Corrupting Dr. Nice - Hardcover

Kessel, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312861168 ISBN 13: 9780312861162

Publisher: Tor Books, 1997

Synopsis

When they meet at the transtemporal stage at the Jerusalem 42 C.E. Hilton, con artist Genevieve attempts to take advantage of the rich Dr. Vannice but instead finds herself falling in love with the famed "Dr. Nice."

About this title

Review:

Kessel's fluent, cinematic and often very funny SF comedy ranges from the late Cretaceous era through first-century AD Jerusalem to America in 2063. In this variant of time travel, each moment can be a separate universe. Thus one particular moment of early Jerusalem has spun off a new timeline where time-travellers saved Jesus, overthrew the Romans and imported future technology--and now run excursions to unspoilt moments where the crucifixion or Caesar's assassination are spectacles for eager tourist audiences. A suave con-man and his lovely daughter are swindling time-tourists with the ancient "badger game", and home in on a naive heir to billions who's smuggling a young dinosaur forwards in time--all this while a Jewish insurrection looms. True love blossoms amid the pratfalls, but gets fouled up before the action shifts to 2063 America. This is the home of time exploitation, featuring multiple versions of Marx, Freud, Jung, Einstein, Gandhi and numerous other historical celebrities abducted from past moments. The ethics of such time-tweaking is dodgy indeed, and provides a serious undertone to a mammoth TV trial whose legal AI is programmed to be swayed up to 20% by on-line public opinion: there are socko surprise-witness performances by Abraham Lincoln and Jesus. Thoroughly enjoyable silliness, which also pricks the conscience and ends as a movie romance should. --David Langford

About the Author:

John Kessel is currently Associate Professor of English at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

About this edition

• Publisher: Tor Books
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0312861168
• ISBN 13: 9780312861162
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 316