''Collision Course'' ( ''Collision with Chronos'') is the fourth novel by the science fiction author

Barrington J. Bayley Barrington J. Bayley (9 April 1937 – 14 October 2008) was an English science fiction writer. Biography Bayley was born in Birmingham, England, and educated in Newport, Shropshire. He worked a number of jobs before joining the Royal Air Forc ...

. The novel was inspired by the

multiple time dimensions The possibility that there might be more than one dimension of time has occasionally been discussed in physics and philosophy. Similar ideas appear in folklore and fantasy literature. Physics Speculative theories with more than one time dimen ...

proposed by

J. W. Dunne John William Dunne (2 December 1875 – 24 August 1949) was a British soldier, aeronautical engineer and philosopher. As a young man he fought in the Second Boer War, before becoming a pioneering aeroplane designer in the early years of the 20t ...

. The plot centers on the collision of two alternate "presents", with disastrous implications for reality.

Literary significance and reception

Rhys Hughes Rhys Henry Hughes (born 1966, Cardiff, Wales) is a Welsh fantasy writer and essayist. Career Born in Cardiff, Hughes has written in a variety of forms, from short stories to novels. His long novel ''Engelbrecht Again!'' is a sequel to Maur ...

, in his review of Bayley's work, ranked the novel as Bayley's third-best but still the most original time paradox story in modern SF, noting that, for the first time, Bayley's novels had reached the high standards of his short stories.

John Clute John Frederick Clute (born 12 September 1940) is a Canadian-born author and critic specializing in science fiction and fantasy literature who has lived in both England and the United States since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part ...

described ''Collision Course'', along with '' Empire of Two Worlds'' and '' Annihilation Factor'', as "variously successful" but held that ''

The Fall of Chronopolis ''The Fall of Chronopolis'' () is the fifth novel by the science fiction author Barrington J. Bayley. It details the eternal Temporal war, conflict through time between the Chronostatic Empire and its enemy, the Hegemony. Literary significance ...

'' was Bayley's most fully realised time travel story. Reviewing the novel in ''

Vector Vector most often refers to: * Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction * Disease vector, an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematics a ...

'',

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (25 July 1948 – 24 February 2024) was a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who published a hundred novels and over a hundred volumes of translations. His earlier books were published under the name Br ...

criticised Bayley's tendency to arbitrarily switch between viewpoints but concluded that " u will find it a rewarding experience.""Collision with Chronos", ''Vector 83'', September 1977 In 1990, ''Collision Course'' won the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese

Seiun Award The is a Japanese speculative fiction award given each year for the best science fiction works and achievements during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by , the awards are given at the annual Nihon SF Taikai, Japan Science Fic ...

for best translated novel. It was translated to Polish in 1983 and reviewed by

Maciej Parowski Maciej Parowski (27 December 1946, in Warsaw – 2 June 2019, in Warsaw) was a Polish journalist, essayist, science fiction writer, editor and translator. He has been called "a legend of the Polish science fiction and fantasy scene". Life and ca ...

in "

Fantastyka ''Nowa Fantastyka'' (established as ''Fantastyka'' in 1982, renamed in 1990) is a Polish speculative fiction monthly fantasy and science fiction magazine. It is the leading and oldest of the Polish magazines on this topic. History ''Fantastyk ...

" (5/83, p. 50).

References

{{Barrington J. Bayley 1973 British novels Novels about time travel British science fiction novels 1972 science fiction novels Novels by Barrington J. Bayley DAW Books books