THE WHOLE ITTDB   CONTACT   LINKS▼ 🔍 by Keywords▼ | by Media/Years▼ | Advanced
 
The Internet Time Travel Database

R. A. Lafferty

writer

Future Science Fiction, February 1960

Through Other Eyes

by R. A. Lafferty
Although the story is not about time travel, the characters do spend the first couple of pages reminiscing about their disappointing experiences with a time machine.
— Fred Galvin
“And watching the great Pythagorous at work.”
“And the three days that he spent on that little surveying problem. How one longed to hand him a slide-rule through the barrier and explain its working.”
“Through Other Eyes” by R. A. Lafferty, Future Science Fiction, February 1960.

The Six Fingers of Time

by R. A. Lafferty
The story does not involve time travel, but it does have speeded-up time as in “The New Accelerator” by H. G. Wells.
— Fred Galvin
I awoke this morning to some very puzzling incidents. It seemed that time itself had stopped, or that the whole world had gone into super-slow motion.
“The Six Fingers of Time” by R. A. Lafferty, If, September 1960.

Rainbird

by R. A. Lafferty
At the end of this life, Higgston Rainbird, a prolific inventor of the late 18th century, invents a time machine to go back in time to tell himself how to be even more prolific.
Yes, I’ve missed so much. I wasted a lot of time. If only I could have avoided the blind alleys, I could have done many times as much.
“Rainbird” by R. A. Lafferty, in Galaxy, December 1961.

Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne

by R. A. Lafferty
The Ktistec machine Epiktistes and wise men of the world decide to change one moment in the dark ages while they carefully watch for changes in their own time.
We set out basic texts, and we take careful note of the world as it is. If the world changes, then the texts should change here before our eyes.
“Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne” by R. A. Lafferty, in Galaxy, February 1967.

The Hole on the Corner

by R. A. Lafferty
When Homer Hoose arrives home to his perfect home one evening, he is met by other Homers whom the Diogenes Pontifex insists are not Jung’s alternate versions of ourselves, but instead are actual versions of ourselves occupying the same space. None of which has to do with time travel, but the brilliant Diogenes does mention in passing his experiments in other fields. I suppose that’s another Lafferty story, but I haven’t run into it yet.
“You speak of it as if. . . well, isn’t this the twentieth century?” Regina asked.

“This the twentieth? Why, you’re right! I guess it is,” Diogenes agreed. “You see, I carry on experiments in other fields also, and sometimes get my times mixed.”

“The Hole on the Corner” by R. A. Lafferty, in Orbit 2, edited by Damon Knight (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, June 1967).

Past Master

by R. A. Lafferty
Thomas More is brought from the 16th century to the 26th in a time machine to save the world.
— Fred Galvin
We are trying to find a new sort of leader who can slow, even reverse, the break-up, Paul. We’ve selected a man from the Earth Past, Thomas More. We will present him to the people only as the Thomas, or perhaps, to be more fanciful, as the Past Master. You know of him?
Past Master by R. A. Lafferty (Ace Books, 1968).

Space Chantey

by R. A. Lafferty
Lafferty rewrites The Odyssey with a time machine, called a Dong Button, featured in Chapters 3 and 4.
— Fred Galvin
The Dong button was just that, a big green button with the word Dong engraved on it. You pushed it, and it went dong. Well, that was alnost too simple. Should there not be a deeper reason for it? And the small instruction plate over it didn't add much. It read: “Wrong prong, bong gong.”
Space Chantey by R. A. Lafferty, in Ace Double #H-56: Pity about Earth by Ernest Hill / Space Chantey by R. A. Lafferty (Ace Books, 1968).
as of 11:51 p.m. MDT, 5 May 2024
This page is still under construction.
Please bear with us as we continue to finalize our data throughout 2023.