Wanderers of Time

by JOHN WYNDHAM | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
ISBN: Global Overview for this book
Registered by basdelaine of Orbe, Vaud Switzerland on 2/24/2005
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13 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by basdelaine from Orbe, Vaud Switzerland on Thursday, February 24, 2005
A remarkable collection of early stories from a classic master of science fiction.

Journal Entry 2 by basdelaine from Orbe, Vaud Switzerland on Thursday, February 24, 2005
Given to a friend

Journal Entry 3 by over-the-moon from Lausanne, Vaud Switzerland on Wednesday, March 2, 2005
Ooh I love John Wyndham and am delighted to receive these early stories from the 1930s. Thank you, basdelaine, you are a treasure!

Journal Entry 4 by over-the-moon from Lausanne, Vaud Switzerland on Saturday, March 19, 2005
Wanderers of Time: time travellers from various eras find themselves marooned together in an undetermined place and year, and are attacked by intelligent ants.
Derelict of space: legend of a salvage spaceship
Child of Power: a child with a strange sixth sense
The Last Lunarians: moonmen on the rampage
The Puffball menace: the wise men of Ghangistan dream up an unusual way of waging war on England.
These are all good stories, though I always think Wyndham's tales finish too abruptly.

The picture is by Patrick James Woodroffe, one of my favourite illustrators.

Journal Entry 5 by over-the-moon from Lausanne, Vaud Switzerland on Tuesday, March 29, 2005
off around Europe on a bookray to

flambard (UK)
Jenatleisure (UK)
RonOren (UK)
blaisezabini12 (Cluj, Romania) <-ray continued, see further down

Journal Entry 6 by Flambard from Horsham, West Sussex United Kingdom on Monday, April 4, 2005
Many thanks silentmiaouw! It arrived today!

Journal Entry 7 by Flambard from Horsham, West Sussex United Kingdom on Saturday, April 16, 2005
What a great collection of stories!
- Wanderers of Time gave more than a nod to HG Wells, but with its own twist
- Derelict of Space reeked of Cold War angst
- Child of Power was like a rough sketch for Chocky
- The Last Lunarians reminded me of The Descent by Jeff Long (I wonder if he's a Wyndham fan?) plus a bit more of Wells' Time Machine (Morlocks!)
- The Puff-ball Menace, well, possibly the ancestors of the Triffids?
Fascinating stuff! Many thanks again! Really enjoyable!
All ready for Jenatleisure now...

Journal Entry 8 by Flambard at on Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Released 18 yrs ago (4/19/2005 UTC) at

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On its way to Jenatleisure!

Journal Entry 9 by Jenatleisure from Chobham, Surrey United Kingdom on Friday, April 22, 2005
thanks so much for sharing this little book.

Interesting, you can see some of the ideas for his later books in the short stories, particularly in the 'puff ball menace'. Not as strong as his later books, but entertaining, never the less.

sent on to the Netherlands today 13 May

Journal Entry 10 by RonOren from Wassenaar, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Friday, May 20, 2005
Got it today. As I've just started Memoirs of a Geisha, it'll take me a while to get to this one. Expect more in... what? Half a week ;-).

Thanks for sharing, silentmiauow!

Journal Entry 11 by RonOren from Wassenaar, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Thursday, May 26, 2005
Delightful book, I rushed through it in sligtly less than a day. I think I liked Derelicts of Space most; not so much for the whole space-salvage thing, but far more because of his description of Germany. It's strange to read a story set in the future, yet with Germany still being the Third Reich. Wyndham truly expected the nazi's to stay in power for ages (yet he mentions that they get their ass's whooped in 1940... Strange combination, isn't it?).

I agree that The Puffball Menace reminds one of Day of the Triffids, but only as an innocent little brother. The story is less complicated, but the plants themselves are far less scary...

All in all, a great read, and I'm very thankful I could try it! I'll send it off to blaisezabini12 later today.

Journal Entry 12 by RonOren from Wassenaar, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Thursday, May 26, 2005
It's off to Romania. Hope you'll enjoy it!

Journal Entry 13 by rem_DUV-129661 on Saturday, June 4, 2005
Many thanks to everybody from this ray for sending this book to me! I'll read it as fast as my exams allow me:)

I hope to continue this ray - I'll be looking for more participants after I finish the book.

29 June 05. I started reading the stories and I am going to post my comments on each one of them as I read them (I'm sure my entry will contain SPOILERS so BEWARE):
1. Wanderers of Time - I couldn't follow with so much interest the action scenes (the time travellers seemed to be all the time followed by mean machines:)) but I think that the idea behind the story was intriguing and I liked the open-ending.
2. Derelict of Space - again, as it happened with The Secret People my favorite bits were the ones related to historical evolution (Germany vs Jews).

30 June 05
3. Child of Power - my favorite until now as I have always liked stories with characters who have 'special gifts' - maybe that is because like the narrator I enjoy immagining how those skills could be used in order to develop new technologies.
4. The Last Lunarians - this was really scarry and reminded me of the hostility with which humans were received on Mars in Bradbury's book.
5. The Puff-ball Menace - it was frustrating when I realised that the main character couldn't do anything to stop the disaster and I thought that the happy ending was really artificial (although much welcome!).

All in all, the stories were entertaining and I'll have to look for some more of Wyndham's books.

Journal Entry 14 by rem_DUV-129661 on Thursday, June 30, 2005
The ray continues:
wilksie, UK
KathyS, UK
weebly, UK
dodau, UK
Brujula, France
1972Galadriel, Netherlands


Journal Entry 15 by rem_DUV-129661 at on Monday, July 4, 2005

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Sent today in order to continue the ray!

Journal Entry 16 by wilksie from Sheffield, South Yorkshire United Kingdom on Friday, July 15, 2005
Wonderful! This was waiting for me when we arrived home after a few days away. I've always enjoyed John Wyndham's books but have never read these stories so I'm looking forward to them. Thankyou for sending this :-)

Journal Entry 17 by wilksie from Sheffield, South Yorkshire United Kingdom on Friday, July 22, 2005
I loved this, good old fashioned Sci-fi. Reminded me very much of HG Wells (more so than Wyndham's later books). SPOILERS....My favourite story was Derelict of Space - interesting to read a story set in a space age, and yet the characters have to wait for the daily newspaper to find out what is going on in Germany. It seemed odd to my present day mind to have no concept of live TV from around the world.
I also liked The Puffball Menace. Why has this never been turned into a film? Several images from this will remain with me - the yellow puffballs flying across the counryside in the gale and the men trying to catch them in nets and burn them with flamethrowers. It did end a bit abruptly though. Like H G Well's Martians succumbing to viruses, the puffballs failed to breed true and the menace stopped.

Sending this on to KathyS

Journal Entry 18 by KathyS from Ramsey, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Arrived safely this morning, thank you Wilksie. I will read it as soon as possible, but it may have to wait for at least a fortnight as I'm away on holiday and I don't like to take ring books with me in case I drop them in the pool! Too much responsibility!

Journal Entry 19 by KathyS from Ramsey, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, August 31, 2005
It took me longer than I'd hoped to read this small book. It didn't really hook me as much as I'd hoped. But I did enjoy sampling early Wyndham stories. Like others, I felt that most of the stories seemed to suddenly finish but wonder if this was due to them being originally published as short stories in magazines and having a limited word count to work to.

I enjoyed all of the stories but also found them quite strange. Reading the various tales so long after they were written, and with today's advances in technology, I found it amusing to realise that Wyndham could foresee space travel to the moon and microwave communication headsets yet couldn't see the use of TV, let alone 24/7 news coverage from all over the globe. So various characters had to wait for news via the radio or newspapers and were unable to contact loved ones. We take so much for granted, especially the widespread use of mobile phones, that we forget how things were back in the 1930's when these stories were written.

Thanks for sharing and I'll get the book off to Weebly asap.

Journal Entry 20 by KathyS at mail in By mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Thursday, September 1, 2005

Released 18 yrs ago (9/1/2005 UTC) at mail in By mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

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Sent to Weebly by 2nd class mail today. Enjoy :o)

Journal Entry 21 by BC-Widow from Northampton, Northamptonshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Weebly - journalling on behalf of my hubby BC-Widow

I requested this book for my hubby toread before he got his own ID. Unfortunately he has not got used to the requirement to journal books when they arrive as this is just about his forst bookring. The book arrived quickly and he read it straight away - so I am now taking over to get dodau's address and pass the book on. Ithink he enjoyed it but he may come and do a fuller review later!

Appologies for the delay - especially to KathyS who was understandably worried that the book had gone astray.


Journal Entry 22 by dodau from Ellesmere Port, Cheshire United Kingdom on Friday, September 16, 2005
Arrived safely this morning.

Journal Entry 23 by dodau from Ellesmere Port, Cheshire United Kingdom on Saturday, September 24, 2005
Quite disapointing for Wyndham. I'm a huge fan and he's one of the authors I wish could be immortal and carry on writing for centuries. This was a let down though, maybe because of the short format. It left me wanting more but not in a nice fulfilled way.

Released 18 yrs ago (10/12/2005 UTC) at To the next participant in Bookring/Bookray, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- Canada

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Journal Entry 25 by Brujula from Valenciennes, Nord-Pas-de-Calais France on Friday, October 21, 2005
The book arrived safely today!

Thank you!

Journal Entry 26 by Brujula from Valenciennes, Nord-Pas-de-Calais France on Tuesday, February 7, 2006
First of all, I apologize for keeping this book so long. I was (am?) flooded with rings and rays, and somehow it got in the middle of the pile instead of near the top.
Once I started reading these short-stories, I couldn't put the book down.
I didn't know this author, and I've really liked this book.
The stories he tells make us think of many aspects of human life, relationships with other countries, other races or other species.
This is really the kind of science-fiction I enjoy! (even if sci-fi is not my favourite genre)

Thank you very much for sharing this, silentmiaouw. I'll mail it to Galadriel1972 as soon as I have her adress.

Journal Entry 27 by Brujula from Valenciennes, Nord-Pas-de-Calais France on Monday, February 20, 2006
Book mailed today to 1972galadriel.

Journal Entry 28 by 1972Galadriel from Vlaardingen, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Friday, February 24, 2006
Received..thanks for mailing it Brujula :)

Journal Entry 29 by 1972Galadriel from Vlaardingen, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Sunday, March 5, 2006
Great stories! ( I expecte nothing less then great from Wyndham ofcourse)
Ah I see I am the last one of this ray..maybe some dutch folks would like to read it :)

Journal Entry 30 by 1972Galadriel from Vlaardingen, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Sunday, March 5, 2006
Reserved for Jonkheer :)

Journal Entry 31 by Jonkheer from Alkmaar, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Thanks. Look quit promising. I don't know this writer so i look forward to start reading it.

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