Light of Other Days

by Bob Shaw

Release: August 1966
Format: Short Story
Genre: Science Fiction
Audience: Adults
Content: Time Phenomena
Original Language: English

On a driving holiday in Argyll, Mr. and Mrs. Garland hope to find a way out of their hateful marriage, but instead they find a field of slow glass harvesting the light of other days.

— Michael Main

Apart from its stupendous novelty value, the commercial success of slow glass was founded on the fact that having a scenedow was the exact emotional equivalent of owning land.

DEBUT

“Light of Other Days,” Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, August 1966.

VARIANTS

1 English variant

TRANSLATIONS

Dutch translation:
[ex=bare]“Licht van vroeger dagen” | Light of the old days[/ex], in SF verhalen 6, unknown editor (Het Spectrum, 1971).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Bob Shaw
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by A. Abeling
French translation:
[ex=bare]“Lumière des jours enfuis” | Light of bygone days[/ex], Fiction #205, January 1971.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Bob Shaw
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Bruno Martin
German translation:
[ex=bare]“Licht für die Zukunft” | Light for the future[/ex], in Das Monster im Park, edited by Jürgen vom Scheidt (Nymphenburger, 1970).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Bob Shaw
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Gisela Stege
German translation: Alternative title of “Licht für die Zukunft”.
[ex=bare]“Licht in dunklen Gläsern” | Light in dark glasses[/ex], in Steigen Sie um auf Science Fiction, edited by Brian W. Aldiss, Poul Anderson, and Harry Harrison (Kindler, 1972).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Bob Shaw
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Gisela Stege
German translation:
[ex=bare]“Das Licht besserer Zeiten” | The light of better times[/ex], in Science fiction stories 27, unknown editor (Ullstein, August 1973).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Bob Shaw
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Elisabeth Böhm
Hungarian translation:
[ex=bare]“Régmúlt napok fénye” | The light of the days gone by[/ex], in Galaktika 7: Tudományos-fantasztikus antológia, edited by Kuczka Péter (Kozmosz Könyvek, 1974).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Bob Shaw
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by unknown persons
Italian translation:
[ex=bare]“Luce di giorni passati” | Light from days gone by[/ex], in Il passo dell'ignoto, edited by Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini (Mondadori, September 1972).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Bob Shaw
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Lucia Ponzini
Italian translation: Alternative title of “Luce di giorni passati”.
[ex=bare]“Luce dei giorni passati” | Light of days passed[/ex], Urania #861, 9 November 1980.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Bob Shaw
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Lucia Ponzini
Japanese translation:
[ex=bare]去りにし日々の光 | The light of everyday life | “Sari ni shi hibi no hikari”[/ex], S-Fマガジン #449, January 1998.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Bob Shaw as by ボブ・ショウ
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by 浅倉久志
Polish translation:
[ex=bare]“Światło minionych dni” | The light of days gone by[/ex], in Od dzisiaj do wiecznosci, edited by James Gunn ( Wydawnictwa Alfa, 1988).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Bob Shaw
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by unknown persons
Romanian translation:
[ex=bare]“Lumina unor zile de-altădată” | The light of days gone by[/ex], Anticipația #550-551, circa March 1998.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Bob Shaw
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Ioana Robu
Russian translation:
[ex=bare]Свет былого | The light of the past | “Svet bylogo”[/ex], in Безжалостное небо :: Bezzhalostnoye nebo, edited by Вадим Пигалев :: Vadim Pigalev (Правда :: Pravda, 1988).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Bob Shaw as by Боб Шоу
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by И. Гурова
Swedish translation:
[ex=bare]“Andra dagars ljus” | Other day light[/ex], Nova Science Fiction #6, circa December 1983.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Bob Shaw
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by John-Henri Holmberg

13 translations

DERIVATIVE WORKS

“Light of Other Days” by Tony Isabella, Gene Colan, and Mike Esposito, Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #1, January 1975.

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Time Periods

Unspecified Future Year

Themes

Reconstructing or Re-Emergence of the Past

Groupings

Astounding · Analog (periodical): August 1966
Cited in Worlds Enough and Time, edited by Gary Westfahl ()
CPSF · Anticipatia (periodical): Anticipatia #550–551, circa March 1998
Fiction (France) (periodical): #205, January 1971
Nova Science Fiction (Sweden) (periodical): #6, circa December 1983
S-F Magazine (Japan) (periodical): #449, January 1998
Cited in Time Machines by Paul J. Nahin ()
Urania (periodical): #861, 9 November 1980

ITTDB Work #6879: by Bob Shaw
Indexer: Michael Main
Curator: Michael Main
as of 9:41 p.m. MDT, 5 May 2024
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