James Van Pelt

writer
Short Story

Happy Ending

High school teacher Bob Wells: Is this the story of him living backward through time? Or is the story merely being told in reverse? Or is something else going on with Bob's student Karl Downs? —Michael Main
The doors opened and students backed in, pointedly not looking at Bob as they took their seats.
Wispy images of three people emerge from an hour glass.
  • Fantasy
  • Experimental
  • Mainstream
  • Debatable Time Travel
Short Story

Parallel Highways

  • by James Van Pelt
  • in After Shocks: An Anthology of So-Cal Horror, edited by Jeremy Lassen (fREAk pRESs, May 2000)
Jack and Debbie have been driving nonstop in high-speed, bumper-to-bumper traffic for decades. Particularly fun is swapping drivers from time to time, without stopping. No actual time travel for the fated pair, but you will spot some familiar time phenomena. —Michael Main
He remembered the morning this started, holding his own in his lane, the early commute streaming toward its destination, when he saw the mini-van coming toward him from the on-ramp.
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  • Horror
  • Time Phenomena
Short Story

What Weena Knew

I met the prolific James Van Pelt at an sf convention in Denver, where he kindly had coffee with me and signed my baseball. We talked about one of his students who later came to Boulder to study computer science. I had misinterpreted a biography of Van Pelt in Analog as if it were an obituary, so I was happy to see the outstanding writer alive and writing. Oh! And he wrote (among other things) this fine story of Weena from the moment that H. G. Wells’s Traveller rescued her from the river. —Michael Main
Then a vice clamped her upper arm. A surge. A tremendous force, and she was clear of the stream. Air! There was air to breathe, but all she could do was cough. She was being carried. Her cheek rested on skin. Hough arms wrapped her close until they were on the bank. Gently, her rescuer put her down. Rock warmed her back; her hands lay flat in the heat, her head dropped onto the warmth. Against the sky stood a figure stragely shaped. Weena’s vision swirled—she could barely focus—but before she passed out, she saw in wonder, he was a giant.
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  • Eloi Silver Medal
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel
Novelette

A Wow Finish

No image currently available.
  • Undetermined
  • Undetermined Time Travel
Short Story

Mrs. Hatcher’s Evaluation

Perhaps you know how much I enjoy being deeply dragged into an engaging story, and then, only after some time, realizing that it’s a time travel story. If you haven’t yet read this story, then I apologize for depriving you of that pleasure. Now go read it now and find out about why Mrs. Hatcher’s teaching methods are indeed ”best practices.”
What happened in Hatcher’s room?
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  • Eloi Gold Medal
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel
Short Story

The Time Travel Device

One of my rules is that time travel must involve interaction, which this story—of a literary engineer visiting deaths of his literary heroes—might not have, but I like James Van Pelt enough that I wanted to list the story anyway (and mark my first visit to Daily Science Fiction).
Time travel existed, but I could not interact with the past or the future.
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  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel