The Lincoln Hunters

This novel, though written in the late 50's did not read at all "dated". It is the tale of a time traveling trip by a group of "Time Researchers" from the year 2578 that go back to record the "missing speech" of Abraham Lincoln. It was given in the year 1856 at the First Republican Congress.

A word about Wilson Tucker. He was a well known SF fan before he became an author and he liked to give his characters "real" names. He would name a character after a real life SF author and give them characteristics that may or may not be true to the real person.

The story also has a recurring story line about no one can "meet" themselves during a time trip, without "cancelling" each other out. Though this was only a theory, but the best scientific evidence was weighted this way, and no-one wanted to test it out. Due to an engineering snafu Benjamin Steward was to be sent back to reconnoiter the scene before the mission took place, but he was mistakenly delivered a day late. He had arrived the day after the speech.

So when the mission to record was sent to record the speech Ben had a certain window of time to get the speech and head back. There shouldn't have been a problem, but for one of his crew members, a Bobby Bloch (Robert Bloch who in this tale is a thespian with an alcohol problem.) gets lost and the mission is in jeopardy. Though the recording is accomplished one of the group has come up missing.

There are other side stories as well that make this novel a well written adventure that is running against the clock. The ending was satisfying, though not as I would maybe have wanted it. This is a good fast read and the tension drives the narrative.