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Two Timer
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
3 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 24, 2011
3 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
Fredric Brown
805 books353 followersFredric Brown was an American science fiction and mystery writer. He was one of the boldest early writers in genre fiction in his use of narrative experimentation. While never in the front rank of popularity in his lifetime, Brown has developed a considerable cult following in the almost half century since he last wrote. His works have been periodically reprinted and he has a worldwide fan base, most notably in the U.S. and Europe, and especially in France, where there have been several recent movie adaptations of his work. He also remains popular in Japan.
Never financially secure, Brown - like many other pulp writers - often wrote at a furious pace in order to pay bills. This accounts, at least in part, for the uneven quality of his work. A newspaperman by profession, Brown was only able to devote 14 years of his life as a full-time fiction writer. Brown was also a heavy drinker, and this at times doubtless affected his productivity. A cultured man and omnivorous reader whose interests ranged far beyond those of most pulp writers, Brown had a lifelong interest in the flute, chess, poker, and the works of Lewis Carroll. Brown married twice and was the father of two sons.
Never financially secure, Brown - like many other pulp writers - often wrote at a furious pace in order to pay bills. This accounts, at least in part, for the uneven quality of his work. A newspaperman by profession, Brown was only able to devote 14 years of his life as a full-time fiction writer. Brown was also a heavy drinker, and this at times doubtless affected his productivity. A cultured man and omnivorous reader whose interests ranged far beyond those of most pulp writers, Brown had a lifelong interest in the flute, chess, poker, and the works of Lewis Carroll. Brown married twice and was the father of two sons.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 24, 2019
Review of free Kindle edition
A Public Domain book
Publication date: March 24, 2011
Language: English
ASIN: B004TQH3CE
The two stories in this volume do not match the description posted on Goodreads They have nothing to do with Jack Breton, his double John or their wife Kate.
Originally published in the February 1954 issue of GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION, these two short stories or vignettes as Brown called them are about a page each. Too short for much in the way of plot or character development, the points of both are humorous endings with what were most likely unexpected twists at the time. The second one has subsequently been used many times. It was much fresher in 1954.
A Public Domain book
Publication date: March 24, 2011
Language: English
ASIN: B004TQH3CE
The two stories in this volume do not match the description posted on Goodreads They have nothing to do with Jack Breton, his double John or their wife Kate.
Originally published in the February 1954 issue of GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION, these two short stories or vignettes as Brown called them are about a page each. Too short for much in the way of plot or character development, the points of both are humorous endings with what were most likely unexpected twists at the time. The second one has subsequently been used many times. It was much fresher in 1954.
November 22, 2025
This is one of those compact, deceptively simple science-fiction tales that manages to linger in the mind long after the final sentence. Brown, a master of brevity and twist-centric storytelling, uses this story to explore themes of time travel, grief, identity, and the paradoxical fragility of human desire.
The premise is classic Brown: a machine is created to recover the dead by reaching back through time, retrieving a deceased loved one moments before their death.
The emotional appeal is obvious, and the story wastes no time drawing readers into the protagonist’s aching hope. Brown’s prose is tight but evocative—he sketches emotional landscapes with just a few lines, trusting the reader to fill the silences.
But, as always with Brown, what begins as a speculative miracle quickly reveals its ethical fault lines. The “two-timer” machine creates duplicates—someone dies in the past, but their earlier self is pulled into the future. The emotional and societal implications are enormous, and Brown hints at them without turning the story into a treatise.
He keeps the focus personal: the protagonist wants his wife back, and this desperation drives everything.
The eventual twist—that retrieving a loved one does not restore a relationship fractured by time, trauma, or emotional distance—is quintessential Brown. He was never sentimental, even though his stories often orbit longing. Instead, Two Timer becomes a quiet meditation on whether it is truly possible to bring back what has been lost, even with godlike technology.
The story dismantles the fantasy gently but firmly.
Brown’s great strength is the rhythm of revelation. Each new piece of information arrives with perfect timing, building tension without melodrama. The final moments strike with a soft but devastating inevitability—not a shocking twist, but a melancholy truth sliding into place.
What makes the story endure is its emotional honesty. Brown uses science fiction not to escape reality but to magnify it. In Two Timer, the time machine becomes a metaphor for all the ways humans try to reclaim lost love: memory, denial, and obsession. The protagonist’s tragedy is not that the technology fails, but that it cannot heal what is fundamentally human.
This is Brown at his finest—clear, clever, and quietly heartbreaking.
The premise is classic Brown: a machine is created to recover the dead by reaching back through time, retrieving a deceased loved one moments before their death.
The emotional appeal is obvious, and the story wastes no time drawing readers into the protagonist’s aching hope. Brown’s prose is tight but evocative—he sketches emotional landscapes with just a few lines, trusting the reader to fill the silences.
But, as always with Brown, what begins as a speculative miracle quickly reveals its ethical fault lines. The “two-timer” machine creates duplicates—someone dies in the past, but their earlier self is pulled into the future. The emotional and societal implications are enormous, and Brown hints at them without turning the story into a treatise.
He keeps the focus personal: the protagonist wants his wife back, and this desperation drives everything.
The eventual twist—that retrieving a loved one does not restore a relationship fractured by time, trauma, or emotional distance—is quintessential Brown. He was never sentimental, even though his stories often orbit longing. Instead, Two Timer becomes a quiet meditation on whether it is truly possible to bring back what has been lost, even with godlike technology.
The story dismantles the fantasy gently but firmly.
Brown’s great strength is the rhythm of revelation. Each new piece of information arrives with perfect timing, building tension without melodrama. The final moments strike with a soft but devastating inevitability—not a shocking twist, but a melancholy truth sliding into place.
What makes the story endure is its emotional honesty. Brown uses science fiction not to escape reality but to magnify it. In Two Timer, the time machine becomes a metaphor for all the ways humans try to reclaim lost love: memory, denial, and obsession. The protagonist’s tragedy is not that the technology fails, but that it cannot heal what is fundamentally human.
This is Brown at his finest—clear, clever, and quietly heartbreaking.
January 27, 2023
So all the editions of this book on Goodreads have the wrong description. Even Google books has the wrong description. So do several other websites. Someone, somewhere, mixed up Fredric Brown’s work with another book and people ever since have been repeating that mistake without checking their facts.
Other reviewers on Goodreads have described the two short stories that make up Brown’s Two Timer. But as far as I can tell the summary that was originally given in Galaxy Science Fiction when it was published in 1954 was -
“Here is a brace of vignettes by the Old Vignette Master ... short and sharp ... like a hypodermic”
The description incorrectly given for Brown’s stories is actually that of a book by Bob Shaw called The Two Timers. You can find it on Goodreads, with its correct description.
It took me less than ten minutes on Google to track this information down. It’s frustrating that publishers and other websites haven’t bothered to take ten minutes to check their facts before publishing incorrect information.
Other reviewers on Goodreads have described the two short stories that make up Brown’s Two Timer. But as far as I can tell the summary that was originally given in Galaxy Science Fiction when it was published in 1954 was -
“Here is a brace of vignettes by the Old Vignette Master ... short and sharp ... like a hypodermic”
The description incorrectly given for Brown’s stories is actually that of a book by Bob Shaw called The Two Timers. You can find it on Goodreads, with its correct description.
It took me less than ten minutes on Google to track this information down. It’s frustrating that publishers and other websites haven’t bothered to take ten minutes to check their facts before publishing incorrect information.
January 19, 2025
A Two-Fer.
🖊 There are two flash fiction stories inside:
“Experiment” – a tale of a time machine gone awry. ★★★★★
“Sentry” – a glimpse of what is normal in the world. ★★★★★
📕Published in Galaxy Science Fiction, Vol. 7, No. 5A, February 1954.
🎨Illustrated.
જ⁀🟢The e-book version on Project Gutenberg .
༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻ ༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻
My ratings for both of these short stories:
Content: ★★★★★
Grammar: ★★★★★
Writing style: ★★★★★
Ease of reading: ★★★★★
My recommendation: ★★★★★
My total rating for this work: ★★★★★ (5.0)
🖊 There are two flash fiction stories inside:
“Experiment” – a tale of a time machine gone awry. ★★★★★
“Sentry” – a glimpse of what is normal in the world. ★★★★★
📕Published in Galaxy Science Fiction, Vol. 7, No. 5A, February 1954.
🎨Illustrated.
જ⁀🟢The e-book version on Project Gutenberg .
༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻ ༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻
My ratings for both of these short stories:
Content: ★★★★★
Grammar: ★★★★★
Writing style: ★★★★★
Ease of reading: ★★★★★
My recommendation: ★★★★★
My total rating for this work: ★★★★★ (5.0)
November 30, 2022
might be 3 1/2.
Both had a surprise ending. Though the second one is an old surprise now. I’ll bet it was new new when the author used it.
Both had a surprise ending. Though the second one is an old surprise now. I’ll bet it was new new when the author used it.
March 22, 2023
great story
available for free here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fHSH...
available for free here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fHSH...
June 29, 2023
Audiobook.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews