Time Trap

Nicholas Fisk
Puffin Books

A teenager in the late 21st century discovers he can time-travel using a drug supplied by his "Uncle" Lipton, a man who has already lived over 130 years and likely to live at least 100 more. Together they escape the horrors of their mindless present to experience life in the past. But time travel has its own dangers, and Uncle Lipton isn't totally honest about his motivations.

The day after I read this odd little sci-fi by Fisk it was announced that he's passed away which was a sad coincidence.  I've read two of his books before - 'Grinny' and 'A Rag, A Bone And A Hank of Hair' - ands had mostly enjoyed them and the cover art on this one was so good it pretty much jumped off the shelf into my bag.

'Time Trap' tells the story of a disaffected teen named 'Dano' who lives in a sterile and uneventful future society within a sealed environment called 'Homebody Unit 362'.  He is enlisted by his 'Uncle Lipton' to go time travelling with him using some sort of secret drug called 'Xtend'.  Journeys into the past and the future follow with Dano becoming increasingly controlled by the thrill seeking, hedonistic Lipton.

The book, albeit very short, moves at a slow pace all the way through Dano's first sojourn into the past - the British countryside during WW2 - but after that races along breathlessly into the future even more dystopian than his own time.

When the book ends it does so with a slamming halt that leaves a number of unanswered questions that have arisen including that of his death and of the nature of the pairs travelling.

It has however entertained along the way and provided an unflinching and unappetising future society where individualism and free self expression have been subsumed and life is essentially without either value or meaning both of which Fisk seems to imply reside with the family and experiences particularly with regard to nature.

Grinny

Nicholas Fisk
Puffin Books

Great Aunt Emma is no ordinary old lady. But why is she so strange? For a start, she just appeared, grinning, on the doorstep, as if from nowhere. Why have Mum and Dad never mentioned her before - after all, she is supposed to be Granny's sister, isn't she?
Soon Tim and Beth start noticing more and more odd things about the great-aunt they've nicknamed 'Grinny'. And before long, they make a horrifying discovery. She isn't even human, she's as dangerous as a time-bomb and she has a fearful task to perform which involves them…

When Great Aunt Emma turns up on the Carpenters doorstep one morning they are surprised to say the least.  Not only by her sudden appearance but by the fact that they didn't even know she existed.  The adults come to accept her presence almost immediately but the kids remain sceptical as with her naivety of the obvious, her constant questioning, her total recall and her lack of any sort of smell she's a definite enigma.

Fisk's writing style gives 'Grinny' - at least until the finale - the feel of one of Joan Aiken's 'Armitage Family' stories with it's middle class, middle England setting littered with literary references from the likes of William Blake and with a lead character, Timothy, who shares a period 'Boy's Own' spirit with Mark Armitage.  It's through Tim's diary that the story is told and as such it's filled with a strange sort of chummy sexism that seems anachronistic even for the 1973 publishing date. Tim's bright but vengeful sister is in many way the central character in the plot as she uncovers much of the going s on and puts the lie to Tim's misogynistic witterings.

The resolution of the story is a little untidy and oddly unsatisfying in it's vindictive cruelty but I suppose considering the alternative it's justified and works to round off a brief but diverting read.

Buy it here -  Grinny: Grinny & You Remember Me

A Rag, A Bone and A Hank of Hair

Nicholas Fisk
Puffin Books

In the twenty-third century children have become scarce. The government have begun manufacturing 'Reborns', new people from old and an unusually bright boy is sent to live with an experimental family of reborn 1940 Londoners.

In the far flung future some 200 years from now a new society has emerged from the aftermath of a nuclear war.  This society is rigidly controlled both by the Elders and by the 'sleepers' implanted in the back of the populaces heads in order to moderate their behaviour. And, much like the society they inhabit, the people of this time are sterile.

To solve this problem, in a manner never explained, the Elders have developed a way of not only cloning people from the past but also of doing so with their memories and personalities intact (yeah, I know).  

In order to monitor these 'reborns' 12 year old genius - and doesn't he know it - Brin is placed into a scenario appropriate to the world from which the reborns have been taken, England 1940, in particular the kitchen of a London terraced house.The reborns - two children and one older lady - are treated as test subjects by the Elders, much to Brin's disgust, as they plot their behaviour in a variety of increasingly callous ways.

Nicholas Fisk

As the story progresses it starts to become increasingly clear that the reborns are not only becoming bored with the scenario they find themselves unwittingly living night after night but they also hint at the strange, vivid thoughts they are having regarding the increasingly elaborate stories Brin spins about his fictional, cover story, fighter pilot uncle.

This all leads into the books final and quite odd act as the world of those in the scenario changes catastrophically.  The conclusion is very ambiguous and one is left with feelings of sadness and confusion but tempered with a sense of hope and purpose as visions and a resounding command echo around this barren land.

As a novel it is a curious sort of read; as a kids book it's quite odd indeed.  As readers we are being held at arms length, possibly deliberately to allow us access to Brin's initial remoteness and arrogant contempt for those around him but the problem with that is that as Brin thaws, and the little that does become clear does so, he remains quite unlikeable.

As I said earlier there is no clear resolution and as such I've ended up spending longer thinking about this book than I did reading it which surely can't be a bad thing.