Originally published in "Analog/Astounding Science Fiction" April 1937 Time is shaped like a spring, and one can jump from coil to coil, in these two classic stories by P. Schuyler Miller. In "Sands of Time," a time machine's inventor struggles to convince a paleontologist that the dinosaur portraits he's photographed are genuine. Would a couple of dinosaur eggs be proof enough? Or the carcass of a toothed bird? And what adventures does the traveler share when he returns from a Late Cretaceous journey bloody and beaten? The story continues in the far-flung future in "Coils of Time" where a space patrolman is pulled into a time warp to become enwrapped in a Martian war that literally spans eons. Time machines, aliens, dinosaurs, spaceships, ray guns, romance, and zombies, Miller left few tropes out when writing these now classic sci-fi tales.
Author
Peter Schuyler Miller (February 21, 1912 – October 13, 1974) was an American science fiction writer and critic. Miller was raised in New York's Mohawk Valley, which led to a lifelong interest in the Iroquois Indians. He pursued this as an amateur archaeologist and a member of the New York State Archaeological Association. He received his M.S. in chemistry from Union College in Schenectady. He subsequently worked as a technical writer for General Electric in the 1940s, and for the Fisher Scientific Company in Pittsburgh from 1952 until his death. Miller died October 13, 1974 on Blennerhassett Island, West Virginia. He was on an archaeological tour to the "Fort Ancient culture" site west of Parkersburg at the time. Miller wrote pulp science fiction beginning in the 1930s, and is considered one of the more popular authors of the period. His work appeared in such magazines as Amazing Stories, Astounding, Comet, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Marvel Tales, Science Fiction Digest, Super Science Stories, Unknown, Weird Tales, and Wonder Stories, among others. An active fan of others' work as well as an author, he is also known as an early bibliographer of Robert E. Howard's "Conan" stories in the 1930s, together with his friend John D. Clark. Miller gradually shifted into book reviewing beginning in 1945, initially for Astounding Science Fiction and later for its successor, Analog. He began a regularly monthly review column in the former in October, 1951. As a critic he was notable for his enthusiasm for a wide coverage of the science fiction field. He was awarded a special Hugo Award for book reviews in 1963. His extensive collection of papers, maps, books and periodicals, accumulated largely as a result of his review work, was donated to the Carnegie Museum after his death by his sister Mary E. Drake. They now form the basis of the P. Schuyler Miller Memorial Library at the Edward O'Neill Research Center in Pittsburgh.
