Conrad's Time Machine (Hardcover)

by Leo Frankowski (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Since the publication of The Cross-Time Engineer in 1993, Frankowski's Conrad Stargard series about a bunch of socially immature male engineers has amused many readers, but this sloppy, adolescent prequel, which roughly explains the origin of the time machine featured in the other novels, is for die-hard fans only. Soon after leaving the U.S. Air Force in 1968, Tom Kolczyskrensi hooks up with two old college buddies, Jim Hasenpfeffer, a grad student about to get his doctorate in Behavioral Psychology, and Ian McTavish, a mechanical engineer at General Motors. (Tom himself is a college drop-out.) The three of them learn how to create a time machine and amass the financial wherewithal to build it. During a motorcycle vacation, they encounter a massive "implosion," which just happens to send out one intact piece of paper with electrical schematics and bits of humans. This fortuitous accident sets them on the way to wealth, health and unlimited sex with hosts of compliant and beautiful young women, the narration of which occupies more than a third of the novel. The story's opening postdates the end, highlighting the conventional time-travel paradoxes as well as most of the author's literary flaws, chiefly wooden, repetitive prose. In a foreword Frankowski informs the reader that he began the book as a high school student in the 1950s. It's too bad his more mature self apparently chose to finish it at the same level.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
An Air Force veteran, a mechanical engineer, and a behavioral scientist decide to make a radical change in their lives and set off on a journey of exploration, self-discovery, and freedom from bureaucracy. When they discover a strange patch of ground that used to hold a house-along with the blueprints for a sophisticated piece of machinery-the three friends find themselves in the possession of the plans for a working time machine. The author of A Boy and His Tank and Fata Morgana returns to a favorite topic in this tale of time-travel and its potentials for good and evil. By turns raucously funny and thoughtfully sobering, Frankowski's prequel to the Adventures of Conrad Stargard (the "Cross-Time Engineer" series) belongs in large sf collections.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Baen (August 27, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743435575
• ISBN-13: 978-0743435574
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,267,488 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars adolescent male fantasy, February 9, 2004

By	Mike Garrison (Covington, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

At least the Conrad books had an interesting hook to them. Modern engineer back in medieval Poland, with only 10 years before the invasion of the Mongols. The big weakness was that everything went so smoothly for Conrad, so there never was much tension in the plot. And the endless supply of young women who wanted to have sex with him became boring (even maybe to him!).

This book, a "prequel" of sorts, has all the weaknesses of the Conrad books and not a single one of their strengths. If you contrast it with a good book about the invention of time travel (eg. Thrice Upon A Time) it also loses any interest it might have been able to generate due to the subject.

If you are a 15-yr-old boy who can't get a date, this is the story for you. Otherwise, give it a skip. (I only read it to satisfy my curiosity about the holes in the backstory of the Conrad books, but it even failed miserably at that.)

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Well It was Okay, September 25, 2002

By A Customer

It was interesting to find out how the time machine came to be and yes the name is misleading as Conrad from the series is nowhere to be found.

The book itself was okay. Most of the story could have been written in two long chapters and a lot of if seems to be filler. While the story has an ending, it was sort of unsatisifying as if there will be a sequel in the future. To be honest I cant make heads or tail of this book. I sort of liked it, but it was too short, too much of it dealing with the sexual escapades of the principals and then seems to end at the point where it could get interesting.

If you like the Conrad series, I would buy this book just to know how the time machine came to be and who is Conrad's American cousin.

If you never read the Conrad series, please dont read this book until you read the series first.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unfortunate purchase, July 19, 2004

By	The trebuchet (SF, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Conrad's Time Machine (Cross-Time Engineer) (Mass Market Paperback)

Unfortunately, the Publishers' Weekly editorial review is spot on - to call this novel "juvenile" is an understatement. I can say that Frankowski does explore some interesting implications of a society built on time travel. But for every interesting idea that does strike you as fun, you will quickly be brought up short by a chapter's worth of his stereotyped characters giving painfully bad speeches on life or religion, or some haphazard and ill-conceived pseudo-scientific exposition thrown in for no apparent reason - in these passages, Frankowski's usual down-home, engineer charm is mostly absent or undeveloped. And when his characters start talking about women, words fail... this alone would be bad enough to sour the reading experience, even if the book were much better than it is. As it stands, even if you are a fan of the Cross-Time Engineer series, you are probably better off pretending this book doesn't exist; as others have noted, it doesn't really add much even as background to the other books.