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Sidewise in Time
In Sidewise in Time, Leinster invented the theme of parallel universes. Follow a university professor and his hand-picked team of students as they attempt to enthrone themselves as masters of a time-fractured world. In The Strange Case of John Kingman, join a doctor of a psychiatric hospital as he studies the records of a patient who is truly out of this world.
Unbound
First published June 1, 1934
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About the author
Murray Leinster
898 books121 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
October 9, 2013
Murray Leinster's 1934 novella classic "Sidewise in Time" has apparently more or less disappeared from the earth (7 GR ratings). Maybe that's ironically appropriate, as the work takes as it's start point a "time quake", in so many words, where different pieces of alternate earths end up parked next to each other--- thus, roman legions attack a early dodge at one point, and Vikings in north america might meet Chinese berry pickers in another. The result is obviously lots of cinematic like scenes, and a lot of Sci-fi writers pay homage to this work.
This work is apparently off copyright now, so the Internet should have a copy. SF classic, soon to be 80 years old
This work is apparently off copyright now, so the Internet should have a copy. SF classic, soon to be 80 years old
May 22, 2022
A science fiction classic, the novella Sidewise in Time kickstarts the popular use of alternate history in SF stories. As a big fan of alternate history, that's the primary reason I picked it up (the story even lends it name to the Sidewise Awards, given out every year since 1995). The actual element of alternate history and different timelines is used to great effect here (timequakes!) and we get to see a bunch of alternate timelines as they bleed over into our own. Amusingly, due to when the book was first published (in 1934), the cliched use of "what if the Nazis won WWII?" in modern alternate history stories is, of course, never used.
However, the mechanism that Leinster uses to illustrate this story is not great, as Professor Minott is the only one who predicted that the timequakes would happen and decided to become a megalomaniacal figure bent on conquering a more primitive world so he can be an emperor with thousands of slaves, kidnapping seven of his students to go along with his plan. He's mostly foiled by the end by the students, but it was incredibly eyerolling, and that's not even getting into the casual racism from all of the characters (who are of course, all white) and the extreme dehumanization of slaves in this story.
So I appreciate the role this story played in alternate history as a subgenre of speculative fiction, but it's not something I would ever recommend to a modern reader unless it's for the historical value.
However, the mechanism that Leinster uses to illustrate this story is not great, as Professor Minott is the only one who predicted that the timequakes would happen and decided to become a megalomaniacal figure bent on conquering a more primitive world so he can be an emperor with thousands of slaves, kidnapping seven of his students to go along with his plan. He's mostly foiled by the end by the students, but it was incredibly eyerolling, and that's not even getting into the casual racism from all of the characters (who are of course, all white) and the extreme dehumanization of slaves in this story.
So I appreciate the role this story played in alternate history as a subgenre of speculative fiction, but it's not something I would ever recommend to a modern reader unless it's for the historical value.
March 22, 2025
The original.
I first read this about 55 years ago.
I was a young teenager, and I was enthralled.
With each rereading, I wish that he had expanded it into a full lenght novel.
Alas.
It's 91 years old, but only a few details in the background make you realise it. Motor-car instead of car, for instance.
I first read this about 55 years ago.
I was a young teenager, and I was enthralled.
With each rereading, I wish that he had expanded it into a full lenght novel.
Alas.
It's 91 years old, but only a few details in the background make you realise it. Motor-car instead of car, for instance.
October 11, 2021
An interesting collection, some more so.
The story "The Mad Planet" is this related to another short story? Small people it a giant world, eating mushrooms seems familiar. The other story ended with them climbing up and into the sunlight.
The story "The Mad Planet" is this related to another short story? Small people it a giant world, eating mushrooms seems familiar. The other story ended with them climbing up and into the sunlight.
November 1, 2019
Down the street of Joplin, Missouri, on June 5, in the Year of Our World 1935, came a file of spear-armed, shield-bearing soldiers in the short, skirt like togas of ancient Rome. They wore helmets upon their heads. They peered about as if they were as blankly amazed as the citizens of Joplin who regarded them.
This time-slip novella was published in 1934 and seems to be out of print, which is surprising, as it is very enjoyable. I especially like the ending, with most but not all of the world back as it should be.
One day in June 1935 the world wakes up to find various pieces of land have been replaced by pieces of alternate earths and their inhabitants. The only person who has anticipated this is a mathematics professor at an obscure American university who leads a few of his male students across the nearest border to investigate the sequoia forest that has appeared near the university. The geography student is able to confirm that the land is still the same, with hills, valleys and streams in the same places as before, but they find that it is a dangerous place and it is all too easy to become lost as they cross the borders from one world to another.
This time-slip novella was published in 1934 and seems to be out of print, which is surprising, as it is very enjoyable. I especially like the ending, with most but not all of the world back as it should be.
One day in June 1935 the world wakes up to find various pieces of land have been replaced by pieces of alternate earths and their inhabitants. The only person who has anticipated this is a mathematics professor at an obscure American university who leads a few of his male students across the nearest border to investigate the sequoia forest that has appeared near the university. The geography student is able to confirm that the land is still the same, with hills, valleys and streams in the same places as before, but they find that it is a dangerous place and it is all too easy to become lost as they cross the borders from one world to another.
February 9, 2021
I love this story, even though I’m not too crazy about the mathematics professor as power-hungry madman plot. Just give me time quakes and the results therefrom, and I’d be very happy.
May 2, 2023
2.5 stars. The ideas and world-building in this book are so fire for the most part. There are definitely plot holes or things that weren't thought out, though (for example, these parallel universes where Rome or China or Norseman conquered America still have these societies largely dressing and acting the same as they did in our prehistories--but the whole point of speculative evolution is that these societies should've evolved). Still, there were ideas in here I'd never heard before and didn't expect, so that was refreshing (not sure if the reason I've never heard them before is because they're not really scientifically sound 100 years after the fact, though).
As a story though, this just wasn't it. Characters felt like characters and the way things developed felt very much like it was a story and not real life. Characters always spoke and acted in the extreme. In terms of story development, ideas were repeated so much-like, we get it, the dude's angry. And everything happening felt like it was just a chess piece being pushed arbitrarily to where it was supposed to go. Corners are cut and things are described in a way that feels forced and not real. Characters were shocked or scared or processed things in a way that felt not as if life were transpiring, but rather a storyteller was moving their bodies and emotions. I've noticed this with some of Ray Bradbury's earlier work, so I guess this was just a characteristic of pulp stories back then--this arbitrary moving of pieces. I like my sci-fi more nuanced and grounded in facts. Also, there wasn't really any thematic work happening to elevate this story. And, as this story was published in the 1930s, there are definitely outdated views of gender and race featured prominently here and they can even get annoying at times. This story is fun, though, in its ideas--and worth a read solely because of that.
As a story though, this just wasn't it. Characters felt like characters and the way things developed felt very much like it was a story and not real life. Characters always spoke and acted in the extreme. In terms of story development, ideas were repeated so much-like, we get it, the dude's angry. And everything happening felt like it was just a chess piece being pushed arbitrarily to where it was supposed to go. Corners are cut and things are described in a way that feels forced and not real. Characters were shocked or scared or processed things in a way that felt not as if life were transpiring, but rather a storyteller was moving their bodies and emotions. I've noticed this with some of Ray Bradbury's earlier work, so I guess this was just a characteristic of pulp stories back then--this arbitrary moving of pieces. I like my sci-fi more nuanced and grounded in facts. Also, there wasn't really any thematic work happening to elevate this story. And, as this story was published in the 1930s, there are definitely outdated views of gender and race featured prominently here and they can even get annoying at times. This story is fun, though, in its ideas--and worth a read solely because of that.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews