Sign-In
Cart
Time Crime
Paperback
Science FictionClassic FictionLiterary Fiction
Publisher: Bibliotech Pr
Published: Jan 9 2023
Pages: 132
Weight: 0.37
Height: 0.33 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Two short novels of Time Crime and Oomphel in the Sky by Henry Beam Piper
About Henry Beam Piper:
Henry Beam Piper (March 23, 1904 - c. November 6, 1964) was an American science fiction writer. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of Paratime alternate history tales.
He wrote under the name H. Beam Piper. Another source gives his name as Horace Beam Piper and a different date of death. His gravestone says Henry Beam Piper. Piper himself may have been the source of part of the confusion; he told people the H stood for Horace, encouraging the assumption that he used the initial because he disliked his name. On a copy of Little Fuzzy given to Charles O. Piper, Beam's cousin and executor, he wrote To Charles from Henry.
Piper's stories fall into two groups: stark space opera, such as Space Viking, or stories of cultural conflict or misunderstanding, such as Little Fuzzy or the Paratime stories.
A running theme in his work is that history repeats itself; past events will have direct and clear analogues in the future. The novel Uller Uprising is the clearest example of this, being based on the Sepoy Mutiny. A similar example is the very title of Space Viking, although the novel is not a direct reinterpretation of a specific historical precedent. A later theme in the book involves the takeover of a planet in a manner reminiscent of the rise of Adolf Hitler.
Piper's characterization was rooted in the notion of the self-reliant man, able to take care of himself and both willing and able to tackle any situation that might arise. This is exemplified in a bit of dialogue in his short story Oomphel in the Sky (1960):
He actually knows what has to be done and how to do it, and he's going right ahead and doing it, without holding a dozen conferences and round-table discussions and giving everybody a fair and equal chance to foul things up for him.
As a result, his stories tend towards the heroic, and the conflict is usually driven externally.
Piper was interested in general semantics. It is explicitly mentioned in Murder in the Gunroom, and its principles, such as awareness of the limitations of knowledge, are apparent in his later work. (wikipedia.org)
7 different editions
Also available
Also from
Piper, H. Beam
A CATALOGUE of Early Pennsylvania and Other Firearms and Edged Weapons at "Restless Oaks", McElhattan, Pa.
Piper, H. Beam
Shoemaker, Henry W.
Paperback
The Edge of the Knife: A Glimpse into the Future: The Unforeseen Consequences of Precognition
Piper, H. Beam
Paperback
The Cosmic Computer: The Quest for Merlin: A Journey Through Hope and Deception
Piper, H. Beam
Paperback
Also in
Science Fiction
On the Calculation of Volume (Book I): Shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize
Balle, Solvej
Paperback
Red Rising 3-Book Box Set: Red Rising, Golden Son, Morning Star, and an Exclusive Extended Excerpt of Iron Gold
Brown, Pierce
Paperback