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Change War
Changewar
CHANGEWAR
It is happening right now: the war through Time. The battleground is the eternal present. The objective is to alter the past. And the goal is to seize control of the future. The warriors are ordinary people, like yourself...
Contents:
Try and Change the Past
The Oldest Soldier
Damnation Morning
When the Change-Winds Blow
Knight to Move
A Deskful of Girls
No Great Magic
It is happening right now: the war through Time. The battleground is the eternal present. The objective is to alter the past. And the goal is to seize control of the future. The warriors are ordinary people, like yourself...
Contents:
Try and Change the Past
The Oldest Soldier
Damnation Morning
When the Change-Winds Blow
Knight to Move
A Deskful of Girls
No Great Magic
198 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 1983
3 people are currently reading
263 people want to read
About the author
Fritz Leiber
1,338 books1,052 followersFritz Reuter Leiber Jr. was one of the more interesting of the young writers who came into HP Lovecraft's orbit, and some of his best early short fiction is horror rather than sf or fantasy. He found his mature voice early in the first of the sword-and-sorcery adventures featuring the large sensitive barbarian Fafhrd and the small street-smart-ish Gray Mouser; he returned to this series at various points in his career, using it sometimes for farce and sometimes for gloomy mood pieces--The Swords of Lankhmar is perhaps the best single volume of their adventures. Leiber's science fiction includes the planet-smashing The Wanderer in which a large cast mostly survive flood, fire, and the sexual attentions of feline aliens, and the satirical A Spectre is Haunting Texas in which a gangling, exo-skeleton-clad actor from the Moon leads a revolution and finds his true love. Leiber's late short fiction, and the fine horror novel Our Lady of Darkness, combine autobiographical issues like his struggle with depression and alcoholism with meditations on the emotional content of the fantastic genres. Leiber's capacity for endless self-reinvention and productive self-examination kept him, until his death, one of the most modern of his sf generation.
Used These Alternate Names: Maurice Breçon, Fric Lajber, Fritz Leiber, Jr., Fritz R. Leiber, Fritz Leiber Jun., Фриц Лейбер, F. Lieber, フリッツ・ライバー
Used These Alternate Names: Maurice Breçon, Fric Lajber, Fritz Leiber, Jr., Fritz R. Leiber, Fritz Leiber Jun., Фриц Лейбер, F. Lieber, フリッツ・ライバー
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
December 11, 2024
Leiber's Change War series spotlighted isolated events and characters in a conflict of unimaginable scope throughout time and space in which two groups, the Spiders and the Snakes, attempted to influence the timeline to further their own agendas. We never get a clear picture of the overall brouhaha, just glimpses and bits and pieces, but it makes a fascinating framework with interesting individual stories along the way. The cover of my Ace edition proclaims: "First time in one volume- all his Changewar stories!", which is absolutely inaccurate. It has about half of the short pieces (and I believe the rest are available in The Mind Spider, another Ace collection), and of course his novel The Big Time isn't here. The stories collected here first appeared between 1958 and '65, in magazines ranging from Astounding and Broadside to F & SF and Fantastic and Galaxy, so they've aged a bit in both technology and social convention. I especially enjoyed Try and Change the Past, A Deskful of Girls (see above note about aging), and the niftily Shakespearian No Great Magic.
April 16, 2020
A collection of stories from Mr. Leiber's Changewar series. Apparently not the only Leiber book by this title; my paperback (loaned from Regent University libraries) contains the following stories:
I am missing the following four stories (seen in the Gregg Press version, The Change War; The first three of which are found in The Big Time / The Mind Spider and Other Stories:
"spoiler alert" removed...
"Try and Change the Past", 1958
"The Oldest Soldier", 1960
"Damnation Morning", 1959
"When the Change-Winds Blow", 1964
"Knight to Move", 1965
"A Deskful of Girls", 1958
"No Great Magic", 1960
I am missing the following four stories (seen in the Gregg Press version, The Change War; The first three of which are found in The Big Time / The Mind Spider and Other Stories:
The Number of the Beast (1958)
The Haunted Future (1959)
The Mind Spider (1959)
Black Corridor (1967)
"spoiler alert" removed...
November 11, 2017
I didn't know this book, which collects almost all Leiber's time traveling Change War stories, existed until recently. I'd read most of the Change War stories over the years (including the only one not included here, The Big Time) but two in this book were new to me: "Knight to Move" and "No Great Magic".
The overall premise here is that history can be changed, but it's really difficult. In fact, to pull it off you need the equivalent of a time-traveling army. There are two such forces that struggle endlessly in this story cycle: the Spiders and the Snakes.
One of the things I've heard people say they don't like about the Change War stories is the uncertainty. The protagonists don't really know why the two sides are fighting, what goals each has, what year it "really" is, or even who's in charge--are they aliens, members of species that already died out or haven't evolved yet, or just humans who chose those names like you might pick Shirts and Skins for your touch football teams? To me, though, it's part of the charm. All the characters are just foot soldiers in the long war--asked only to do or die, not reason why. And anyway, at the end of The Big Time, it's hinted that what's going on might not be a war at all; it only appears that it is from the characters' perspective.
A quick rundown of the stories:
Try and Change the Past: A classic exposition of the 'you can't change the past' theory. (Actually, it's not that you can't; it's just so hard that the protagonist--a new Snake recruit--gives up trying. But you can't blame him.)
The Oldest Soldier: A time-traveling soldier helps a half-hearted pacifist understand that military service is honorable. He then helps the soldier escape enemies and return to his unit. One of my favorites.
Damnation Morning: Another new recruit's story. That's about all I can say without giving away the twist.
When the Change-Winds Blow: Almost more a prose poem than a story--about "remembrance of things past" when the past is always changing.
Knight to Move: A neat little story featuring chess (another of Leiber's favorite themes) as well as time travel. Incidentally, one of The Big Time's main characters also appears here.
A Deskful of Girls: The longest story in the collection, other than "No Great Magic", and my least favorite. I would say it also has the weakest connection to the Change War--really it just uses the device of cutting "ghosts" out of a living person's timeline, which also occurs in The Big Time.
No Great Magic: A delightful novella, crossing over into another of Leiber's great interests, Shakespearian acting. Given how much The Big Time was structured like a play, it seems only natural to find its cast of characters running a time-traveling theatre. This story, all by itself, made it worth getting Changewar.
The overall premise here is that history can be changed, but it's really difficult. In fact, to pull it off you need the equivalent of a time-traveling army. There are two such forces that struggle endlessly in this story cycle: the Spiders and the Snakes.
One of the things I've heard people say they don't like about the Change War stories is the uncertainty. The protagonists don't really know why the two sides are fighting, what goals each has, what year it "really" is, or even who's in charge--are they aliens, members of species that already died out or haven't evolved yet, or just humans who chose those names like you might pick Shirts and Skins for your touch football teams? To me, though, it's part of the charm. All the characters are just foot soldiers in the long war--asked only to do or die, not reason why. And anyway, at the end of The Big Time, it's hinted that what's going on might not be a war at all; it only appears that it is from the characters' perspective.
A quick rundown of the stories:
Try and Change the Past: A classic exposition of the 'you can't change the past' theory. (Actually, it's not that you can't; it's just so hard that the protagonist--a new Snake recruit--gives up trying. But you can't blame him.)
The Oldest Soldier: A time-traveling soldier helps a half-hearted pacifist understand that military service is honorable. He then helps the soldier escape enemies and return to his unit. One of my favorites.
Damnation Morning: Another new recruit's story. That's about all I can say without giving away the twist.
When the Change-Winds Blow: Almost more a prose poem than a story--about "remembrance of things past" when the past is always changing.
Knight to Move: A neat little story featuring chess (another of Leiber's favorite themes) as well as time travel. Incidentally, one of The Big Time's main characters also appears here.
A Deskful of Girls: The longest story in the collection, other than "No Great Magic", and my least favorite. I would say it also has the weakest connection to the Change War--really it just uses the device of cutting "ghosts" out of a living person's timeline, which also occurs in The Big Time.
No Great Magic: A delightful novella, crossing over into another of Leiber's great interests, Shakespearian acting. Given how much The Big Time was structured like a play, it seems only natural to find its cast of characters running a time-traveling theatre. This story, all by itself, made it worth getting Changewar.
July 22, 2015
‘Crónicas del gran tiempo’ se conforma de siete relatos complementarios, dentro de la serie de la Guerra del Gran Cambio, en información y semi continuidad (Porqué no tienen un rigor cronológico estricto en esencia, ya que pueden darse en paralelo dentro de diferentes espacios y tiempo) a su novela predecesora: ‘ El gran tiempo, premio Hugo en 1958.
La BASE DE LA NOVELA INAUGURAL Y POSTERIORES RELATOS ES LA CONTIENDA DE DOS BANDOS POR LA HEGEMONÍA DEL UNIVERSO: LAS ARAÑAS Y LAS SERPIENTES, QUE MEDIANTE EL VIAJE EN EL TIEMPO CAMBIARÁN CIERTOS ASPECTOS DE LA HISTORIA EN SU BENEFICIO PARA DECLINAR LA BALANZA A SU FAVOR.
Así, pues, nos encontraremos con ‘retazos crónicos’ a lo largo de sus páginas que hablan de estrategias de campo, tácticas de reclutamiento, viajes y misiones en el tiempo y recuerdo y nostalgias de tiempos pasados..
Leiber SIEMPRE ELABORA SUS ARGUMENTOS COMO MERA EXCUSA PARA DIVERTIR, CRITICAR (con un tono ácido e irónico) A LA CONDICIÓN HUMANA y EXORCIZAR SUS PROPIOS DEMONIOS, APARTE DE REALIZAR SUS HOMENAJES PERSONALES A TRAVÉS DE LA ESCRITURA EN LOS DIFERENTES ÁMBITOS DE LA CULTURA QUE TANTO ADMIRABA. ESTO NO DESMERECE PARA NADA SUS TRAMAS, SINO QUE LAS DOTA DE UN ENCANTO PERSONAL Y UNA ESCRITURA ORIENTADA DE MODO MUY SINGULAR, CON LA QUE ENCAJAS O NO, PERO SIN LLEGAR NUNCA A ENAMORARTE ENTERAMENTE COMO LECTOR- ADMIRADOR DEL GÉNERO.
Un autor MÁS EXTRAVAGANTE QUE EXTRAÑO, MÁS CURIOSO QUE INTERESANTE DE LEER, QUE SE DEFINE MEJOR EN LOS PASAJES CORTOS QUE SEMI LARGOS O LARGOS (aquí hay dos buenos ejemplos: ‘Una escritorio lleno de chicas’, algo tedioso al principio pero con una buen final y ‘No es una gran magia’, demasiado largo, excesivo y ampuloso para lo que cuenta), INCLINADO HACÍA LA FANTASÍA PERO CON UNA ADMIRABLE DOSIS DE CIENCIA EL PRESENTE LIBRO.
He AQUÍ UNA OBRA CON MUY BUENA BASE, PUES, PERO DESAPROVECHADA EN PARTE, YA QUE EL DESARROLLO RESULTA DESIGUAL Y A LA GLOBALIDAD DE LA EPOPEYA BÉLICA / CIENTÍFICA DE LEIBER LE FALTA DIMENSIÓN DE GRANDEZA Y CONCRECIÓN ARGUMENTAL, EN EL QUE SE VEA UN PROGRESO LINEAL DEFINIDO DE LA HISTORIA CENTRAL (como en la magnífica ‘Historias del futuro I/II’ de Heinlein). La obra está encaminada más al DIVERTIMENTO DEL LECTOR QUE A LA TRANSCENDENCIA DENTRO DE LA CIENCIA FICCIÓN. Una lástima por que estoy segura que el escritor tenía las herramientas para haberlo logrado, si hubiese querido.
Los relatos que más me han gustado son: la mañana de la condenación, El soldado más veterano y Cuando soplan los vientos del cambio.
A continuación el argumento de cada relato y mis impresiones sobre éstos:
1/ Intenta cambiar el pasado:
El encargado de alterar el pasado en la facción de Las Serpientes, explica el arduo y complicado proceso que conlleva hacerlo, mediante una ilustrativa historia de un humano resucitado como re enganche en su bando...
Relato breve de ciencia ficción narrado con ironía, QUE CRITICA LA ESTUPIDEZ HUMANA Y LA UTILIZACIÓN DE RECURSOS EN NUESTRO FAVOR, CREYÉNDONOS SUPERIORES..EL HOMBRE QUE TROPIEZA CON LA MISMA PIEDRA UNA Y OTRA VEZ, INHERENTE EN NUESTRA CONDICIÓN INTERNA. Además, nos explica LA LEY DE LA CONSERVACIÓN DE LA REALIDAD, POR LA CUAL ES COMPLICADO EL CAMBIO EN EL ESPACIO – TIEMPO DENTRO DE ÉSTA CONTIENDA MUNDIAL.
ME HA GUSTADO
2/ Un escritorio lleno de chicas:
Un encargado de obtener documentación comprometida mediante un trato económico de una estrella cinematográfica, se hace amigo del antiguo psicólogo de ésta que la chantajea, Skyler, en el club de alterne ‘ Contraseña’..pero la cosa no será tan fácil y la misión tan definida como parece...
Relato CON UN LATENTE TONO SEXUAL EN EL QUE LEIBER TEORIZA SOBRE LAS ‘CHICAS FANTASMAS’, Y POSTERIORMENTE DOBLES UTILIZADOS TANTO EN ACCIONES BÉLICAS COMO PARA EL PLACER Y DESCANSO DE LOS SOLDADOS EN LOS CLUBES DE ALTERNE DE LA GRAN GUERRA, QUE TIENE SU APARICIÓN EN LA NOVELA ‘ EL GRAN TIEMPO’.
HISTORIAS MÁS FANTÁSTICA QUE DE RIGOR CIENTÍFICO (los fantasmas son una especie de cuerpo astral en determinado estado situacional y emotivo dentro de su trayectoria de vida), CON UN FINAL DIGNO DE ESCENA CLÁSICA DE NOVELA DE TERROR.
ME HA GUSTADO.
3/ La mañana de la condenación:
Búster es reclutado por una misteriosa agente de una organización, que le ayuda a escapar después de ‘ haber matado’ a alguien.
GRAN RELATO, ATMOSFÉRICO Y TREPIDANTE, ACERCA DEL PAPEL DESEMPEÑADO POR LOS AGENTES DE RECLUTAMIENTO Y LOS RESURRECTORES en la guerra del Gran Cambio, DE LOS PARALELISMOS DE DOS REALIDADES BIFURCADAS DE LA VIDA Y LAS CONSECUENCIAS ESPACIO – TEMPORALES DE HABER ESTADOS EN AMBAS FACCIONES.
ME HA GUSTADO MUCHO.
4/ El soldado más veterano:
Max, uno de los más veteranos en la guerra, les explica cada noche a otros soldados comunes y a un admirador del campo profesional y estrecho amigo suyo desde que se conocieron, Fred, sus idas y venidas al pasado y futuro, con los peligros que comporta estar a pie de batalla, además del conocimiento y vivencia en diferentes culturas y épocas a lo largo de la historia del universo. Una noche Max y Fred compartirán algo más que conversación...
SOBRIO Y FORMAL RELATO ACERCA DEL SIGNIFICADO DE SER SOLDADO, CON UNA SEGUNDA PARTE DE ACCIÓN, ENTRE TENSA Y TERRORÍFICA ( con toques a lo Poe), DONDE SE DA UNA CONTIENDA DE RETAGUARDIA EN EL TIEMPO.
ME HA GUSTADO MUCHO
5/ No es una gran magia:
Greta, la encargada de vestuario de una compañía de teatro clásico que la acogió después de su amnesia en Central Park, comprobará que las puestas en escena de las obras no son del todo normales, cuando se decida a presenciar una entera...
RELATO NARRADO CON CARIÑO, PERO EXCESIVO EN LONGITUD Y EN REFERENCIAS A SHAKESPEARE Y AL TEATRO, POR UNA PARTE OBVIO PARA EL ARGUMENTO Y POR OTRA INNECESARIO POR DESMEDIDO, QUE NOS CUENTA LAS OPERACIONES DE SUSTITUCIÓN O DESTRUCCIÓN DE PERSONAJES HISTÓRICOS DENTRO DE LA GUERRA DEL GRAN CAMBIO.
ESTÁ BIEN.
6/ Cuando soplan los vientos del cambio:
Un superviviente del cataclismo atómico mundial explora Marte en su exilio voluntario, intentando hallar alguna ruina histórica cambiada de lugar por el flujo constante de tiempo y espacio en la contienda bélica de Arañas y Serpientes, mientras rememora pasajes felices de su vida.
BONITO RELATO, NARRADO DE MODO FILOSÓFICO, POÉTICO, ONÍRICO Y NOSTÁLGICO, QUE ABORDA LA TEORÍA DEL PARALELISMO VIVIDO ENTRE PASADO, PRESENTE Y FUTURO CON LA FANTASÍA AÑADIDA DE LOS MODIFICADORES TEMPORALES.
ME HA GUSTADO MUCHO
7/ Movimiento de caballo:
Una agente de las Serpientes supervisa un torneo Interestelar de Ajedrez en el planeta neutral 61 Cisne 5, el cual ambas facciones se disputan abiertamente en pro del desequilibrio final por el apoderamiento de planetas, cuando otro oficial enemigo se enfrenta dialécticamente a ella..pero ahí no quedará la cosa, a pesar de estar en suelo neutral...
RELATO SOBRE LA ACCIÓN ESTRATÉGICA EN CAMPO ABIERTO, CON METÁFORAS DE LAS TÁCTICAS UTILIZADAS MEDIANTE CONOCIDOS JUEGOS DE TABLERO Y PISTA, CON REFERENCIA EN ESPACIO Y TIEMPO: UNIDIMENSIONAL, TRIDIMENSIONAL Y BIMENSIONAL.
ME HA GUSTADO
La BASE DE LA NOVELA INAUGURAL Y POSTERIORES RELATOS ES LA CONTIENDA DE DOS BANDOS POR LA HEGEMONÍA DEL UNIVERSO: LAS ARAÑAS Y LAS SERPIENTES, QUE MEDIANTE EL VIAJE EN EL TIEMPO CAMBIARÁN CIERTOS ASPECTOS DE LA HISTORIA EN SU BENEFICIO PARA DECLINAR LA BALANZA A SU FAVOR.
Así, pues, nos encontraremos con ‘retazos crónicos’ a lo largo de sus páginas que hablan de estrategias de campo, tácticas de reclutamiento, viajes y misiones en el tiempo y recuerdo y nostalgias de tiempos pasados..
Leiber SIEMPRE ELABORA SUS ARGUMENTOS COMO MERA EXCUSA PARA DIVERTIR, CRITICAR (con un tono ácido e irónico) A LA CONDICIÓN HUMANA y EXORCIZAR SUS PROPIOS DEMONIOS, APARTE DE REALIZAR SUS HOMENAJES PERSONALES A TRAVÉS DE LA ESCRITURA EN LOS DIFERENTES ÁMBITOS DE LA CULTURA QUE TANTO ADMIRABA. ESTO NO DESMERECE PARA NADA SUS TRAMAS, SINO QUE LAS DOTA DE UN ENCANTO PERSONAL Y UNA ESCRITURA ORIENTADA DE MODO MUY SINGULAR, CON LA QUE ENCAJAS O NO, PERO SIN LLEGAR NUNCA A ENAMORARTE ENTERAMENTE COMO LECTOR- ADMIRADOR DEL GÉNERO.
Un autor MÁS EXTRAVAGANTE QUE EXTRAÑO, MÁS CURIOSO QUE INTERESANTE DE LEER, QUE SE DEFINE MEJOR EN LOS PASAJES CORTOS QUE SEMI LARGOS O LARGOS (aquí hay dos buenos ejemplos: ‘Una escritorio lleno de chicas’, algo tedioso al principio pero con una buen final y ‘No es una gran magia’, demasiado largo, excesivo y ampuloso para lo que cuenta), INCLINADO HACÍA LA FANTASÍA PERO CON UNA ADMIRABLE DOSIS DE CIENCIA EL PRESENTE LIBRO.
He AQUÍ UNA OBRA CON MUY BUENA BASE, PUES, PERO DESAPROVECHADA EN PARTE, YA QUE EL DESARROLLO RESULTA DESIGUAL Y A LA GLOBALIDAD DE LA EPOPEYA BÉLICA / CIENTÍFICA DE LEIBER LE FALTA DIMENSIÓN DE GRANDEZA Y CONCRECIÓN ARGUMENTAL, EN EL QUE SE VEA UN PROGRESO LINEAL DEFINIDO DE LA HISTORIA CENTRAL (como en la magnífica ‘Historias del futuro I/II’ de Heinlein). La obra está encaminada más al DIVERTIMENTO DEL LECTOR QUE A LA TRANSCENDENCIA DENTRO DE LA CIENCIA FICCIÓN. Una lástima por que estoy segura que el escritor tenía las herramientas para haberlo logrado, si hubiese querido.
Los relatos que más me han gustado son: la mañana de la condenación, El soldado más veterano y Cuando soplan los vientos del cambio.
A continuación el argumento de cada relato y mis impresiones sobre éstos:
1/ Intenta cambiar el pasado:
El encargado de alterar el pasado en la facción de Las Serpientes, explica el arduo y complicado proceso que conlleva hacerlo, mediante una ilustrativa historia de un humano resucitado como re enganche en su bando...
Relato breve de ciencia ficción narrado con ironía, QUE CRITICA LA ESTUPIDEZ HUMANA Y LA UTILIZACIÓN DE RECURSOS EN NUESTRO FAVOR, CREYÉNDONOS SUPERIORES..EL HOMBRE QUE TROPIEZA CON LA MISMA PIEDRA UNA Y OTRA VEZ, INHERENTE EN NUESTRA CONDICIÓN INTERNA. Además, nos explica LA LEY DE LA CONSERVACIÓN DE LA REALIDAD, POR LA CUAL ES COMPLICADO EL CAMBIO EN EL ESPACIO – TIEMPO DENTRO DE ÉSTA CONTIENDA MUNDIAL.
ME HA GUSTADO
2/ Un escritorio lleno de chicas:
Un encargado de obtener documentación comprometida mediante un trato económico de una estrella cinematográfica, se hace amigo del antiguo psicólogo de ésta que la chantajea, Skyler, en el club de alterne ‘ Contraseña’..pero la cosa no será tan fácil y la misión tan definida como parece...
Relato CON UN LATENTE TONO SEXUAL EN EL QUE LEIBER TEORIZA SOBRE LAS ‘CHICAS FANTASMAS’, Y POSTERIORMENTE DOBLES UTILIZADOS TANTO EN ACCIONES BÉLICAS COMO PARA EL PLACER Y DESCANSO DE LOS SOLDADOS EN LOS CLUBES DE ALTERNE DE LA GRAN GUERRA, QUE TIENE SU APARICIÓN EN LA NOVELA ‘ EL GRAN TIEMPO’.
HISTORIAS MÁS FANTÁSTICA QUE DE RIGOR CIENTÍFICO (los fantasmas son una especie de cuerpo astral en determinado estado situacional y emotivo dentro de su trayectoria de vida), CON UN FINAL DIGNO DE ESCENA CLÁSICA DE NOVELA DE TERROR.
ME HA GUSTADO.
3/ La mañana de la condenación:
Búster es reclutado por una misteriosa agente de una organización, que le ayuda a escapar después de ‘ haber matado’ a alguien.
GRAN RELATO, ATMOSFÉRICO Y TREPIDANTE, ACERCA DEL PAPEL DESEMPEÑADO POR LOS AGENTES DE RECLUTAMIENTO Y LOS RESURRECTORES en la guerra del Gran Cambio, DE LOS PARALELISMOS DE DOS REALIDADES BIFURCADAS DE LA VIDA Y LAS CONSECUENCIAS ESPACIO – TEMPORALES DE HABER ESTADOS EN AMBAS FACCIONES.
ME HA GUSTADO MUCHO.
4/ El soldado más veterano:
Max, uno de los más veteranos en la guerra, les explica cada noche a otros soldados comunes y a un admirador del campo profesional y estrecho amigo suyo desde que se conocieron, Fred, sus idas y venidas al pasado y futuro, con los peligros que comporta estar a pie de batalla, además del conocimiento y vivencia en diferentes culturas y épocas a lo largo de la historia del universo. Una noche Max y Fred compartirán algo más que conversación...
SOBRIO Y FORMAL RELATO ACERCA DEL SIGNIFICADO DE SER SOLDADO, CON UNA SEGUNDA PARTE DE ACCIÓN, ENTRE TENSA Y TERRORÍFICA ( con toques a lo Poe), DONDE SE DA UNA CONTIENDA DE RETAGUARDIA EN EL TIEMPO.
ME HA GUSTADO MUCHO
5/ No es una gran magia:
Greta, la encargada de vestuario de una compañía de teatro clásico que la acogió después de su amnesia en Central Park, comprobará que las puestas en escena de las obras no son del todo normales, cuando se decida a presenciar una entera...
RELATO NARRADO CON CARIÑO, PERO EXCESIVO EN LONGITUD Y EN REFERENCIAS A SHAKESPEARE Y AL TEATRO, POR UNA PARTE OBVIO PARA EL ARGUMENTO Y POR OTRA INNECESARIO POR DESMEDIDO, QUE NOS CUENTA LAS OPERACIONES DE SUSTITUCIÓN O DESTRUCCIÓN DE PERSONAJES HISTÓRICOS DENTRO DE LA GUERRA DEL GRAN CAMBIO.
ESTÁ BIEN.
6/ Cuando soplan los vientos del cambio:
Un superviviente del cataclismo atómico mundial explora Marte en su exilio voluntario, intentando hallar alguna ruina histórica cambiada de lugar por el flujo constante de tiempo y espacio en la contienda bélica de Arañas y Serpientes, mientras rememora pasajes felices de su vida.
BONITO RELATO, NARRADO DE MODO FILOSÓFICO, POÉTICO, ONÍRICO Y NOSTÁLGICO, QUE ABORDA LA TEORÍA DEL PARALELISMO VIVIDO ENTRE PASADO, PRESENTE Y FUTURO CON LA FANTASÍA AÑADIDA DE LOS MODIFICADORES TEMPORALES.
ME HA GUSTADO MUCHO
7/ Movimiento de caballo:
Una agente de las Serpientes supervisa un torneo Interestelar de Ajedrez en el planeta neutral 61 Cisne 5, el cual ambas facciones se disputan abiertamente en pro del desequilibrio final por el apoderamiento de planetas, cuando otro oficial enemigo se enfrenta dialécticamente a ella..pero ahí no quedará la cosa, a pesar de estar en suelo neutral...
RELATO SOBRE LA ACCIÓN ESTRATÉGICA EN CAMPO ABIERTO, CON METÁFORAS DE LAS TÁCTICAS UTILIZADAS MEDIANTE CONOCIDOS JUEGOS DE TABLERO Y PISTA, CON REFERENCIA EN ESPACIO Y TIEMPO: UNIDIMENSIONAL, TRIDIMENSIONAL Y BIMENSIONAL.
ME HA GUSTADO
December 11, 2013
-Instantáneas sobre una idea interesante.-
Género. Relatos.
Lo que nos cuenta. Recopilación de siete relatos del autor, escritos entre el año 1958 y 1965 (y juraría que todos, excepto uno, previamente publicados en diferentes revistas, pero espero correcciones de algún experto si me equivoco), que transcurren dentro de la Guerra del Cambio, concepto creado por el autor en su novela “El gran tiempo”, entre dos facciones conocidas como Serpientes y Arañas respectivamente que luchan entre sí a través del tiempo y el espacio, mostrando estos trabajos breves diferentes aspectos de esa lucha, desde el reclutamiento de Dobles para la guerra, hasta momentos de supuesta tregua en territorios no combatientes, pasando por intentos de manipulación de la línea temporal, entre otros temas.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Relatos.
Lo que nos cuenta. Recopilación de siete relatos del autor, escritos entre el año 1958 y 1965 (y juraría que todos, excepto uno, previamente publicados en diferentes revistas, pero espero correcciones de algún experto si me equivoco), que transcurren dentro de la Guerra del Cambio, concepto creado por el autor en su novela “El gran tiempo”, entre dos facciones conocidas como Serpientes y Arañas respectivamente que luchan entre sí a través del tiempo y el espacio, mostrando estos trabajos breves diferentes aspectos de esa lucha, desde el reclutamiento de Dobles para la guerra, hasta momentos de supuesta tregua en territorios no combatientes, pasando por intentos de manipulación de la línea temporal, entre otros temas.
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June 19, 2019
"I don't like spiders and snakes
And that ain't what it takes to love me,
You fool, you fool"
--------song "Spiders & Snakes" by Jim Stafford and David Bellamy
The Change War is being fought between groups identified as "Snakes" and "Spiders." They are the opposing forces in a fight that ranges through all of time and space. It is a war that is not only fought, it is refought, again and again, with each side trying to make history advantageous for themselves.
The book Changewar has seven stories written by Fritz Leiber, in the years 1958-1965. The stories and their original sources are:
"Try and Change the Past," Astounding Science Fiction, 1958
"The Oldest Soldier," The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1960
"Damnation Morning," Fantastic, 1959
"When the Change-Winds Blow," The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1964
"Knight to Move," Broadside, 1965
"A Deskful of Girls," The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1958
"No Great Magic," Galaxy Magazine, 1960
The cover of the 1983 Ace Science Fiction Books edition of Changewar says:
FIRST TIME IN ONE VOLUME - ALL HIS CHANGEWAR STORIES!
There is no introductory material in the book, but surely Ace knew that the first story in the series was actually the 1958 Hugo-winning short novel, The Big Time (which was also published by Ace). The science fiction and fantasy website ISFDb lists the following as also being part of this series:
"The Number of the Beast," Galaxy, 1958
"The Haunted Future," Fantastic Science Fiction Stories, 1959
"The Mind Spider," Fantastic Science Fiction Stories, 1959
"Black Corridor," Galaxy Magazine,
1967
I don't know how the decisions about which stories were included were made. Of the stories in this book, "A Deskful of Girls" seems to me to have a very slight connection to the series. and "When the Change-Winds Blow" may have somewhat more or none at all.
I have not read The Big Time for some years, but I recall liking it a lot. "No Great Magic" is a direct sequel to The Big Time. ISFDb considers this a novella; it was long-listed for a Hugo Award in both novel and short fiction categories. Greta, the narrator of both this tale and The Big Time, is an entertainer working for the Spiders. In "No Great Magic," she has become what she calls "A and A": "Agoraphobe and Amnesiac." She knows that she is part of a theatrical group, but has no recollection of her former life. The troupe is putting on a rather strange production of Macbeth; and speaking of "rather strange," isn't that woman watching the play Queen Elizabeth I? This is imaginative, with some fine pseudo-Sixteenth Century lanuage. However, I doubt that it would make any sense to anyone who had not read The Big Time.
None of the other stories in the book are set in that exact milieu. "Try and Change the Past" and "Damnation Morning" both deal with Twentieth Century people being recruited by Change War forces. "Try and Change the Past" is concerned with paradoxes involved. "Damnation Morning" is a more somber story of exactly how recruits are chosen.
"Knight to Move" sets two Change War spies against each other. These are both Twentieth Century people, now facing each other in 5037 A.D. This is a typical, none too original battle of wits. The story includes an interesting discussion about games played throughout the many inhabited worlds.
"The Oldest Soldier" is a contemporary American defending a member of the Change War forces against a very frightening member of the opposition. This is quite good.
In "When the Change-Winds Blow," a man, mourning for his love killed in a terrorist attack, is flying above the surface of a partly terraformed Mars when he sees what appears to be Chartres Cathedral. He lands the flier and steps out. He is blown to the doorway of the cathedral by an impossibly strong gust of wind. He goes inside; the interior is not that of Chartres but of St. Praxed's in Rome, with elements from a Robert Browning poem.
Can it be, I thought, that not only do the past and future exist forever, but also all the possibilities that were never and will never be realized...somehow, somewhere (the fifth dimension? the Imagination of God?) as if in a dream within a dream...Crawling with change too, as artists or anyone thinks of them....Change-winds mixed with time-winds mixed with space-winds....
[The ellipses are in the story]
The Change War reference is something that the narrator sees within the church:
In that moment I became aware of two dark-clad figures in the aisle beside the tomb and studying it - a pale man with dark beard covering his cheeks and a pale woman with dark straight hair covering hers under a filmy veil. There was movement near their feet and a fat dark sluglike beast, almost hairless, crawled away from them into the shadows.
The figures and the cathedral vanish without explanation.
I see no reason to think that the figures are Change War participants - or that they are not.
The remaining tale is "A Deskful of Girls," nominated for a "Best Novelette" Hugo. The narrator is a man hired to retrieve documents being used to blackmail a prominent female film star. The person who hired him is that actress's still-doting ex-husband. The blackmailer is the actress's nefarious psychologist.
The psychologist has developed a method to remove "ghosts" from a person. The ghosts are ectoplasm. "It is a real shed skin but also dimly alive, a gossamer mannequin." Stripping those ghosts from someone may give some relief from problems - and possibly cause more serious ones. This is a most intriguing story.
All of the stories except "Knight to Move" have first-person narrators, giving them additional immediacy. I don't think that any of them are bad, but some are rather routine. The best are "The Oldest Soldier" and "A Deskful of Girls"; I would include "No Great Magic" for readers familiar with The Big Time. I would also suggest that readers seek out The Big Time, which is quite a bit better than Changewar.
And that ain't what it takes to love me,
You fool, you fool"
--------song "Spiders & Snakes" by Jim Stafford and David Bellamy
The Change War is being fought between groups identified as "Snakes" and "Spiders." They are the opposing forces in a fight that ranges through all of time and space. It is a war that is not only fought, it is refought, again and again, with each side trying to make history advantageous for themselves.
The book Changewar has seven stories written by Fritz Leiber, in the years 1958-1965. The stories and their original sources are:
"Try and Change the Past," Astounding Science Fiction, 1958
"The Oldest Soldier," The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1960
"Damnation Morning," Fantastic, 1959
"When the Change-Winds Blow," The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1964
"Knight to Move," Broadside, 1965
"A Deskful of Girls," The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1958
"No Great Magic," Galaxy Magazine, 1960
The cover of the 1983 Ace Science Fiction Books edition of Changewar says:
FIRST TIME IN ONE VOLUME - ALL HIS CHANGEWAR STORIES!
There is no introductory material in the book, but surely Ace knew that the first story in the series was actually the 1958 Hugo-winning short novel, The Big Time (which was also published by Ace). The science fiction and fantasy website ISFDb lists the following as also being part of this series:
"The Number of the Beast," Galaxy, 1958
"The Haunted Future," Fantastic Science Fiction Stories, 1959
"The Mind Spider," Fantastic Science Fiction Stories, 1959
"Black Corridor," Galaxy Magazine,
1967
I don't know how the decisions about which stories were included were made. Of the stories in this book, "A Deskful of Girls" seems to me to have a very slight connection to the series. and "When the Change-Winds Blow" may have somewhat more or none at all.
I have not read The Big Time for some years, but I recall liking it a lot. "No Great Magic" is a direct sequel to The Big Time. ISFDb considers this a novella; it was long-listed for a Hugo Award in both novel and short fiction categories. Greta, the narrator of both this tale and The Big Time, is an entertainer working for the Spiders. In "No Great Magic," she has become what she calls "A and A": "Agoraphobe and Amnesiac." She knows that she is part of a theatrical group, but has no recollection of her former life. The troupe is putting on a rather strange production of Macbeth; and speaking of "rather strange," isn't that woman watching the play Queen Elizabeth I? This is imaginative, with some fine pseudo-Sixteenth Century lanuage. However, I doubt that it would make any sense to anyone who had not read The Big Time.
None of the other stories in the book are set in that exact milieu. "Try and Change the Past" and "Damnation Morning" both deal with Twentieth Century people being recruited by Change War forces. "Try and Change the Past" is concerned with paradoxes involved. "Damnation Morning" is a more somber story of exactly how recruits are chosen.
"Knight to Move" sets two Change War spies against each other. These are both Twentieth Century people, now facing each other in 5037 A.D. This is a typical, none too original battle of wits. The story includes an interesting discussion about games played throughout the many inhabited worlds.
"The Oldest Soldier" is a contemporary American defending a member of the Change War forces against a very frightening member of the opposition. This is quite good.
In "When the Change-Winds Blow," a man, mourning for his love killed in a terrorist attack, is flying above the surface of a partly terraformed Mars when he sees what appears to be Chartres Cathedral. He lands the flier and steps out. He is blown to the doorway of the cathedral by an impossibly strong gust of wind. He goes inside; the interior is not that of Chartres but of St. Praxed's in Rome, with elements from a Robert Browning poem.
Can it be, I thought, that not only do the past and future exist forever, but also all the possibilities that were never and will never be realized...somehow, somewhere (the fifth dimension? the Imagination of God?) as if in a dream within a dream...Crawling with change too, as artists or anyone thinks of them....Change-winds mixed with time-winds mixed with space-winds....
[The ellipses are in the story]
The Change War reference is something that the narrator sees within the church:
In that moment I became aware of two dark-clad figures in the aisle beside the tomb and studying it - a pale man with dark beard covering his cheeks and a pale woman with dark straight hair covering hers under a filmy veil. There was movement near their feet and a fat dark sluglike beast, almost hairless, crawled away from them into the shadows.
The figures and the cathedral vanish without explanation.
I see no reason to think that the figures are Change War participants - or that they are not.
The remaining tale is "A Deskful of Girls," nominated for a "Best Novelette" Hugo. The narrator is a man hired to retrieve documents being used to blackmail a prominent female film star. The person who hired him is that actress's still-doting ex-husband. The blackmailer is the actress's nefarious psychologist.
The psychologist has developed a method to remove "ghosts" from a person. The ghosts are ectoplasm. "It is a real shed skin but also dimly alive, a gossamer mannequin." Stripping those ghosts from someone may give some relief from problems - and possibly cause more serious ones. This is a most intriguing story.
All of the stories except "Knight to Move" have first-person narrators, giving them additional immediacy. I don't think that any of them are bad, but some are rather routine. The best are "The Oldest Soldier" and "A Deskful of Girls"; I would include "No Great Magic" for readers familiar with The Big Time. I would also suggest that readers seek out The Big Time, which is quite a bit better than Changewar.
Read
May 20, 2017Este libro de relatos situados en el universo creado en una novela anterior ("El gran tiempo", 1958) me ha parecido un caso excepcional de cómo una secuela puede superar (y en mucho) a la obra matriz. La razón es que Leiber ya no se siente obligado a caracterizar el mundo (lo que en la novela generaba diálogos poco creíbles del tipo "sabrá usted que..." y unos insertos de documentación que cortaban el fluir de la narración) y se centra en explorar las consecuencias sobre los personajes de una guerra que queda como telón de fondo. Los relatos de este volumen (que se escribieron entre 1958 y 1965, pero que no están ordenados cronológicament por voluntad del autor) utilizan los recursos propios de la narración breve, como son: empezar en medio de la acción, caracterizar a los personajes con pinceladas (a menudo por la voz narativa), los finales sorpresivos... y, sobre todo, unos inicios de relato de lo más sugerentes. Todos excepto uno están narrados en primera persona, de manera que le saca un gran partido a la introspección del personaje. Así, la Guerra del Cambio se convierte en un telon de fondo para vivencias personales y interacción entre personajes, teñida de ironia y de un erotismo latente. En resumen, tan recomendable como la magnífica introducción de Juan Domingo Santos que abre esta edición.
August 2, 2023
Se trata de una antología de relatos de Fritz Leiber recopilada y traducida por Domingo Santos que, como cuenta en el prólogo, contactó con el mismo Leiber durante la XXXVII convención mundial de ciencia ficción que tuvo lugar en Brighton en 1979.
El hilo conductor de los relatos es la existencia de una guerra que se desarrolla a lo largo del tiempo, con dos bandos enfrentados (las arañas y las serpientes) que son capaces de viajar en el tiempo para modificarlo acorde a sus intereses.
Sin embargo en pocos de los relatos se realiza realmente un viaje en el tiempo o una modificación de la línea temporal, y esta idea de la gran lucha entre bandos ni siquiera tiene lugar en algunos de los relatos, que bien podrían ser totalmente independientes, sin relación alguna a esta trama general.
Los relatos, aunque correctamente escritos, son simples, con personajes planos y sin desarrollo, y su conjunto no consigue construir una historia mayor, por lo que resulta ser una antología bastante prescindible.
[+] Reseña completa de la antología y de los relatos que la componen en Alt+64 wiki: http://alt64.org/wiki/index.php?title...
El hilo conductor de los relatos es la existencia de una guerra que se desarrolla a lo largo del tiempo, con dos bandos enfrentados (las arañas y las serpientes) que son capaces de viajar en el tiempo para modificarlo acorde a sus intereses.
Sin embargo en pocos de los relatos se realiza realmente un viaje en el tiempo o una modificación de la línea temporal, y esta idea de la gran lucha entre bandos ni siquiera tiene lugar en algunos de los relatos, que bien podrían ser totalmente independientes, sin relación alguna a esta trama general.
Los relatos, aunque correctamente escritos, son simples, con personajes planos y sin desarrollo, y su conjunto no consigue construir una historia mayor, por lo que resulta ser una antología bastante prescindible.
[+] Reseña completa de la antología y de los relatos que la componen en Alt+64 wiki: http://alt64.org/wiki/index.php?title...
August 28, 2020
Changewar—Fritz Leiber
The Big Time—Fritz Leiber
I was late to appreciate the extent of Leiber’s contributions to sci-fi and fantasy genres, though I did read his short story “Gonna Roll the Bones” in the watershed Dangerous Visions anthology in 1968, and I never forgot how odd and lively this shaggy dog story was, full of a home-made down-home vernacular with its own set of colorful locutions. In 2013, I read a collection of Leiber’s stories for which Neil Gaiman wrote the introduction (Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories). I was impressed with the range of Leiber’s fiction, from cosmic-horror homages to Lovecraft, to the D&D-inspiring swords and sorcery of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, to the parallel worlds and alternate timelines of “Catch that Zeppelin!”. It is to this latter category that the Changewar stories belong, not so much science fiction as forays into fantasy, horror/supernatural, mystery, and adventure, much of it done with a playful archness, all against a premise of immense possibility/flexibility.
I read the novel(la) The Big Time and the short story collection Changewar back to back. There is a minimalism to the longer of the changewar stories: No Great Magic and The Big Time are both set in a room, a single pinpoint in the vastness of space and time, and they employ the same characters. The Big Time is the most elaborate expression of the Snakes and Spiders’ long-running rivalry to maintain/shape the events of history, but even here there is no clarity about the underlying motives for altering/restoring the timeline. Where does it all lead? For what ultimate purpose are these two factions using history as a battleground? Whose endeavor (Snake or Spider) is more righteous?
Leiber hints at a backstory/premise that gives these stories more heft because in the aggregate their range and diversity suggest just how vast that premise is, how it would be beyond human comprehension to articulate what it means for the events of the universe to be re-written, time and time again, so that there is no ur-story at all, just the present moment, a bare pinpoint in the space-time continuum. Remove this barely-seen superstructure at the back of these stories, and they appear to be simpler run-of-the-mill tales of fantasy.
The Big Time: the several soldiers return to the Place—a care station for R & R between skirmishes in the timeline—and there is an attempt by a soldier and entertainer/nurse to isolate/separate their singular place from the rest of the multiverse (so that they might remain forever safe). One of the “entertainers”—more a stage manager—diffidently narrates events and downplays her part in restoring the Place’s presence in the multiverse.
No Great Magic: narrated by the same uncertain and faltering character as in The Big Time, this story precedes that novel’s events, and is an introduction for the narrator in the business of altering the past, presented in this instance as if it were a stage production of Macbeth, anachronistically presented before Elizabeth I just before the launch of the Spanish Armada. In this story, the Place is not so named, and it appears to the narrator like a theatre company. As the story progresses, she begins to realize how she’d “died” and been brought out of history to work with the Spiders against the Snakes.
Try and Change the Past: a clever articulation of temporal reluctance, how altering the past requires more than just a fluttering of butterfly wings at the edges of time. The Snake narrator uses a droll example to show how The Conservation of Reality employs, as needed, statistically improbable occurrences to keep events the same.
The Oldest Soldier: the normal-time narrator, despairing that he has no wartime bona fides to share with the guys at the bar, has a brush with a time soldier, helping him to escape a rival counterpart.
Damnation Morning: the story of the recruitment of a new soldier to the Spiders’ side, which begins to explain how the time soldiers are lifted out of the timeline, leaving their zombie bodies to age/die. Ironically, he finds at the story’s end that his zombie body was also harvested by the other side, so that outside the timeline there is a Snake counterpart of himself.
When the Change Winds Blow: flying on an archaeological trip across the plains of Mars, a human pilot experiences ghostly apparitions and sensations, intimations of the limitlessness of all the historical possibilities.
Knight to Move: a cat-and-mouse stalemate between Spider and Snake agents on a remote planet in the distant future where an intergalactic chess tourney is being held.
A Deskful of Girls: a private eye is hired to retrieve information from a psychiatrist, but learns that it is not notes he’s trying to retrieve but the many ectoplasmic layers the shrink had peeled away. [This story doesn’t seem to fit neatly into the Changewar multiverse, except as, perhaps, a supplementary explanation of the ghosts that inhabit the rest stations of The Big Time.]
In sum, I was more impressed with what lay outside the stories than the stories themselves. As one reviewer here on Goodreads noted, there are four other Changewar stories floating around (for some reason not collected in the volume Changewar). These additional instances of the Big Time multiverse might have inspired, in a fuller aggregate, a higher appreciation of the clever superstructure to which they belong.
The Big Time—Fritz Leiber
I was late to appreciate the extent of Leiber’s contributions to sci-fi and fantasy genres, though I did read his short story “Gonna Roll the Bones” in the watershed Dangerous Visions anthology in 1968, and I never forgot how odd and lively this shaggy dog story was, full of a home-made down-home vernacular with its own set of colorful locutions. In 2013, I read a collection of Leiber’s stories for which Neil Gaiman wrote the introduction (Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories). I was impressed with the range of Leiber’s fiction, from cosmic-horror homages to Lovecraft, to the D&D-inspiring swords and sorcery of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, to the parallel worlds and alternate timelines of “Catch that Zeppelin!”. It is to this latter category that the Changewar stories belong, not so much science fiction as forays into fantasy, horror/supernatural, mystery, and adventure, much of it done with a playful archness, all against a premise of immense possibility/flexibility.
I read the novel(la) The Big Time and the short story collection Changewar back to back. There is a minimalism to the longer of the changewar stories: No Great Magic and The Big Time are both set in a room, a single pinpoint in the vastness of space and time, and they employ the same characters. The Big Time is the most elaborate expression of the Snakes and Spiders’ long-running rivalry to maintain/shape the events of history, but even here there is no clarity about the underlying motives for altering/restoring the timeline. Where does it all lead? For what ultimate purpose are these two factions using history as a battleground? Whose endeavor (Snake or Spider) is more righteous?
Leiber hints at a backstory/premise that gives these stories more heft because in the aggregate their range and diversity suggest just how vast that premise is, how it would be beyond human comprehension to articulate what it means for the events of the universe to be re-written, time and time again, so that there is no ur-story at all, just the present moment, a bare pinpoint in the space-time continuum. Remove this barely-seen superstructure at the back of these stories, and they appear to be simpler run-of-the-mill tales of fantasy.
The Big Time: the several soldiers return to the Place—a care station for R & R between skirmishes in the timeline—and there is an attempt by a soldier and entertainer/nurse to isolate/separate their singular place from the rest of the multiverse (so that they might remain forever safe). One of the “entertainers”—more a stage manager—diffidently narrates events and downplays her part in restoring the Place’s presence in the multiverse.
No Great Magic: narrated by the same uncertain and faltering character as in The Big Time, this story precedes that novel’s events, and is an introduction for the narrator in the business of altering the past, presented in this instance as if it were a stage production of Macbeth, anachronistically presented before Elizabeth I just before the launch of the Spanish Armada. In this story, the Place is not so named, and it appears to the narrator like a theatre company. As the story progresses, she begins to realize how she’d “died” and been brought out of history to work with the Spiders against the Snakes.
Try and Change the Past: a clever articulation of temporal reluctance, how altering the past requires more than just a fluttering of butterfly wings at the edges of time. The Snake narrator uses a droll example to show how The Conservation of Reality employs, as needed, statistically improbable occurrences to keep events the same.
The Oldest Soldier: the normal-time narrator, despairing that he has no wartime bona fides to share with the guys at the bar, has a brush with a time soldier, helping him to escape a rival counterpart.
Damnation Morning: the story of the recruitment of a new soldier to the Spiders’ side, which begins to explain how the time soldiers are lifted out of the timeline, leaving their zombie bodies to age/die. Ironically, he finds at the story’s end that his zombie body was also harvested by the other side, so that outside the timeline there is a Snake counterpart of himself.
When the Change Winds Blow: flying on an archaeological trip across the plains of Mars, a human pilot experiences ghostly apparitions and sensations, intimations of the limitlessness of all the historical possibilities.
Knight to Move: a cat-and-mouse stalemate between Spider and Snake agents on a remote planet in the distant future where an intergalactic chess tourney is being held.
A Deskful of Girls: a private eye is hired to retrieve information from a psychiatrist, but learns that it is not notes he’s trying to retrieve but the many ectoplasmic layers the shrink had peeled away. [This story doesn’t seem to fit neatly into the Changewar multiverse, except as, perhaps, a supplementary explanation of the ghosts that inhabit the rest stations of The Big Time.]
In sum, I was more impressed with what lay outside the stories than the stories themselves. As one reviewer here on Goodreads noted, there are four other Changewar stories floating around (for some reason not collected in the volume Changewar). These additional instances of the Big Time multiverse might have inspired, in a fuller aggregate, a higher appreciation of the clever superstructure to which they belong.
August 26, 2018
This is a review of the Gregg Press 1978 edition. It has a different TOC than the ACE paperback. This one purports to have all of the Change War short stories plus 5 more that "slipped into the canon by popular acclaim and similarity of them" according to the introduction. Interestingly, the ACE paperback only has 7 stories and includes one not included here, and I'd say that that story "When the Change-Winds Blow" has more in common with the overall series than 4 of the additions here. Very odd. Even more odd is that neither volume contains "Catch That Zeppelin!" which is clearly a Change War story.
First off, skip the introduction. It contains many spoilers for the stories to follow. That being said, I very much liked it after reading the stories.
The first 5 stories are from Change War canon. They are well worth your time, especially as adjuncts to Leiber's The Big Time novel. Story six is "Deskful Of Girls" -- which is terrific -- could easily be considered a Change War story. But putting the last four in that milieu is quite a stretch. I read them kinda waiting for some Change War stuff to pop up. Nothing did. A bit unfair to them, to be sure, but expectations were set.
There's at least one error in the credits. "No Great Magic" is credited to Galaxy Magazine 1960, but it's from 1963 -- heck, Leiber even uses the word "grok"!
Overall, a nice collection. It's just not what it purports to be.
First off, skip the introduction. It contains many spoilers for the stories to follow. That being said, I very much liked it after reading the stories.
The first 5 stories are from Change War canon. They are well worth your time, especially as adjuncts to Leiber's The Big Time novel. Story six is "Deskful Of Girls" -- which is terrific -- could easily be considered a Change War story. But putting the last four in that milieu is quite a stretch. I read them kinda waiting for some Change War stuff to pop up. Nothing did. A bit unfair to them, to be sure, but expectations were set.
There's at least one error in the credits. "No Great Magic" is credited to Galaxy Magazine 1960, but it's from 1963 -- heck, Leiber even uses the word "grok"!
Overall, a nice collection. It's just not what it purports to be.
December 20, 2009
Cool idea of a secret war that stretches through time, but Leiber keeps it so vague what the various sides want that you aren't sure if you can or should be rooting for anybody, so you start to wonder why you are bothering at all.
Stories jump all over the place and there are almost no reoccurring characters, so it just gets very big, cosmic and vague.
Simon Hawkes 'Time Wars' series did it better.
Stories jump all over the place and there are almost no reoccurring characters, so it just gets very big, cosmic and vague.
Simon Hawkes 'Time Wars' series did it better.
December 20, 2014
Ressenya en català:
http://www.elkraken.com/R-cronicas%20...
reseña en castellano:
http://www.elkraken.com/Esp/R-cronica...
http://www.elkraken.com/R-cronicas%20...
reseña en castellano:
http://www.elkraken.com/Esp/R-cronica...
January 9, 2016
Interesting concept. You don't find out much about the war directly; rather the book shows a series of situations affected by the war. This approach reminds me of the Culture series.
September 10, 2022
I really enjoyed the writing of Fritz Leiber, but this one clashed with my non-enjoyment of most time travel stories. In this case, the stories are really about conflict using time as their battlefield, and that is both a strength and a weakness. Only occasionally do we see what the two sides are really fighting over, and the implication that the past can be changed an infinite number of times and ways gets to be confusing at times. For example, when both sides have interfered with the same historical figure, or both sides capture a pre-death version of the same person to add to their rosters. That last, by the way, didn't quite make sense, but was an interesting fictional concept, so Leiber's story had me going until after I finished reading, at which point a "wait a minute" light bulb appeared over my head, as I realized the flaw in the logic. The idea that you can grab a person out of time just before their death...okay, I'll buy that. Somehow leaving a fake body behind...okay, that too. Both sides doing that to the same guy...so, which one got an apparently live fake? And what does that imply?
Still, the stories were very enjoyable, and I need to track down the other stories in the series, because I don't think I ever read some of them.
Still, the stories were very enjoyable, and I need to track down the other stories in the series, because I don't think I ever read some of them.
July 20, 2022
Lo cierto es que me he equivocado, pretendía leer la novela "El gran tiempo" del mismo autor y he acabado leyendo "Crónicas del gran tiempo" una antología que complementa la citada novela.
No obstante, los relatos son bastante disfrutables por si mismos, ya que uno de los preceptos del ciclo de la guerra del cambio, es que no se explican las motivaciones, metas, orígenes ni, en realidad, prácticamente nada de los agentes de la guerra.
Solo sabemos que dos facciones, Arañas y serpientes, luchan por el control a través del tiempo y el espacio. Ambos creen ser los héroes que intentan dejar el tiempo como era originariamente, pero ambos reclutan agentes, crean dobles y persiguen sin cuartel a sus enemigos.
Especialmente recomendable, en mi opinión "El soldado más veterano" y "Movimiento de caballo" Curiosa y lamentablemente, el relato menos inspirado es el más largo del libro, por lo que hace deslucir ligeramente el resto de historias.
Aún así, muy recomendable,
No obstante, los relatos son bastante disfrutables por si mismos, ya que uno de los preceptos del ciclo de la guerra del cambio, es que no se explican las motivaciones, metas, orígenes ni, en realidad, prácticamente nada de los agentes de la guerra.
Solo sabemos que dos facciones, Arañas y serpientes, luchan por el control a través del tiempo y el espacio. Ambos creen ser los héroes que intentan dejar el tiempo como era originariamente, pero ambos reclutan agentes, crean dobles y persiguen sin cuartel a sus enemigos.
Especialmente recomendable, en mi opinión "El soldado más veterano" y "Movimiento de caballo" Curiosa y lamentablemente, el relato menos inspirado es el más largo del libro, por lo que hace deslucir ligeramente el resto de historias.
Aún así, muy recomendable,
April 23, 2020
I probably should have known in advance that this one wasn't gonna click because I wasn't too fond of the previous ChangeWar short stories I had read, nor the novel The Big Time. My qualm with Leiber's time travel series is that the stories seem to all feature dull characters jockeying to alter the course of history through intervention in major events, BUT WHY? The impetus, the rationale for such action is largely absent. There's no grand narrative or arc at work. Leiber can't convince me why I should care...so I don't.
That being said, he's a great writer, and many of the other, non-ChangeWar stories of his that I've read are fantastic. Just can't comprehend why these fall so flat.
That being said, he's a great writer, and many of the other, non-ChangeWar stories of his that I've read are fantastic. Just can't comprehend why these fall so flat.
February 10, 2020
La verdad me gustó mucho No es una gran magia (por eso las 4 estrellas). Los demás relatos están bien, son interesantes y enganchan, pero no me parecen igual de geniales ni creo que revelen tantos aspectos de la Guerra del Cambio, aunque el de ajedrez da varios detalles muy curiosos sobre el alcance de la guerra y en general con este libro uno comprende la dificultad de cambiar el pasado.
October 14, 2022
Read this when I realized I had already read half the stories in Mind Spider/Big Time double novel. A little uneven... I would be OK to never read "Deskfull of Girls" again. The highlight of the stories was No Great Magic about the Big Time characters putting on a performance of Shakespeare with a surprising audience.
July 11, 2025
A collection of short stories in the same universe as The Big Time, showing different perspectives on the time war. Inevitably some are stronger than others, but all were entertaining. My favourite was the Shakespearean "No Great Magic".
December 22, 2018
3/10. Media de los 6 libros leídos del autor : 2/10
La nota y la media lo dice todo, ¿no?. Leiber es otro de mis autores "malditos". Leí cosas suyas solo porque las pillaba de oferta de chaval.
La nota y la media lo dice todo, ¿no?. Leiber es otro de mis autores "malditos". Leí cosas suyas solo porque las pillaba de oferta de chaval.
January 8, 2019
Interesting, if you have read the main book.
February 5, 2019
Try and Change the Past is an excellent explanation on time travel. Quite enjoyable.
August 19, 2025
A collection of short stories that were had to follow in places. I did like the idea of a Shakespear company being part of the "war", very original
January 24, 2024
First, a couple of quibbles: 1) Leiber consistently refers to the eponymous conflict as the Change War (two words, not one); 2) as some of the other reviewers have pointed out, the claim on the cover that this anthology contains all of his Change War stories is demonstrably false: there are other Change War stories out there, which are not included in this volume.
"Try and Change the Past" * ONE STAR / An uninteresting aside on the nature of the Change War.
"The Oldest Soldier" ** TWO STARS / This one builds a bit of suspense and has potential but suffers from indifferent execution. More about Leiber's prose later. UPDATE: *** THREE STARS / On re-reading this one, liked it a lot better.
"Damnation Morning" * ONE STAR / This story is based on a gimmick, which was perhaps ground-breaking in 1958 (although I doubt it) but holds little interest for the modern reader.
"When the Change Winds Blow" ZERO STARS / Leiber, perhaps under the influence of the New Wave, waxes philosophical. It sucks. At this point I was about ready to give up on the book.
"Knight to Move" *** THREE STARS / An entertaining trifle about an interstellar chess tournament as background for an encounter between two officers on opposing sides (Snake and Spider). It is unusual in that the narrator is a Snake; Leiber usually chose Spiders as his viewpoint characters.
"A Deskful of Girls" ***** FIVE STARS / Where to start? This is barely a Change War story at all, as there is no mention of the war, nor any hint of time travel. However, with some imagination, it can be shoehorned into the milieu. I had read this once before in my teens. At that time, it probably went over my head, as I did not remember it being this good. It is simply Leiber at his best, and this story redeemed the book for me. It is a genre mashup, as it is a literal ghost story, written in a noir style, but with obvious SF elements. As he often does, Leiber flirts with prurience. While held captive, the narrator is treated to a striptease by a movie star who seems to be a thinly-disguised Marilyn Monroe. (I would be interested to know if other readers agree, and/or detect more references to 1950s pop culture?) Even here, there are a couple of paragraphs that could have used more polish. Leiber at his best was a master storyteller, but not always a great writer of prose. To what degree can one story justify an entire collection? If not for this one, I would probably be rating this book as one star instead of three. I recommend that you seek it out, whether in this anthology or in another collection (it has been reprinted several times).
"No Great Magic" * ONE STAR / A lengthy (68-page) followup to The Big Time, lacking the pacing and plot. If you really liked the novel, you might want to read this one.
"Try and Change the Past" * ONE STAR / An uninteresting aside on the nature of the Change War.
"The Oldest Soldier" ** TWO STARS / This one builds a bit of suspense and has potential but suffers from indifferent execution. More about Leiber's prose later. UPDATE: *** THREE STARS / On re-reading this one, liked it a lot better.
"Damnation Morning" * ONE STAR / This story is based on a gimmick, which was perhaps ground-breaking in 1958 (although I doubt it) but holds little interest for the modern reader.
"When the Change Winds Blow" ZERO STARS / Leiber, perhaps under the influence of the New Wave, waxes philosophical. It sucks. At this point I was about ready to give up on the book.
"Knight to Move" *** THREE STARS / An entertaining trifle about an interstellar chess tournament as background for an encounter between two officers on opposing sides (Snake and Spider). It is unusual in that the narrator is a Snake; Leiber usually chose Spiders as his viewpoint characters.
"A Deskful of Girls" ***** FIVE STARS / Where to start? This is barely a Change War story at all, as there is no mention of the war, nor any hint of time travel. However, with some imagination, it can be shoehorned into the milieu. I had read this once before in my teens. At that time, it probably went over my head, as I did not remember it being this good. It is simply Leiber at his best, and this story redeemed the book for me. It is a genre mashup, as it is a literal ghost story, written in a noir style, but with obvious SF elements. As he often does, Leiber flirts with prurience. While held captive, the narrator is treated to a striptease by a movie star who seems to be a thinly-disguised Marilyn Monroe. (I would be interested to know if other readers agree, and/or detect more references to 1950s pop culture?) Even here, there are a couple of paragraphs that could have used more polish. Leiber at his best was a master storyteller, but not always a great writer of prose. To what degree can one story justify an entire collection? If not for this one, I would probably be rating this book as one star instead of three. I recommend that you seek it out, whether in this anthology or in another collection (it has been reprinted several times).
"No Great Magic" * ONE STAR / A lengthy (68-page) followup to The Big Time, lacking the pacing and plot. If you really liked the novel, you might want to read this one.
October 10, 2010
A very enjoyable and well written series of short stories. These fit into the "future time travellers need to either fix the past or make sure some future baddie doesn't undo the past" type of story. Lots of fantasy/SF authors have taken stabs at this genre, and this is a moderately successful work. Of course the stories are now about 40 years old, and they creak a bit as a result. Regardless, Leiber fans will enjoy these, and I'd also recommend to those who like the time-travel genre generally.
I do think this book is a bit off the beaten path--it isn't an easy one to find, and it isn't the type of book that you'll generally see at used book stores.
I do think this book is a bit off the beaten path--it isn't an easy one to find, and it isn't the type of book that you'll generally see at used book stores.
February 8, 2013
I think he handled the time travel OK, but it's a bit difficult to get a handle on time travel in a bunch of short stories...there are all kinds of conundrums that present themselves if you start thinking seriously about time travel and he never goes too close to those. I would like to find a full length novel of Leiber.
May 24, 2024
Short stories about time travel and a war in time. Story quality varies, but ok
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December 30, 2016Edición en castellano, Biblioteca de Ciencia Ficción #19. Parte de la saga Change War.
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