Paratime

This volume gathers five science fiction stories by H. Beam Piper, most of them featuring Verkan Vall, an agent of the Paratime Police who polices the many parallel worlds branching from our own. The tales first ran in Astounding between 1948 and 1955, and the collection opens with a short introduction by John F. Carr.

The lineup includes He Walked Around the Horses, followed by Police Operation, Last Enemy, Time Crime and Temple Trouble, all written with Vall as the central figure. Readers get a set of separate adventures rather than one continuous plot, so each story can be read on its own.

The book suits adult readers who enjoy older-style science fiction about alternate timelines, investigation and inter-dimensional law enforcement.