A Traveler in Time

by August Derleth

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.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Time Travel, Fiction, Audiobook

14 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and for his own contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and the Cosmic Horror genre, as well as his founding of the publisher Arkham House (which did much to bring supernatural fiction into print in hardcover in the US that had only been readily available in the UK), Derleth was a leading American regional writer of his day, as well as prolific in several other genres, including historical fiction, poetry, detective fiction, science fiction, and biography

A 1938 Guggenheim Fellow, Derleth considered his most serious work to be the ambitious Sac Prairie Saga, a series of fiction, historical fiction, poetry, and non-fiction naturalist works designed to memorialize life in the Wisconsin he knew. Derleth can also be considered a pioneering naturalist and conservationist in his writing

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augus...]

Reviews

[Perry Whitford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tongue-in-cheek time traveling tale from the curator of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Vanderkamp is a crazy looking crank who lives with his nagging sister. Of Dutch decsent, he has a keen interest in the original New York when it used to be called New Amsterdam, so much so that he built his own time machine to take him back there.

I'll give Vanderkamp credit for acknowledging where he got the idea from ('H. G. Wells was there first. I owe it to Wells.'), as well as his model for the machine itself, a spinning top design stolen from the pages of Brick Bradford, a 1930s comic strip hero in the vein of Flash Gordon who I confess to never having heard of.

Originally published in Orbit volume 1, number 2, 1953.

[Tom Britz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical story about an eccentric inventor who invents a time machine and takes it back to 1650 to New Amsterdam. Told from the perspective of a newspaper reporter who is assigned to write the story as a local color piece. He doesn't believe the story, but is hard put to account for the valuable antiques that begin to show up. Not much to recommend except it's a cute way to spend a half hour or so.

[Chris Aldridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

17/20 32 mins. Part of LibriVox Audiobook “Short SF Collection Vol. 058”. Quite well narrated by Dan Grozinski dg73. I’m a sucker for time traveler stories, this one is not really that great though..

[Katie Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

not a bad little time travel story, if a bit generic. thought the little twist at the end was fun but nothing astounding, 2.5 stars!

[Elise a.k.a. PAPERNERD · Rating 3 out of 5]

...just another time travel/time machine story.
Nevertheless entertaining !

Would recommend !

[Phil Giunta · Rating 2 out of 5]

In 1953, a man named Vanderkamp builds a time machine in his workshop in the Bowery section of Manhattan and repeatedly travels to 1650, when the neighborhood was a Dutch colony known as New Amsterdam. There, Vanderkamp befriends a Dutch woman named Anna Van Tromp who bears a striking resemblance to his nagging sister, Julie. Vanderkamp tells Anna about the future, often bringing back small appliances and gadgets from his time until one day when Vanderkamp and his sister disappear. A few weeks later, Anna appears in the Bowery.

A passable short story with a convoluted payoff. The reason for Anna’s appearance in 1953, and her subsequent fate, makes no sense in the context of the story. It was as if Derleth could not find a more suitable ending.

[Βασίλης Μέγας · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time (mostly) and space are the objectives of this story. Derleth tells us a story about time travels and he succeeds in this attempt. Elementary scientific knowledge and imagination are all it takes and Derleth is a master of both.

[Carl Palmateer · Rating 3 out of 5]

An adequate story that needs a bit more. Much too close to HG Wells.

[Kiara Selena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lowkey evil, I love it.

[Harvey Dias · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, entertaining story

[Dee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very engaging...

[Timothy Morrison]

Honestly don't know what time traveling will be like, but does it ever seem even remotely possible?

[Berna · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 stars rounded up to 4.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sort of creepy the relationship between brother and sister.

[Phil (Theophilus) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not every one who was a Lovecraft contemporary was a compelling writer. Derleth succeeds outstandingly in that capacity.

[Mike Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time travel is taken very lightly in this one. Focus is on comedy that is mildly funny.