Time Traders

~ An Omnibus for the Time Traders Series by Andre Norton

(Series aka) Time Travel, Time War or Ross Murdock

Contains ~

• The Time Traders (1958) Published by World, HC, LCCN 58011154, 218pg ~ cover by Virgil Finlay

• Galactic Derelict (1959) Published by World, HC, LCCN 59011542, 224pg ~ cover by Ed Emshwiller

Synopsis ~

Write-up from both the front flap of the hardcover and the back of paperback edition ~

Intelligence agents have uncovered something, which seems beyond belief, but the evidence is incontrovertible: the USA’s greatest adversary on the world stage is sending its agents back through time! And someone or something unknown to our history is presenting them with technologies - and weapons - far beyond our most advanced science. We have only one option: create time-transfer technology ourselves, find the opposition's ancient source...and take it dawn.
When small-time criminal Ross Murdock and Apache rancher Travis Fox stumble separately onto America's secret time travel project, Operation Retrograde, they are faced with a challenge greater than either could have imagined possible. Their mere presence means that they know too much to go free. But Murdock and Fox have a thirst for adventure, and Operation Retrograde offers that in spades.
Both men will become time agents, finding reserves of inner heroism they had never expected. Their journeys will take the battle to the enemy, from ancient Britain to prehistoric America, and finally to the farthest reaches of interstellar space.

Write-up from a fan ~

The Time Traders ~ This is the first in a series of four-time travel books featuring Ross Murdock. Murdock is a repeat offender, a habitual criminal and a judge gives him two choices-- rehab or volunteering for a top-secret government. He chooses the project and gets more trouble and adventure than he ever imagined. The Americans are looking through and travelling to the past to find alien technology from crashed UFO's. Unfortunately, so are the Russians and they were there first. From the first, trouble shows up, then things go south and then all hell breaks loose as the aliens show up looking for their stuff and woe to anyone who gets in their way. A wild ride indeed!  ~ PG

Galactic Derelict ~ Cold war era. Travis Fox, Apache ranch hand stumbles upon a top-secret base in the western deserts. The installation is run by Ross Murdock and Gordon Ashe the time agents we first met in The Time Traders. They are planning a jaunt to 20,000 years ago to salvage an alien spacecraft. When they get there, to their surprise, there is not only a wrecked ship, but also an intact ship. When a volcanic eruption threatens the ship, they signaled the project people to move the ship 20,000 years back to their time. When the ship gets to the base, it takes off for parts unknown, carrying Ross, Travis, Gordon and a technician on the wildest ride of their or anyone's lives. In addition to all the dangerous situations and creatures they encounter, they must face the possibility of not being able to return to Earth. Andre's world-building prowess is in full bloom in this one. ~ PG

Reviews ~

Booklist Review ~ Nov. 01, 2000

For this volume, Norton has updated The Time Traders (1958) and Galactic Derelict (1959) to take into account 40 years of political, social, and technological developments--such as computer games, a concluded cold war, and many more female characters in sf--without essentially changing them. In Time Traders, Ross Murdock has the choice of rehabilitation or volunteering for a secret research project, which turns out to be searching the past for the source of illicit technological innovations. In Galactic Derelict, Travis Fox stumbles on a time-travel project and has to be recruited for it; then he and his comrades take an involuntary trip aboard an alien starship that crashed on Earth before recorded history. The characters’ can-do attitude and Norton’s magic with a story have survived two generations in fine style, and these tales remain the same sort of quintessential fun as Star Wars, and with more intelligence. May there be a market for their further reprinting in 2040! — Roland Green

Bibliography of English Editions ~

• (2000) Published by BAEN, HC, 0-671-31952-3, LCCN 00058665, $24.00, 370pg ~ cover by Stephen Hickman {Black Paper Boards}

• (2000) Published by BAEN, DM, 0-671-31952-3, $2.99, 154pg ~ cover by Stephen Hickman

• (2001) Published by SFBC, HC, # 34453, $11.99, 370pg ~ cover by Stephen Hickman {Black Paper Boards}

• (2001) Published by BAEN, PB, 0-671-31829-2, $6.99, 438pg ~ cover by Stephen Hickman

• (2021) Created by Tantor Audio, Audible, length 12hrs & 01mins, $21.43 ~ narrated by Graham Rowat

View the 1999 BAEN contract

• Time Traders 1 - 2001 HC Time Traders 1 - 2001 HC
• Time Traders 1 - 2001 PB Time Traders 1 - 2001 PB
• Time Traders 1 - 2021 Time Traders 1 - 2021
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