The Big Time
Fritz Leiber (1910-1992) is best known as a fantasy writer, but his  achievements and influence are also considerable in the horror and science  fiction fields. One of his major SF works is the Change War series, about rival  time-traveling armies locked in a bitter, age-old war for control of existence;  the battles frequently alter the course of human history. The most important  work of Leiber's Change War series is the Hugo Award-winning novelThe Big  Time, in which doctors, entertainers, and wounded soldiers find themselves  treacherously trapped with an activated atomic bomb inside the Place, a room  existing outside of space-time. It's not one of Leiber's strongest novels: the  cutesy-girlish narrative voice is unconvincing, while the demands of describing  time travel and time paradoxes inevitably strain the prose. ButThe Big  Timeis a tense, claustrophobic SF mystery, and possibly the ultimate  locked-room whodunit.In addition to the Hugo, Nebula, Derleth, Lovecraft, and World Fantasy Awards,  Fritz Leiber received the Grand Master of Fantasy (Gandalf) Award, the Life  Achievement Lovecraft Award, and the Grand Master Nebula Award.--Cynthia  Ward