Worlds H Beam Piper

H. (Henry) Beam Piper was one of the most interesting science-fiction authors to come out of the 1950s and 60s; sadly his suicide in 1964 robbed the world of what could have been one of the giants of the industry. This book is a collection of ten short stories that show off Piper's wonderful talent.1) In Time and Again, a dying soldier is given the chance to return to his youth and change history. 2) The Mercenaries tells the tale of a 1960s, where scientists and the new condottieri. 3) Dearest tells the tale of a man who finds himself in psychic contact with a disembodied entity. 4) Hunter Patrol is one of the most interesting of the stories, it is a time travel story in which a man travels through time to change history and be changed by it. 5) Flight From Tomorrow is the story of a tyrant from the 100 Century of the Atomic Era, who flees into the past - 1950. 6) Operation R.S.V.P. is a story of nuclear brinkmanship with a surprise thrown in. 7) Genesis is one of the few stories in this book that fits in with Piper's Terro-Human History and Paratime stories, telling the story of the disaster that overtook the first human settlers of Earth. 8) The Answer also fits in with Piper's History, explaining the genesis of the atomic war that devastated the north hemisphere of the Earth. 9) In Crossroads of Destiny, a group of passengers on a train discuss alternative histories, and find out that one of them knows more than he's saying. 10) The final story is Day of the Moron, which shows the danger a self-reliant man faces in a world where everyone is interdependent and dependent on morons.These stories make for an excellent read, and if you are a fan of H. Beam Piper, then this book is definitely one you should get. I highly recommend this book!

Consists of "Time and Time Again", "The Mercenaries", "Dearest", "Hunter Patrol", "Flight From Tomorrow", "Operation RSVP", "Genesis", "The Answer", "Crossroads of Destiny", and "Day of the Moron".Provides valuable background information for the Terro-Human Future History, including the Paratime stories."Time and Time Again" introduces Allan Hartley, who also appears in the background of "The Mercenaries" and "Day of the Moron"."The Mercenaries" explores how a Free Scientist team would operate in the real world. Incidentally, the Sugihara effect in the story led, in that history, to the development of collapsium; this is the only story that discusses it in detail. (Try Andre Norton's The Stars Are Ours! for another story of Free Scientists.)"Hunter Patrol" and "Flight from Tomorrow" are both time travel stories, but not Paratime stories; instead, they deal with the consequences of trying to use time travel to alter the future or the past. (Paratime travel involves travelling to alternate universes, where history played out differently; "Crossroads of Destiny" falls into this category).In the Paratime universe, humans emigrated to Earth from Mars 75000 years ago. (See "Omnilingual" in Piper's book Federation for background on Martian civilization). On the Paratimers' First Level, colonization was completely successful. On the other 4 Levels, disaster either prevented colonization completely (the Fifth Level) or cut off the colonists from Mars prematurely, and left them to settle Earth with varying degrees of success. "Genesis" presents the story of the disaster that struck the first colony ship, leading to what the Paratimers call the Fourth Level version of history (ours)."The Answer" covers the historical period just after World War III, when the northern hemisphere has been completely wiped out...but nobody knows why the first strike was directed at Auburn, New York. "Operation RSVP", on the other hand, deals with two nuclear powers who are heading for the brink, but are in for a sharp lesson....

Piper's Terro-Human Future History (THFH) begins here. From the first colonization of Earth, to the events occasionally mentioned in the later volumes and detailed here, the ground work of the THFH can be found here. Right down the very minute that the otherwhen of the THFH begins with the "rebirth" of Alan Hartley in his own adolecent body. If you are a fan of Piper, find a copy of this volume. It's worth it.