The Panchronicon

The residents of a small town in New Hampshire are a very upstanding lot. There is only one man they shun - the rather scruffy town drunk named Copernicus Droop. But Copernicus has suddenly stopped drinking. He has a secret. An amazing secret. He has come into possession of a time machine - an airplane-like invention called a Panchronicon. And he wants to use this machine to make himself rich. But he needs the help of his two cousins, Rebecca and Phoebe Wise. Plans are made. Time travel is attempted. Problems abound. The first part of the book - the part which involves the time machine and the journey, are clever and entertaining - in a 1904 sort of way. This is where the book sticks to it\'s sci-fi roots. About half-way through the story, though, the plot bears away from the Panchronicon and spins into many different diverse plots - all of which are made more difficult to read because of the stilted, antiquated dialogues used.