It is interesting because these books were all written fairly recently...

Time Traders
1. The Time Traders (1958)
2. Galactic Derelict (1959)
3. The Defiant Agents (1962)
4. Key Out of Time (1963)

...and Norton died in 2005 according to fantasticfiction. So, they should all still be in copyright. I know that Time Traders is in the baen free library. Perhaps others were on the Baen CDs?

BOb

I surprised myself by finishing the book. The first page put me off it with the description of Murdock, and it never really got much better. The whole cold war, anti USSR tone was overdone, f'r example the assumption that the only way the Russians could be technologically advanced would be with the help of alien technology rankled; and the speed that Murdoch decided to be a teamplayer because he didn't like the other side seemed like just so much propaganda. I know it was written in the 50s, and may have been less remarkable then, but to a reader now it jars.

It was fast paced, but there was no real substance to it. I won't be reading the rest of the series. In fact I was hoping they'd all get shot down in a ball of fire when they got back to Earth.

Yikes, kind of glad I skipped on it.

Galactic Derelict is available at Feedbooks.

Galactic Derelict is also the second half of the volume "The Time Traders" that you can download free from the Baen Free Library. Lots of formats, no DRM, no cost... what's not to like?

Xenophon

I would call the Time Traders a typical science fiction book of the 1950’s; not particularly exciting today but would have been a better read in the 50’s. At first I did not think I would finish it but I am glad I stuck it out. :book2:

Time Traders, by far, was one of the worst books I've ever had the misfortune of reading. That is really all I have to say.


/rant

Honestly, I'd like to know more about your opinions. I've enjoyed reading your opinions over the past several months very much.

Did anything address the current world events, such as the beginnings of the Cold War and nuclear arms race?

Was Civil Rights and racial discrimination against man or alien touched upon?

Or Equal Rights for women?

Did anything ring true and apply to today as well as it did to the 50's?

Or was the book truly just a fluffy bit of escapism?

I know you weren't addressing this at me...

There were women in that universe? :blink: ;)

Galactic Derelict is on Feedbooks.

Time Trader, OKay, a quick read.

I found Time Trader to be a bit of fluff. I did read the second book in the series and it wasn't any better.

The premise of the book seemed to take a lot of that for granted rather than exploring anything in depth. The "Reds" weren't explained much beyond being a force against which the agents had to fight. I think the book would have been more interesting if anyone (other than the fellow near the beginning who turns out to be a spy) had questioned this state of affairs. I suspect that Ms. Norton would have been labeled a communist sympathizer if she'd done that, however.

Those issues don't seem to have been on the author's mind, either. There were two Agents of Asian descent, and it seems to be assumed that this would be sufficient for them to blend in in any Asian country, which I found a bit hard to swallow. While most Westerners have difficulty discerning between different Asian ethnic groups, it pushed my suspension of disbelief to think that they'd take care to make sure that the blond Scandinavian-looking fellows went to Nordic countries, but any Asian person would blend in with the Tartars. :smack:

I only remember two women in the book, the priestess in the beginning and the healer women who helps Murdock when he loses his memory. Despite the author being female, she approached things very much as the male authors did so at the time, and did not give much consideration to female characters.

I originally did not remember reading this book, but after reading half way through, remembered it. It was much more fun reading it as an early teen in a time when the Red Menace was still extant, than as a jaded middle ager in the post Reagan Era. I also remember the suit being more cool back then. I am going to read the rest of the series, mostly because I want to either resurrect pleasant memories of Andre, or kill them off all togehter. Although, I do enjoy the series she collaborated with Sasha Miller on, something like Oak Thorn, Yew and Ash... That may be more to do with Sasha being a friend and mentor than with Andre, though.

I think it was pretty obvious... Reds = Russians = Communists. Remember the cold war... that's when this was written. I guess you don't think of your book being read 50+ years later.

BOb

I thought it was strange that space travel was described as impossible; that would have been shown to be wrong within a couple of years of publication.

But the Van Allen belt was discovered in early 1958 - so maybe, at the time, it was considered an insuperable barrier to manned missions, and Norton was incorporating that idea.