Collision Course (Bayley novel)

Collision Course

First edition
Author Barrington J. Bayley
Cover artist Chris Foss
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre Science fiction
Publisher DAW Books
Publication date
February 1973
Media type Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
Pages 175
ISBN 978-0-87997-043-7
OCLC 670871

Collision Course (aka Collision with Chronos) is the fourth novel by the science fiction author Barrington J. Bayley. The novel was inspired by the time travel theories of J. W. Dunne. The plot centers on the collision of two alternate "presents", with disastrous implications for reality.

Literary significance and reception

Rhys Hughes, 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.[1]

John Clute described Collision Course, along with Empire of Two Worlds and Annihilation Factor, as "variously successful" but held that The Fall of Chronopolis was Bayley's most fully realised time travel story.[2]

Reviewing the novel in Vector, Brian Stableford criticised Bayley's tendency to arbitrarily switch between viewpoints but concluded that "[y]ou will find it a rewarding experience."[3]

In 1990, Collision Course won the Japanese Seiun Award for best translated novel.

References

  1. "Annihilation Factotum: The work of Barrington J. Bayley". The Council for the Literature of the Fantastic. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
  2. "Bayley, Barrington J.". SF Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
  3. "Collision with Chronos", Vector 83, September 1977