Corrupting Dr. Nice

As you can see from some of the less fun-loving previous reviewers, this wild time travel yarn from John Kessel does have many logical inconsistencies. Sure there are problems inherent in this book's characters meeting alternate versions of themselves from different time periods, and altering past events for their own purposes. But time travel itself, in any science fiction story, is illogical to start with, so quit bellyaching and enjoy a story that is both fun and dwells on many surprisingly deep themes. Kessel throws off a quickie (and admittedly under-elaborated) explanation of quantized time streams and something called "moment universes" to allow a thought-provoking premise on how the supposed miracle of time travel can be exploited by corporations for profit. Here, time travel is turned into slavish entertainment as historical people are used as theatre for rich time-hopping tourists, alternate time streams are exploited for natural resources and infinite profit-making opportunities, and the downtrodden are enslaved by public opinion and elitism. The basic plot of the story revolves around some crafty time bandits trying to game the new system, and a pretty implausible love story. Very well, but I also detect some deeper messages about corporate domination, colonialism, human identity, and religion in the face of time travel. And the book is pretty funny too. [~doomsdayer520~]

The story surrounds the scientific realization of time travel in the 21st century. Humans can travel to the past in any number of "unburned" parallel universes during historical periods where the "historicals" have not yet been exposed to the "futurians." Alternatively, travelers can go back to a well-established moment universe where the historicals have gotten used to the futurians coming and going. A revolt occurs during a well-established universe, 40 C.E. A good story follows and mostly takes place back in the future.The main plot is a common thread with a new twist. A grifter and her father travel to various times and scam clueless tourists from the futre. Soon, she falls for one of the men she intends to scam, a naive, almost perfect paleontologist who has taken a young dinosaur from the past for study. This part of the story is somewhat obvious. It reminds me of a movie. I can see this going to the big screen easily. The bigger story in the background surrounds the ethics of time-travel.There is a parallel between the unethical behavior of the scam-artists, the paleontologist's removing the dinosaur from the past, and the corporation who owns the time-travel machines. I kept wondering how this story would end. Any book that makes me guess what's going to happen in the last few pages gets 4 stars from me.

If travel through different ages and parallel dimensions were a possibility would we hesitate to exploit them? John Kessel's imaginative and plain old funny "Corrupting Dr. Nice" depicts a world (well, several) in which cars are driven with gas pumped from other dimensions, messiahs are plucked from 1st century Jerusalem to appear on talk shows, tourists from the 21st Century swarm around ancient Rome, and dinosaurs are cloned to provide the ultimate steak dinner. With Doctor Nice, the earnest but naive palentologist, his security software which keeps making him preform acts of heroism, and any number of rouges and con-artists, this book is engaging and thought-provoking. In a Sci-Fi tradition which includes Douglas Adams and Kurt Vonnegut.

John Kessel has done it again. He has raised science fiction to literary prominence -- in a humorous, satiric comedy that effortlessly flows back and forth through time. This novel is politically intriguing, highly serious and wildly comical -- but it also is very warm-hearted and filled with well rounded charcters that keep the story moving and interesting. Highly recommended.

John Kessel knows how to tell a story. Countless science fiction books make it into the bookstores only because of some cool idea, or because they tie in to a popular TV series or movie, or because the author's name guarantees sales, or because some big dinosaur is ripping across the cover. Not so with _Corrupting Doctor Nice_. The best fiction--and this novel is surely some of the best fiction--tells a _story_, one which engages the reader's interest; delights with plot complications, humor, and tension; and satisfies with a resolution that fulfills all the promises made by the developing plot. Kessel's book does just that, and does it with dinosaurs and time travel, too. The "coolness factor" which makes good science fiction good science fiction is intimately blended with the brilliant storytelling which makes good fiction good fiction. Buy the book, read it, and remember why you came to love fiction in the first place.