The Big Time

It's been going on for a billion years and it'll last another billion or so. Up and down the timeline, the two sides—"Spiders" and "Snakes"—batle endlessly to change the future and the past. Our lives and memories are their battleground. And in the midst of the war is the Place, outside space and time, where Great Forzane and other Entertainers provide solace and R&R for tired time warriors.

Have you ever worried about your memory, because it doesn't seem to recall exactly the same past from one day to the next? Have you ever thought you might be changing because of forces beyond your control? Have you ever thought that the whole universe might be a crazy, mixed-up dream? If you have, then you've had hints of the Change War.

It's been going on for a billion years and it'll last another billion or so. Up and down the timeline, the two sides—"Spiders" and "Snakes"—batle endlessly to change the future and the past. Our lives and memories are their battleground. And in the midst of the war is the Place, outside space and time, where Great Forzane and other Entertainers provide solace and R&R for tired time warriors.

Science Fiction Weekly

The Big Time is audacious and original, and probably one of the best science fiction novels ever written.

Fritz Leiber, who died in 1992, was one of the most important SF and fantasy writers of the century. The Big Time is his most famous SF novel. "[His] awards for fantasy included the 1975 Grand Master of Fantasy Award, the 1976 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, the 1981 Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America, 6 Hugos, 4 Nebulas, and about 20 other awards.