Jump to content

Time Machine series

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Bender the Bot (talk | contribs) at 10:12, 6 October 2016 (http→https for Google Books and Google News using AWB). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Time Machine series of science fiction stories for children, published between 1959 and 1989 in Boys' Life magazine, featured a group of American Boy Scouts who acquire an abandoned time machine. The Polaris Patrol visited the future and the past, sometimes recruiting new Scouts. The stories used the time machine as a framework for history lessons, but also explored the consequences of having a time machine (as well as the various technologies the boys who discovered it obtain from the future).[1]

The author was given as Donald Keith for most of the stories, a pseudonym for the father-and-son team of Donald and Keith Monroe. In later years, some stories were credited just to the son, Keith Monroe.[2]

The first story in the series was "The Day We Explored the Future," appearing in the December 1959 Boys' Life on page 18.[3]

Some of the stories were collected in two books, Mutiny in the Time Machine (1963) and Time Machine to the Rescue (1967), with Donald Keith given as the author.

All the Time Machine stories are available from Google Books in its collection of Boys' Life issues.

Recurring characters

  • Bob Tucker, patrol leader
  • Ellsworth "Brains" Baynes, brilliant bookworm who operates the Machine
  • Kai Beezee Tentroy, recruited from a city called Troy in 4000 A.D.
  • Dion, recruited from ancient Sparta
  • Rodney Carver, impetuous Tenderfoot

Bibliography

Stories in Boys' Life

In the following table, "DK" indicates that the story's author is given as Donald Keith, while "KM" means attribution to Keith Monroe. Links are to the copies available at Google Books.

Month Year Title Byline Serial dates
DEC 1959 The Day We Explored the Future DK
FEB 1960 The Time Machine Flies Backwards DK
JUN 1960 How We Got the Mind-Reading Pills DK
JUL 1960 Our Time Machine at the Jamboree DK
OCT 1961 Marco Polo and Our Time Machine DK
FEB 1962 The Time Machine Slips a Cog DK
DEC 1962 Mutiny in the Time Machine Part 1 DK Dec 1962 to Mar 1963 (4-part serial)
Jan 1963 Mutiny in the Time Machine Part 2 DK Dec 1962 to Mar 1963 (4-part serial)
Feb 1963 Mutiny in the Time Machine Part 3 DK Dec 1962 to Mar 1963 (4-part serial)
Mar 1963 Mutiny in the Time Machine Part 4 DK Dec 1962 to Mar 1963 (4-part serial)
JUN 1964 The Time Machine Cracks a Safe DK
OCT 1964 Time Machine to the Rescue DK
FEB 1965 The Time Machine Gets Stuck DK Feb 1965 to Apr 1965 (3-part serial)
APR 1967 The Time Machine Hunts a Treasure DK Apr 1967 to Jun 1967 (3-part serial)
DEC 1968 The Dog from the Time Machine DK
SEP 1970 The Time Machine and the Generation Gap DK
AUG 1971 The King and the Time Machine DK
FEB 1973 The Time Machine Cleans Up DK
AUG 1973 The Time Machine Twins the Jamboree KM
DEC 1973 Santa Claus and the Time Machine DK
NOV 1974 The Time Machine Fights Earthquakes KM
APR 1975 The Time Machine Saves a Patriot KM
JUL 1976 The Time Machine Kidnaps a Parade KM
SEP 1988 Target Timbuktu KM
FEB 1989 Why We Kidnapped Our Scoutmaster KM
SEP 1989 Pirates Took Our Time Machine KM

Books

  • Donald Keith (author) (1963). Mutiny in the Time Machine. Random House. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  • Donald Keith (author) (1967). Time Machine to the Rescue. illustrated by Albert Orbaan. Putnam. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)

See also

References

  1. ^ The Time Machine stories in BOYS' LIFE, 1959-1989, by planettom. March 4, 2011. (Includes synopses of the stories.) Accessed March 31, 2011
  2. ^ Paging through BOYS' LIFE, Part 1: Donald Keith's Time Machine Stories, by William S. Higgins. March 14, 2010. Accessed March 31, 2011.
  3. ^ Keith, Donald (December 1959). The Day We Explored the Future. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved 2010-07-05. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)