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4.0 out of 5 stars
Policing Reality, Nov 3 2006
"The Complete Paratime" collects all the works from H. Beam Piper that deal with paratime, i.e. the existence of alternate universes and people either accidentally or purposefully crossing from one to another. This collection, published in 2001, contains a previous collection called "Paratime", which was published in 1981. The previous collection included five stories. Also included is the novel called "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen" which was originally published in 1965 and itself was a collection of two previously published stories along with a new one.
"He Walked around the Horses" is Piper's first paratime story, and doesn't directly fit with the other stories collected in this book. This novelette was first published in April of 1948, and is the story of a British envoy to the court of Austria who vanished while en route from Vienna to Hamburg in 1809. The story is cleverly told as a series of statements from witnesses as being reported by the Minister of Police.
"Police Operation" is the first story to feature Verkan Vall, a Paratime policeman who in tracing someone, learns that they have broken the law by bringing along a pet from another time-line, which ultimately threatens to reveal the existence of paratime. This is another novelette which was first published in July of 1948, and it serves as a good introduction to the Paratime Police and Verkan Vall, both of which are present in the rest of the stories in this collection.
"Last Enemy" is perhaps the best of the stories in this collection. This novelette was first published in August of 1950. This novelette brings in the character of Dalla, and is an interesting story involving a time-line where reincarnation is considered an established fact. This is his only story which involves a Second Level time-line, which means a civilization nearly as advanced as that of the First Level. This story was nominated in 2001 for the Retro-Hugo for novelettes written in the year 1950.
"Time Crime" is the novella story, which was first published in February and March of 1955. The story involves a criminal slave ring operating out of the First Level. This is the longest individual story of the series, although the joining of the three Lord Kalvan stories did create one longer work. Much of this story deals with the First Level, which makes it very different than the other stories.
"Temple Trouble" is a novelette which was first published in April of 1951. In this story the Paratime Police are called in to help fix a problem with a commercial venture, only to find that there may be a bit more to the problem than they originally thought.
"Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen" is a novel created out of three pieces of shorter fiction. The first was called "Gunpowder God", in which Corporal Calvin Morrison is accidentally taken from the "Earth" time-line to a Fourth Level time line. There his knowledge of how to make Gunpowder makes him looked at as a powerful sorcerer, and a potential threat to the Paratime Police. This novelette was first published in "Analog" in November of 1964. The second part is "Down Styphon", which picks up the story where it was left off, and covers the war between Hostigos and Nostor. This novelette was first published in "Analog" in November of 1965. The last section, as far as I know, was never published apart from being the conclusion of the entire novel. Here Kalvan becomes the great King Lord Kalvan in pursuing his war against Styphon.
This is an interesting series of stories, and there is a good variety of themes explored in them as well. I would definitely recommend this to fans of Piper, as it is an interesting blend of science fiction and fantasy.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A True Science Fiction Classic, Mar 23 2002
By A Customer
It's been said many times, but this is one of the early great books regarding parallel worlds and time. Essential to the history of the genre.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Good adventures but a dated style, Jan 31 2002
The Paratime Police ride herd on a sheaf of parallel worlds. Run from the "First Level" (the only one to discover Paratime), they monitor the polite exploitation of the lower (Second through Fifth) levels and ensure that no one is trying to change or control history inappropriately, and that none of the parallel histories on the other levels learns about Paratime.Verkan Vall is our hero, a Heinleinesque master of all trades who is the lead troubleshooter for the Paratime cops and who is the first to get sent in whenever there's a problem. In the first story in the Paratime series, he deals with an animal that's been carted crosstime and is creating havoc in a world similar to our own. (It's clear that we're one of these parallel worlds, but we're definitely not First-Level.) In others, he deals with a First Leveler who is advancing a lower-level's science a bit too much, slavers who are trading cross-time, and other such crises. Actually, the first story in the book predates the Paratime ones and focuses on a diplomat somehow exchanged from our world into a world where Napoleon never took power. The resulting confusion is expressed in a series of diplomatic letters from those who found him and the powers-that-be. It actually may be the best of the lot. These are pretty good adventure stories but in style and narration are definitely pre-modern. Piper's attitude toward women is not the best, though he does have a strong (if too often silly) female character. There's also too many expository blurbs of the "explain to me what I should already know" variety.
Still, the stories are interesting, and they show a remarkable imagination.
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