Baen Books has been producing the most interesting themed anthologies of the big publishers. Time Troopers has just come out in mass market paperback. The hardback came out last year. The paperback is a big 653 pages. Love the cover by Kieran Yanner.

Contents:

This book is a mix of reprints and some new fiction. The stories by Hank Davis, Christopher Ruocchio, Robert & Sarah Hoyt, and Jacob Holo are new.

The idea of the book is the concept of time travel, changing of history, and alternate universes. This book contains two of three of my favorite science fiction writers: Poul Anderson and H. Beam Piper. Anderson’s “Delenda Est” is one of the classic “what if?” scenarios. In this case, the Second Punic War is changed so Hannibal wins and Anderson extrapolates from there. After reading “Delenda Est,” get the rest of Anderson’s “Time Patrol” stories and read those. H. Beam Piper is another who knew his history. I first read “Time Crime” in the collection Paratime in the late 80s when I read all the Piper I could get my hands on.

I never read the Robert Silverberg story before and it is a good one set in the Eurasian steppes in the Pleistocene.

I exchanged some e-mails with T. R. Fehrenbach back in 2001. I contacted him to find out if he had read Robert E. Howard. He confirmed he had. His alternate history of change of actions at the Alamo was very well done.

A. E. van Vogt’s “Recruiting Station” is included! It does not get reprinted often as it is a novella and often too long for a collection but too short as a stand alone novel.

Edmond Hamilton’s “Comrades of Time” is pulp goodness from 1939 Weird Tales.

This is a good anthology if you are somewhat new to science fiction. I would have included P. Schuyler Miller’s “Sands of Time” but you can track that one down. You can thank me later.