Here is what a time-travel story isn’t. A time-travel story is not about a man transplanted to alternate versions of current time (“The Wheels of If”). A time-travel story is not an excuse for the protagonist to see the past, but be unable to interact with it, only telling what the past looked like (“Balsamo’s Mirror”). A time-travel story is not an essay on how language might change in the future (“Language for Time-Travelers”). A time-travel story is not a poem. A time-travel story is not about a man who lives forever, who is now in our time (“The Gnarly Man”). Now let me tell you what “Years in the Making” isn’t. “Years in the Making” is not a collection of time-travel stories.

“Years in the Making” is a nice collection of stories, and poems, and one novel by L. Sprague de Camp. But it is not a collection of time-travel stories, because most of these entries are not time-travel stories. Why does this disappoint me? Because I do truly enjoy good time-travel stories, and I didn’t get that with this collection

So, what is a time-travel story? I see it as one of two things. The first is an individual who goes back in time, tries to come to grips with his or her new situation, and succeeds or fails (whichever fits the story best.) The other type is the kind that uses time-travel to fully explore the paradoxes that can come from time-travel. This latter is the kind I really enjoy – the kind that forces you to approach and understand the paradoxes. Disappointment number two in this collection – the actual time-travel stories fall in the first category; none in the second.

So, what we have here (again) is a nice collection. The stories are well told and crafted. Some are of interest. All are nice reads. There are poems (which I had little use for. This is not to fault of the poems – I just have little use for science fiction/fantasy poems.) There is an excellent article on the future of language (which appeals to the grammar geek in me.) And there is a good novel (“Lest Darkness Falls”) which falls into that first time-travel description. In this case, a man finds himself in the falling Roman Empire, starts to invent stuff, shows off, lucks into situations, has to handle politics, wins some wars, and changes history. Nice enough – but give me a paradox any day.

One thing that could have wound up working against these stories is age. Published anywhere from 1937 to 1970, it would have been easy for them to have felt dated. That did not happen. These would still read well in any current magazine. I think that speaks as much as anything to de Camp’s abilities.

So go in expecting a nice collection. Do not go in expecting to be blown away. Do not go in expecting a comprehensive de Camp collection. But, most importantly, don’t go in expecting time-travel stories. ( )

Includes "The Wheels Of If" and "Lest Darkness Fall", a few short stories of varying quality, some bad poetry, and an insipid intro by Harry Turtledove