The Complete Paratime

H. Beam Piper was obsessed with reincarnation, time travel, and alternate worlds. He capitalized on that obsession by writing the Paratime stories, a loosely knit series of novelettes. Verkan Vall, of the Paratime Police, served as the central character of most of the Paratime stories, and he made a capable, likeable hero. The best of the Paratime stories centered around another hero, Cpl. Calvin Morrison of the Pennsylvania State Police. Morrison figured in three short stories, "Gunpowder God," "Down Styphon," and a third unpublished story. The three were posthumously conjoined to form the novella "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen." The stories in which Cpl. Morrison takes no part were collected in "Paratime." The present book contains both "Paratime" and "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen." It also contains a very interesting prologue in which John F. Carr discusses Piper's ideas on time travel, alternate worlds, and reincarnation. He offers Piper's firm belief in reincarnation as a possible explanation for Piper's suicide.

This book is a compilation of two books by the incomparable H. Beam Piper. The first is Paratime, a collection of five short stories, and is complete with its fascinating introduction by John F. Carr. The stories are fascinating, and show off Piper's masterful writing. The second is Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, a fascinating story of a Pennsylvania State Trooper who is lifted out of his (our) own space-time continuum and is dropped down into a very different world.I must admit that I was hoping for a little something extra in buying this book, a new introduction perhaps. But, even so, my copies of the original books were becoming worn-out, and it is nice to be able to get a new copy of these books.To those new to the Paratime stories: H. Beam Piper created a fascinating multiverse where a culture has developed the ability to travel laterally between universes (parallel Earths), and has undertaken to maintain its monopoly of such travel. The Paratime Police were formed to ensure that the secret is kept, and that no unlicensed travel would occur. These stories document the Paratime Police's activities and showcase a number of fascinating parallel Earths created by the author. I highly recommend this wonderful book.

If you've ever wondered how (or if) you could survive in a late medieval society, Lord Kalvin is for you. It chronicles the adventures of a Pennsylvania State Trooper who is carried across timelines to an alternate reality where North America is a land of feudal princes and castles. The Paratime short stories all build up to Lord Kalvin and show a much greater variety of parallel worlds than has been writen about in the last 30 years. Even though Piper is dead and gone, his work is still alive, in the hands of author John Carr. He's just released his second 'Lord Kalvin' novel; "Kalvin Kingmaker" and it can be found out at hostigos.com. His first Kalvin sequel is out of print, though it is available online from various bookstores. "The Complete Paratime is IMHO the definative work on parallel time and alternate worlds.

Piper's Paratime stories are great action adventure yarns with admirable lead characters and satisfying solutions. Each story is enjoyable in its own right, but having them all collected together will also allow the reader to enjoy them in the context of H. Beam Piper's "big picture", the society that discovered infinite probability worlds, and now exploits and protects them with its Paratime Police. The pinnacle of the Paratime stories is "Lord Kalvan Of Otherwhen" wherein a contemporary character is accidentally transported by the Paratime Police to a pike and musket society. He doesn't just survive, but lives a fuller and more important life than was possible before his "accident". Kalvan's adventures are continued in "Great King's War" and the just published "Kalvan Kingmaker", both written true to Piper by John F. Carr. Kudos to Ace for bringing all the original Piper stories together in one book.

H. Beam Piper,in this collection of stories, provides insight into a society that can leverage the resources from a near infinite number of worlds and the awesome responsibility that entails. The Paratime police force is tasked with monitoring the vast number of parallel worlds, many of which have had history take a different path then in ours. Verkan Vall, one of the Paratime officers, deals with criminals intent on exploiting less advanced civilizations and the problems with civilizations more advanced then his own, while keeping the secret of paratime travel safe.The longest story in this collection, Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, describes the fate of a man from our 20th century Earth who is dropped accidentally into a parallel universe where different population migration patterns have resulted in a drastically different world. Coming into a world centuries behind his own, Calvin Morrison, once of the Pennsylvania State Police, ends up leading the beleagured nation of Hostigos against the corrupt theocracy that holds a monopoly on technology.Another story in this collection include: "He Walked around the Horses," which offers a possible explanation on the disapperance of Benjamin Bathurst, a diplomat in Napoleonic Europe.There are several other well paced stories in this collection. Most of the parallel worlds are described in tantalizingly little detail allowing the reader to imagine what other alternatives could be. If you like parallel world fiction, you'll get your fill with this collection.