Weapon Shop

by A. E. van Vogt

Time travel plays only a small role in Van Vogt’s three stories and a serial. The stories follow the immortal founder of The Weapon Shops, an organization that puts science to work to ensure that the common man is never dominated by government or corporations. Along the way, a 20th century man becomes a time-travel pawn, a young man seven millennia in the future takes advantage of a much shorter time-travel escapade, and you’ll spot at least one other time-travel moment.

All the stories were fixed up into two books, The Weapon Shops of Isher and The Weapon Makers, and the SFBC gathered both those into The Empire of Isher.

What did happen to McAllister from the instant that he found the door of the gunshop unlocked?

“Weapon Shop” by A. E. van Vogt, Astounding, July 1941.

Manna

by Peter Phillips

After the Miracle Meal food company builds a canning plant on the site of a 12th century haunted priory, cans of the Manna start disappearing.

Miracle Meal. Press here.

“Manna” by Peter Phillips, Astounding, February 1949.

The King’s Wishes

by Robert Sheckley

“The King’s Wishes” by Robert Sheckley, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 1953.

The Long Remembering

by Poul Anderson

“The Long Remembering” by Poul Anderson, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November 1957.

Change War series

Try and Change the Past

by Fritz Leiber

“Try and Change the Past” by Fritz Leiber, in Astounding Science Fiction, March 1958.

MUgwump Four

by Robert Silverberg

Oh, dear! Albert Miller has dialed a wrong number on the Mugwump-4 exchange, and the mutants who answered have decided that the only solution is to catapult him into the future where he won’t be able to upset their plans for World Domination.

— Michael Main

At this stage in our campaign, we can take no risks. You’ll have to go. Prepare the temporal centrifuge, Mordecai.

“Mugwump Four” by Robert Silverberg, Galaxy Magazine, August 1959.

Divine Madness

by Roger Zelazny

A man has seizures that reverse small portions of his life that he must then relive.

The door slammed open.

“Divine Madness” by Roger Zelazny, in Magazine of Horror, Summer 1966.

An Infinite Summer

by Christopher Priest

For purposes that only they can know, people from the future—Thomas Lloyd calls them “freezers”—put a small number of people into a kind of suspended animation. Nobody can see the frozen except for those who have been previously frozen and then thawed. Thomas himself is among this select group: frozen in 1903 on the verge of proposing to his beloved Sarah; unfrozen shortly before World War II, at which point he can but view his still-frozen Sarah.

Thomas James Lloyd, straw hat raised in his left hand, his other hand reaching out. His right knee was slightly bent, as if he were about to kneel, and his face was full of happiness and expectation. A breeze seemed to be ruffling his hair, for three strands stood on end, but these had been dislodged when he removed his hat. A tiny winged insect, which had settled on his lapel, was frozen in its moment of flight, an instinct to escape too late.

“An Infinite Summer” by Christopher Priest, in Andromeda, edited by Peter Weston (Orbit, May 1976).

Secret Rider

by Marta Randall

“Secret Rider” by Marta Randall, in New Dimensions Science Fiction 6, edited by Robert Silverberg (Harper and Row, May 1976).

Trips in Time

Anthologies