The Seeds of Time

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the Dave Holland album, see Seeds of Time.

Cover of the first edition, by Richard Barton.

The Seeds of Time is a collection of science fiction stories (five short stories and five novelettes) by British writer John Wyndham, published in 1956 by Michael Joseph. The title is presumably from Macbeth, Act I Scene III.

Contents[edit]

  • A foreword by John Wyndham
  • "The Chronoclasm" (1953), novelette, variant of "Chronoclasm"
  • "Pillar to Post" (1951), novelette
  • "Dumb Martian" (1952), novelette
  • "Compassion Circuit" (1954)
  • "Survival" (1952), novelette
  • "Pawley's Peepholes" (1951)
  • "Opposite Number" (1954)
  • "Wild Flower" (1955)
  • "Time to Rest" (1949), as by John Beynon, Bert #1 series[1]
  • "Meteor" (1941), novelette, as by John Beynon

Summaries[edit]

"Chronoclasm"
a time-travelling romantic comedy.
"Pillar to Post"
The central character is a paraplegic who was badly injured in a wartime attack. 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.[2]
"Dumb Martian"[3]
a satire on racism, featuring an Earthman who buys a Martian wife.
"Compassion Circuit"
a horror story on the subject of robotics.
"Survival"
set on a spacecraft marooned in orbit around Mars. A BBC Radio 4 adaption was broadcast in 1989 with Stephen Garlick, Susan Sheridan, and Nicholas Courtney.[4] It was released as an Audiobook in 2007 with the 1981 version of The Chrysalids.[5]
"Pawley's Peepholes"
another time travel story, this time playing it as comedy.
"Opposite Number"
which plays with the concept of parallel universes.
"Wild Flower"

which explores the tension between nature and technology.

"Time to Rest"
depicting the life on Mars of a human survivor of the destruction of Earth. A sequel "No Place Like Earth"[1] appears in the collection No Place Like Earth (2003), which contains both.
"Meteor"
in which alien visitors to Earth find themselves on a very different scale to humans.

Adaptations[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Bould, Mark (18 January 2015). "Out of the Unknown: 'No Place Like Earth' (BBC2 4 October 1965)". Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  2. ^ www.dooyoo.co.uk (3 July 2006). "The Seeds of Time - John Wyndham - Review - Chronological Seedlings". Dooyoo.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 December 2007. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  3. ^ "Dumb Martian"
  4. ^ "The Chrysalids & Survival, John Wyndham,". Blackstone Audio/The Book Depository. 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2018., ISBN 978-1-48303-511-6
  5. ^ "The Chrysalids & Survival: Classic Radio Sci-Fi (Dramatised)". BBC Audiobooks/Audible. 2007. Retrieved 14 January 2018.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Seeds_of_Time&oldid=1204264196"