - for unclear reasons - doesn't age. Struggles over the scientific value and rights of this "non-human" ensue.References
*cite book | last=Laughlin | first=Charlotte | coauthors=Daniel J. H. Levack | title=De Camp: An L. Sprague de Camp Bibliography | location=San Francisco | publisher=Underwood/Miller | pages=87 | date=1983
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