Simak, Clifford D. Time and Again. New York: Ace Books, 1951
I chose this book because of my familiarity with Simak from Desertion (1944) and because of the cliffhangers written on the back of the book. Simak pitches the novel to me, the reader, by directly asking questions. “Asher Sutton held a book in his hands — it was going to be written many centuries in the future. He was going to be the author. Or was he? How could come to write it? Could he stop himself? Did he want to?” Time paradoxes have always interested me because sf authors always have unique interesting ways of approaching them. I was curious to see how Simak wrote about it. The cover photo is also pretty cool (see above).
What appears to be just a time travel story, turns into an android vs human conflict. Asher Sutton, the protagonist, impossibly returns from a space expedition in a ship that he could not possibly have survived. He returns with new knowledge from his adventures and his destiny to spread this knowledge. Sutton eventually stumbles upon a book written by him, that he had not written yet. The story has countless twists and turns that culminate in an intertemporal war between androids and humans either pushing Sutton to write the book a certain way, leaving the writing up to Sutton, or killing him. This story combines multiple sf tropes eloquently without causing too much confusion. Breaking Well’s Law, Simak is successful in writing a Terminator-style time war between androids and humans, detailing space travel, alien interactions, mind powers, and much more. Simak also breaches the philosophy of destiny and how much control we have over our own.
I absolutely recommend this book to anyone interested in sf. Time and Again is about as hard-sf as it gets but maintains coherency and quality. The plot twists and action throughout the novel kept me engaged, while Simak’s philosophical ideas trapped me into thinking about the novel as I went about my day. Complex, but easy to read, I finished the book in about two days. I guarantee I will check it out again over the summer!
