Books - The Big Time

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	Books - The Big Time

The Big Time (1957) is a short science fiction novel (or, arguably, novellette) by Fritz Leiber. It won the Hugo Award in 1958. Although Fritz Leiber is better known for fantasy writing, he did write some very engaging SF.

In The Big Time we get a vast, cosmic back story, hidden behind a claustrophobic front story with only a few characters. It could easily be done as a stage play, since most of the big special effects described in the story are anecdotal.

The storyline is that there are two factions which both have time travel and they are at war with each other, changing the outcome of events, all the way through history.

The two sides are nicknamed the Spiders and the Snakes. Their foot soldiers are recruited from every place and time, Hussars, Roman legionnaires, GIs, Storm Troopers, Space Commandos, soldiers from the armies of Napoleon, Stalin, Ghengis Khan, Alexander the Great etc. etc. may find themselves fighting side-by-side or on opposite sides. Likewise medical staff, entertainers and whores are drawn into the temporal war to provide rest and relaxation for battle weary combatants.

The war itself is called The Change War and the soldiers fighting in it do not know how it began or if it has an end. They also do not know the true form or identity of the Spiders or the Snakes. No one knows how those nicknames were chosen, or whether they are in any way accurate.

The action of the story takes place at an R and R base between the changing time lanes. The plot takes the form of a locked room mystery.

The Big Time was originally published in two parts in Galaxy Magazine March and April issues of 1958.

See also: Temporal Cold War for a similar type of plot, most likely influenced by The Big Time.

ISBN 0839823347

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