Time Traders III

~ An Omnibus for the Time Traders Series by Andre Norton

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

Contains ~

• Echoes in Time (1999) Published by TOR, HC, 0-312-85921-X, $23.95, 319pg ~ cover by Julie Bell

• Atlantis Endgame (2002) Published by TOR, HC, 0-312-85922-8, $23.95, 253pg ~ cover by Julie Bell

Synopsis ~

From the End-flap of Hardcover edition ~

In previous “Time Traders” books, Agents Ross Murdock and Gordon Ashe were partners in the Time Program, a project first spearheaded by alien-supplied Soviet technology. Now in a pair of novels set post-Cold War, Murdock has a new “partner” – his wife, fellow Agent Eveleen Riorden.

In “Echoes in Time”, Ross and Eveleen abruptly cancel their honeymoon to investigate the disappearance of a team of Russian Scientist. Their assignment takes them to a distant planet last visited by the Russians…and a clash with the sly aliens known as the Baldies.

In “Atlantis Endgame”, a Time Program archaeologist discovers an earring buried during the 1600 B.C. eruption of the island Thera that destroyed the prevailing Minoan culture. Alarmingly, the earring is of 20th century origin…and belongs to Eveleen. Did she die in the Bronze Age? And since the Baldies are known to use the timestream for their benefit, did they alter Thera’s history to prevent humans from one day entering space? For Ross and Eveleen, the answers lay in a perilous journey back to the mythical site of Atlantis.

Write-up from a fan ~

Echoes in Time ~ The Russians have lost an exploration team investigating one of the planets that they had been awarded in the "lottery" of tapes recovered from the adventures of the American Time Traders team who recovered a Baldies' spaceship and subsequently triggered it into returning to its home world. The Cold War is winding down and the Russians and Americans are now uneasy allies, so the Russians request the help of the Americans.

Gordon Ashe, Ross and Eveleen Murdock, and a musicologist named Saba Mirium travel in space to the Starport/empire capital world and back in time when it was abandoned, to try to discover what happened to the Russian team. ~ SL

Atlantis Endgame ~ Gordon Ashe comes to Ross and Eveleen Murdock's apartment with disturbing news.  One of the Time Trader patrolmen, working undercover with archeologists excavating Thera, discovers a pair of gold earrings identical to those Eveleen commonly wears--a one-of-a-kind pair!  Obviously, there's been some kind of problem back in time, and Ross and Eveleen have to go back and investigate.  Of course, it's the Baldies--the long-term enemy of the Terran Time Trader organization.  In theory, the Baldies are trying to prevent the human race from achieving space travel before it is "mature enough" to do no damage to other races, other planets.  The Baldies are determined to prevent a higher civilization from developing, so they plan to activate the volcanoes that destroyed the Minoan Island of Thera. ~ SL

Bibliography of English Editions ~

• (2002) Published by SFBC, HC, 0-739-43103-X, 978-0-739-43103-0, # 54748, $12.99, 403pg ~ cover by Stephen Hickman {Black Paper Boards}