Hugo Award Best Novel Winner
The Big Time
by Fritz Leiber
Summary
Two factions called the Spiders and the Snakes wage a Change War across all of history, altering the past to win an endless conflict. The action unfolds almost entirely within a single recuperation station outside normal time, lending the book the feel of a stage play. Leiber tells the story through the voice of an entertainer who tends to wounded time soldiers and watches a tense crisis erupt in close quarters.
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Historical Context & Significance
The novel belongs to Leiber's Change War sequence and is notable for its tight, theatrical single setting.