Time-Travel Fiction

  Storypilot’s Big List of Adventures in Time Travel


Mighty Mouse Cartoons
created by Izzy Klein and Paul Terry
First time travel: 1952

Mighty Mouse saved the day many a time, so doubtlessly he has saved the day in many other times, too, but so far I’ve seen only one such episode (“Prehistoric Perils”, 1952) in which our mouse goes in our villian’s machine back to the dinosaurs to save Pearl Pureheart. [Dec 2011]

And now, my little papoose, I shall take you off in my time machine.


“The Choice”
by W. Hilton-Young (published anonymously)
First publication: Punch, 19 Mar 1952
In this short-short story (about 200 words), our hero, Williams, goes to the future and returns with the memory of only one small thing. [Apr 2012]

How did it happen? Can you remember nothing at all?


“The Business, as Usual”
by Mack Reynolds
First publication: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Jun 1952
A time traveler from the 20th century has only 15 minutes to negotiate a trade for an artifact to prove that he’s been to the 30th century. [Jan 2012]

“Look, don’t you get it? I’m a time traveler. They picked me to send to the future. I’m important.”
   “Ummm. But you must realize that we have time travelers turning up continuously these days.”


“Sound of Thunder”
by Ray Bradbury
First publication: Colliers, 28 Jun 1952

Eckels, a wealthy hunter, is one of three hunters on a prehistoric hunt for T. Rex conducted by Time Safari, Inc.

This was not the first speculation on small changes in the past causing big changes now (for example, Tenn’s “Me, Myself, and I”), but I wonder whether this was the first time that sensitive dependence on initial conditions was expressed in terms of a single butterfly. [May 2003]

Not a little thing like that! Not a butterfly!


Looney Tunes Comic Book Characters
First time travel: Bugs Bunny 50, Aug 1952
No doubt that the bunny and his friends have often traveled through time in the pages of four colors with many titles published by Dell/Gold Key/Whitman. The first such possible escapade that I’ve seen was a story called “Fiddling with the Future” in Bugs Bunny 50 in which some gypsy friends of Bugs can read the future.

We saw you reading the future with it over at the carnival!


“There Is a Tide”
by Jack Finney
First publication: Collier’s, 2 Aug 1952
A sleepless man, struggling with a business decision, sees an earlier occupant of his apartment who is struggling with a decision of his own. [May 2011]

I saw the ghost in my own living room, alone, between three and four in the morning, and I was there, wide awake, for a perfectly sound reason: I was worrying.

6 items are in the time-travel list for this year.
Thanks for visiting my time-travel page, and thanks to the many sources that provided stories and more (see the Links in the menu at the top). —Michael (main@colorado.edu)