First published in 1974 by editor Edwin Orthmann, this German Genre Anthology contains twenty-three stories, chosen from all over the world. The title itself can be translated as The Time Bike, and it contains a short introduction by the editor. Many of the same stories were reprinted in his later anthology Das Raumschiff.
Works in this Anthology:
- "Das Zeitfahrrad", by Carl Grunert (1908, German)
- "The Star", by H. G. Wells (1897, English)
- "The Singular Fate Of Bouvancourt", by Maurice Renard (1909, French)
- "Ein Diamant Von 20000 Karat", by Valentina Zhuravlyova (1959, Russian)
- "All The Traps Of Earth", by Clifford Simak (1960, English)
- "Start", by Herbert W Franke (1960, German)
- "Flucht Und Zuflucht", by Herbert W Franke (1958, German)
- "Fahrt Ins Ungewisse", by Herbert W Franke (1960, German)
- "Der Schmarotzer", by Herbert W Franke (1960, German)
- "The Man Who Feared Robots", by Herbert W Franke (1960, German)
- "Ohne Schatten", by Atanas Nakowski (1970, Bulgarian)
- "The Songs of Distant Earth", by Arthur C. Clarke (1958, English)
- "Die Haarstraubende Rettung Aus Todlicher Gefahr", by Gerhard Branstner (1974, German)
- "Die Sonne Im Schlepptau", by Gerhard Branstner (1974, German)
- "Der Narr Im Waisenhaus", by Gerhard Branstner (1974, German)
- "Die Begegnung Mit Dem Wahren Irrtum", by Gerhard Branstner (1974, German)
- "The Fire Within", by Sergei Snegov (1971, Russian)
- "Blinder Passagier", by Alfred Leman and Hans Taubert (1973, German)
- "Wenn Die Bildschirme Schweigen", by Alexander Schalimow (1965, Russian)
- "Das Duell", by Gunther Krupkat (1974, German)
- "The Dead Past", by Isaac Asimov (1956, English)
- "The Assaultmen", by Boris Strugazki and Arkadi Strugazki (1961, Russian)
- "The Meeting", by Boris Strugazki and Arkadi Strugazki (1961, Russian)
Tropes appearing in this anthology:
- Androids Are People, Too: In "All The Traps Of Earth", a Novelette by Clifford Simak, Richard Daniel is a humanoid robot and servant of the Barrington family who has over six hundred years of continuous memory. Ownership of such robots is commonplace, but robots are expected to have their memories erased after every hundred years to prevent attachments and deviations from the norm.
- Apocalypse How: In "The Star", a Short Story by H. G. Wells, the story ends with nearly complete social collapse on Earth, due to a wandering star almost hitting the planet.
- Design Student's Orgasm: Curves and maybe circles are a recurring theme of the cover art, but why? Perhaps because "Das Zeitfahrrad" translates to "the time bike", but you could be forgiven for not realizing that the odd machine on the cover was supposed to be a sort of bicycle. It certainly doesn’t seem to have any wheels.
- Doorstopper: This Anthology has just over 500 pages, typical for Edwin Orthmann.
- Genre Anthology: A German collection of Science Fiction short stories.
- Ignored Expert: In "The Star", a Short Story by H. G. Wells, an astronomer figures out the wandering planet is probably going to hit Earth within the next few days. Some people react to this news, but the vast majority still need to live day by day.
- Interstellar Weapon: In "The Star", a Short Story by H. G. Wells, when the perspective changes to the Martian astronomers, it's suddenly revealed that the titular star was actually a missile that had been fired from outside the solar system.
- The Last of These Is Not Like the Others: In "All The Traps Of Earth", a Novelette by Clifford Simak, the story opens by listing an inventory of the Barrington family, ending with their robot servant, Richard Daniel.
- Novelette:
- "All The Traps Of Earth", by Clifford Simak (1960)
- "The Assaultmen", by Boris Strugazki and Arkadi Strugazki (1961)
- "The Dead Past", by Isaac Asimov (1956)
- "Ohne Schatten", by Atanas Nakowski (1970)
- "The Songs of Distant Earth", by Arthur C. Clarke (1958)
- "Wenn Die Bildschirme Schweigen", by Alexander Schalimow (1965)
- "Das Zeitfahrrad", by Carl Grunert (1908)
- One-Word Title:
- "Start", by Herbert W Franke
- "The Man Who Feared Robots", by Herbert W Franke, was printed under the German name, "Psychotherapie".
- Switching P.O.V.: In "The Star", a Short Story by H. G. Wells, the story is in omniscient third-person, describing how events play out from Earth's perspective. For the very last paragraph, however, the perspective shifts to Mars, explaining their perception of the recent events.
- Tagline: "Scientific-fantastic Tales from all over the World"
