Review: THE TIME PATROL
Robert Schmunk
By Poul Anderson
A book review by R.B. Schmunk
(copyright 1991, R.B. Schmunk)
THE TIME PATROL is a "compleat" collection of the short fiction in Poul
Anderson's Time Patrol series. The only tale omitted is the recent full-length
novel THE SHIELD OF TIME. Most of the contents of this volume have been
anthologized previously, in such books as GUARDIANS OF TIME, TIME PATROLMAN
and offerings by the Science Fiction Book Club. Since I don't have copies of
these previous volumes, I snatched THE TIME PATROL off the book rack in a
hurry, despite its hefty $21.95 retail price.
The nine stories and novellas comprising THE TIME PATROL were written over the
course of 36 years; two appeared in sf magazines in 1955 and one is making its
debut in this volume. At least one story is considered a classic of the genre,
particularly in that smaller classification known as "Alternate History".
These stories are:
"Time Patrol" -- In 1952, a WW2 vet and engineer named Manse Everard answers
an ad in the newspaper and finds himself joining an organization which claims
responsibility for maintaining historical continuity. He undergoes training
and undertakes his first mission, investigating an odd death in England c.
1890.
"Brave to Be a King" -- Everard travels back to central Asia during the time
of Cyrus the Great to find a missing friend and fellow patrolman. He finds
that his friend *is* Cyrus the Great, and wants out.
"Gibraltar Falls" -- A young Time Patrolman has fallen in love with one of his
fellows. When she and her timecycle are swept away while examining the cascade
created when Atlantic waters broke through to the Mediterranean basin, he isn't
happy.
"The Only Game in Town" -- Everard and another patrolman are ordered to destroy
a Mongol mission exploring the west coast of North America, even though history
records that no word was ever heard back from the explorers.
"Delenda Est" -- Virtually a certified science fiction classic, this tale
begins with Everard and a fellow patrolman becoming bored with a Time Patrol
resort located in the Pleistocene. Looking for some action, they skip forward
to 1960 New York, and find it populated with Celts driving steamcars. Its up
to them to go back and find what's fouled up the course of history, but first
they have to escape captivity.
"Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks" -- Extortionists with timecycles threaten to
render the ancient city of Tyre uninhabitable, during a time period when the
city-state is a crucial ally of Solomon of Jerusalem. Everard travels back to
look for evidence of the extortionst's plans.
"The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" -- Carl Farness is a Time Patrol researcher,
studying the folklore and history of the Goths during the fourth century AD.
While looking into the saga of Ermanaric, he marries a native of the era and
has a child. Eventually he realizes the role played by his descendants in the
heroic tragedy, and he is doomed to play out his part as Odin the Wanderer.
"Star of the Sea" -- This story is first seeing print with its publication in
THE TIME PATROL. It is the tale of a rebellion in Rome's territories on the
lower Rhine around 70 AD, as chronicled by Tacitus. A Patrol researcher has,
however, come across a version of Tacitus' chronicles in which the rebellion
is concluded differently, and she and Manse Everard go back to investigate.
"The Year of the Ransom" -- This is a prequel to the novel THE SHIELD OF TIME,
wherein Everard is introduced to Wanda Tamberley, who plays a large role in the
later novel. As in "Ivory..." and SHIELD, the problem central to the story is
an Exaltationist plot, but this time it is an attempt to loot the ransom for
Atahualpa being collected from the Inca empire by the Pizarros. Unfortunately
for them, Time Patrol researcher Stephen Tamberley and a conquistador happened
to be in the vault just when they arrived.
The first story in the series, "Time Patrol", also explains how the Time Patrol was formed about a millenium from now, when time travel was first discovered.
Its discoverers were immediately visited by the Danellians, "humans" from
millions of years in the future, who in the interest of self-preservation
demanded the formation of an organization to protect the course of history from
tampering. Despite the occasional comment about timelines and variable reality,
the premise is that there is only one history, and tampering with it may result
in a future which exists only in the tamperer's memory. There are those events
which resist tampering due their minor nature or which may be self-correcting
(something like Fritz Leiber's Law of Conservation of Reality), but there are
also nexi upon which history turns (the Great Event hypothesis). The Time
Patrol tries to keep an eye on the latter, but there are always events which
are more important than they seem.
Trying to think through the paradox possibilities in single-timeline time
travel is, of course, enough to make your head spin, and after a while I gave
up on that and just enjoyed the stories in THE TIME PATROL. I did appreciate
it, though, when in one tale, two Time Patrolmen unknowingly go back in time
to fix an event which they will have caused to occur in the course of their
mission. (I hope you understood that. As Anderson mentions several times in
the book, English just doesn't have the tenses to adequately discuss time
travel.)
The adherence to historical continuity does, however, bring one of the small
problems I had with this series of adventures. Time Patrolmen themselves
are admonished from tampering with what is known to have happened, even when
it comes to correcting past mistakes in their own lives. (This also applies
to Time Patrol missions which have gone awry.) In several of these tales,
patrolmen violate this restriction and are not punished for it, not even a
slap on the wrist, and it could even be said they are rewarded. The Time
Patrol may be a loosely formed organization, but methinks that discipline
could use a bit of toning up.
The quality of the writing is what I have to come to expect from Anderson,
rarely dazzling and sometimes workmanlike, but always a dependably good read.
(After finishing the book, I discovered that the only sf author I have read
as often during the past dozen years is Heinlein. Asimov wasn't even close.)
"Gibraltar Falls" was the only story I found uninteresting, and "The Sorrow of
Odin the Goth" was very affecting. The long time period over which the stories
was written was evident, since the earlier stories generally lack the
historical and geographical detail evident in the later stories. It would have
been perhaps a bit of an improvement to see some tales set in more "exotic"
locales, say Africa or the Orient, but Anderson has prevented himself
(deliberately?) from doing so by making the white-skinned Manse Everard the
central character of the series.
Since this book has the high price tag mentioned above, my recommendation
to other readers must be qualified. Those persons who already have copies
GUARDIANS OF TIME and TIME PATROLMAN will only be missing two of the
stories included here. They and/or those who are concerned about money
can wait until THE TIME PATROL appears in paperback, though given today's
costs, that will be rather expensive too. Those who want a compleat
collection of the Time Patrol stories, however, may want to spring for this
hardback edition, as it is a volume which may well end up occupying an
important space in their science fiction library.
And one last comment: this book contains nine *science fiction* stories, in
which I came across three allusions to Sherlock Holmes. No other fictional
character even seems to be mentioned. Am I to assume that Anderson is a
Conan Doyle fan?
%T THE TIME PATROL
%A Poul Anderson
%I A Tor Book (Tom Doherty Assoc.)
%C New York
%O hardback, $21.95
%P 458 pp.
%D October 1991
%G ISBN 0-312-85231-2
%T "Time Patrol"
%T "Brave to Be a King"
%T "Gibraltar Falls"
%T "The Only Game in Town"
%T "Delenda Est"
%T "Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks"
%T "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth"
%T "Star of the Sea"
%T "The Year of the Ransom"
--
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Robert B. Schmunk <sch...@vega.rice.edu, sch...@spacsun.rice.edu>
SPAC, Rice Univ, Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251 -- (713) 527-4939
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of
its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more
than thirty cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of
sixty thousand population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower, 16 April 1953