Three Trips in Time and Space
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Each major advance in the technology of communication or transportation has brought profound transformations and dislocations to human society. Three of science fiction's greatest authors-Larry Niven, Jack Vance, John Brunner-explore what would happen if teleportation were invented.
Suppose it were possible, technologically and economically, to transport oneself to any point on the earth's surface in virtually instantaneous travel? Let us have trips in time as well as in space... a quick passport not merely from Brooklyn to Arabia but to Arabia in the time of Mohammed, tours to the dawn of history or to the end of time. If all things are possible, if all gates stand open, what sort of world will we have? This is the challenge Robert Silverberg poses, to which three of science fiction's highest award-winners have responded with a trio of short novels displaying the variety and scope that outstanding literary craftsmen can bring to the same basic concept.
In "Flash Crowd" Larry Niven describes some of the social perils that may follow instantaneous travel. In "You'll Take the High Road" John Brunner's hero finds that man's technological accomplishments are steadily matched by his perfection of the snafu. "Rumfuddle" is Jack Vance's eerie tale of historical coincidences.
John Brunner
John Brunner (1934-1995) was a prolific British SF writer. In 1951, he published his first novel, Galactic Storm, at the age of just 17, and went on to write dozens of novels under his own and various house names until his death in 1995 at the Glasgow Worldcon. He won the Hugo Award and the British Science Fiction Award for Stand on Zanzibar (a regular contender for the `best SF novel of all time') and the British Science Fiction Award for The Jagged Orbit.
More by John Brunner
Larry Niven
Larry Niven has won five Hugo Awards, the Nebula Award, and the Locus Award for his novels and short fiction and been named an SFWA Grand Master. Among this New York Times bestselling author's many science fiction novels are Ringworld, The Mote in God's Eye, and Destiny's Road; his fantasy novels include The Magic Goes Away. Niven has frequently collaborated with other authors, including Jerry Pournelle, Gregory Benford, and Steven Barnes. He lives in Los Angeles.
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Jack Vance
Jack Vance (1916-2013)
John Holbrook Vance was born in 1916 and studied mining, engineering and journalism at the University of California. During the Second World War he served in the merchant navy and was torpedoed twice. He started contributing stories to the pulp magazines in the mid 1940s and published his first book, The Dying Earth, in 1950. Among his many books are The Dragon Masters, for which he won his first Hugo Award, Big Planet, The Anome, and the Lyonesse sequence. He has won the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Awards, amongst others, and in 1997 was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America.
More by Jack Vance
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