Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Advanced
Title details for Time in Advance by William Tenn - Available

Time in Advance

by William Tenn
ebook
Read a sample Read a sample

Originally published in the August 1956 issue of GALAXY, this novelette shows William Tenn (pseudonym for Phillip Klass) at the peak of his career in science fiction. Sardonic, profoundly disillusioned and fashioned in the form of a classic deductive mystery, the work was enormously influential and its central plot premise has been appropriated by others over many decades. Original to science fiction—perhaps to the entire body of literature—is the concept of penal terms served "in escrow"; a prospective felon is permitted to do the crime before committing the crime and for the service is granted on completion a get-out-of-jail free card. (Obviously those wishing to commit murder must serve more time in escrow than prospective thieves or embezzlers.) Tenn's protagonist commits himself to a long term of penal servitude on a hellish planet in order that he may have the opportunity to wreak revenge upon the business partner who has betrayed him. As one of the relatively few who serve such a severe sentence in advance for a severe crime who survives, he emerges prepared to use his promissory note. What he learns however is that there are many levels of crime, many kinds of betrayal and much which is only apparently real. Written with deadpan, ungiving ferocity, TIME IN ADVANCE shows Tenn at a point where he had perfected his style toward apparent (but only apparent) effortlessness.

Expand title description text
Series: The Galaxy Project Publisher: RosettaBooks

OverDrive Read

  • ISBN: 9780795321382
  • Release date: October 1, 2011

EPUB ebook

  • ISBN: 9780795321382
  • File size: 2032 KB
  • Release date: October 1, 2011

Formats

OverDrive Read
EPUB ebook

subjects

Fiction Science Fiction

Languages

English

Originally published in the August 1956 issue of GALAXY, this novelette shows William Tenn (pseudonym for Phillip Klass) at the peak of his career in science fiction. Sardonic, profoundly disillusioned and fashioned in the form of a classic deductive mystery, the work was enormously influential and its central plot premise has been appropriated by others over many decades. Original to science fiction—perhaps to the entire body of literature—is the concept of penal terms served "in escrow"; a prospective felon is permitted to do the crime before committing the crime and for the service is granted on completion a get-out-of-jail free card. (Obviously those wishing to commit murder must serve more time in escrow than prospective thieves or embezzlers.) Tenn's protagonist commits himself to a long term of penal servitude on a hellish planet in order that he may have the opportunity to wreak revenge upon the business partner who has betrayed him. As one of the relatively few who serve such a severe sentence in advance for a severe crime who survives, he emerges prepared to use his promissory note. What he learns however is that there are many levels of crime, many kinds of betrayal and much which is only apparently real. Written with deadpan, ungiving ferocity, TIME IN ADVANCE shows Tenn at a point where he had perfected his style toward apparent (but only apparent) effortlessness.

Expand title description text
Fiction Science Fiction