Kalvan : In the Beginning

Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen is one of science fiction's most beloved alternate world stories, as well as H. Beam Piper's last novel.

It combines both Piper's Paratime Police, the protectors of the Paratime Secret (a means of lateral travel through parallel worlds), and a castaway in time, Pennsylvania State Trooper Calvin Morrison.

For Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, H. Beam Piper had a ready-made Paratime universe and characters to populate it with, Paratime Police Chief Verkan Vall and his lovely wife Dalla, Tortha Karf and a host of deputies and investigators from his earlier Paratime stories. Add to this the Hostigos characters, Princess Rylla, her father Prince Ptosphes, Chartiphon, Harmakros and Xentos, Highpriest of Dralm, from his unpublished story, When in the Course…, and he had a ready made "new" world: Mix in some of the historical elements from his 16th Century historical work-in-progress,