The Big Time initially appeared in the March and April 1958 issues of Galaxy Science Fiction before seeing slightly revised book publication in 1961. Related short stories have appeared in a number of different magazines and book collections, including The Change War (1978) and the somewhat different Changewar (1983). Although some of the short stories in the serie are simply lightweight tales of adventure which incorporate ingenious time-travel paradoxes, a number of pieces stand out as particularly excellent. One of the best stories in the series is "No Great Magic," in which Greta Forzane, apparently suffering from amnesia, is working in the costume department of a New York theater company. As her memory gradually returns, however, she realizes that both the theater and its on-going production of Macbeth are involved in the war between the Spiders and the Snakes. In another fine story, "Knight to Move," Erich, one of the...