Description:

NEBULA AWARD WINNER.

In the spring of 1984 Shawna McCarthy, who had just begun her brief and brilliant career as editor of ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION, was visiting San Francisco and encountered me at a party. She asked if I’d like to write a novella for the magazine, and, since an idea for one was already percolating in my mind, I lost no time in saying yes.

What I had jotted down on the back of an old envelope was this:

“Ancient Egypt has been recreated at the end of time, along with various other highlights of history – a sort of Disneyland. A twentieth century man, through error, has been regenerated in Thebes, though he belongs in the replica of Los Angeles. The misplaced Egyptian has been sent to Troy, or maybe Knossos, and a Cretan has been displaced into a Brasilia-equivalent of the 29th century. They move about, attempting to return to their proper places.”

It’s a nice idea, but it’s not quite the story I wrote, perhaps became I thought it sounded too much like an updating of Murray Leinster’s famous 1934 story “Sidewise in Time.” The one I did write, though, is close enough to my original idea, and it turned out pretty well. It was published in the February, 1985 issue of ASIMOV’S, was picked for all three of the Best Science Fiction of the Year anthologies, and went on to win the Nebula award in 1986. It’s currently under option for film production by a Hollywood company, **

Review

“The detailed plots and situations represented in this collection cover much futuristic ground, ranging from the physics of time and space travel to the role of God in societies to come.” — Publishers Weekly   “He remains one of the most imaginative and versatile writers ever to have been involved with [science fiction]. His productivity has seemed almost superhuman, and his abrupt metamorphosis . . . into a prose artist was an accomplishment unparalleled within the field.” — The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ** “[Silverberg] is a master.” —Robert Jordan

About the Author

Robert Silverberg is one of science fiction’s most beloved writers, and the author of such contemporary classics as Dying Inside , Downward to the Earth, and Lord Valentine’s Castle. He is a past president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and the winner of five Nebula Awards and five Hugo Awards. In 2004 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America presented him with the Grand Master Award. Silverberg is one of twenty-nine writers to have received that distinction.