The Time Hoppers by Robert Silverberg

The Time Hoppers

by Robert Silverberg

Form: Novel

Year: 1967

ID: 1174

Publication history:

Blurb:

(from Avon 1968)

ROBERT SILVERBERG confronts the paradoxes of time travel in a brilliant new novel of the 25th century, when the only escape from suffocation in a totally controlled environment is to hop backward through time.

Since time hopping rearranges the past on which the structure of current existence is based, it must be stopped — but not too quickly. For the history of the 1970's includes the arrival of hoppers who have not yet left the 2490's — and whose departure thus must not be stopped!

A complex, unpredictable plot...thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable.
FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION

Comments:

An expansion of the short story Hopper.

Earth in the late 25th Century is an unpleasant place for many of its inhabitants. The vast population is crowded into most of the available areea, and unemployment is rampant. A highly stratified society provides luxury and space for the few at the top, while the lower levels live crowded into tiny apartments. Into this situation comes a hope of escape – escape into the past, before the world was so crowded.

Silverberg's story follows a number of characters. The first is Joe Quellen, a midlevel bureaucrat at the Secretariat of Crime with a dangerous secret: a private residence in Africa, reached by a private teleportation (stat) booth. He is charged to head the investigation into the crime of unauthorized time travel that seems to be gaining in popularity. Another is Norman Pomrath, Joe's brother-in-law, an unemployed low-level worker, who swears he would not abandon his wife and children if he is presented with a chance to become a hopper.

Other resources:

[None on record]