Murder in the Time World

by Malcolm Jameson

Karl Tarig plans to murder his kindly cousin, Dr. Claude Morrison, who took Karl in when nobody else would. Then he'll toss cousin Claude’s body into the time machine that Claude built. Lastly, he’ll sell all of Claude’s valuables and run away in time with the indomitable Ellen Warren. The perfect crime!

— Michael Main

To hell with the law! For he had thought out the perfect crime. There could be no dangerous consequences. You can’t hang a man for murder with a body—a corpus delicti. For the first time in the history of crime, a murderer had at his disposal the sure means of ridding himself of his corpse.

“Murder in the Time World” by Malcolm Jameson, Amazing Stories, August 1940.

The Twonky

by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore

A man, dazed from running into a temporal snag, appears in a radio factory, whereupon (before returning to his own time) he makes a radio that’s actually a Twonky, which promptly gets shipped to a Mr. Kerry Westerfield, who is initially quite confounded and amazed at everything it does.

Because of the story’s opening, I’m convinced the Twonky is from the future. The “temporal snag” that brought it to 1942 feels like an unexpected time rift to me, although the route back to the future is an intentional journey via an unexplained method.

— Michael Main

“Great Snell!” he gasped. “So that was it! I ran into a temporal snag!”

“The Twonky” by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore, Astounding Science-Fiction, September 1942.

The Search

by A. E. van Vogt

When salesman Ralph Carson Drake tries to recover his missing memory of the past two weeks, he discovers he had interactions with three people: a woman named Selanie Johns who sold remarkable futuristic devices for one dollar, her father, and an old gray-eyed man who is feared by Selanie and her father.

Van Vogt combined this with two other stories and a little fix-up material for his 1970 publication of Quest for the Future.

— Michael Main

The Palace of Immortality was built in an eddy of time, the only known Reverse, or Immortality, Drift in the Earth Time Stream

“The Search” by A. E. van Vogt, Astounding, January 1943.

The Lake

by Ray Bradbury

In this tragic tale, Doug returns to the lakeshore where a decade before, at age twelve, he built sandcastles with Tally, his first love.

— Michael Main

Tally, if you hear me, come in and build the rest.

“The Lake” by Ray Bradbury, in Weird Tales, May 1944.

Time Flies

by J. O. C. Orton, Ted Kavanagh, and Howard Irving Young, directed by Walter Forde

After Susie Barton’s husband invested their nest egg in Time Ferry Services, Ltd., it appears that the only way she’ll ever get anything out of it is by giving a performance in Elizabethan times.

This is the earliest appearance of a time machine—the “Time Ball”—in film that we know of. And based on the name Time Ferry Services, Ltd, it may also be the earliest film mention of a time travel agency.

— Michael Main

Normally, we drift with the current and travel downstream and into what we call the future. Now, if we equip our little boat with a motor, we can speed our passage downstream into the future or, breasting the current, travel upstream to view again those selfsame scenes that were passed by humanity ages ago.

Time Flies by J. O. C. Orton, Ted Kavanagh, and Howard Irving Young, directed by Walter Forde (at movie theaters, UK, 8 May 1944).

Special Knowledge

by A. Bertram Chandler

A man in WW2 Britain trades minds with his descendant, an officer on a spaceship. They are shipwrecked on Venus, where his 20th century seaman’s experience saves the day.

— Dave Hook

“Special Knowledge” by A. Bertram Chandler, Astounding Science Fiction, February 1946.

The Silver Highway

by Harold Lawlor

Most likely, Lucy from 1905 is an ordinary ghost rather than a time traveling ghost, but she is confused by the forty years since her death in a brand new Pope-Hartford runabout, so who really knows? So, we’re calling it Debatable Time Travel™.

— Michael Main

She was dressed in a long linen duster and a linen hat, bound round with an emerald veil tied in a bow under her chin. Modish clothing for motoring—in 1905.

“The Silver Highway” by Harold Lawlor, Weird Tales, May 1946.

Vintage Season

by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore

More and more strange people are appearing each day in and around Oliver Wilson’s home; the explanation from the euphoric redhead leads him to believe they are time travelers gathering for an important event.

— Michael Main

Looking backward later, Oliver thought that in that moment, for the first time clearly, he began to suspect the truth. But he had no time to ponder it, for after the brief instant of enmity the three people from—elsewhere—began to speak all at once, as if in a belated attempt to cover something they did not want noticed.

“Vintage Season” by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore, Astounding, September 1946.

The Man Who Never Grew Young

by Fritz Leiber

Without knowing why, our narrator describes his life as a man who stays the same for millennia, even as others, one-by-one, are disinterred, slowly grow younger and younger.

The story is soft-spoken but moving, and for me, it was a good complement to T.H. White’s backward-time-traveler, Merlyn.

It is the same in all we do. Our houses grow new and we dismantle them and stow the materials inconspicuously away, in mine and quarry, forest and field. Our clothes grow new and we put them off. And we grow new and forget and blindly seek a mother.

“The Man Who Never Grew Young” by Fritz Leiber, in Night’s Black Agents as by Fritz Leiber, Jr. (Arkham House, 1947).

Repeat Performance

by Walter Bullock, directed by Alfred L. Werker

After Sheila Page kills her husband in a fit of passion on New Year’s Eve, she wishes nothing other than to have the entire year back—if destiny will only let her.

— Michael Main

How many times have you said, “I wish I could live this year over again?” This is the story of a woman who did relive one year of her life.

Repeat Performance by Walter Bullock, directed by Alfred L. Werker (at movie theaters, USA, 22 May 1947).

Brick Bradford

by George Plympton, Arthur Hoerl, and Lewis Clay, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennett and Thomas Carr

In fifteen episodes, Brick travels to the moon to protect a rocket interceptor while his pals take the time top to the 18th century to find a critical hidden formula.

— Michael Main

Maybe tomorrow you’ll be visiting your great, great grandmother.

Brick Bradford by George Plympton, Arthur Hoerl, and Lewis Clay, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennett and Thomas Carr (at movie theaters, USA, 18 December 1947).

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

by Edmund Beloin, directed by Tay Garnett

Bing Cosby’s delightful portrayal of the Yankee Hank Martin (why not Morgan?!) begins in 1912 after he’s already returned from Camelot. He’s just traveled to England and sought out the very castle of his 6th-century musical adventures, where he proceeds to tell his story to the master of the castle.

Based on Hank’s knowledge of the castle and its displays, the time travel definitely occurred in this version, with both the travel back and travel forward caused by clonks on the head. And based on the ending, Hank might not have been the only traveler through time.

— Michael Main

Docent: Kindly notice the round hole in the breastplate, undoubtedly caused by an iron-tipped arrow of the period.
Hank Martin: [shakes head and grunts]. . . I mean, well, that happens to be a bullet hole.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Edmund Beloin, directed by Tay Garnett (premiered at an unknown movie theater, New York City, 7 April 1949).

Weird Fantasy #14 (1950)

The Trap of Time!

by Gardner Fox and Jack Kamen

Physicist Don Hartley has a plan to save his beloved Adele, who died in a car crash on a hot July night.

— Michael Main

You will be tampering with tremendous natural forces, Don! It is dangerous! You may unleash some awful catastrophe!

“The Trap of Time!” by Gardner Fox and Jack Kamen, Weird Fantasy #14 (EC Comics, July/August 1950).

Day of the Hunters

by Isaac Asimov

A midwestern professor tells a half-drunken story of time travel and the real cause of the dinosaur extinction.

— Michael Main

Because I built a time machine for myself a couple of years ago and went back to the Mesozoic Era and found out what happened to the dinosaurs.

“Day of the Hunters” by Isaac Asimov, in Future Science Fiction, November 1950.

There Is a Tide

by Jack Finney

A sleepless man, struggling with a business decision, sees an earlier occupant of his apartment who is struggling with a decision of his own.

— Michael Main

I saw the ghost in my own living room, alone, between three and four in the morning, and I was there, wide awake, for a perfectly sound reason: I was worrying.

“There Is a Tide” by Jack Finney, in Collier’s, 2 August 1952.

Journey into Mystery #18

The Man Who Went Back!

by Carl Wessler and Pete Tumlinson

When Jeff Martin floats downstream, he literally floats back in time. Now, if only those two pesky men would quit following him,

— Michael Main

It looks like there was something about that swim in the river that threw me back ten years!

“The Man Who Went Back!” by Carl Wessler and Pete Tumlinson, in Journey into Mystery #18 (Atlas Comics, October 1954).

Time Patrol 1

Time Patrol

by Poul Anderson

In the first of a long series of hallowed stories, former military engineer (and noncomformist) Manse Everard is recruited by the Time Patrol to prevent time travelers from making major changes to history. (Don’t worry, history bounces back from the small stuff.)

— Michael Main

If you went back to, I would guess, 1946, and worked to prevent your parents’ marriage in 1947, you would still have existed in that year; you would not go out of existence just because you had influenced events. The same would apply even if you had only been in 1946 one microsecond before shooting the man who would otherwise have become your father.

“Time Patrol” by Poul Anderson, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1955.

I’m Scared

by Jack Finney

In the 1950s, a retired man in New York City speculates on a variety of cases of odd temporal occurrences such as the woman who realized that the old dog who persistently followed her in 1947 was actually the puppy she adopted several years later. And then there was the now famous case of Rudolph Fentz who seemingly popped into Times Square on an evening in the 1950s, apparently straight from 1876.

— Michael Main

Got himself killed is right. Eleven-fifteen at night in Times Square—the theaters letting out, busiest time and place in the world—and this guy shows up in the middle of the street, gawking and looking around at the cars and up at the signs like he'd never seen them before.

“I’m Scared” by Jack Finney, in Collier’s, 15 September 1951, pp. 24ff..

Journey into Mystery #31

Dark Room!

by unknown writers and Ed Winiarski

In a Chinese tea shop, thirty-something Andrew Wilson wishes he could do everything all over again so that he wasn’t such a financial failure and Jo Clark would marry him.

— Michael Main

If I could just go back to my youth, start over! I wouldn’t make the same mistakes I made then!

“Dark Room!” by unknown writers and Ed Winiarski, in Journey into Mystery #31 (Atlas Comics, February 1956).

“—All You Zombies—”

by Robert A. Heinlein

A 25-year-old man, originally born as an orphan girl named Jane, tells his story to a 55-year-old bartender who then recruits him for a time-travel adventure.

— Michael Main

When I opened you, I found a mess. I sent for the Chief of Surgery while I got the baby out, then we held a consultation with you on the table—and worked for hours to salvage what we could. You had two full sets of organs, both immature, but with the female set well enough developed for you to have a baby. They could never be any use to you again, so we took them out and rearranged things so that you can develop properly as a man.

“‘—All You Zombies—’” by Robert A. Heinlein, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March 1959.

The Twilight Zone (r1s01e10)

Judgment Night

by Rod Serling, directed by John Brahm

Carl Lanser finds himself on a transatlantic voyage of the cargo liner S.S. Queen of Glasgow, in 1942, not knowing much about himself or how he got there, but knowing volumes about submarine warfare.

— Michael Main

There’d be no wolf packs converging on a single ship, Major Devereaux. The principle of the submarine pack is based on the convoy attack.

The Twilight Zone (v1s01e10), “Judgment Night” by Rod Serling, directed by John Brahm (CBS-TV, USA, 4 December 1959).

The Time Machine

by David Duncan, directed by George Pal

The Traveller now has a name—H. George Wells (played by Rod Taylor)—and Weena has the beautiful face and talent of Yvette Mimieux.

— Michael Main

When I speak of time, I’m speaking of the fourth dimension.

The Time Machine by David Duncan, directed by George Pal (at limited movie theaters, Rome, 25 May 1960).

Avengers Annual #2

. . . and Time, the Rushing River . . .

by Roy Thomas, Don Heck, and Werner Roth

After the Scarlet Centurion waylays the Avengers on their way back from the 1940s, they find themselves in an alternative 1968 where the five original Avengers stayed together under the thumb of the Scarlet Centurion.

The story includes flashbacks and previously unknown explanations of the team’s previous trip to the ’40s in Avengers #56, and at the end of the story, Goliath uses Dr. Doom’s Time Platform to banish the Scarlet Centurion back to his time—and we think this is the only time travel that actually appears in the story (apart from the flashbacks). We don’t know what happens to the alternative 1968 (now known as Earth-689, but the traveling Avengers return to the universe that we all knew and loved in the 1960s (a.k.a. Earth-616), with their memory of the whole affair wiped by the Watcher.

— Michael Main

Time is like a river! Dam it up at any one point. . . and it has no choice but to flow elsewhere. . . along other, easier routes!

“. . . And Time, the Rushing River. . .” by Roy Thomas, Don Heck, and Werner Roth, in The Avengers Annual 2 (Marvel Comics, September 1968).

Avengers #56

Death Be Not Proud!

by Roy Thomas and John Buscema

Using Doc Doom’s time platform, the tag-3743 } Wasp sends Cap and the other three 1968 Avengers back to observe Bycky Barnes’s death at the hands of Baron Zemo.

— Michael Main

That’s just what’s begun to torure me! How can I be sure he’s dead? I saw only a single searing blast! If I somehow survived it. . . couldn’t he have, too?

“Death Be Not Proud!” by Roy Thomas and John Buscema, in The Avengers 56 (Marvel Comics, September 1968).

Slaughterhouse-Five

by Stephen Geller, directed by George Roy Hill

Billy Pilgrim’s life, unstuck in time, is faithfully brought to the big screen, including the role of fellow patient Mr. Rosewater who, I believe, is reading a Kilgore Trout story.

— Michael Main

I have come unstuck in time.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Stephen Geller, directed by George Roy Hill (at movie theaters, USA, 15 March 1972).

Many Mansions

by Robert Silverberg

With eleven years of marriage behind them, Ted and Alice’s fantasies frequently start with a time machine and end with killing one or another of their spouse’s ancestors before they can procreate. So naturally, they each end up at Temponautics, Ltd. Oh, and Ted’s grandpa has some racy fantasies of his own.
In Silverberg’s Something Wild Is Loose (Vol. 3 of his collected stories), he posits that this story is “probably the most complex short story of temporal confusion” since Heinlein’s “By His Bootstraps” (1941) or “—All You Zombues—” (1959), but I would respectfully disagree. In particular, I would describe Heinlein’s two stories as the most complex short stories of temporal consistency in that there is but a single, static timeline and (in hindsight) every scene locks neatly into place within this one timeline. By contrast, Silverberg story involves multiple time travel choices by the characters in what I would call parallel universes. The confusion, such as it is, stems more from what appears to be alternate scenes in disconnected universes rather than temporal confusion per se.

— Michael Main

On the fourth page Alice finds a clause warning the prospective renter that the company cannot be held liable for any consequences of actions by the renter which wantonly or wilfully interfere with the already determined course of history. She translates that for herself: If you kill your husband’s grandfather, don’t blame us if you get in trouble.

“Many Mansions” by Robert Silverberg, in Universe 3, edited by Terry Carr (Random House, October 1973).

The Mirror

by Marlys Millhiser

In 1978, a 20-year-old Boulder woman exchanges places with her grandmother in 1900 on the eve of their respective weddings.

— Michael Main

He thought she wouldn’t answer but finally she said, “What if I can’t go back? What if I have to live out Brandy’s life? She lives an awfully long time, Corbin.”

The Mirror by Marlys Millhiser (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1978).

The Final Countdown

by David Ambrose et al. , directed by Don Taylor

Observer Warren Lasky is aboard the U.S.S. Nimitz when a storm takes the carrier back to the day before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Should they prevent the attack? What will be the consequences of saving a politician who may become Roosevelt’s running mate? Then the ship is returned to the present before they can do anything vaguely cool.

— Michael Main

Today is December 7, 1941. I’m sure we are all aware of the significance of this date in this place in history. We are going to fight a battle that was lost before most of you were born. This time, with God’s help, it’s going to be different. . . . Good Luck.

The Final Countdown by David Ambrose et al. , directed by Don Taylor (premiered at an unknown movie theater, London, 21 May 1980).

Twilight Zone: The Movie

Time Out

written and directed by John Landis

The Twilight Zone anthology movie reprises three of the original show’s stories along with one new story, “Time Out” by John Landis, in which disgruntled bigot Bill Connor finds himself as a Jew in World War II German occupied Europe, a black man facing the clan in mid-20th century America, and a man in a Vietnamese jungle during the Second Indochina War.

— Michael Main

Ray, help! Larry! It’s me!

“Time Out” written and directed by John Landis (at movie theaters, USA, 24 June 1983).

The Philadelphia Experiment I

The Philadelphia Experiment

by Michael Janover and William Gray, directed by Stewart Raffill

Seaman David Herdeg and his pal are thrown from 1943 to 1984 during a naval experiment gone awry, and in that future, David is the only one who can save a missing town (provided he can dodge enough bullets and perhaps win the heart of Allison Hayes).

— Michael Main

Navy owes me 40 years back pay.

The Philadelphia Experiment by Michael Janover and William Gray, directed by Stewart Raffill (at movie theaters, USA, 3 August 1984).

The Ray Bradbury Theater (s01e02)

The Playground

by Ray Bradbury, directed by William Fruet

Charles visits his boyhood playground, at first on his own and then with his own son. There, he sees Ralph, the bully who tormented him, who’s still a boy and who still seems to be tormenting Charlie.

Perhaps Ralph was meant to be a ghost bully, perhaps the curly haired boy is young Charlie, perhaps Charlie switches bodies with his own son, or perhaps there’s time travel invovled. We doubt that even Captain Kirk could sort out all those perhapses in this TV version of Ray Bradbury’s story starring William Shatner. But clarity can be had if you read the original story, which takes about the same amount of time as watching the TV episode but shows the rich inner life of Charles Underwood and leaves no ambiguity about what’s up with “Ralph.”

— Michael Main

Ralph? The bully. When I was a kid, he used to wait for me on the corner every day.

The Ray Bradbury Theater (s01e02), “The Playground” by Ray Bradbury, directed by William Fruet (HBO, USA, 4 June 1985).

The Ray Bradbury Theater (s05e06)

The Utterly Perfect Murder

by Ray Bradbury, directed by Stuart Margolin

I felt that Bradbury’s adaptation of his own 1971 story lost its impact by turning young Doug’s childhood tortures into clichéd scenes—and still leaving it up to the viewer to decide whether there’s a moment of time travel.

— Michael Main

Old Doug: Doug, Doug.. . . Come on out and play.

The Ray Bradbury Theater (s05e06), “The Utterly Perfect Murder” by Ray Bradbury, directed by Stuart Margolin (USA Network, USA, 7 February 1992).

The Moment Universe Stories 2

The Miracle of Ivar Avenue

by John Kessel

In 1949 Los Angeles, Detective Lee Kinlaw has writer/director Preston Sturges down in the morgue. The only problem is that Sturges is still alive and well in Hollywood.

— Michael Main

It’s a transmogrifier. A device that can change anyone into anyone else. I can change General MacArthur into President Truman, Shirley Temple into Marilyn Monroe.

“The Miracle of Ivar Avenue” by John Kessel, in Intersections: The Sycamore Hill Antholgy , edited by John Kessel et al., January 1996.

Boy Meets World (s05e06)

No Guts, No Cory

by Lara Olsen and Patricia Carr, directed by Alan Myerson

As part of ABC’s Friday night crossover, Salem (the cat from tag-4138 Sabrina) transports the Boy Meets World world to 1940s America where Cory, his dad, and Shawn all ship off to war.

— Michael Main

I don’t know how I would handle living back then. You know, I wonder what it was like during World War II.

Boy Meets World (s05e06), “No Guts, No Cory” by Lara Olsen and Patricia Carr, directed by Alan Myerson (ABC-TV, USA, 7 November 1997) \pt. 2 of the 1997 TGIF Crossover].

Oxford Historians 2

To Say Nothing of the Dog, or How We Found the Bishop’s Bird Stump at Last

by Connie Willis

To Say Nothing of the Dog, or How We Found the Bishop’s Bird Stump at Last by Connie Willis (Easton Press, 1998).

Moment Universe Stories 4

It’s All True

by John Kessel

About five years after the first two Moment Universe stories, time traveling talent scount Det Gruber heads to 1942 in hopes of recruiting young, bitter Orson Welles to accompany him back to the future.

— Michael Main

Welles clenched his fists. When he spoke it was in a lower tone. “Life is dark.”

“It’s All True” by John Kessel, in Sci Fiction, 5 November 2003.

Edelstein Trilogie, Book 2

Saphirblau

English release: Sapphire Blue Literal: Sapphire blue

by Kerstin Gier

Apart from amusing blustering from the Count during her trips to the 18th century, time travel took a back seat to Gwenny’s on-again-off-again romance with Gideon in this second book of the trilogy. Gwenny’s new pal, the ghost/demon/gargoyle Xemerius, was enjoyable, though we wish that he would be time traveller #13.

— Michael Main

Rubinrot, Begabt mit der Magie des Raben, Schließt G-Dur den Kreis, Den zwölf gebildet haben.

Ruby Red, with G-major, the magic of the raven, brings the Circle of Twelve home into safe haven.

English

[ex=bare]Saphirblau | Sapphire blue[/ex] by Kerstin Gier (Arena Verlag, January 2010).

SpongeBob SquarePants Mini 67

Time Machine

[writer and director unknown]

In the first of three time travel mini-episodes—each around one minute long—SpongeBob and Patrick put their hot tub time machine through the works, hoping to find Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy in their prime.

— Michael Main

Will they get it right? Will SpongeBob and Patrick get to see their superheroes in their super-prime?

“Time Machine” [writer and director unknown] (SpongeBob SquarePants Mini 67, Nickelodean (USA, 14 June 2011).

Todd Family 1

Life after Life

by Kate Atkinson

In one instantiation of her life, Ursula Todd dies just moments after her birth in 1910. Fortunately (for the sake of the novel), time seems to be cyclic, so she and the rest of the world get many chances at life. At times, she partially recalls her other lives, resulting in many consequences to history and her personal development.

— Michael Main

So much hot air rising above the tables in the Café Heck or the Osteria Bavaria, like smoke from the ovens. It was difficult to believe from this perspective that Hitler was going to lay waste to the world in a few years’ time.

“Time isn’t circular,” she said to Dr. Kellet. “It’s like a palimpsest.”
“Oh, dear,” he said. “That sounds very vexing.”
“And memories are sometimes in the future.”

Life after Life by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday, March 2013).

The Boy in His Winter

by Norman Lock

After Huck Finn and Jim fall asleep on an appropriated raft in Hannibal, Mo., they find themselves floating down the Mississippi for decades without ever aging a day themselves.

— Michael Main

We came by the raft dishonestly. We’d only meant to do a little fishing. It was cool and nice under the big willow with its whips trailing over the water. Christ, it was a scorcher of a day. The whole town must have fallen asleep, along with Jim and me. When we finally did wake, if we ever did, the raft was too far along in space and time to return it. We could no longer reverse ourselves, our motions in all five dimensions, than fly to the moon.

The Boy in His Winter by Norman Lock (Bellevue Literary Press, May 2014).

Magic Tree House: Super Edition 1

Danger in the Darkest Hour

by Mary Pope Osborne

The magic tree house takes Jack and Annie back in time to England in 1944, where the country is fighting for its life in World War II. Before long, Jack and Annie find themselves parachuting to Normandy, France, behind enemy lines, and they realize that they’ve arrived on the day before D-Day. Will the brave brother and sister be able to make a difference during one of the darkest times in history?

— based on fandom.com

Danger in the Darkest Hour by Mary Pope Osborne (Random House, January 2015) [print · e-book].

The Age of Adaline

by J. Mills Goodloe and Salvador Paskowitz, directed by Lee Toland Krieger

Adaline lives most of the 20th century and into the 21st, all at age 29 with no actual time travel.

— Michael Main

Tell me something I can hold onto forever and never let go.

The Age of Adaline by J. Mills Goodloe and Salvador Paskowitz, directed by Lee Toland Krieger (at movie theaters, Belgium, 8 April 2015).

The Rift

by Don Handfield, Richard Rayner, and Leno Varvalho

The crash of a 1941 World War II plane in a 21st-century Kansas field sets off a chain of plots and subplots involving the pilot, a mother on the run, a precotious young boy, a government agency, and multiple jumps through a time rift.

— Michael Main

Smoke billows into a bright blue sky scarred by a rip in the heavens—what we’ll come to know as . . . The Rift

The Rift, 4 pts. by Don Handfield, Richard Rayner, and Leno Varvalho (Red 5 Comics, January–April 2017).

The Magic Tree House 29*

A Big Day for Baseball

by Mary Pope Osborne

Jack and Annie go back to Jackie Robinson’s major league debut at Ebbett’s Field in 1947. The story has a twist we haven’t seen before: When they put on two magic hats, everyone sees Jack and Annie as if they were teenage bat boys rather than little children.

— Michael Main

One minute he’s tall! The next he’s short! One minute he can throw the ball! The next he can’t!

A Big Day for Baseball by Mary Pope Osborne (Random House, August 2017).

In Another Time

by Jillian Cantor

Hanna Ginsberg—a young Jewish violinist in Germany during the rise of Hitler—awakens in a field in 1946 with no memory of the past decade.

— Michael Main

“Do you have a time machine,” he’d asked his father. It was hard to fathom, unbelievable even as he’d said it, but the idea fascinated him with little-boy wonder.

In Another Time by Jillian Cantor (Harper Perennial, March 2019) [print · e-book].

Not This Tide

by Sheila Finch

Through the eyes of young Rosemary (in 1944 London during the time of buzz bombs and V-2 rockets) and old Rosemary (now called Mary in 2035 Oslo), we see the picture of her whole life from her imaginary friend during the war to her physicist grandson at Princeton.

— Michael Main

“Not This Tide” by Sheila Finch, in Asimov’s Science Fiction, January/February 2020.

Amazing Stories (r2s01e05)

The Rift

by Don Handfield and Richard Rayner, directed by Mark Mylod

After a dogfight, a World War II plane flies through a time rift and into a 21st-century field near Dayton, where a single mom saves the pilot from the wreckage and her step-son saves the pilot from other dangers.

— Michael Main

Sir, I know it’s a doorway and all, and we gotta send everything back there, but in training they did not really tell us what happens if we don’t.

Amazing Stories (v2s01e05), “The Rift” by Don Handfield and Richard Rayner, directed by Mark Mylod (Apple TV, 3 April 2020).

What If `. . .` ? [s1e01]

What If . . . Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?

by A. C. Bradley, directed by Bryan Andrews

The Watcher tells us of a universe where a change in a single decision made Peggy Carter (rather than Steve Rogers become the Allies’ super-soldier. Like Steve, Peggy also managed to find her way into modern times via a technique that’s related to time travel.

— Michael Main

When asked to leave the room, Margaret “Peggy” Carter chose to stay, but soon it would be her venturing into the unknown and creating a new world.

“What If . . . Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?” by A. C. Bradley, directed by Bryan Andrews, What If. . . ? [s01e01] (Disney+, worldwide, 11 August 2021).

Secret Agent Moe Berg #6

Billie the Kid

by Rick Wilber

In an alternate history leading up to a 1945 atomic bomb in southern California, young Billie “the Kid” Davis grows up in the mid-20th century, playing shortstop better than any of the boys, flying B-25s with her Dad, and eventually—with Moe Berg and the woman-with-many-names—taking on that bomb.

— Michael Main

This is your moment, Billie. Coming up right now. Save the worlds, Billie. Change everything. You can do it.

“Billie the Kid” by Rick Wilber, Asimov’s Science Fiction, September/October 2021.

Paean for a Branch Ghost

by Filip Wiltgren

In the far future, a woman who had lived through the Sobibor extermination camp manipulates the system to go back and rescue the rest of her family.

— Michael Main

“Twentieth century,” said Davos, and I whistled, long, and low, and falling. “Special assignment,” he said, and I whistled again. I’d never heard of anyone going that far back.

“Paean for a Branch Ghost” by Filip Wiltgren, Future Science Fiction Digest #14, March 2022 [e-zine · webzine].