The Big List of Time Travel Adventures

 Series: The Reggie Rivers Series
 from antiquity to 2017



  
 Reggie Rivers #1
“A Gun for Dinosaur”
by L. Sprague de Camp
First publication: Galaxy, Mar 1956

Dinosaur hunters Reggie Rivers (no relation to the Denver Bronco) and his partner, the Raja, organize time-travel safaris in a world with a Hawking-style chronological protection principle.

In 1992, Silverberg asked de Camp to provide one sequel to the by-then classic “A Gun for Dinosaur.’ De Camp complied and used it as a springboard to write seven more stories over the next year. All those stories plus the original Reggie River adventure were published together in the 1993 collection Rivers of Time. After de Camp’s death, Chris Bunch wrote a tenth story as a tribute to the master.

 Oh, I’m no four-dimensional thinker; but, as I understand it, if people could go back to a more recent time, their actions would affect our own history, which would be a paradox or contradiction of facts. Can’t have that in a well-run universe, you know. 




  Reggie Rivers #2
“The Big Splash”
by L. Sprague de Camp
First publication: Asimov’s Science Fiction, Jun 1992

Just what caused the dinosaurs’ extinction?

 The scientists had been arguing for half a century over the nature of the K-T Event. Some said a comet or a planetoid hit the Earth; others, that one or more of those big super-volcanoes, like the one that mad your Yellowstone Park, cut loose with an eruption that blanketed the Earth with ash and smoke. 


  Reggie Rivers #3
“The Synthetic Barbarian”
by L. Sprague de Camp
First publication: Asimov’s Science Fiction, Sep 1992

Clifton Standish’s motivation for travel to the Mesozoic is not entirely what it seems.

 One day this bloke Standish came in with his friend Hofmann, saying they wanted a time safari to cave-man days, to shoot dinosaurs the way our ancestors used to do. 


  Reggie Rivers #4
“Crocamander Quest”
by L. Sprague de Camp
First publication: The Ultimate Dinosaur, Oct 1992

Long before T. rex was king of the predators, the Triassic was terrorized by the 5-meter long amphibian K. col with a meter-long head, a powerful jaw, and rows of sharp teeth.

 Imagine a newt or salamander expanded to crocodile size, with a huge head for catching smaller fry, and you’ll have the idea. Might call it a crocamander, eh? 


  Reggie Rivers #5
“The Satanic Illusion”
by L. Sprague de Camp
First publication: Asimov’s Science Fiction, Nov 1992

Murder most foul when religious fundamentalists plan a time safari to disprove the theory of evolution.

 It will demonstrate that all these prehistoric beasts, whereof your clients bring home heads, hides, and photographs, did not live in succession, but all at the same time. 


  Reggie Rivers #6
“The Cayuse”
by L. Sprague de Camp
First publication: Expanse, 1993

Apparently, the parasaurolophus does not play well with certain 20th century technology.

  Reggie Rivers #7
“Pliocene Romance”
aka “Miocene Romance”
by L. Sprague de Camp
First publication: Analog, Jan 1993

How would an animal rights activist view the hunting of extinct species on Reggie’s time safaris?

 But the beasts my clients hunt on these time safaris are all long extinct anyway. Ending the safaris wouldn’t bring any dinosaurs or mastodons back to life. 


  Reggie Rivers #8
“The Mislaid Mastodon”
by L. Sprague de Camp
First publication: Analog, May 1993

Wait a minute! Didn’t Reggie lay down the law long ago that his time safaris can’t meddle in human times? So how’s he gonna bring back a Mastodon alive for his latest customer?

  Reggie Rivers #9
“The Honeymoon Dragon”
by L. Sprague de Camp
First publication: Rivers of Time, Nov 1993

Reggie Rivers must watch his back when he accepts an invitation from a journalist to track down a Megalania (kinda like a giant Komodo dragon) in the Quaternary period. This is the only new story in the 1993 Reggie Rivers Collection, Rivers of Time.



  Reggie Rivers #10
“Gun, Not for Dinosaur”
by Chris Bunch
First publication: The Enchantor Completed, 1993

Chris Bunch’s gave a nod to the Reggie Rivers stories, and the result was published as part of the L. Sprague de Camp tribute anthology. The narrator, who isn’t named, tells the story of how Peter Kilgrew nearly wiped out humanity in an indirect fashion during a time safari to the Jurassic.

 The stupid git was trying to wipe out all of humanity, though he was too stupid to realize it. 


 

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