The Seeds of Time - John Wyndham

The Seeds of Time is a collection of 10 short stories by John Wyndham, author of such sci-fi classics as The Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cookoos. In a short foreward he explains his reasons for writing the stories, as a ckind of cross-genre experiment, and his dismay that the science fiction genre in popular terms had become tied up almost exclusively to tales of intergalactic heroes. He also thanks various magazines who were willing to publish these stories which, at the time, were viewed as unsuitable for the mass market. The stories themselves are varied and almost all interesting, with Wydnham's unique style and wry humour coming out in all of them ...  Read the complete review

Penguin ISBN 0-140-01385-7 First Published in 1956 this collection of ten short stories were written, in John Wyndham's own words, "over a fifteen year period" as "experiments in adapting the science-fiction motif to various styles of short story." In short, "they are experiments on the theme: I wonder what might happen if..."" So what are these stories? What follows is a brief description of each story that I hope gives you a flavour of their content without giving away the plot too much. I have entered John Wyndham's description of each story in brackets to give you a feel for the experimental ...  Read the complete review