temporal paradox n.

= time paradox n.

Time Travel

  • 1954 B. Berry Toy in Planet Stories Mar. 70/2 page image Bryan Berry bibliography

    Our research teams that have been investigating the various problems of time travel and temporal paradox are very strict on that kind of thing.

  • 1954 R. Sheckley Thief in Time in Galaxy Science Fiction July 13/1 Robert Sheckley bibliography

    He went on to the so-called time paradoxes—killing one’s great-great grandfather, meeting oneself, and the like…. Alfredex went on to explain that all temporal paradoxes were the inventions of authors with a gift for confusion.

  • 1962 C. Henneberg Moon Fishers in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Apr. 85/1 page image Charles Henneberg bibliography

    Some amused themselves with brain-teasers: ‘Suppose you should be so unfortunate, during a stopover in the past, as to kill your grandfather before he’d become a parent—would you exist? And if you didn’t, how could you have killed him?’ It’s what is called the temporal paradox.

  • 1970 L. Niven Bird in Hand in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Oct. 124/1 page image Larry Niven bibliography

    Unless that was a side effect of the paradox. Unless the paradox had chopped away Zeera’s extension cage and left her stranded in the past, or cast off into an alternate world line, or…. There had never been a temporal paradox. [ellipsis in original]

  • 1998 G. Cox Assignment: Eternity ii. 24 Greg Cox bibliography

    I can tell you that I’m here to untangle a temporal paradox that threatens both our futures.

  • 2012 D. I. Cleary Living in the Eighties in Asimov’s Science Fiction Apr.–May 165 page image David Ira Cleary bibliography

    You’re from the future. The Bobby gone old. Well, what do you think about temporal paradox, Bobby? What if you were to kill little Bobby? Then you can’t exist to have come back to kill him.


Research requirements

antedating 1954

Earliest cite

Bryan Berry, "The Toy", in Planet Stories

Research History
Ralf Brown submitted a cite from a 1973 reprint of Larry Niven's 1970 "Bird in the Hand"; Mike Christie verified it in the original magazine appearance.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1969 cite from K. M. O'Donnell's "July 24, 1970".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1954 cite from Robert Sheckley's "A Thief In Time".
Jesse Sheidlower submitted an early 1954 cite from Bryan Berry's "The Toy".

Last modified 2020-12-16 04:08:47
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.