58

I've already searched Wikipedia's list of time travel stories in hopes of finding it, but no such luck.

This is the basic plot of the story:

In the future, criminals are sent back to the Renaissance as this is considered a humane form of punishment. One man is wrongfully accused by one of his rivals/enemies and punished in this fashion. He resolves to take revenge on his opponent and writes a letter addressed to him. He passes the letter on to his descendants, along with information proving his innocence and the other man's guilt. In this letter he tells his opponent that he will be convicted and sent back in time just as the protagonist was, and that he will be waiting for him. He also tells him that he is certain his plan will work, because the man arrived just a few hours after the protagonist did, and that he killed him.

I remember this being a part of a collection of short stories. It's probably fairly old. Unfortunately, I don't remember much else about it.

Mithical
  • 38,898
  • 17
  • 178
  • 229
awalmartbag
  • 1,023
  • 1
  • 9
  • 15
  • 1
    That sounds fantastic. Hope it's answered soon – Premier Bromanov Jan 27 '15 at 19:24
  • 19
    Sounds like a great story, but I'm not sure how smart an idea it is to send criminals back in time where they can influence history... – Omegacron Jan 27 '15 at 19:45
  • 4
    In Robert Silverberg's Hawksbill Station, criminals are sent back to the Precambrian era, to avoid that they can alter history. – Ubik Jan 27 '15 at 21:57
  • 1
    I'm not sure whether it was implied or outright stated, but in this story, the Age of Enlightenment was their influence on history. – awalmartbag Jan 27 '15 at 22:16
  • 2
    Here's a long list of time travel stories, maybe you'll find it there: http://www.storypilot.com/time-travel-fiction.html – Ubik Jan 28 '15 at 18:42
  • @Ubik Unfortunately I didn't find it on that list. I was hopeful when I saw a story entitled “Renaissance Man”, but no. Thanks though, if nothing else, I found other interesting reading material. – awalmartbag Jan 28 '15 at 23:42
  • 4
    The Many Colored Land by Julian May almost certainly is not what you're looking for. However, it does use time travel to exile criminals in the past, however, it's to the Pleistocene era. – Jim2B Mar 28 '15 at 23:28
  • I was going to suggest "Looper", but that would be blatantly wrong as that was a film and the only correlation is "criminals are sent back in time", but nothing more. – Agi Hammerthief Apr 12 '15 at 21:17
  • This ain't it (it's new), but you might like "Criminals Within" by Jack Francis. It has a similar concept. Also reminds me of the TV show "Continuum". – Omegacron Apr 28 '15 at 19:51
  • There was a star trek episode on the subject. "All our yesterdays", perhaps? – EngrStudent Apr 29 '15 at 13:46
  • 2
    The Avengers episode Escape in time does this slightly differently - criminals pay the inventor of a time machine to go back hundreds of years to escape the law. – Eborbob Jul 13 '15 at 13:58
  • @EngrStudent That was my first thought as well, although, in that episode, everyone is sent back in time (by the aptly named librarian, Mr Atoz) because the planet is dying. –  Aug 16 '15 at 01:14
  • It reminds me just a little of "Dear Charles" by Murray Leinster. There's no prisoners or anything, but the basic setup does have a letter about the future from the past, and a closed time loop about how the letter must have worked or someone wouldn't have arrived in the past. – Megha Dec 14 '15 at 06:51

1 Answers1

6

It may be "My Object All Sublime" by Poul Anderson. Sorry, I tried to find a plot summary online for you but can't seem to locate one. However, this article suggests an anthology in which you can find the story...https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_of_Poul_Anderson

Edit: sorry, I didn't notice the part about going back to the Renaissance. This is probably not the story you're thinking of, but it does have a similar premise if you are looking for something similar!

Sot1l
  • 354
  • 2
  • 7
  • The story can be found in a compilation available here on books.google. I agree the details don't match up, but the punishing criminals by sending them into the past theme is certainly there. – Bamboo Feb 15 '16 at 04:55