Vintage Season

by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore

Release: September 1946
Format: Novelette
Genre: Science Fiction
Audience: Adults
Content: Definite Time Travel
Original Language: English

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.

DEBUT

“Vintage Season,” Astounding, September 1946.

VARIANTS

4 English variants

TRANSLATIONS

Dutch translation: Alternate byline.
[ex=bare]“De toeschouwers” | The spectators[/ex], in Verhalen die Hitchcock koos 3, edited by Alfred Hitchcock (Het Spectrum, 1964).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Henry Kuttner [uncredited]
C. L. Moore
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by A. J. Richel
Dutch translation: Alternate byline.
[ex=bare]“Die schitterende mei-maand van 19..” | That wonderful month of May 19xx[/ex], in Elseviers SF omnibus, edited by Aart C. Prins (Elsevier, 1977).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Henry Kuttner [uncredited]
C. L. Moore as by Catherine L. Moore
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Ef Leonard
Dutch translation: Alternate byline.
[ex=bare]“De toeschouwers” | The spectators[/ex], in Een Spelletje Met de Dood, edited by Alfred Hitchcock (Loeb, 1984).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Henry Kuttner [uncredited]
C. L. Moore
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Tilly Schel
French translation:
[ex=bare]“Saison de grand cru” | Grand cru season[/ex], in Déjà demain (Gallimard, October 1961).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Henry Kuttner
C. L. Moore
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by P. J. Izabelle
French translation: Alternate byline.
[ex=bare]“Saison de grand cru” | Grand cru season[/ex], in Histoires de voyages dans le temps, edited by Jacques Goimard, Demètre Ioakimidis, and Gérard Klein (Le Livre de Poche, 1975).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Henry Kuttner
C. L. Moore as by Catherine L. Moore
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by P. J. Izabelle
German translation: Alternate byline.
[ex=bare]“Traubenlese” | Grape harvest[/ex], in Titan 11, edited by Ben Bova and Wolfgang Jeschke (Heyne, June 1979).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Henry Kuttner
C. L. Moore as by Catherine Lucile Moore
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Uwe Anton
German translation: Alternate byline.
[ex=bare]“Traubenlese” | Grape harvest[/ex], in Der Kuß des schwarzen Gottes (Heyne, March 1982).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Henry Kuttner [uncredited]
C. L. Moore
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Uwe Anton
German translation: Alternate byline.
[ex=bare]“Traubenlese” | Grape harvest[/ex], in Traubenlese by C. L. Moore / Der Hexenmeister by James Blish / Kontrapunkt by Zsoldos Péter, edited by Wolfgang Jeschke (Heyne, April 1988).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Henry Kuttner [uncredited]
C. L. Moore as by Catherine Lucile Moore
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Uwe Anton
Italian translation:
[ex=bare]“La grande vendemmia” | The great harvest[/ex], in Il twonky, il tempo e la follia (Casa Editrice la Tribuna, November 1971).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Henry Kuttner
C. L. Moore
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Sandro Sandrelli
Italian translation: Alternate byline.
[ex=bare]“La stagione della vendemmia” | The harvest season[/ex], in La stagione della vendemmia (Mondadori, June 1991).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Henry Kuttner [uncredited]
C. L. Moore as by Catherine L. Moore
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Delio Zinoni
Japanese translation: Alternate Japanese byline.
[ex=bare]ヴィンテージ・シーズン | Vintage season | <Vu~intēji shīzun>[/ex], in Revisions: 時間SFアンソロジー :: Revisions: Jikan SF ansorojī, edited by 大森望 :: Ohmori Nozomu (大森望 :: Hayakawa, December 2018).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Henry Kuttner [uncredited]
C. L. Moore as by C・L・ムーア
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by 大森望
Spanish translation: Alternate byline.
[ex=bare]“La época de las vendimias” | The harvest time[/ex], in Cuentos para la madrugada, edited by Alfred Hitchcock (Aguilar, 1967).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Henry Kuttner as by Lawrence O’Donnell
C. L. Moore as by Lawrence O’Donnell
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Luisa Ripoll
Salvador Bordoy Luque

12 translations

DERIVATIVE WORKS

“In Another Country” by Robert Silverberg, Timescape written and directed by David Twohy, (Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival, mid-January 1992).

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Time Periods

Middle Ages (AD 476 to 1454): Chaucer, Charlemagne, and Cenba’s visit to the Black Plague, all mentioned in passing
Circa AD 1600 to 1699: We learn that Cenba visited the Great Plague of London.
Circa AD 1940 to 1949: Oliver’s presumed time period
Unspecified Future Year: Our time is not terribly far ahead of yours.

Timeline Models

New Timelines Are Theoretically Possible, but Forbidden: Yes, the past can be changed, but not easily. And it changes the future, too, necessarily. The lines of probability are switched into new patterns—but it is extremely difficult, and it has never been allowed.
Resilient Timeline: The physio-temporal course tends to slide back to its norm always.

Time Travel Methods

Unexplained Time Travel Methods

Themes

Never Change the Past!: Before we come, we must give our word never to interfere.
Technology and Science from the Future: Among other things, the subsonic: It’s a gadget out of your world, not mine!
Time Travel Agencies, Safaris, and Tourists

Real-World Tags

Black Death: . . . though I think there may be some counterpoint from the 1347 November. He hasn’t finished—of course.
Charlemagne: the trio‘s next stop in A.D. 800
Chaucer: the trio’s previous stop in the 14th century
Great Plague of London: “From November 1664,” Hara said. “London, of course [. . .].”
Pandemics, Epidemics, and Bio-Disasters: the past plagues and the new Blue Death

Groupings

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY (SPOILERS!)

From a time not terribly far ahead ⋙ to a place near the catastrophic meteor strike, presumably in the 1940s. Multiple round trips. Note: Oliver’s trio and many more tourists.