Time Travel discussion
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11/22/63
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11/22/63 - Stephen King (TOPIC CLOSED. Reroute yourself to the book club discussion)
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Adam
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Sep 16, 2011 09:39AM
Has Stephen King ever written a time travel story? Either way, I'm looking forward to this one!
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I've been looking forward to this one for a while now. I've always been fascinated by the JFK assassination. (I have a weird thing for famous disasters and such.)
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Allison wrote: "I've been looking forward to this one for a while now. I've always been fascinated by the JFK assassination. (I have a weird thing for famous disasters and such.)"That was my first major story as a journalist. Covered the assassination from Hyannisport.
Allison wrote: "I've been looking forward to this one for a while now. I've always been fascinated by the JFK assassination. (I have a weird thing for famous disasters and such.)"Have you read James Kelly's wonderful short story "10^16 to 1" which first appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 1999 but has been reprinted elsewhere since then? It's not about the JFK assassination as much as its about the Cuban Missile Crisis but wonderful story telling and time travel all the same. “1016 to 1″ was the winner of the 2000 Hugo Award for Best Novelette. It was also nominated for the 2000 Locus Poll and 2000 Asimov’s Reader Poll.
I keep meaning to review it for my website but haven't yet.
Andy, no, I hadn't heard of that one. I'll have to look for it sometime. :)
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Adam wrote: "Has Stephen King ever written a time travel story? Either way, I'm looking forward to this one!"Does The Langoliers count?
I started reading this book around two AM this morning, and I'm about half finished. It's phenomenal!!! I love Stephen king, I am fascinated by the concept of time travel, and I've always thought the JFK assassination was an event that changed the world, in ways we can't even imagine. So I was intrigued with the concept for the novel, and I am happy to report it delivers everything I hoped it would, and more. This just may be the best thing King has written since the 1980's!
Rachel wrote: "I started reading this book around two AM this morning, and I'm about half finished. It's phenomenal!!! I love Stephen king, I am fascinated by the concept of time travel, and I've always thought..."Rachel wrote: "I started reading this book around two AM this morning, and I'm about half finished. It's phenomenal!!! I love Stephen king, I am fascinated by the concept of time travel, and I've always thought..."
I assume you mean fiction. His "On Writing" was superb.
My own Time Travel adventure will be out in a few weeks. It's called: The Rebellion and is the first in a planned ESCape Into History series. It will be available in EBook format and trade paperback format.
"Fiction" is what I meant, and I'm glad you clarified it, because "On Writing" was in a class by itself.
Yes it was, warts and all. Nice to see someone who's candid about his mishaps as well as his achievements. Earlier, someone commented about the book being the best thing he's written since the '80s. That really makes me want to read it. I loved his writing pre-Dark Tower.
I started it last night and am enjoying it so far. I'm sharing it with my mother, though, so it'll probably take me longer than usual to read. She has custody during the day, and I get it at night. :)
Gee, never heard of joint custody regard a book. :-)
I've got about 200 pages of the book left. I hope to be done by tomorrow. I'm loving it.
I finished it last week. I read it on my own because it just came out. Good to find a discussion on it. Here's my review:http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
i just completed the book. it's a great read. without spoiling anything, i find his rules (more the affect) of time travel very interesting! it was a great semi-typical king story though - moments of complete horror and a great trip thru history!
For such a big book, it's very simple to me. It's simple in concept and plotting, but big on the humanity factor.
I just checked it out online through the Library. I think I will get it in a few weeks, can't wait to read it!
I just got this for Christmas and am reading it now. Almost half way through. I have to echo Aloha's comments. I always find King's plotting kind of "heavy handed" as in its always banging away at the problem head on, but I have to admit I do like the way that things tend to take a turn for the more sinister in subtle way.
I can't wait to read it. Love Stephen King. It's so big I think it will be my first ebook.
Did I say he was heavy handed? I must go back to read my reviews. My memory is as long as the length of time when I'm reading the book. LOL!
Aloha wrote: "Did I say he was heavy handed? I must go back to read my reviews. My memory is as long as the length of time when I'm reading the book. LOL!"No you just said "It's simple in concept and plotting, but big on the humanity factor." I implied heavy handed meaning it just keeps banging away at the plot without being too subtle.
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http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/02/22"
Very funny. Thanks for sharing that Jamie.
Just finished this book - I think Stephen King did a very good job. Especially with his "the past is obdurate" acting almost as a resistant character in its own right. And he handled well the difficulty of being forced to live (and suffer) in "real time" while living in the past. He's smart enough to just dismiss the "science" of how it works and let it be about the characters, past and present [future?]
I read this about a month ago. I have to say it was an extremely well-written story, and one of those books I could barely put down.
I agree with what Rex says and found the 'past is obdurate' angle very attractive.
As a person who writes in a creative fiction site (Star Trek universe) with about 100 other members, I always find time travel or alternate universe plots to be the most fun, and plan to consider some of the thoughts on the impact of time travel posed in this book in my future work there.
I agree with what Rex says and found the 'past is obdurate' angle very attractive.
As a person who writes in a creative fiction site (Star Trek universe) with about 100 other members, I always find time travel or alternate universe plots to be the most fun, and plan to consider some of the thoughts on the impact of time travel posed in this book in my future work there.
I'm afraid I'm less enamored of 11/22/63 than many of King's earlier works. It continued on by about twice the length needed to tell the story, but more importantly, it failed to explain the pivotal element of the story: how and why the portal worked. Without a plausible explanation of that vital point the book becomes a fantasy that stretches credulity rather than even a remotely viable method. Washington Irving and numerous other authors have implemented sleep as a time travel technique, after failing to come up with a semi-realistic alternative technique. Earlier Time Travel techniques forced the reader to provide a plausible mechanical or advanced scientific method to move the protagonists forward and backward through the book without any scientific explanation whatsoever. On arrival of H.G. Wells Time Machine, Bartlby.com notes that H. G. Wells is
A dreamer obsessed with traveling through time who builds himself a time machine and, much to his surprise, travels over 800,000 years into the future. The world has been transformed with a society living in apparent harmony and bliss, but as the Traveler stays in this world of the future he discovers a hidden barbaric and depraved subterranean class. Wells’s translucent commentary on the capitalist society was an instant bestseller and launched the time-travel genre. Since then, numerous devices have been used. These include machines that teleport people through space and time by disassembling their molecules and restroring them at a diffent point of space and time such as in the StarTrek series. Worm holes have been used in several series of screenplays to connote a method of travel back and forth. In my series ESCape Into History: The Rebellion, two special operatives working private industry have their time travel facilitated by keying a series of codes into a handheld computer that has, through an electical storm at the manufacturing plant altered the computers so they function as contollers to open a miniature vortex that swirls those in the immediate area to a time preselected on the computer. Such advances have served to transport the technical level of teleportation beyond the simplistic device of just stepping through a rift in time that magically appears at the most convenient moments. King's use of stepping through a doorway without any tie in to any potentially plausible method of time travel, such as worm holes, Einstein's first theory of relativity or some the theoretical work by Kip Thorne results in a throwback to the credulity stretching elements Stephen King uses in 11/22/63. Overall, as Time Travel in demonstrates a mid-fifties television level of sophistication rather than the more technological techniques that currently seem more believable.
Perry wrote: "I agree with what Rex says and found the 'past is obdurate' angle..."This same kind of thing happens in To Say Nothing of the Dog and (to an extent) in Replay.
It's a good way to avoid the paradoxes inherent in time travel, but the challenge is always on the author to explain "why" the past cannot be changed.
One of my favorite explanations actually comes from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (not a time travel book, but it deals with free will). When the two "main" characters are on a boat, they debate destiny vs. free will. One explanation given is that both exist to varying degrees, and then they use the boat as a metaphor. On the boat, they have free will in minor movements (to move about wherever they want - on the deck, down below, etc.), but the boat itself is still moving them in the major movement from port A to port B. They are the captains of their own bodies and have free will over where they go on the boat, but God/time/the universe/whatever is the captain of the boat, so they will still, ultimately, end up where He wants them to go.
I think this works nicely as an explanation for the "past is obdurate" angle: God (or the author) know what we will do at any moment - including leaping around through time - and controls the major events while giving us free rein over the minor details (because that's all we can really handle - we're not allowed to grab the wheel!).
I started this book on the weekend. I am on about page 100. I have read very few Stephen King books, but am thouroughy enjoying it so far. I like how the characters themselves are asking the same questions of each other that the reader has. I don't even mind that more often than no, they can't answer them. Glad it is a long book, I don't want it to end!
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I was wondering the same thing Amy. Anyone?
Heather wrote: "I started this book on the weekend. I am on about page 100. I have read very few Stephen King books, but am thouroughy enjoying it so far. I like how the characters themselves are asking the same q..."Heather-
I feel the same way--I haven't read much Stephen King before, but am really enjoying this one. I'm on around page 300 or so--I've just been on a long road trip and was reading aloud to my friend who was driving; she was enjoying the story as well. I'm intrigued as to how things will turn out!
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*By the way, I'm closing this topic thread for discussion at this time.
THE OFFICIAL BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION IS HERE:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/9...
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Time Travel
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