The Big Time and the other stories in the Change War series concern an ongoing war fought by two time-traveling armies known only as the "Snakes" and the "Spiders." Their primary battle maneuvers consist of moving back and forth in time, changing history. Many of the short pieces in the series are simply good, relatively light-weight adventure stories, packed with odd historical tidbits and interesting timetravel paradoxes, but in The Big Time, which won a Hugo in 1961, Leiber has a more serious purpose.

The story, set almost entirely in one room, a Spider Rest and Recreation Center positioned outside the universe, consists essentially of a series of conversations, arguments, and fights between the soldiers and other personnel involved in the war. By juxtaposing the beliefs, experiences, and complaints of these people, not all of them human, Leiber is able to delineate a powerful antiwar message. The...