The Corridors of Time

Author: Poul Anderson

First Published: 1965

File size/Pages: 659KB / 204pp

Ebook Publisher: Gateway

Ebook Date: Sept 2011

The third book of Sci-Fi Month is Poul Anderson's novel The Corridors of Time, published originally in 1965. It is available for the reasonable price of £2.99 on Amazon UK.

I have quite a number of Anderson novels in my Panther Science Fiction collection, so at some point I'll want to read a few more. Unfortunately, starting off with The Corriodirs of Time was a bad choice. Hopefully this experience was just a one off. If someone can let me know if I just happend to have kicked-off with a right turkey, I'd be grateful.

Poul Anderson is a Grand Master of Science Fiction. Born in 1926, the son of a Scandinavian parents, his family soon moved to Texas where he spent most of his childhood. His father died when he was still relatively young, so his mother took the family back to Denmark. They came back to the U.S. shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, settling in Minnesota, where he attended University. His career as writer began there, with stories being published in a magazine we now are so familiar with; Astounding Science Fiction. Following graduation he became a freelance writer. After marrying, Anderson moved to San Francisco and became a major player in the burgeoning Fantasy community. He won the Hugo Award no less than seven times, three Nebula Awards, was enrolled in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2000 and had an asteroid named after him; 7758 Poulanderson.

The Corridors of Time is a novel about Malcolm Lockridge, an American ex-marine who finds himself in jail charged with second degree murder after defending himself from an attack by a group of teenagers. In defending himself, Lockridge caused one of his attackers to hit the sidewalk rather harder than intended. He is visited in jail by the stunningly attractive woman, Storm Darroway, that he immediately falls for, and who offers to support him financially and get acquitted - if he will promise to assist her with a job. Naturally he accepts, and she tells him to meet her in Copenhagen as soon as he is released - as she will not be available to see him again until then.

With the help of an expensive lawyer Lockridge is soon enjoying his freedom in Denmark. Darroway tells him to gather local maps and to get to know the local land and its' history. He is firmly enamoured by her by now and will do pretty much anything she asks of him. 

Suddenly she is ready and they set for travel. She informs him that she is seeking abandoned Nazi gold, stored at the end of an escape tunnel long since thought lost. She has come into contact with a source who has given her the location of the underground lair. Because Lockridge is an American she believes he will be able to travel unmolested across Europe and help her relocate the gold bullion and convert it to much needed funds for a revolutionary group she belongs to.

Things get decidedly strange as they enter a dolmen (a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb) and Darroway operates a strange device that levitates a large section of the earth into the air. Her strange outfit and references to ancient lands begins to knaw at Lockridge. As they enter the 'tunnel' Darroway reveals that she has been less than truthful. She is an actual fact a 'Warden', a group of freedom-fighters from the far future who are at war with other humans from her time-line; the machine-loving 'Rangers'. 

The tunnel is in actual fact a corridor in time; a conduit by which both sides travel across time and place in Earth's history. There are many corridors across the planet, not all of them are connected to each other, in some places you must travel to a different location in order to complete a journey from point a to point b. 

Each side in the War has set up camps in varying periods of time, seeding themselves as 'gods' to the ancient population. Darroway has been battling with one Ranger in particular, Brann, who is close to tracking her and her group down. She wants Lockridge to help her recruit more humans from pre-history, and to aid her in the battle for the future of mankinds freedon of choice. Lockridge has deeply fallen in love with the false 'Goddess', and is more than willing to accompany Her across time to destroy the Rangers for good.

The novel, especially in the opening half, had large echoes of a seminal Doctor Who story, The War Games, where two sides are plucking soldiers from different periods of Earth time and pitting them against each other on an alien battleground. That story was broadcast in 1969 - I onder if this book was an influence in any way?

All of this sounds really great, and it is a great story idea. Lockridge visits various time periods; there are a some battles and there are some surprises along the way. But the real problem I had with The Corridors of Time was that I found it just plain boring. I can't even describe to you why that is. Whether it is the way Anderson has his characters talk to each other, or the way he describes their motivations, or the way he steers the plot - I cannot put my finger on what it was exactly; the book was a real chore to read, and I was struggling to generate any enthusiasm for reading it. The final thirteen pages had more action and adventure in them, than the preceding 180+ pages?

I'm always up for a plot that is not necessarily fast-paced, but it has to provide something to keep my attention - this one only just about managed it; I believe I finished it just for my own sense of achievement if nothing else. 

Another issue that may have clouded my opinion it that in general this title is more Science Fantasy, than Science Fiction. Yes there is time-travel, and ray-guns and future worlds - but a very large part of its structure is set in pre-history and felt more akin to Fantasy Fiction. I felt cheated to be honest.