science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
novel by American writer Karl Alexander. Its plot speculates what might have happened if
time machine
Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...
to travel to the 1970s in search of
Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer w ...
.
The novel was adapted to film the same year, under the same title, by Alexander's friend Nicholas Meyer who had optioned the story after reading the early pages. Meyer wrote his screenplay as Alexander finished the novel and the two freely shared ideas for their respective iterations. A short-lived television series adaptation aired in 2017.
Plot
The novel alternates perspectives between H.G. Wells and a character initially identified only as "Stevenson." In the first chapter, Stevenson has sex with a prostitute in a 19th-century London alley and then murders her. In the next chapter, Wells is introduced showing off his brand new time machine to a group of men, including Stevenson. When police arrive to announce that they have identified Jack the Ripper as Stevenson, Stevenson uses the time machine to escape, and Wells follows him. Wells finds himself in the future and befriends a young bank teller named Amy Robbins. Robbins is unaware of Wells' identity and 19th century provenance and believes him to be just a quirky old-fashioned gentleman. As Stevenson murders several women, Wells pursues him while hampered by a love affair with Robbins, to whom he does not dare tell the truth. When Wells is finally forced to confess to Robbins who he is and what he is really doing, she terminates their relationship. But Stevenson targets her next, and Wells rescues her and incapacitates Stevenson in a dramatic climax.
Critical reception
'' Kirkus Reviews'' called ''Time After Time'' a "rather heavy-breathing, often precious or pretentious fantasy". On the other hand,
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
book reviewer Phil Thomas thought the book was a "well-written, most absorbing piece of escape reading" that "gives the genre a lively and much-needed shot of vitamins". A reviewer for the ''Madison Courier'' called Alexander "outrageously imaginative" and the book "marvelous entertainment".
After the release of Felix J. Palma's 2008 Spanish-language novel '' The Map of Time'', which also has a time-travel plot involving Wells and Jack the Ripper, critics commented on the similarities (and differences) between the two books.
Sequel
In November 2009, Alexander released a sequel to the story. ''Jaclyn the Ripper'' sees Amy travel to 2010 to discover that Jack the Ripper has been freed from prison and transformed into a girl named Jaclyn. H.G. and Amy must navigate the new millennium with the killer on their trail.
In other media
Film
A theatrical film based on the novel, also called '' Time After Time'', premiered nationwide in the United States on September 28, 1979. It starred
Malcolm McDowell
Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is a British actor, producer, and television presenter. He is best known for portraying Alex DeLarge in ''A Clockwork Orange.'' He was born in the Horsforth suburb of Leeds and raised i ...
,
David Warner David or Dave Warner may refer to:
Sports
* Dave Warner (strongman) (born 1969), Northern Ireland strongman competitor
* David Bruce Warner (born 1970), South African alpine skier
* David Warner (cricketer) (born 1986), Australian cricketer
Oth ...
A musical version of the novel, with book and lyrics by Stephen Cole and music by Jeffrey Saver, had its first reading in November 2007 as part of the American Musical Theatre Project at Northwestern University in Illinois and in 2010 had its world premiere at the
Pittsburgh Playhouse
Pittsburgh Playhouse is Point Park University's performing arts center located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It houses three performance spaces and is home to The Rep, Point Park's resident professional theatre company, as well as three student co ...
.
Television
On May 12, 2016, it was announced that the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
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* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
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executive produced
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and written by Kevin Williamson. On March 29, 2017, after just four weeks on the air, the show was canceled and left unresolved with the remaining seven episodes not to be aired due to low viewer ratings.