Time in Advance

"Time in Advance" (no ISBN) is a collection of four short stories by science fiction writer William Tenn (a pseudonym for the sci-fi work of Philip Klass). The stories all originally appeared in a number of different publications between 1952 and 1957.

"Time in Advance" was first published by Bantam Books in 1958 and also published in the UK by Victor Gollancz in 1963 followed by a Panther edition in April 1966.

Contents

Dedication: "to Fruma for being there during Winthrop at his worst and life at its best"

Fruma Klass was Philip Klass's (William Tenn's) wife, Winthrop being the name of the title character of the final story in the collection.

"Firewater"

(Astounding Science Fiction, February 1952)::"Ultra-alien aliens resembling large dots in large bottles - and the Earthmen who try to communicate with them..." Panther Edition blurb.

Plot

The Earth is visited by large, enigmatic alien spheres, who take up residence in colonies on several prairies and deserts across the world. They make visits to cities, factories and other areas of human activity, seemingly to merely float and observe. All attempts at communication are unsuccessful and despite the best efforts of mankind, no one is able to decipher their intentions. Some, however, have come in to close encounter with the aliens, and emerged dramatically altered beings. These people, called humanity-prime, and dubbed 'primeys', are highly intelligent, can bend matter to their will, but are also, by human standards, quite, quite mad. Algernon Hebster is a highly successful businessman, owing mostly to his dealings with primeys, who supply him with the knowledge for advanced technologies which he puts to use in commerce. The problem is that primeys are so dangerous that dealing with them is highly illegal and every attempt is made to confine them to the reservations around their perceived alien masters.

"Time in Advance"

("Galaxy Science Fiction", August 1956)::"Pre-criminals returning to Earth from the Galaxy after seven years interstellar hell..." Panther Edition blurb.

Plot

In the far future a law is passed enabling citizens to serve out sentences for crimes they "intend" to commit, serving the full term, but with a 50% pre-criminal discount. Post-criminals and pre-criminals alike are sent to carry out hard-labour on hellishly perilous, far-flung Convict Planets. Few return. Those pre-criminals who are not killed, drop out before their terms are up, with nothing but scars and nightmares to show for their troubles. Two pre-criminals however, 'Blotto' Otto Henck and Nicholas Crandall, manage against all the odds to serve out two full terms for murder, and return to Earth as minor celebrities, with the right to kill one person each. Things, however, do not go quite as planned. Blotto Otto has his scheming wife in mind, only to find out she died the previous year in an unfortunate accident. For Crandall, whose life has been a perpetual series of failures, things go even worse. He intends to kill Frederick Stephenson, a man who stole his great invention. However, on his return, he receives a call from his terrified beloved ex-wife, who thinks she is his intended victim for her series of infidelities whilst they were married. Next he receives a call from his ex-business partner, pleading for his life because he thinks "he" is the intended victim for secretly cheating him out of vast sums of money. Crandall was previously unaware of either of these things. Still reeling, he meets his own brother, who thinks he is the intended victim, and reveals it was he with whom his wife was cheating. Finally he receives a call from his real intended victim, Stephenson, ironically the only one who fails to twist and squirm, but offers Crandall fair settlement for his invention. Shattered by the day's events, Crandall succumbs to the fact that he is one of life's born losers, and sets out with Otto to have some fun...

"The Sickness"

("Infinity Science Fiction", November 1955)::"Symbiotical bacilli increasing human mental powers a thousandfold..." Panther Edition blurb.

Plot

The Earth finds itself on the brink of catastrophic nuclear war between Russia and the United States. As a last-ditch symbolic gesture of peace and cooperation, the two nations, presided over by India, launch a joint manned venture to Mars. On their arrival to the red planet, Nicolai Belov, a Russian member of the crew, discovers a vast and amazing city once populated by human-like beings. However, once he returns to the ship he quickly develops a strange fever and is quarantined. This raises tensions in the already fraught atmosphere on board, and threatens to throw power amongst the crew out of balance. Equilibrium is restored, however, when American crew member Smathers also comes down with what is now dubbed Belov's disease. One by one the crew succumb, falling through several stages of fever and delirium, leaving prospects of return ever slimmer, and prospects of war on Earth ever greater: Mutual suspicion over the loss of the mission would trigger the final conflict. Soon just one man remains healthy, American astronaut O'Brien. Just when he thinks all is over, Belov and Smathers awake from their fevers, only they aren't quite the same. They have acquired super-human powers and intelligence, able to shape matter at will and communicate telepathically. O'Brien discovers that Belov's isn't a disease at all, but a fantastic symbiotic bacilli. Just when he realises that the problems of the Earth are over and a new era has dawned, Smathers reveals one final thing: Some people, like him, are naturally immune...

"Winthrop Was Stubborn"

("Galaxy Science Fiction", August 1957, published under the title "Time Waits for Winthrop") ::"Time-travellers stranded in the 25th century through the reluctance of one of their party to return to the sordid realities of the 20th..." Panther Edition blurb.

Plot

Reviews

From the Panther Edition inside cover:

"Tenn is renowned for his imagination and here he is at his best" "Books & Bookmen"

"Tenn could be king of science fiction writers if he had not contracted a morganatic marriage with silence. This is one of his rare and cherishable appearances" "Oxford Mail"

Adaptations

The story "Time in Advance" was adapted by Paul Erickson for one of ten episodes of the first series of "Out of the Unknown", a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Each episode was an independent dramatisation of a separate science fiction short story. Some were written directly for the series, but most were adaptations of already published stories.

External links

* [http://www.625.org.uk/ootu/ootu.htm Out of the Unknown]
* [http://bibliograph.ru/Biblio/T/Tenn/TENN.htm Bibliography of William Tenn]