This fantastic British Library collection, edited and introduced by Mike Ashley, contains the original three long short stories/novellas, plus two additional time-based stories, 'Father of Lies' and 'The Analysts'.
In John Brunner, I have now found a sci fi writers whose interests sit closely with mine and who can actually write in a highly-acceptable literary style. The problem with many sci fi authors is that they prioritise ideas over craft-skill. I can understand this to an extent; describing the challenging in a basic, functional manner might seem an obvious turn to take, however going too far can easily put off the more discerning reader, and has done in my case many times. You really need to give your writing a bit of character - and fortunately Brunner has it in bucketloads.
For the Scoiety of Time trilogy Brunner envisages a world in which the Spanish Armada succeeded. England is now - in the twentieth century - a well-integrated part of the Spanish Empire, which divides the world more or less equally with the Confederation, dominated by China and Russia. Thanks to the victory of the Spanish Hapsburgs in 1588 there has been no Austro-Hungarian Empire, thence no World Wars. On the negative side, because of the dominance of the Catholic Church there has been very little progress - no industrial revolution, no cars or planes. People still ride about and defend themselves with swords.
Science has, however, made one stupendous advance: it has become possible to travel back in time. The potential benefits and dangers of this are so extreme that the Empire and the Confederacy have come together to lay down rules, adminustered by twin societies in the two jurisdictions. Time travellers have to be licensed by their society, their expeditions severely restricted. In all three stories, therefore, the rules are broken and the very existence of the 'contemporary' world is threatened.
In all three cases Brunner's hero is Don Miguel de Navarro, a young licentiate of the Imperial Society. In 'Spoil of Yesterday' occupt licentiates have been selling time trips to rich diletantes. Someone has brought back an Aztec mask as a souvenir, not realising how an out-of-time artefact can turn the world on its head. 'The Word Not Written' is set in London on New Year's Eve. Society members will gather at their HQ for midnight mass but first there is a spectacular party thrown at the Prince Imperial's Palace at Greenwich (the Prince is Head of the Society). Don Miguel is not one of nature's party-goers but he forces himself to attend and is paired off with the Scandanavian ambassador's daughter. Scandanavia is naturally a progressive country and Lady Kristina is a liberated ypung woman. She wants to see how orifinary people celebrate, so Miguel escorts her into central London (Londres, in Brunner's Spanish empire). There they realise something has gone out-of-time when an Amazonian female warrior first excites the mob, then fights them off. Meanwhile their is an insurrection. The Empire is about to be overthrown - until Father Ramon, the Jesuit master-theoretician of the Society, steps back in time and fixes the anomaly. The third and final story 'The Fullness of Time' is set in America where, in a fun development, the Empire has chosen the Mohawks to bring together the traditional tribes. The anomaly in this case is a modern drill bit in a mine supposedly sealed in ancient times. Father Ramon suspects Confederate involvement.
The additional stories are both associated in theme and time of writing (the early Sixties). In 'Father of Lies' a small corner of rural England appears to have been sealed off from modernity, to the extent that dragons and ogres live there. 'The Analysts' has the advantage of a compelling character, Joel Sackstone, who has turned his unique gift of visualisation into a profession. He looks at architect's models and visualises them in reality: how people will move about there; the limitations of the plan and the solutions. He is called in by his main employer who has been asked to design a very odd building for a mysteruous research organisation. Joel visualises it in practice and realises that all the odd angles and levels are leading visitors in a direction that doesn't really exist. He tries it out in his main room at home - and walks clean through the solid wall.
As I mentioned, Brunner was writing this stuff in the early Sixties. He was slightly ahead of his time, albeit he reflects and develops trends that were incipient at the time - women's liberation, mixed marriages, racial prejudice, even plundered treasures. He wrote lots before his death in 1999, but to my horror yesterday, none of my usual obscure book dealers in London had a single one! I shall have to delve deeper and venture further afield, because I absolutely want to read more.
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