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Time and Again [2018, PDF/EPUB, ENG]

by Clifford D. Simak

(1,007 ratings)
Book cover
After two decades in space, a man returns to Earth as something new and not completely human, in this “enormously inventive” novel by a Nebula Award winner (Galaxy Science Fiction).

Twenty years ago, Asher Sutton vanished somewhere in the star system 61 Cygni, an inaccessible corner of the universe that humankind has thus far been unable to explore. Now Asher has returned to Earth, having impossibly survived catastrophic damage to his spacecraft. But the star-traveler is not the same man he was when he began his journey two decades earlier. He is, in fact, no longer completely human. And he is not alone. But he has a message to convey that could have reality-altering consequences for the human galaxy-conquerors who consider themselves almost gods, and for the nearly human androids they create, enslave, and oppress. It is Asher’s destiny to change everything. His mission has made him a hero to some, a pariah to others—and a target for determined time-traveling assassins from the future whose mission it is to silence him at all costs before everything they cherish is obliterated.
 
A true science fiction visionary, SFWA Grand Master Clifford D. Simak infused thrilling stories of time travel, space exploration, artificial intelligence, and alien contact with powerful, thought-provoking ideas. An enthralling masterwork of speculative fiction that astonishes while exploring humanity in all its disparate aspects, Time and Again can be counted among the prolific, multiple Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author’s most brilliantly imagined and successfully realized creations..
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Book details


  • Author : Clifford D. Simak
  • Publisher : Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy; Reprint edition
  • Published : 09-25-2018
  • Language : English
  • Pages : 282
  • ISBN-10 : 9781504051132
  • ISBN-13 : 978-1504051132
  • Reader Reviews : 1,007 (4.1)
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About the Author


Clifford D. Simak


During his fifty-five-year career, Clifford D. Simak produced some of the most iconic science fiction stories ever written. Born in 1904 on a farm in southwestern Wisconsin, Simak got a job at a small-town newspaper in 1929 and eventually became news editor of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, writing fiction in his spare time. Simak was best known for the book City, a reaction to the horrors of World War II, and for his novel Way Station. In 1953 City was awarded the International Fantasy Award, and in following years, Simak won three Hugo Awards and a Nebula Award. In 1977 he became the third Grand Master of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and before his death in 1988, he was named one of three inaugural winners of the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.

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Reader Reviews

J
ET
You get lost but you find your way back
Reviewed in Canada on 08-13-2021
Honestly, not the best book that I read. But considering when it was written, fair enough. You sometime get lost, but not long enough to get bored. He seems to always bring you back when you are about to drop off out of warp. Honestly, I would read it again and probably it would be better knowing that you will find your way back..
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J
Karl Janssen
Ingenious time travel mystery thriller
Reviewed in the United States on 05-23-2019
Having read at least 20 of Clifford D. Simak’s books, I can confidently say that he is an author that rarely disappoints. As a big fan of his writing, I approach his work with high expectations, yet he almost never fails to impress with his boundless creativity, prodigious literary skill, and visionary sci-fi speculation. Time and Again, originally published in 1951, is yet another great novel by Simak. This one is a mystery thriller of sorts that incorporates time travel, interstellar exploration, and warring factions fighting over humanity’s future.

The year is 7990. Aided by a workforce of androids and robots, mankind has spread throughout the galaxy and conquered a multitude of planets. Twenty years ago, Asher Sutton was dispatched to the star system of 61 Cygni as one of many advance scouts sent forth from Earth to make first contact with other worlds. Unlike so many others sent on similar missions, however, Sutton was never heard from again. Christopher Adams, a high-level government functionary, was the man who sent him there. Adams had given up Sutton for dead until one night a visitor shows up unexpectedly on his doorstep. This visitor claims to be from the future, a future in which time travel has become a reality. He informs Adams that Sutton will soon be returning from 61 Cygni, and when he does, this visitor urges that Adams have Sutton killed immediately.

Thus in the very first chapter Simak quickly and skillfully sets up a science fiction mystery with two baffling questions: What happened to Sutton on 61 Cygni? And what exactly is he going to do that merits this death sentence from the future? The story grips the reader from page one and never lets go. Sutton himself, once he enters the story, is largely clueless as to the answers to these questions, and the reader follows along with him as he gradually uncovers the truth. The story that Simak constructs is intricately complex and delightfully ingenious. Time travel is a frequent topic of Simak’s fiction, and he is consistently one of the best writers to tackle the subject. Here he constructs a plot with just about as many time travel twists, turns, and paradoxes as the Terminator series. At times, quite frankly, it can get a little too complex, to the point where necessary explanations slow down the otherwise riveting forward momentum of the story.

Though most of the narrative takes place in the 80th century, the element of time travel allows Simak to return to one of his favorite settings: the rural Wisconsin of his youth. Simak grew up in the farming country of southwestern Wisconsin, and perhaps for that reason he writes with an appreciation of nature and a sensitivity to the natural environment that few science fiction writers possess. His work is also characterized by a heartfelt compassion and a deep philosophical questioning of the purpose and fate of humanity, which manifests itself here in the form of a philosophical manifesto that ignites a future ideological war. The details of this fictional future philosophy, however, are a little sketchy. While its sentiment is commendable and compelling, the terminology in which it is expressed is sometimes rather vague and confusing.

Time and Again may not be quite as good as better known Simak works such as Way Station, City, or Mastodonia, but it’s right up there alongside them, likely among his top five novels. I will be able to judge for certain after I finish his complete works, which is something I fully intend to do, because Simak never ceases to amaze..
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J
Thomas Pegg
True classic SF
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 07-24-2013
This book is an old friend, I used to own a copy that I bought from a library but over the years and many moves it got lost along the way - so very pleased to find it on Kindle.

A hard story to describe, even harder without spoiling.

Set in a future where humans have a wide empire but are relatively few in number there is a war in time brewing over a book written by Asher Sutton. But Asher Sutton hasn't written the book yet and has only just mysteriously returned after a 20 year mission to the one part of space where humanity has not been able to visit. All sorts of groups want to stop the book, influence the book or simply ensure it gets written. And what could be the subject of a book that could trigger a war?

It's an ideas book but with plenty of action & a dash of romance - Simak's not Sutton's that is.

It was one of his earliest books, written in 1951 but for my money it stands the test of time..
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