# Help me identify a SF story from my youth **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 9, 2001, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383 "2001-10-09T19:04:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/21 "2001-10-10T07:49:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anal Scurvy \* > \*\*And for some reason, I think it might be Judy Blume who wrote the story. If it’s not her, I’m certain it’s someone else who writes children’s books instead of scifi. > > Gotta go, girl thinks I can’t prioritize. \*\* Heck you’re posting here, that’s priority enough for anybody. 🙂 I’ll take a closer look at the kids authors angle. Just you watch though. I’ll spend all day looking for the answer, just to have somebody waltz in and remember the book title off of the top of their heads. Mark my words… ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/22 "2001-10-10T12:04:37Z")
Sorry, Kos, I don’t know the name of the story/book you’re looking for (it’s definitely not “Wrinkle in Time” I can tell you that ;)), but there’s a book from my youth that I’ve been trying to identify on and off for the past several years. I remember reading this book in elementary school, but I don’t know what the name was, or who the author was or anything. The most I do remember is that it involved a brother & sister (I think! _LOL_) who somehow were shrunk to ant-size and were taken in by a colony of ants. And that’s all I can remember! Does this ring a bell with anyone here, please? _LOL_ I tried a search on Amazon, btw; it was … not fruitful. 😉 TIA! ~~tarragon~~ ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/23 "2001-10-10T13:58:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Corvus \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by watsonwil \* > > \*\*While we are helping, can anyone help me remember the title to a book that came out about 2 years ago. It involved Time Travel. The story was about a Space Ship Captain that destroyed a Wormhole to prevent people from using it for profit (in that story, time travel wormholes were the answer to interstellar travel). \*\* > > Anything else that yoiu can remember about this book? I haven’t been able to dig anything up. Maybe another doper will be along with the answer. \*\* It involved terraforming. The Captain is forced to live on the side of the wormhole that is 75 years into his future. The Captain is a pariah because the wormhole he destroyed caused a civilization on the other side, which used the wormhole as a shipping line, to crumble. He is befriended by a scientist who is considered a legendary figure because he is the driving force of terraforming. However, the terraformed planets are due to come undone (unbeknownst to anyone except the Scientist). It left off with a cliffhanger and I don’t know if the sequel has come out yet. ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/24 "2001-10-10T15:37:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tarragon918 \* > \*\* > I remember reading this book in elementary school, but I don’t know what the name was, or who the author was or anything. The most I do remember is that it involved a brother & sister (I think! _LOL_) who somehow were shrunk to ant-size and were taken in by a colony of ants. And that’s all I can remember! Does this ring a bell with anyone here, please? _LOL_ I tried a search on Amazon, btw; it was … not fruitful. 😉 > > \*\* **City Under the Back Steps** by Evelyn Sibley Lampman. I have a copy. You’re welcome! ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/25 "2001-10-10T16:33:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by watsonwil \* > While we are helping, can anyone help me remember the title to a book that came out about 2 years ago. It involved Time Travel. The story was about a Space Ship Captain that destroyed a Wormhole to prevent people from using it for profit (in that story, time travel wormholes were the answer to interstellar travel). > > It involved terraforming. The Captain is forced to live on the side of the wormhole that is 75 years into his future. The Captain is a pariah because the wormhole he destroyed caused a civilization on the other side, which used the wormhole as a shipping line, to crumble. He is befriended by a scientist who is considered a legendary figure because he is the driving force of terraforming. However, the terraformed planets are due to come undone (unbeknownst to anyone except the Scientist). > > It left off with a cliffhanger and I don’t know if the sequel has come out yet. \*\* The book is **The Depths of Time** by Roger MacBride Allen. Roger hopes to write two sequels (he planned it as a trilogy), but, the last I’d heard, his publisher hadn’t bought those books from him. So he hasn’t written them. ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/26 "2001-10-10T16:43:03Z")
Helena: OMG, that’s it! I remember the name now! _LOL_ I think I read this in 5th grade; I don’t want to admit how many decades ago -that- was! Thank you so much! ~~tarragon~~ (trying to figure out how to quote, sorry!) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/27 "2001-10-10T17:27:50Z")
Back to the OP’s story, I’m almost certain that it’s not Asimov. I won’t presume to say that I’ve read _all_ of his SF, but I’ve read enough that I can no longer find any new Asimov SF in several major metropolitan libraries… And I’ve never read the story in question. By the way, since it was mentioned, I would definitely recommend against _The End of Eternity_. It’s Asimov trying to prove that he can write a good time travel story… and failing. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/28 "2001-10-10T18:42:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by G.B.H. Hornswoggler \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by watsonwil \* > > While we are helping, can anyone help me remember the title to a book that came out about 2 years ago. It involved Time Travel. The story was about a Space Ship Captain that destroyed a Wormhole to prevent people from using it for profit (in that story, time travel wormholes were the answer to interstellar travel). > > > > It involved terraforming. The Captain is forced to live on the side of the wormhole that is 75 years into his future. The Captain is a pariah because the wormhole he destroyed caused a civilization on the other side, which used the wormhole as a shipping line, to crumble. He is befriended by a scientist who is considered a legendary figure because he is the driving force of terraforming. However, the terraformed planets are due to come undone (unbeknownst to anyone except the Scientist). > > > > It left off with a cliffhanger and I don’t know if the sequel has come out yet. \*\* > > The book is **The Depths of Time** by Roger MacBride Allen. Roger hopes to write two sequels (he planned it as a trilogy), but, the last I’d heard, his publisher hadn’t bought those books from him. So he hasn’t written them. \*\* DEPTHS of Time! I knew it was something OF TIME. Everything I kept thinking of reminded me of Days of Our Lives. Thanks for the info. It’s a shame if the books never get published. It was a decent read. Not great, but good. (McBride wrote the Han Solo trilogy in Star Wars.) ---
**Author:** ![k.os](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@k.os](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k.os)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/29 "2001-10-10T22:01:42Z")
I think it might be _Mad Metropolis_ by Philip E. High, but I can’t seem to find even a synopsis for it. If anyone has read it (it’s published in _Double Illusion_ in 1966) I would appreciate any information on this book. Also, if anyone knows of a site/search engine besides google/metacrawler/amazon that yields good results on book searches, especially for summaries and such, I’d be thankful for the info. **Chronos** I liked a lot of the ideas in _The End of Eternity_ even though it had weaknesses. Aasimov has numerous failings as an author, but most of what I read had interesting ideas that made me think. I haven’t read a whole lot of SF, maybe you could tell me what your personal ‘must read’ authors are, I’m always open to suggestions when it comes to reading. I’ve read a lot of Robert Anton Wilson, Crowley, H.P. Lovecraft, Leary, Douglas Adams, and a couple by William S. Burroughs, Heinlein, Herbert, Clarke, Gibson, etc… TIA for any input. **Corvus** I checked out the links, and they didn’t ring any bells. Thanks again for everyone’s input. \*_**-) K.os**_ ---
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383/30 "2001-10-12T03:39:10Z")
Well, I’m still working on the synopsis bit, but here is the [original cover art](http://www.uncwil.edu/people/smithms/M-series/M-135.JPG). From what I can tell, the tag line reads: “In this cybernetic city, thinkers were outlaws!” Not sure if that helps at all… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-sf-story-from-my-youth/86383.md?page=1)