The Choice

by Wayland Hilton-Young

Release: 19 March 1952
Format: Flash Fiction
Genre: Science Fiction
Audience: Adults
Content: Definite Time Travel
Original Language: English

In about 200 words, Williams goes to the future and returns with the memory of only one small thing.

— Michael Main

How did it happen? Can you remember nothing at all?

DEBUT

“The Choice,” in Punch, 19 March 1952.

VARIANTS

3 English variants

TRANSLATIONS

Croatian translation:
[ex=bare]“Izbor” | The choice[/ex], Sirius ##11, May 1977.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Wayland Hilton-Young as by W. Hilton-Young
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Goran Pavelić
Dutch translation:
[ex=bare]“De Keus” | The choice[/ex], in De Kortste Fantastische Verhalen, no credited editor (Tabula, 1985).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Wayland Hilton-Young as by W. Hilton-Young
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Mischa Veld
French translation:
[ex=bare]“Le choix” | The choice[/ex], in Histoires paradoxales, edited by Jacques Goimard, Demètre Ioakimidis, and Gérard Klein (Le Livre de Poche, November 1984).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Wayland Hilton-Young as by W. Hilton-Young
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Bernard Raison
Hungarian translation:
[ex=bare]“A választás” | The choice[/ex], in Galaktika 1: Tudományos-fantasztikus antológia, edited by Kuczka Péter (Kozmosz Könyvek, 1972).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Wayland Hilton-Young as by W. Hilton-Young
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Göncz Árpád
Italian translation:
[ex=bare]“La scelta” | The choice[/ex], in L’altare a mezzanotte: 50 racconti di fantascienza, edited by Isaac Asimov and Groff Conklin (Casa Editrice La Tribuna, July 1965).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Wayland Hilton-Young as by W. Hilton-Young
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Romolo Minelli
Spanish translation:
[ex=bare]“La elección” | The choice[/ex], in Nueva Dimensión #42, February 1973.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Wayland Hilton-Young
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by unknown persons

6 translations

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Time Periods

Circa AD 1950 to 1959: Based on the “camera and the tape-recording machine” and learning “shorthand.”
Unspecified Future Year

Time Travel Methods

Unexplained Time Travel Methods

Groupings

Sirius (periodical): #11, May 1977
Cited in Time Machines by Paul J. Nahin ()

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY (SPOILERS!)

From circa 1952 ⋙ to unspecified future time. Round trip.

INDEXER NOTES (SPOILERS!)

Credits—From Dave Hook on the Facebook Group <a href='https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fgroups%2F472875506624413%2Fpermalink%2F798219464090014'>Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Fiction</a>, the notes from Omnibus of Science Fiction (1953) state: “This sketch was originally published anonymously in the British Punch. Special thanks are due to Mathew M. Canmen, of Corning, New York, for calling it to my attention. G. C.”
Variants—From Rich Horton on the Facebook Group <a href='https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fgroups%2F472875506624413%2Fpermalink%2F798219464090014'>Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Fiction</a> notes that “<samp><samp>. . .</samp></samp> apparently there is a different version of this story, in which the time traveler is a woman, and the author is W. Hilton-Young. But Dave Hook notes that this is not the 1953 variant in Groff Conklin’s Omnibus of Science Fiction, and from comments elsewhere in the group, it seems that it also is not the version in 1963’s Fifty Short Science Fiction Tales.