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The Time-Lapsed Man by Eric Brown
reviewed by John Kenny
Original appearance: FTL 9, Summer 1991
It is unusual that an author's first published book is a collection of short stories, However, on reading these, it is not surprising that the publisher snatched up the chance to present this man's work in one volume, There are eight stories contained herein, five of which appeared in Interzone and two originals.
All, bar one of the originals, have a common background.
Portrayed is a world where Enginemen mind-push giant ships through the nada-continuum, kids plug into designer drug software and everyone wears telepathic shields. In other words, Cyberpunk. Wrong. These stories share very little of the dismal aspects of cyberpunk. Brown has used the furniture of cyberpunk to present a world of mixed technological blessings, wherein his characters struggle to make sense of it all, live, and find love, There is plenty of room in his world for enlightenment, redemption, survival, love and all those other human things, Basically, these are very human stories.
The title story is the most ingenious, with 'Krash-Bangg Joe and the PinealZen Equation', the humorous 'Pithecanthropus Blues' and 'The Girl Who Died for Art and Lived' coming a close second. The rest are never less than very good. Highly recommended.
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