The Sword and Laser discussion
Best use of Time Travel in a novel?
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The Accidental Time Machine used it to pretty good effect. It might be an old, and tired recommendation by now but The Time Traveler's Wife is just a good love story that also happens to have time travel in it.
It's been awhile since I read it, but the writer of the Back to the Future films said Up the Line was a huge inspiration when he wrote the trilogy.
Those are the ones that come to mind, at the moment.
I use reincarnation as a means of time travel in my book
The ones that spring to mind for me are To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (a good humorous story) , Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card, and Flashforward by Robert Sawyer (not really time travel but vision of the future).
Wellllllll....not so much novels as shorts.* "All You Zombies" by Heinlein
* Several of the Callahan's Bar shorts by Spider Robinson, but they're all great so just buy the omnibus and enjoy.
* Time Patrol by Poul Anderson, collection of shorts
And as for novels, nothing beats The End Of Eternity - Asimov.
I was pleasantly surprised by The Time Traveler's Wife. It got into the practical difficulties and implications of time travel, and a bit about societal implications. And Terry Pratchett took a whack at it, in Night Watch
I went on a time travel binge a couple years ago, and the best book to come out of that was Ken Grimwood's Replay.
I also liked Accidental Time Machine, as well as Mammoth by John Varley.I also recall enjoying James P. Hogan's Thrice Upon a Time which is about cross-time communication rather than travel, but I read it 34 years ago.
The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson - Mysterious monuments start materializing around the world, announcing the victory of a warlord named Kuin thirty years in the future. As more monuments appear, Kuin's eventual conquest of the world seems more and more inevitable, causing society to react in increasingly chaotic ways.Steins;Gate - This is technically a video game, but the gameplay consists entirely of reading text, and every once in a while you're presented with a choice for the main character to make, so it's really an epic choose-your-own-adventure novel.
It's about a college student and self-proclaimed mad scientist who invents a cell phone that can transmit text messages backwards in time. But he discovers there's an evil organization that's also invented time travel, and they're using it to take over the world.
Connie Willis is my favorite, all of her Oxford stories, but I think the time travel itself is maybe a bit weak in those. I do like that it is used for historical research purposes.Another series I really like is Mark Hodder's steampunk series, but again the time travel isn't developed very much.
Kage Baker's Iden series is interesting.
And then there's Michael Crichton and Timeline. Pretty awful movie but the book isn't too bad.
Sean wrote: "Steins;Gate - This is technically a video game, but the gameplay consists entirely of reading text, and every once in a while you're presented with a choice for the main character to make, so it's really an epic choose-your-own-adventure novel.It's about a college student and self-proclaimed mad scientist who invents a cell phone that can transmit text messages backwards in time. But he discovers there's an evil organization that's also invented time travel, and they're using it to take over the world."
I can't praise Steins;Gate high enough.
While it is a video game (and now an anime), Steins;Gate is excellent.My #1 pick is Gene Wolfe (I know, I know, yes I am a rabid fan) "Book of the New Sun". This is technically 4-5 books long. Without spoiling much: From the very first sentence, time travel elements from the very end of the last book are affecting the plot and dialogue. One of the things I think Gene got right is the zen portrayal of time travel. It's altogether much more fantasy than SF. Ethereal, other worldly, full of danger and beauty. He also pays careful attention to how the use of time as a device can affect not only the characters' actions, but also the world and universe around them, with and without their input.
And if we're allowing movies: Primer.
Time Travelers Never Die is a personal favorite of mine. I was impressed by the thought that was given to time travel and how well it worked. I also want to give a shout out to The Accidental Time Machine, really a great ride.
Coincidently, Synchronic: 13 Tales of Time Travel is a Kindle deal today.Other good ones I remembered were The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold, Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock, and Time's Eye by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter.
Some excellent picks. I can only add, Robert Charles Wilson's Spin. Though it's more of a "faerie glade" story: Something envelops the Earth in a field called the Spin. Time "feels" normal on Earth, but beyond about 100 km above the Earth's surface, a million years are passing for every minute that passes on Earth. This allows for some interesting temporal mechanics, e.g. (view spoiler).
Dharmakirti wrote: "Heinlein's Time Enough for Love might be of interest."Jeez, that's my favourite book and I completely forgot to mention it.
So, there is another book that I've read that had a interesting time travel component to it. But to know about the time travel before reading the book would be a bit of a spoiler, so peek behind the spoiler tag at your own risk. :) (view spoiler)
The Proteus Operation by James P. Hoganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prot...
The closest thing to a hard SF time travel story that I know of. Alternate history about World War II involving Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill and Isaac Asimov. LOL
Michele wrote: "Connie Willis is my favorite, all of her Oxford stories, but I think the time travel itself is maybe a bit weak in those. I do like that it is used for historical research purposes.Another series..."
I also enjoyed Timeline quite a bit! The book was much better than the movie.
If Dharmakirti brings up Time Enough For Love, I have to add The Door Into Summer because I think it's Heinlein's best time travel book. Am I the only one here who still remembers Fritz Lieber's Changewar? Or am I the only one who liked it?
I don't think that Marooned in Realtime is really the kind of time travel that this thread is about but it's a really good book and raises some time travel adjacent questions.
As for time travel movies, I think Looper deserved the praise it got.
I thought Looper was total trash mostly because the main character didn't have 2 brain cells to rub together.
You don't see it often in epic fantasy, but time travel in both directions was a key part of the plot of the DragonLance: Legends Trilogy.
Eric Flint's 1632 book series is an interesting take on time travel with an entire town being trapped in the past.
Aaron wrote: "I thought Looper was total trash mostly because the main character didn't have 2 brain cells to rub together."That's what I think is so great about Looper. Joe is smarter than the average thug, but he's still just a thug when you get right down to it. It's basically sci-fi film noir. (view spoiler)
Alan wrote: "I don't think that Marooned in Realtime is really the kind of time travel that this thread is about but it's a really good book and raises some time travel adjacent questions."I agree on both counts. There's sort of a whole subgenre of Rip Van Winkle-style "skipping forward in time" stories using various methods. Buck Rogers is probably the most famous of those type, whereas H.G. Wells' The Time Machine and variations thereof have a protagonist who is sort of more in control, like riding a rocket, rather than checking out of the time stream.
Some of Niven's Known Space stories like The World Of Ptavvs use the same method as Vinge's "Across Realtime" stories, while his A World Out of Time accomplishes it by time dilation related to traveling close to the speed of light, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Charles Sheffield utilizes cryogenic sleep to do it, and... I had another but now I've forgotten it.
Jason wrote: "I still love Mr. Wells"Thank you! I was gonna say it but it sounded so obvious.
Ben wrote: "I went on a time travel binge a couple years ago, and the best book to come out of that was Ken Grimwood's Replay."Oh I just picked up an old copy of this a year ago and it was a great Time Travel book!!
The only problem with The Man who Folded Himself is that it pretty much ruins all other time travel books. Great, fun read.
Martin wrote: "The only problem with The Man who Folded Himself is that it pretty much ruins all other time travel books. Great, fun read."Just added it to my tbr list. Thanks for the recommendation!
I'm surprised no one has mentioned 11-22-63 by Stephen King. That's easily one of the best time travel novels I've ever read. I did also enjoy Ken Grimwood's Replay.
Ally wrote: "Jason wrote: "I still love Mr. Wells"Thank you! I was gonna say it but it sounded so obvious."
I rarely find a modern-day book or movie concerning time travel that doesn't have at least one time travel error (wrong object in a time period, faulty logic, impossible time maneuvering (if that's a thing), etc.)
So if I am going to suspend disbelief with time travel, i'll go visit the Morlochs.
My favorite time traveler book is
.I had to go back in time to find it.
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Time and Again (other topics)The Time Patrol (other topics)
Replay (other topics)
Tomorrow and Tomorrow (other topics)
The Time Machine (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Poul Anderson (other topics)Ken Grimwood (other topics)
Tim Powers (other topics)
Ken Grimwood (other topics)
Could anyone recommend books that implement it particularly well?
Thanks!