SOLVED. SF/80s/90s: 20th c women out jogging gets transported in vortex to alien world [s]

[M]

Any help is appreciated. This is what I remember about the book:

(1) Available in 80s or 90s in SF/Fantasy
(2) The book is not a "Gor" book, Outlander, Restoree, The Changwinds series by Jack Chalker, or Yargo.
(3) The author is a woman
(4) It is not part of a series - it is a stand alone book
(5) I have a vague recollection of the word "Karin" or "Kirin" or "Kyrin" or something like that in the title or possibly the name of the main character or the planet. But, searches on these words have been fruitless.
(6) The opening of the book is set in "modern" times - i.e. 20th century.
(7) The main character is a 30-something year old woman who is out jogging and gets transported to another world through a vortex. She finds herself as a pseudo servant on this planet. Character 'falls' for overlord of manor. The book sounds like a corny sci-fi romance, but it is not a 'bodice ripper'. I recall a scene in a horse paddock where the 'overseer/overlord' is trying to capture her. She is still wearing her jogging shoes and she is able to evade him because her running skills are superior to the other captives. Another scene I remember takes place in a sauna. Another woman reaches out and touches the main character's c-section scar. A spark leaps between them and the other woman is able to get pregnant. In another scene she is back on a starship and finds out that she was kidnapped illegally and that there is no way for her to get back to earth as too much time has now passed there and her family is long gone.

Another poster is also looking for this book and added the following from her memories: "The heroine had just finished her chores. got the kids to bed. Hubby was watching the TV in the book. And she had gone running in the evening. The vortex looked like a dirt devil. She thought nothing of running thru it. The next thing she knew, she was on that planet.
Last part of the book, she was getting special training, Which included midwifery while on a space craft.
She also was wearing a pair of jogging/running shoes. Think they were Nikes in the book.
Between finding herself on the planet and getting captured by some guard on that planet. She had been scavaging scraps from various campsites. One time finding a section of cloth to keep her finds in.
She also had a C section scar. Which while in the baths at the house she lived in on Tawny, somehow had a spark happen between that and a couple who was wondering about it.

Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks! - Mary

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Hope someone IDs this Harp--I think I'd like to read it too.

If you just like this type of story, might I suggest Restoree? It is somewhat dated (which is understandable, given when it was published) but it's still a good read.

[M]

Ann aka Iftcan wrote: "Hope someone IDs this Harp--I think I'd like to read it too.

If you just like this type of story, might I suggest Restoree? It is somewhat dated (which is understandable, given when it was publis..."

Thanks. I like Anne McCaffery - I'll give it a try. I really enjoyed the Crystal Singer and the Freedom's Landing series.

[rivka]

Ann aka Iftcan wrote: "If you just like this type of story, might I suggest Restoree? It is somewhat dated (which is understandable, given when it was publis..."

Agreed. In fact, given how dated it is, it is a surprisingly enjoyable read.

[Andria]

Maybe Yargo by Jacqueline Susann?

[M]

Andria wrote: "Maybe Yargo by Jacqueline Susann?"

This sounds very similar, but I don't think this is it. I would've remembered the author. (Didn't Jacqueline Susann write Valley of the Dolls?) Although I may read this book. It sounds very interesting.

Thanks, though!

[Ann aka Iftcan]

I too love Anne McCaffrey. In fact, I have a signed first edition of Restoree, a book that Anne refered to in a talk once as "That little book that was my first sell, and that I don't think anyone ever actually READ." lol, I raised my hand WITH the book in it when she said that and said that I knew at least a COUPLE of people who had read it. :o)

[Kagama-the Literaturevixen]

Ann aka Iftcan wrote: "I too love Anne McCaffrey. In fact, I have a signed first edition of Restoree, a book that Anne refered to in a talk once as "That little book that was my first sell, and that I don't think anyone..."

I am reading it right now :) Its a bit strange though...

[Bryan457]

Here is a long-shot suggestion.

[M]

Bryan457 wrote: "Here is a long-shot suggestion.
"

Thanks - good suggestion. But no this isn't it. I've actually read these Chalker books and remember them. Darn it is so frustrating when you can't remember the title!

[Melissa Rochelle]

This isn't it, I'm sure, but I discovered it while searching around: Awaken Me Darkly -- there is a character names Kyrin, but no jogging abductions.

Some parts you mention remind me of Outlander, but that isn't it either.

Maybe something by Catherine Asaro? There's a Charon in her books...

Your description sounds so familiar!

[M]

Melissa Rochelle wrote: "This isn't it, I'm sure, but I discovered it while searching around: Awaken Me Darkly -- there is a character names Kyrin, but no jogging abductions.

Some parts you mention remind me of Outlander,..."

Isn't it the most frustrating thing to not be able to remember a book! Been driving me nuts for about a year now!

Read all the Outlander series - good thought, but it is different book. Also recently read Catherine Asaro (Quantum Rose) - I don't think it was a book by her.

You know the "Kirin' reference could be a red herring - not intentional on my part - but something that my mind is just not remembering correctly.

Does anyone know if there any way to search on google or another site for a book based on key words?

[Bryan457]

Does anyone know if there any way to search on google or another site for a book based on key words?

The Google syntax for searching a specific site is:
keyword keyword site:goodreads.com

[M]

Bryan457 wrote: "Does anyone know if there any way to search on google or another site for a book based on key words?

The Google syntax for searching a specific site is:
keyword keyword site:goodreads.com"

thanks - I'll try searching this way.

[M]

Misty wrote: "I don't think this is it but it's a similar idea so maybe you'll like it while trying to remember the other one! :)

http://www.amazon.com/Undercurrent-Mi..."

Thanks, Misty. I will add it to my 'to read' shelf. I am a real fan of historical fiction, fiction set in dark ages/medieval times, and also time travel books! Thanks for recommending.

[stormhawk]

Have you checked John Norman's Gor series? (yes, I know you said author was definitely a woman, but if you mis-remembered Kirin, you could have mis-remembered that detail, especially if the POV is that of the female character.)

[M]

stormhawk wrote: "Have you checked John Norman's Gor series?"

Thanks - definitely not Gor.

[M]

Misty wrote: "This might sound crazy but try to recreate reading the book. Sit in the same position if you remember it, get the same food or drink or music if you remember it, then shut your eyes and pretend you..."

You know, that isn't a bad idea. I will try it. Although I think I read the book 20 years ago - it has been a while.

Gotta wonder why it is so hard to find a book!

[M]

Misty wrote: "So, going off the spoiler, is it possible she time traveled and is still on Earth as opposed to being in an entirely different dimension or on another world?"

Not that I recall. But considering how much trouble I am having remembering the name of this book, perhaps I time traveled to the future and haven't yet read the book :-) I am going to keep plugging away. I am thinking of offering a reward for the title!!

[M]

Misty you are too cool! Thank you for your help and dedication!!! If I think of anything else about the book I'll definitely let you know!
-Mary

[M]

Thanks, definitely not Gor. I haven't read the books, but I am familiar with them - and was familiar with them in the 90s when I read this book. The Gor novels are not my thing and I know I would've never read one.

Thank you so much for your diligence, though. I really appreciate it. I have resigned myself to the fact that if I learn the name of this book, it will be by accident.

[M]

Misty wrote: "Yeah, I never heard of them at all (which shows how very far they are from my interests too :) ) until I started searching and I figured it didn't sound like they were your thing BUT I thought juuu..."

Thanks, Misty. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your help on this. Yeah, the Gor books are pretty chauvinist. The plots tend to subjugate women. I heard about them years ago and made a mental note never to read them - that is why I am certain that this book wasn't a Gor novel.

I'll keep looking too. I think I must've been the only one that read this book!

[M]

:-) Thanks. Not Restoree. Although it sounds like a possible fit. I had marked it as a 'to read' but changed it hoping that I might get 'recommendations' from the Goodreads recommendations based on my 'read' inputs. Nothing yet. I've pretty much given up on this book. I've searched the Internet, Google Books, Good Reads, Amazon and other possibilities high and low and not found even an inkling. I think someday I'll be in an used bookstore and I'll find it. Ah well.

[M]

Misty wrote: "Yeah. I tried Googling books like "Restoree" but didn't get it. Have you tried searching female sci-fi authors of the 80s or 90s? Maybe you'd recognize the author name."

I have. I've found a few lists, and searched some of the authors, but nothing has come up. I've even searched the various Sci/Fi publishers for a list of their books and found nothing. I know I am missing something somewhere. I also think it is possible that this author either didn't write anymore books, or didn't stay writing in the Sci/Fi/Fantasy genre. The book was definitely a trade paperback though and was definitely available at B&N and Borders in the 90s. I remember I bought it once, read it, and gave it to a friend. Then I decided I wanted to re-read it about a year or two later, went back to the book store and found it again. You would think I'd remember the name of it, having bought it twice!

I do remember that there was some blue in the cover and that there was an image of woman on the front - I think caught up in a vortex (but considering that my memory isn't producing results, this could be a fake memory!).

Ah well.

[Jessica]

Are you sure you're not melding the book you're thinking of with the Changewind books? I've been tryin' to figure out that it was When the Changewind Blows all day (that's how I came across your post) and all day I've been thinking it was a stand alone book written by a woman... But if I remeber correctly, wasn't the chick that changed into a guy at night named Kyrin or something close to that? Fortunately, that was the book I was thinking of... It sounds an awful like like it... Perhaps the two are mixing in your head? I couldn't remember any of the charater names earlier... I ended up Googling "book orcs magician slave girl maelstrom" and founnd your post which led me to what I was looking for... Maybe try differt combos of stuff like that? Good luck! :)

[M]

Jessica wrote: "Are you sure you're not melding the book you're thinking of with the Changewind books?..."

Thanks. I do appreciate your suggestions. But I am 100% certain it is not the Changewinds books. I remember those books well and even when I read them (I read them while in college in 1987 or 1988). The girls were high school age - and there were two of them. One is overweight and gets her body completely redesigned to model-like (sounds like something written by a male...)

In the book I am searching for, the main character is a wife and mother and in her late 20s or 30s. The only similarity between this book and Changewinds is the transportation through the vortex.

I am fairly certain this is real book. I purchased it and read it twice. But for whatever reason, I cannot remember the name or the author's name, which suggests that it wasn't a bestseller.

In any case, I do thank you for the suggestion. I'll keep searching.

[M]

Just had a good possible clue from a message. The suggestion was as follows: "the name of the planet translated to "Tawny" if I remember. that was also the colour of the eyes of all natives there. the woman who was transported to the planet had different coloured eyes.
I remember that she became a "priestess' due to the fact she had more than one child with her husband back on Earth. as well as due to her transport. she had special abilities. abilities these males in a bad area wanted to stop. because they wanted the natives to stop breeding.
I too am looking for that book."

Any thoughts are appreciated!

[M]

Misty wrote: "I actually spent almost a half hour the other day trying to find this book. Every now and then I go back and try different searches. I'll try again with these new terms. Someday it will be found!! ..."

Thank you, Misty - you are a really great!

[Kitty]

sounds similar to Gary Paulsens Transall saga but that was a teenaged boy

[Jai]

Could it be one of Myra Nour's alien abduction books, like Love's Captive?

You might also want to take a look at this: Mars Needs Women Trope http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/17...

Also, look up "alien abduction" in Listopia. Several things will come up.

If the alien bent is too far off base, try the term "crossover fantasy." Normal people fall through a vortex/shrub/mirror/etc. and end up in a parallel/different/Brave New world. The term covers everything from
Alice in Wonderland to The Secret Country, from The Golden Dynasty to The Family Trade.

Here's where we've been discussing it: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1....

[Suzette]

Misty, I remember reading the book. The heroine had just finished her chores. got the kids to bed. Hubby was watching the TV in the book. And she had gone running in the evening. The vortex looked like a dirt devil. She thought nothing of running thru it. The next thing she knew, she was on that planet.
Last part of the book, she was getting special training, Which included midwifery while on a space craft.
She also was wearing a pair of jogging/running shoes. Think they were Nikes in the book.
Between finding herself on the planet and getting captured by some guard on that planet. She had been scavaging scraps from various campsites. One time finding a section of cloth to keep her finds in.
She also had a C section scar. Which while in the baths at the house she lived in on Tawny, somehow had a spark happen between that and a couple who was wondering about it.

[Serena]

Lensman? Triplanetary

[Kagama-the Literaturevixen]

Misty wrote: "The description for "Love's Captive" sounds like a bodice ripper and she said that isn't it.

I think there has to be one thing, a fact or word, that if we just knew what it was we could plug it i..."

Yes thats usually the case. So far I have tried portal/dust devil/maelstrom/vortex/gate and ...nothing.

[Kagama-the Literaturevixen]

Suzette wrote: "Misty, I remember reading the book. The heroine had just finished her chores. got the kids to bed. Hubby was watching the TV in the book. And she had gone running in the evening. The vortex looked ..."

Tawny was a place in the book?

[Suzette]

Kagama-the Literaturevixen wrote: "Suzette wrote: "Misty, I remember reading the book. The heroine had just finished her chores. got the kids to bed. Hubby was watching the TV in the book. And she had gone running in the evening. Th..."
It was what the name translated into in the language of that planet.
Not only was the planet a tawny colour. So were the eyes of the inhabitants as well as the hair colour.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Ok, I'll offer another "you never know" story. I had a book I'd read as a kid that I wanted to find for my daughter to read. (To put everyone out of their misery it was Twenty and Ten.) I'd been trying to remember the title for a good 8 years, and everyone I talked to about it had no idea what I was talking about.

Hubby gets sent to Denver for a major conference in his field, and daughter and I decide to skip school in her case, and join him there. We check into the hotel, walk into our room, turn on the TV, which is set to a local channel, and they are talking about my book. So, after no one ever having heard of it before, I suddenly had the title (and we hit a used bookstore while there where I found the copy I still have.) I went home and was showing it to everyone I'd asked about it, and they were all going, "Well, gee, we didn't realize you wanted THAT ONE." There was just something that wasn't getting through.

So, hang in there, some day you'll find it.

[Kagama-the Literaturevixen]

Misty wrote: "So it was a different word entirely? I think Harpmary thought it was actually the name of the planet itself, it was a different word and, when translated, it meant Twany. I think that's what she sa..."

Thanks lol but I figured it out...the translation of the planets/worlds name is tawny in English. As you said;)

Also all the inhabitants have tawny eyes.

http://w1.loganberrybooks.com/stumpth...

[M]

Suzette wrote: "Misty, I remember reading the book. The heroine had just finished her chores. got the kids to bed. Hubby was watching the TV in the book. And she had gone running in the evening. The vortex looked ..."

YES! YES! YES! This is the book!!!! I really was beginning to think that I had dreamed this book up. Suzette thank you so much - It sounds like you don't recall the name of the book, though. Let me know if you do remember it - but in the meantime, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

[M]

Misty wrote: "Hey Harpmary!

This is, sadly, NOT your book BUT it is a book about a mother who gets sucked into another world via a portal AND it's by a female author so I thought you might like it. :)

It's Chr..."

Thanks, Misty. I'll give it a try. I just finished some books and was looking for something else to dig my teeth into...

[Suzette]

Harpmary wrote: "Suzette wrote: "Misty, I remember reading the book. The heroine had just finished her chores. got the kids to bed. Hubby was watching the TV in the book. And she had gone running in the evening. Th..."
I'm hoping I still have this book. But when I was renting out a room in my home here. The wife rearanged my garage space. I'm hoping that she did not give it to a friend of hers. Planning on checking my collection of books in it over the winter.

[Kagama-the Literaturevixen]

bump

[Kagama-the Literaturevixen]

I asked The Galaxy Express to do a post on the search for this book.

It will be up this weekend.

[M]

Misty wrote: "Hey Harpmary!

This is, sadly, NOT your book BUT it is a book about a mother who gets sucked into another world via a portal AND it's by a female author so I thought you might like it. :)

It's Chr..."

Thanks, Misty. I'll check it out. I noticed it had received the "Christy" Award - and instantly I knew what that was - an award named after the book by Catherine Marshall. I loved that book!

[Helena]

Hi there, this is so strange... i´ve been searching for this book for years! I didn´t think about using google, since it´s around 20 years since i read it and i was doubtful to get any response from a google search, but it lead me here! anyway... all i remember is that she was out jogging, late evening, the next thing she new she was on a different world, about 300 years after her family on earth had passed away.. she was not kidnapped, she happened to jog into a vortex somekind, that she was there for a chance...all i remember she had a husband and one child (that i remember) and that there was some kind of war/crisis on the new world... i remember she had some kind of training, but not much else, other than there was some kind of a tention/attraction between her (cannot remember her name) and some kind of a leader/ruler ... i vaguely remember horses... i´m not sure... i see that you remember more... i cannot remember spaceships or anything like that... i know what library i rented it from, next time i go there, i´m gonna ask about 20+ year old fantasy book, see if i can go and take a look in the basement, coz it must be there after all this time =) but it´s good that someone else is looking.. i really want to read it again =)
good luck with the search! i´ll let you know if i find it =)

[M]

Helena wrote: "Hi there, this is so strange... i´ve been searching for this book for years!..."

Hi Helena - Funny how there are several people that have read this book - remember it, but can't remember the title! There were horses of some kind - I remember that as well. And, you're right, she wasn't kidnapped on purpose, it was more of an accident. And, you're right - it is a book that I would read again. I really enjoyed it - enough it read it twice already. (Yet I still can't remember the name!)

We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed that someone will remember the name of this book!

Regards,
Mary

[Suzette]

Another bit of the book. Is that the heroine is shown a wasp like insect at the rich lady's complex she was living at on the planet of Tawny. That when it was cooked, tasted in a way like home cooked clam chowder.

[M]

Suzette wrote: "Another bit of the book. Is that the heroine is shown a wasp like insect at the rich lady's complex she was living at on the planet of Tawny. That when it was cooked, tasted in a way like home cook..."

I am impressed at how much you remember. I don't remember that part. I only remember a few key scenes: the dust devil/vortex, the running/escape episode in the paddock after she is transported, the scene in the sauna where her caesarean scar is touched, and a scene at the end of the book where she learns she can never go back to earth in the same time period.

[Abby]

hope someone finds it! Sounds interesting. Good luck.

[Dylan]

Khyren by Aline Boucher (Kaplan)

[M]

Dylan wrote: "Khyren by Aline Boucher (Kaplan)"
SOLVED!!!
YEAH!!!! this is it. So, I wasn't completely off remembering the name Karin - or Khyren in this case. Ourstanding. Dylan you are amazing. Thank you so very much!!!!