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Sidewise in Time
Ten selected short stories from the master of pulp, Murray Leinster - pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, whose prolific career spanned the first six decades of the 20th Century. The Golden Age Masterwork of Sidewise in Time includes the Hugo Award-winning novella "Exploration Team".
Full contents
Sidewise in Time
The Runaway Skyscraper
The Mad Planet
Politics
Proxima Centauri
First Contact
A Logic Names Joe
De Profundis
If You Was a Moklin
Exploration Team
Full contents
Sidewise in Time
The Runaway Skyscraper
The Mad Planet
Politics
Proxima Centauri
First Contact
A Logic Names Joe
De Profundis
If You Was a Moklin
Exploration Team
400 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1950
About the author
Murray Leinster
965 books133 followerssee also:
Will F. Jenkins
William Fitzgerald Jenkins
Murray Leinster was a nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history. He wrote and published over 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays.
An author whose career spanned the first six decades of the 20th Century. From mystery and adventure stories in the earliest years to science fiction in his later years, he worked steadily and at a highly professional level of craftsmanship longer than most writers of his generation. He won a Hugo Award in 1956 for his novelet “Exploration Team,” and in 1995 the Sidewise Award for Alternate History took its name from his classic story, “Sidewise in Time.” His last original work appeared in 1967.
Will F. Jenkins
William Fitzgerald Jenkins
Murray Leinster was a nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history. He wrote and published over 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays.
An author whose career spanned the first six decades of the 20th Century. From mystery and adventure stories in the earliest years to science fiction in his later years, he worked steadily and at a highly professional level of craftsmanship longer than most writers of his generation. He won a Hugo Award in 1956 for his novelet “Exploration Team,” and in 1995 the Sidewise Award for Alternate History took its name from his classic story, “Sidewise in Time.” His last original work appeared in 1967.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 24, 2022
More often than not, collections of stories tend to be a mixed bag and this one is no exception.
I'll review all 10 of the stories briefly below. But there is a sort of meta-formula going through most of them which, once noticed, is very hard to ignore or dislodge from one's mind. It goes like this: "Clever manly man manly overcomes adversity and cleverly solves the problem, gets the girl."
I should pause to say that Leinster was a very good writer - he never executes the basic formula twice the same way and sentence for sentence and page for page one almost always wants to know how things will unfold. Nevertheless - the formula is there all the same and my own enjoyment was at times very severely marred by awareness of it.
Allowances must be made, of course, for time and place. The first stories appeared in 1920 and the last novella in 1956. They are, esentially, from a somewhat different planet Earth than the one we are lucky to know.
Well, let's get to it:
1. "Sidewise in Time" - This story and the next one rely on a particularly dubious "scientific" notion that since time is the 4th dimension, seismic activity can affect it. I suspect that even for 1920 such a notion was mildly bonkers. However, the story is told with considerable panache. Formula twist - there are two clever manly men! And two girls! 3/5
2. "The Runaway Skyscraper" - A bit run-of-the-mill. Clever manly man etc. 2/5
3. "The Mad Planet" - I loved it. Amazing. No spoilers. Welcome formula twist: we get to see how clever manly man gradually becomes so. Of course he gets the girl, don't worry. 5/5
4. "Politics" - Absolutely horrible jingoistic clap-trap. One good point made: precision weapons, when deployed inside an efficient OODA loop will trounce ostensibly superior "dumb" ones (a comparison to the stunning use of HIMARS by the Ukrainian Army comes to mind). But otherwise, waste of time. Formula twist: in the hurry to revel in fictional gory battles, he forgot to even include the girl... (Oh, and there are no actual characters to speak of. The one who at least has a name keps calling the other "old horse". No, they are both human. That's supposedly how junior naval officers talk? Oh my.) 0/5
5. "Proxima Centauri" - A macabre take on First Contact. Formula twist: There are two clever manly men but only one girl. 3/5
6. "First Contact" - A slightly more optimistic take on First Contact. But so repetitive. Formula twist: once again no girl but at least humans and aliens share dirty jokes. 2/5
7. "A Logic Named Joe" - Interesting early take on AI. But I didn't like the folksy language. It's "old horse" all over again. Formula twist: the girl is out to get the clever man. 3/5
8. "De Profundis" - Brilliant. This is sci-fi at its best. 5/5
9. "If You Was a Moklin" - Top marks for imagination, ending slightly predictable. 4/5
10. "Exploration Team" - Another take on AI (in modern terms). No girls again but there are bears. 3/5
I'll review all 10 of the stories briefly below. But there is a sort of meta-formula going through most of them which, once noticed, is very hard to ignore or dislodge from one's mind. It goes like this: "Clever manly man manly overcomes adversity and cleverly solves the problem, gets the girl."
I should pause to say that Leinster was a very good writer - he never executes the basic formula twice the same way and sentence for sentence and page for page one almost always wants to know how things will unfold. Nevertheless - the formula is there all the same and my own enjoyment was at times very severely marred by awareness of it.
Allowances must be made, of course, for time and place. The first stories appeared in 1920 and the last novella in 1956. They are, esentially, from a somewhat different planet Earth than the one we are lucky to know.
Well, let's get to it:
1. "Sidewise in Time" - This story and the next one rely on a particularly dubious "scientific" notion that since time is the 4th dimension, seismic activity can affect it. I suspect that even for 1920 such a notion was mildly bonkers. However, the story is told with considerable panache. Formula twist - there are two clever manly men! And two girls! 3/5
2. "The Runaway Skyscraper" - A bit run-of-the-mill. Clever manly man etc. 2/5
3. "The Mad Planet" - I loved it. Amazing. No spoilers. Welcome formula twist: we get to see how clever manly man gradually becomes so. Of course he gets the girl, don't worry. 5/5
4. "Politics" - Absolutely horrible jingoistic clap-trap. One good point made: precision weapons, when deployed inside an efficient OODA loop will trounce ostensibly superior "dumb" ones (a comparison to the stunning use of HIMARS by the Ukrainian Army comes to mind). But otherwise, waste of time. Formula twist: in the hurry to revel in fictional gory battles, he forgot to even include the girl... (Oh, and there are no actual characters to speak of. The one who at least has a name keps calling the other "old horse". No, they are both human. That's supposedly how junior naval officers talk? Oh my.) 0/5
5. "Proxima Centauri" - A macabre take on First Contact. Formula twist: There are two clever manly men but only one girl. 3/5
6. "First Contact" - A slightly more optimistic take on First Contact. But so repetitive. Formula twist: once again no girl but at least humans and aliens share dirty jokes. 2/5
7. "A Logic Named Joe" - Interesting early take on AI. But I didn't like the folksy language. It's "old horse" all over again. Formula twist: the girl is out to get the clever man. 3/5
8. "De Profundis" - Brilliant. This is sci-fi at its best. 5/5
9. "If You Was a Moklin" - Top marks for imagination, ending slightly predictable. 4/5
10. "Exploration Team" - Another take on AI (in modern terms). No girls again but there are bears. 3/5
April 24, 2023
Rating 3 (overall)
As usual with short story collections a bit of a mixed bag I thought.
There were probably 4 or 5 very good ones with interesting ideas and plots ,whilst the rest were not bad as much as quite slow with plots that didn’t really grab my attention.
It might be that this writers style didn’t gel with me as much as other golden age sf writers have done in the past.
Overall an okay read but possibly one to dip into occasionally rather than read cover to cover.
As usual with short story collections a bit of a mixed bag I thought.
There were probably 4 or 5 very good ones with interesting ideas and plots ,whilst the rest were not bad as much as quite slow with plots that didn’t really grab my attention.
It might be that this writers style didn’t gel with me as much as other golden age sf writers have done in the past.
Overall an okay read but possibly one to dip into occasionally rather than read cover to cover.
December 30, 2024
Usually short story books are inconsistent. One or two great stories, a few passable ones and the rest dross. The stories in this book were consistently good. The only story I didn’t like was Politics which was pages of boring action sequences designed to set up a punch line. Cut that story and this is a five star book. All the stories were different to each other and highly entertaining. If you like short sci fi this book is a must.
December 4, 2022
Short story collection with SF stories (written between 1919 and 1956) of varying quality. Some stories don't read smoothly, are a bit long-winded and misogynistic. Other stories are good and could easily be used for a movie or TV series. 2½ stars.
July 8, 2015
Sidewise in Time the titualar story/novella was written back in 1936. It has since been republished dozens of times, including in this volume. Think it might be dated, poorly written, and not worth you time? Think again. This is fast paced, innovative early sf, the earliest, I believe--and one of the most influential--of alternate universe stories. It's thoughtful work, and bursting with action.
An event occurs wherein time becomes a jumbled inextricable mess. Leinster conveys this through a sequence of vivid vignettes: Roman legion soldiers appear out of nowhere in Joplin, Missouri; a jungle, complete with a dinosaur appears outside of a farmer's home; viking ships are spotted off the east coast, and on.
One man, a college professor named Minott has anticpated the event, and takes an opportunistic approach to the dilemma, taking four of his students along by force for the ride.
Some claim that Leinster's style was crude. I have always found his prose to have a certain charm, and when he was on, far better than the average pulp writer. Compare the writing of Sidewise in Time for instance to Burrough's A Princess of Mars (with all due respect to that fun classic) and you will see what I mean.
Of the other handful of stories, A Logic Named Joe stands out. It is known mainly for predicting the internet accurately something like four or five decades prior. But what I find most charming is the "palooka" type first person narrative. To my knowledge, Leinster rarely utilized first person, but here he uses it for fun, to keep the tone light.
Worth a look for these two stories alone, but all of them are quite good.
An event occurs wherein time becomes a jumbled inextricable mess. Leinster conveys this through a sequence of vivid vignettes: Roman legion soldiers appear out of nowhere in Joplin, Missouri; a jungle, complete with a dinosaur appears outside of a farmer's home; viking ships are spotted off the east coast, and on.
One man, a college professor named Minott has anticpated the event, and takes an opportunistic approach to the dilemma, taking four of his students along by force for the ride.
Some claim that Leinster's style was crude. I have always found his prose to have a certain charm, and when he was on, far better than the average pulp writer. Compare the writing of Sidewise in Time for instance to Burrough's A Princess of Mars (with all due respect to that fun classic) and you will see what I mean.
Of the other handful of stories, A Logic Named Joe stands out. It is known mainly for predicting the internet accurately something like four or five decades prior. But what I find most charming is the "palooka" type first person narrative. To my knowledge, Leinster rarely utilized first person, but here he uses it for fun, to keep the tone light.
Worth a look for these two stories alone, but all of them are quite good.
July 29, 2021
This proved to be better than I expected. Not all the stories appealed to me, with a lull in some of the tales however, it opened and ended very strongly. Considering the first two, Sidewise in Time and The Runaway Skyscraper, were written just over one hundred years ago, the imagination on display from Murray Leinster is outstanding. Proxima Centauri and First Contact are also excellent, as is the first final story, winner of the Hugo novella in 1956, Exploration Team. All in all, a pleasure to read.
October 11, 2022
Definitely interesting - some stories and concepts have not aged well, but I did love The Mad Planet. Fantastic story.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews