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A Rip Through Time
Dr. Robert Berlin has created the Baryon Core, a powerful device that can predict the future and retrodict the past. Berlin swipes his own creation from the company and disappears in time.
It falls to Time-cop Simon Rip to pursue him through time with the aid of Dr. Serena Ludwig and return the machine to the company.
Five short stories chronicle the chase. And there's also an essay by Ron Scheer on time travel in fiction.
It falls to Time-cop Simon Rip to pursue him through time with the aid of Dr. Serena Ludwig and return the machine to the company.
Five short stories chronicle the chase. And there's also an essay by Ron Scheer on time travel in fiction.
- GenresScience Fiction
Kindle Edition
First published November 27, 2011
2 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Chris Holm
21 books327 followersChris Holm is the author of the cross-genre Collector trilogy, which recasts the battle between heaven and hell as old-fashioned crime pulp; the Michael Hendricks thrillers, which feature a hitman who only kills other hitmen; and the standalone scientific thriller, CHILD ZERO. He's also a former molecular biologist with a U.S. patent to his name. Chris’ work has been selected for THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES, named a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and won a number of awards, including the 2016 Anthony Award for Best Novel. He lives in Portland, Maine.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 27, 2012
Time travel stories can be a lot of fun. H. G. Wells changed history forever with his story of a man who goes into the far future to see what’s happened to humanity. It made for at least one good movie. Of course, the problem with any type of time travel story is “casualty” (i.,e., what happens if you go back in time and kill your own grandfather). Physicists get around it all by speculating on an infinite number of pasts, presents, and futures. Which puts most time travel stories into the realm of science fantasy.
The latest offering from the Beat To A Pulp series, A Rip Through Time, allows four authors to speculate on what might happen if a pulp hero had the ability to travel through time. Editor David Cranmer gave Chris Holm, Charles Gramlich, Garnett Elliot and Chad Eagleton the chance to each write separate chapters for a story arch. What they turned out was a tight round robin story not seen since the 1930′s when Fantasy magazine published “The Challenge from Beyond”.
The first chapter, “The Dame, The Doctor, and the Device” introduces us to the hero, Simon Rip, who’s minutes behind the fiendish Dr. Robert Berlin’s jump from the 24th century into the past. Rip, head of Temporal Infractions for The Company, where Berlin has been constructing his time travel device, follows Berlin back to New York in the 1920′s to stop the scientist from controlling all aspects of past, present and future. Chris Holm gets the collection of to a good start by introducing prohibition gangsters and the beautiful Dr. Serena Ludwig. The episode concludes with Berlin escaping again.
Charles Gramlich writes the second episode, “Battles, Broadswords, and Bad Girls”, into the late 1940′s. Rip teams up with Earnest Hemingway in Cuba and Merlin in ancient Britian. The story zips back and forth. We learn Dr. Ludwig may not be such a nice lady after all.
Garnet Elliot’s contribution, “Chaos in the Stream” takes Rip into pre-Colombian central America. There’s even a chilling seen involving a scorpion pit. Rip manages to evade the villains once again, this time he learns his employer, The Company, may be deeper into time stream manipulation than anyone could imagine.
Chad Eagleton wraps it up with “Darkling in the Eternal Space” which tosses in Nicolai Tesla, the 1908 Tunguska disaster in Siberia and the moons of Jupiter. The story remains unresolved, but all the major characters seem to be fighting on the same side. There’s hints of an alien invasion from another dimension, but that is yet to be resolved. More to come in this epic!
“The Final Painting of Hawley Exton” by Chad Eagleton seems to be tangital to the story arc. It involves Lord Byron, a painting which attracts sinister aliens and speculations on the nature of reality. It could easily stand by itself in another collection.
Ron Scheer’s concluding essay “Are We Then Yet? H. G. Wells and the Mechanics of Time Travel” is one of the best I’ve ever encountered on the subject. He notes that Wells skipped over a lot physical issues involved with time travel. He also notes the recent adaptations of Wells’ The Time Traveller ignore the social implications of the book. I’ll be on the lookout for some of the recent time travel novels he mentions in the essay.
A Rip Through Time could be the start of something good. Beat to a Pulp has given us a new hero. The separate authors each contributed an original take on the character. There were some sharp turns as one of the secondary heroes in one story would turn into a villain in the next. I’m holding out for a series of novels written about Simon Rip, with a different writer contributing his or her version of the character.
The latest offering from the Beat To A Pulp series, A Rip Through Time, allows four authors to speculate on what might happen if a pulp hero had the ability to travel through time. Editor David Cranmer gave Chris Holm, Charles Gramlich, Garnett Elliot and Chad Eagleton the chance to each write separate chapters for a story arch. What they turned out was a tight round robin story not seen since the 1930′s when Fantasy magazine published “The Challenge from Beyond”.
The first chapter, “The Dame, The Doctor, and the Device” introduces us to the hero, Simon Rip, who’s minutes behind the fiendish Dr. Robert Berlin’s jump from the 24th century into the past. Rip, head of Temporal Infractions for The Company, where Berlin has been constructing his time travel device, follows Berlin back to New York in the 1920′s to stop the scientist from controlling all aspects of past, present and future. Chris Holm gets the collection of to a good start by introducing prohibition gangsters and the beautiful Dr. Serena Ludwig. The episode concludes with Berlin escaping again.
Charles Gramlich writes the second episode, “Battles, Broadswords, and Bad Girls”, into the late 1940′s. Rip teams up with Earnest Hemingway in Cuba and Merlin in ancient Britian. The story zips back and forth. We learn Dr. Ludwig may not be such a nice lady after all.
Garnet Elliot’s contribution, “Chaos in the Stream” takes Rip into pre-Colombian central America. There’s even a chilling seen involving a scorpion pit. Rip manages to evade the villains once again, this time he learns his employer, The Company, may be deeper into time stream manipulation than anyone could imagine.
Chad Eagleton wraps it up with “Darkling in the Eternal Space” which tosses in Nicolai Tesla, the 1908 Tunguska disaster in Siberia and the moons of Jupiter. The story remains unresolved, but all the major characters seem to be fighting on the same side. There’s hints of an alien invasion from another dimension, but that is yet to be resolved. More to come in this epic!
“The Final Painting of Hawley Exton” by Chad Eagleton seems to be tangital to the story arc. It involves Lord Byron, a painting which attracts sinister aliens and speculations on the nature of reality. It could easily stand by itself in another collection.
Ron Scheer’s concluding essay “Are We Then Yet? H. G. Wells and the Mechanics of Time Travel” is one of the best I’ve ever encountered on the subject. He notes that Wells skipped over a lot physical issues involved with time travel. He also notes the recent adaptations of Wells’ The Time Traveller ignore the social implications of the book. I’ll be on the lookout for some of the recent time travel novels he mentions in the essay.
A Rip Through Time could be the start of something good. Beat to a Pulp has given us a new hero. The separate authors each contributed an original take on the character. There were some sharp turns as one of the secondary heroes in one story would turn into a villain in the next. I’m holding out for a series of novels written about Simon Rip, with a different writer contributing his or her version of the character.
January 9, 2012
Beat To A Pulp: A Rip Through Time is a gritty adventure with all the elements of science fiction noir, combined with a two fisted old school hero, who can still be played by a beautiful femme fatale. Although written by a combination of authors, they blended the adventure together seamlessly with common cause, but distinctive voice.
The final elements of this pulp bargain included an engrossing horror touch in The Final Painting of Hawley Exton and a very entertaining essay on H.G. Wells and the mechanics of time travel.
The final elements of this pulp bargain included an engrossing horror touch in The Final Painting of Hawley Exton and a very entertaining essay on H.G. Wells and the mechanics of time travel.
November 29, 2011
David Cranmer came up with the concept and four exceptional writers brought it to life.
Dr. Robert Berlin has created the Baryon Core, a device that can predict and redict the future. He swipes his creation from his employer, The Company, and disappears into time with it.
Their head of security, Simon Rip, is charged with following and retrieving their invention. Dr. Serena Ludwig, beautiful scientist, joins him in his pursuit.
Five stories make up the book and an essay by Ron Scheer on time travel in fiction, both prose and movies, at the end.
The Dame, The doctor, and The Device - Chris F. Holms
Battles, Broadswords, and Bad Girls - Charles A. Gramlich
Chaos In The Stream - Garnett Elliott
Darkling in The Eternal Space - Chad Eagleton
The Final Painting of Hawley Exton - Chad Eagleton
The five stories comprise a variety of genres: crime, sword & sorcery(though the latter is more of science unfamiliar to locals), straight science fiction.
In these stories, we meet Ernest Hemingway, Nikola Tesla, and a variety of lesser knowns.
These stories were a lot of fun and I understand that a novella featuring Rip is in preparation.
Look forward to it.
Dr. Robert Berlin has created the Baryon Core, a device that can predict and redict the future. He swipes his creation from his employer, The Company, and disappears into time with it.
Their head of security, Simon Rip, is charged with following and retrieving their invention. Dr. Serena Ludwig, beautiful scientist, joins him in his pursuit.
Five stories make up the book and an essay by Ron Scheer on time travel in fiction, both prose and movies, at the end.
The Dame, The doctor, and The Device - Chris F. Holms
Battles, Broadswords, and Bad Girls - Charles A. Gramlich
Chaos In The Stream - Garnett Elliott
Darkling in The Eternal Space - Chad Eagleton
The Final Painting of Hawley Exton - Chad Eagleton
The five stories comprise a variety of genres: crime, sword & sorcery(though the latter is more of science unfamiliar to locals), straight science fiction.
In these stories, we meet Ernest Hemingway, Nikola Tesla, and a variety of lesser knowns.
These stories were a lot of fun and I understand that a novella featuring Rip is in preparation.
Look forward to it.
October 11, 2013
This was a fun book! It was an interesting cross between a crime/noir story (in its storytelling) with time travel/science fiction.
With each section written by one of five different authors, you would think it would be choppy, but it is not. Well told, and well paced. In a way, it played out like an old movie serial, one little adventure at a time.
My only problem is that it ended rather abruptly. Before I knew it, I was reading a non-fiction essay on time travel, and I had to stop and say, "Wait a minute, that wasn't the end, was it?" The non-fiction part ("Are We Then Yet? H.G. Wells and the Mechanics of Time Travel") is actually quite good. But the story stopped, and now I'll have to wait for the sequel, which IS in the works, to read the rest of the story.
Overall: a fun little read!
With each section written by one of five different authors, you would think it would be choppy, but it is not. Well told, and well paced. In a way, it played out like an old movie serial, one little adventure at a time.
My only problem is that it ended rather abruptly. Before I knew it, I was reading a non-fiction essay on time travel, and I had to stop and say, "Wait a minute, that wasn't the end, was it?" The non-fiction part ("Are We Then Yet? H.G. Wells and the Mechanics of Time Travel") is actually quite good. But the story stopped, and now I'll have to wait for the sequel, which IS in the works, to read the rest of the story.
Overall: a fun little read!
May 9, 2012
I really enjoyed the first four of the stories in this collection. The stories were all a part of the same story arc, and they worked well together. Overall, I'd give the first four stories four stars. The fifth story ("The Final Painting of Hawley Exton") was simply confusing to me, and I read it twice. I saw a few places where the story intersected with the story arc from the previous four stories, but whether considering that or disregarding it, I couldn't really figure the story out, and I read it twice. It's not that I didn't understand what happened in the story, but I just couldn't figure out the significance of the events or how they tied in with the larger story's plot. And at the end, I was simply left with the sense that the story was unfinished -- and not in a good way.
October 17, 2012
Outstanding little piece of madness. I have read way too much time travel literature for a sane person and from memory, it's one of the best times I've had reading some. Simon Rip is your typical swashbuckling hero caught in a tale that's everything but typical. Chad Eagleton's conclusion DARKLING IN THE ETERNAL SPACE in particular is a slam-dunk finish that raises to and above the expectations Chris F. Holm, Charles Gramlich and Garnett Elliott had already set. And those expectations were high enough. Once again, David Cranmer shows he can think outside the box and assembled a team of writers that completed each other well, to tackle such a unique challenge. He makes pulp as fun as it ought to be.
March 17, 2014
I read the 2014 re-release and enjoyed the hell out of it! A Rip Through Time is a collaboration between multiple authors telling a single story rather than a collection of short stories sharing a common theme or universe. The end product is a terrific blend of pulp adventure and sci-fi time travel, with some pretty imaginative spins. And in the grand tradition of pulp serials, the door is left wide open for a return appearance of Simon Rip. I couldn't help but grin at the last page, advertising Rip's return in the forthcoming "In the Clear, Black Fields of Night." Definitely a great news series to keep an eye on.
February 14, 2012
Beat To A Pulp: A Rip Through Time is a gritty adventure with all the elements of science fiction noir, combined with a two fisted old school hero, who can still be played by a beautiful femme fatale. Although written by a combination of authors, they blended the adventure together seamlessly with common cause, but distinctive voice.
The final elements of this pulp bargain included an engrossing horror touch in The Final Painting of Hawley Exton and a very entertaining essay on H.G. Wells and the mechanics of time travel.
The final elements of this pulp bargain included an engrossing horror touch in The Final Painting of Hawley Exton and a very entertaining essay on H.G. Wells and the mechanics of time travel.
August 9, 2012
This was a great deal of fun, a pulp yarn incorporating cool time travel concepts (I'm a sucker for time travel stuff). There was just enough weird science to keep the connected stories feeling real enough, mingled nicely with the two-fisted antics of our hero, Simon Rip. Lots of twists and turns along the way, keeping the reader guessing about who's the good guy and who's the bad guy... although we're never in doubt about Simon himself, natch.
Wrapped up with a fascinating essay on time travel in fiction.
Wrapped up with a fascinating essay on time travel in fiction.
December 14, 2011
What great fun this one was. Four writers working from the core idea of a fifth writer, David Cranmer, have put together a grand romp across time, and in the process played off each other's ideas in exciting ways. This is the kind of pulp adventure you don't often see anymore and I was thrilled to be invited to be a part of it.
September 14, 2012
I loved it until the last installment. I just didn't understand it. Great story.
January 13, 2013
I liked the first several stories but found myself losing interest for the last two.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews