The Seeds of Time
Encyclopedia
The Seeds of Time is a collection of science fiction
short stories by John Wyndham
, published in 1956 by Michael Joseph.
The collection contains:
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
short stories by John Wyndham
John Wyndham
John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris was an English science fiction writer who usually used the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names, such as John Beynon and Lucas Parkes...
, published in 1956 by Michael Joseph.
The collection contains:
- a foreword by John Wyndham
- "Chronoclasm", a time-travelling romantic comedy.
- "Time To Rest", depicting the life on Mars of a human survivor of the destruction of Earth.
- "Meteor", in which alien visitors to Earth find themselves on a very different scale to humans.
- "Survival", set on a spacecraft marooned in orbit around Mars. A BBC Radio 4 adaption of Survuval was broadcast in 1989 with Nicholas CourtneyNicholas CourtneyWilliam Nicholas Stone Courtney was an English television actor, most famous for playing Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Early life:...
. It was released as an Audiobook in 2007 with the 1981 version of The ChrysalidsThe ChrysalidsThe Chrysalids is a science fiction novel by John Wyndham, first published in 1955 by Michael Joseph. It is the least typical of Wyndham's major novels, but regarded by some people as his best...
. - "Pawley's Peepholes", another time travel story, this time playing it as comedy.
- "Opposite Number", which plays with the concept of parallel universesParallel universe (fiction)A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
. - "Pillar To Post" The central character is a paraplegic who was badly injured in a road accident. Frequently taking drugs to cope with the pain, he finds himself in a healthy body very far in the future. A complex plot of body-swapping and time travel ensues. It is considered by some people to be the best story in the collection.
- "Dumb Martian", a satire on racism, featuring an Earthman who buys a Martian wife.
- "Compassion Circuit", a horror story on the subject of robotics.
- "Wild Flower", which explores the tension between nature and technology.