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Dimension A
"Three aliens from Earth trapped beyond time, beyond space, beyond reality."
207 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1968
About the author
Leslie Purnell Davies
34 books15 followersPseudonyms: Leslie Vardre, L.P. Davies, Leo Barne, Robert Blake, R. Bridgeman, Morgan Evans, Ian Jefferson, Lawrence Peters, Thomas Phillips, G.K. Thomas and Rowland Welch.
Leslie Purnell Davies was a British novelist whose works typically combine elements of horror, science fiction and mystery. He also wrote many short stories under several pseudonyms.
Davies' books deal with the defects, evolution or manipulation of human consciousness, and in some ways are comparable to the works of Philip K. Dick. His protagonists frequently suffer from amnesia or other loss of identity, and their quest to find out who they really are drives the plot.
(adapted from Wikipedia)
Leslie Purnell Davies was a British novelist whose works typically combine elements of horror, science fiction and mystery. He also wrote many short stories under several pseudonyms.
Davies' books deal with the defects, evolution or manipulation of human consciousness, and in some ways are comparable to the works of Philip K. Dick. His protagonists frequently suffer from amnesia or other loss of identity, and their quest to find out who they really are drives the plot.
(adapted from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 16, 2014
A couple of years ago, I went on a bit of a self-imposed scavenger hunt. I decided to search for and re-read about a half-dozen books that I first read years ago during what I have come to refer to as my “lost summer” of reading. It took a while but I eventually located all of the books I remembered… except one... "Dimension A".
For a while I did a lot of fruitless searching on the internet whenever I had a chance. It didn't help that all I had to go on was the book’s title. Unlike the other books I remembered, I couldn't recall the author or much of anything else that might aid my search, including any character names or even much of the plot. In fact, the most prominent thing I could recall was it was the first time (actually probably the only time) I had ever seen the word “treacle”. Being something of a vocabulary nerd, I recall having to look up the definition and even now I have to laugh when I realize “treacle” is the one thing that immediately comes to mind when I think of this book, even decades later.
Although I had resigned myself to the fact I would never find this book, not long ago on a whim, I did a search here on Goodreads and actually got a hit. Although the other two reviews here didn't give me any idea if this was the book I was looking I figured there couldn't be that many novels with that title. More importantly, the hit gave me the author’s name, L.P. Davies, and a search on Amazon actually turned up a selection of re-sellers who had physical copies of the book. A few of them had posted pictures of it and even after thirty-eight years, I recognized the cover immediately.
I am not entirely sure why finding this specific book was so important to me yet somehow it left an impression on me that seemed far more than simple nostalgia. And now that I have finished reading "Dimension A" and I have to say it was an interesting reunion. To begin with, I was surprised by how little of the story I remembered beyond the general premise, including the rather surprising ending, but much of it looked familiar and started coming back to me the further I read.
A scientist and his assistant go missing from a locked laboratory. With the aid of an old friend and scientific colleague the two young men searching for them manage to piece together the method of their disappearance and are accidentally pulled into an alien environment, another dimension in the multi-verse adjacent to our own. Searching for answers and a way home, they rise to the challenge of surviving in the face of unknown threats from all quarters, in an inhospitable and sometimes hostile and deadly environment, while trying to make some sense of everything around them. In the process they find both missing men and learn the truth of this alternate world they have stumbled into and the threat it poses to Earth.
Was it great fiction? Not really. I would probably give it three or four stars. Keep in mind however that it is a product of its times (written in 1969) and possesses a bit of the same stiff reserve of its British/Welsh author. But it was and still is an imaginative young adult story that in many ways reminds me of "Tunnel Through Time" by Lester DelRey and "Half Way Home" by Hugh Howey.
Was it as good as the book I remember? Most definitely yes, or at least I enjoyed it as much as when I first read it. Perhaps I am being overly nostalgic here but it was a great pleasure to read this book again after so long. And while I had forgotten much of the intricacies of the plot, I had the same visceral reaction at the two surprise "reveals" at the end, enough to remember why I enjoyed it so much the first time around.
For a while I did a lot of fruitless searching on the internet whenever I had a chance. It didn't help that all I had to go on was the book’s title. Unlike the other books I remembered, I couldn't recall the author or much of anything else that might aid my search, including any character names or even much of the plot. In fact, the most prominent thing I could recall was it was the first time (actually probably the only time) I had ever seen the word “treacle”. Being something of a vocabulary nerd, I recall having to look up the definition and even now I have to laugh when I realize “treacle” is the one thing that immediately comes to mind when I think of this book, even decades later.
Although I had resigned myself to the fact I would never find this book, not long ago on a whim, I did a search here on Goodreads and actually got a hit. Although the other two reviews here didn't give me any idea if this was the book I was looking I figured there couldn't be that many novels with that title. More importantly, the hit gave me the author’s name, L.P. Davies, and a search on Amazon actually turned up a selection of re-sellers who had physical copies of the book. A few of them had posted pictures of it and even after thirty-eight years, I recognized the cover immediately.
I am not entirely sure why finding this specific book was so important to me yet somehow it left an impression on me that seemed far more than simple nostalgia. And now that I have finished reading "Dimension A" and I have to say it was an interesting reunion. To begin with, I was surprised by how little of the story I remembered beyond the general premise, including the rather surprising ending, but much of it looked familiar and started coming back to me the further I read.
A scientist and his assistant go missing from a locked laboratory. With the aid of an old friend and scientific colleague the two young men searching for them manage to piece together the method of their disappearance and are accidentally pulled into an alien environment, another dimension in the multi-verse adjacent to our own. Searching for answers and a way home, they rise to the challenge of surviving in the face of unknown threats from all quarters, in an inhospitable and sometimes hostile and deadly environment, while trying to make some sense of everything around them. In the process they find both missing men and learn the truth of this alternate world they have stumbled into and the threat it poses to Earth.
Was it great fiction? Not really. I would probably give it three or four stars. Keep in mind however that it is a product of its times (written in 1969) and possesses a bit of the same stiff reserve of its British/Welsh author. But it was and still is an imaginative young adult story that in many ways reminds me of "Tunnel Through Time" by Lester DelRey and "Half Way Home" by Hugh Howey.
Was it as good as the book I remember? Most definitely yes, or at least I enjoyed it as much as when I first read it. Perhaps I am being overly nostalgic here but it was a great pleasure to read this book again after so long. And while I had forgotten much of the intricacies of the plot, I had the same visceral reaction at the two surprise "reveals" at the end, enough to remember why I enjoyed it so much the first time around.
September 3, 2019
I don't remember much about this book but I said it was "good" in my journal from 1985.
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December 30, 2021I'm not sure how I acquired this book as a kid. It was a sleeveless hardcopy from a library I'd never been to. Whether it was purchased in a book drive or stolen (accidentally or otherwise), I'll never know. The cover had ~a e s t h e t i c~ though. Two young men caught in motion, superimposed over a sky consisting of alternating blue and white stripes that got smaller toward the horizon of a desert landscape with faraway mountains. An orb floated in the sky.
I didn't think I liked science fiction so it sat on my shelf for a long time. My idea of science fiction was solely stuff like Men In Black and other alien movies or alien comics in pop culture in the 90s and early 2000s, which I decidedly disliked as a kid (the aliens grossed me out tbh). However, this book's cover enchanted me too much to ever get rid of it (in addition to the mystery of how it got on my bookshelf), and finally one day I decided to give it a try.
I remember being surprised by how much I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't remember a ton about the book, but Cheryl Minekime's Goodreads review rings true. It had a British/Welsh stiffness and it wasn't amazing, but it was still an exciting adventure, and it was conceptually cool. I didn't immediately dive into the world of science fiction afterwards, but it still stands as my first taste of unabashed science fiction. It showed me that a genre I'd previously discounted could be pretty cool, and for that I'll be forever thankful.
For what it's worth, the cover artist's name was Emanuel Schongut.
I didn't think I liked science fiction so it sat on my shelf for a long time. My idea of science fiction was solely stuff like Men In Black and other alien movies or alien comics in pop culture in the 90s and early 2000s, which I decidedly disliked as a kid (the aliens grossed me out tbh). However, this book's cover enchanted me too much to ever get rid of it (in addition to the mystery of how it got on my bookshelf), and finally one day I decided to give it a try.
I remember being surprised by how much I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't remember a ton about the book, but Cheryl Minekime's Goodreads review rings true. It had a British/Welsh stiffness and it wasn't amazing, but it was still an exciting adventure, and it was conceptually cool. I didn't immediately dive into the world of science fiction afterwards, but it still stands as my first taste of unabashed science fiction. It showed me that a genre I'd previously discounted could be pretty cool, and for that I'll be forever thankful.
For what it's worth, the cover artist's name was Emanuel Schongut.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews