We see that javascript is disabled or not supported by your browser - javascript is needed for important actions on the site. Read more

What's New - Home - Login

Member $avings: $81,580,079.63 | Books Available: 793,759 | Members Online: 228

Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!

How To Swap Books Sign Up Search submenu

PBS Market (New Books)

Gift Buying Guide

Book Browser Advanced Search Books Posted Today Member Book Reviews Award Winning Books NYT Best Sellers Amazon Best Sellers Most Traveled Copies Club Wish List

Discussion Forums Book Lists

Club Lists My Book Lists My Watched Lists Create a List

Blog Donations

School Donation Program In Memory of... Military Donation Program Friends of PBS

Box-O-Books Maps The Eclectic Pen Fun Stuff

20 Questions Sudoku Bookmark Creator

Top 100

Requests Posts Swappers Referrers Reviewers

Pulse of PBS Spread The Word

Invite Friends Bookmarks Facebook Page Facebook App More Ways...

Photo Gallery Recipes Club Tag Cloud Member Testimonials

Help Center submenu

How To Swap Books Browse Help Docs Ask the Librarian PBS Member Icons Live Help

Kiosk

PBS Market (New Books) Go Shopping Buy Credits Buy PBS Money Upgrade Membership Gift Certificates Transfer Credits

Need Help?

Search - The Big Time

The Big Time
Author: Leiber, Fritz

The Big Time (1957) is a short science fiction novel (or, arguably, novellette) by Fritz Leiber. It won the Hugo Award in 1958. Although Fritz Leiber is better known for fantasy writing, he did also occasionally write science fiction. — The Big Time is a vast, cosmic back story, hidden behind a claustrophobic front story with only a few character... more »s. It could easily be done as a stage play, since most of the big special effects described in the story are anecdotal.

The storyline involves two factions which both have time travel who are at war with each other. Their method of battle involves changing the outcome of events throughout history.

The two sides are nicknamed the Spiders and the Snakes. Their foot soldiers are recruited from every place and time: Cretese Amazons, Hussars, Roman legionnaires, GIs, Wehrmacht Landsers, Space Commandos, and soldiers from the armies of Napoleon, Stalin, Ghengis Khan, and Alexander the Great may find themselves fighting side-by-side or on opposite sides. Likewise medical staff, entertainers and whores are drawn into the temporal war to provide rest and relaxation for battle weary combatants. Some soldiers need not to be human at all, although to change history in the millennia of humankind's dominance of Earth a human-prevalent element is strongly advised. However for battles and assignments set in mythical ages or primitive societies, even aliens or beings from the deep reaches of future or past can be employed. The novel has two such characters: A 'satyr' from millennia into the future (who is, however, a terran, either an unlikely evolution of man or the result of genetic experimentation and tampering) and a gentle, sad tentacled being who is part of the 'lunar race' that 'millions of years ago laid waste to their beautiful satellite in an orgy of atomic warfare', leaving the devastated lifeless landscape humans are used to.

The Change War and the soldiers fighting in it do not know how it began or if it has an end. They also do not know the true form or identity of the Spiders or the Snakes. No one knows how those nicknames were chosen, or whether they are in any way accurate.

The action of the story takes place at a rest and relaxation base between the changing time lanes. The plot takes the form of a locked room mystery.

The Big Time was originally published in two parts in Galaxy Magazine's March and April issues of 1958.

ISBN-13: 9780441062188
ISBN-10: 0441062180
Publication Date: 1961
Pages: 171
Rating:

Currently 4.5/5 Stars.

4.5 stars, based on 1 rating

Publisher: Ace
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Genres:

Science Fiction & Fantasy >> Science Fiction

Back to the Top ↑

Search - The Big Time

Loading...