is a story a Lafferty fan would like. 
are short stories, that are either really boring or just lesser variations of a recurrent theme.
The insitute of impure science tries to tamper with history, but fails everytime. This features the favorite cast of characters. Although I think the portrayal of history is dubious , this is still one of my favorite stories.
Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne
The insitute of impure science tries to tamper with history, but fails everytime. This features the favorite cast of characters. Although I think the portrayal of history is dubious , this is still one of my favorite stories.
I alaways thought that the point to the story was not that they failed to change history, but rather that they always succeeded. Despite the success, the history of the characters remains their history, and one with which they remain dissatisfied.
Well in my short descriptions I don't want to give too much of the story away. From the perspective of the characters they are always failing.
Lafferty was getting at the fractal nature of the universe and the paradox of Schrödingers cat: that history splits and spins off into different directions with every tumble of the dice.
Sometimes the changes are so insiginificant as to be unnoticeable, others cause the observer to wake up in a completely different world.
In my humble opinion, the real charm of this excellent story resides in the inimitable style of Lafferty!
This was the first Lafferty tale I read about 30 years ago and it completely blew me away. Still one of my favourites and I would heartily recommend it to anyone who loves the short story, SF or otherwise.