Form: Novel
Year: 1967
Publication history:
- ???? : Les Déserteurs Temporels (pb) , Pocket, 5222 (in French )
- 1967 : The Time Hoppers (hc) , Doubleday, 182 pp.
- 1967 : The Time Hoppers (hc) , Science Fiction Book Club
- 1968 : The Time Hoppers (pb) , Avon, 156 pp.
- 1968 : The Time Hoppers (hc) , Sidgwick & Jackson
- 1970 : A Robert Silverberg Omnibus (The Time Hoppers/Invaders from Earth/Master of Life and Death) (hc) , Sidgwick & Jackson
- 1971 : Science Fiction Special #3 (pb) , Sidgwick & Jackson
- 1977 : The Time Hoppers (pb) , Leisure, 182 pp., LB512-3
- 1979 : The Time Hoppers (pb) , Fontana (UK), 160 pp., 615147-7
- 1982 : The Time Hoppers (pb) , Ace, 192 pp., 81195-7
- 1988 : The Time Hoppers (pb) , Gollancz (UK), 191 pp., 04040-8
- 2001 : Cronos (tpb) , iBooks, 437 pp., ISBN 0743423909
ROBERT SILVERBERG
confronts the paradoxes
of time travel in a
brilliant new novel of the
25th century, when the only
escape from suffocation in
a totally controlled environ-
ment is to "hop" backward
through time.Since time hopping rearranges
the past on which the structure
of current existence is based,
it must be stopped -- but not
too quickly. For the history
of the 1970's includes the
arrival of hoppers who have
not yet left the 2490's --
and whose departure thus
must not be stopped!"A complex, unpredictable
plot…thought-provoking
and thoroughly enjoyable."
FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION
Comments:
An expansion of the short story "Hopper".
Earth in the late 25th Century is an unpleasant place for many of its inhabitants. The vast population is crowded into most of the available areea, and unemployment is rampant. A highly stratified society provides luxury and space for the few at the top, while the lower levels live crowded into tiny apartments. Into this situation comes a hope of escape - escape into the past, before the world was so crowded.
Silverberg's story follows a number of characters. The first is Joe Quellen, a midlevel bureaucrat at the Secretariat of Crime with a dangerous secret: a private residence in Africa, reached by a private teleportation ("stat") booth. He is charged to head the investigation into the crime of unauthorized time travel that seems to be gaining in popularity. Another is Norman Pomrath, Joe's brother-in-law, an unemployed low-level worker, who swears he would not abandon his wife and children if he is presented with a chance to become a "hopper."
Page last updated 02 Jan 2004 21:57
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Acknowledgements: Robert Silverberg for cause, support, and cooperation. Ken Seamon for graphics. Rodney Walters for books, info, and error-catching. Alvaro Zinos-Amaro for comments and content. Various other visitors for suggestions.