# Looking for examples of a particular type of time travel story **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 8, 2025, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879 "2025-08-08T22:07:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/1 "2025-08-08T22:07:16Z")
It occurred to me that most time travel stories are told from the point of view of the time traveler. Offhand, I’ve thought of only two counter-examples where the point of view characters are those people who have been living in the era the time traveler(s) have travelled to; _Guns of the South_ by Harry Turtledove and _Vintage Season_ by C.L. Moore (along with its sequel _In Another Country_ by Robert Silverberg). What are some other examples? I’m mostly interested in longer works, like novellas, novels, and series. And I’m looking for works in which the primary characters are non-time travelers. I’m sure there are many works with are primarily about the time travelers but have some secondary non-time traveler characters as well. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/2 "2025-08-08T22:17:24Z")
Not sure if this counts, but the episode “Try, Try” from the recent _Twilight Zone_ revival is about a woman who discovers the charming young man she’s just met has in fact met her multiple times already via a “Groundhog Day”-style time loop. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/3 "2025-08-08T23:09:34Z")
“Lost and Found” by Phyllis Eisenstein, where time travelers show up in a college student’s closet. It was made into a short film in the 1985 version of [The Twilight Zone](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7xq6uy)_._ George R.R. Martin adapted the script. “Dark Interlude” by Mack Reynolds and Fredric Brown sort of qualifies; it’s mostly about how a couple of men in the 50s south react to a time traveler. We do see the traveler’s point of view, but the story is focused on the two men. Pretty intense story. ---
**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:** [August 8, 2025, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/4 "2025-08-08T23:24:51Z")
The Traveler, by our own Stephen Wilk (@CalMeacham), is a fine example of this. The viewpoint character is an urchin in ancient Rome who ends up befriending the titular time traveler, and helping him to repair his machine so he can go home. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/5 "2025-08-08T23:31:25Z")
I’m embarrassed that I forgot that one. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/6 "2025-08-08T23:49:54Z")
Turtledove’s A Death in Vesunna is from the point of view of Romans in about 100 AD, dealing with a mysterious death. I’ll be back with more. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/7 "2025-08-08T23:53:06Z")
Spider Robinson’s “Time Pressure” is a novel about a hippie in the early 1970s who meets someone who turns out to be a time traveller (this is actually a specialty of Robinson - he’s got several stories about people from the present as main characters meeting time travellers) ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/8 "2025-08-09T00:00:40Z")
William Tenn’s _The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway_ is a first person account of someone who, with his titular friend, encounters a time traveller. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/9 "2025-08-09T00:09:20Z")
Robert Charles Wilson’s novel “Last Year” qualifies somewhat and is a great read. [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28220642-last-year](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28220642-last-year) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/10 "2025-08-09T00:42:18Z")
Michael Crichton’s _Sphere_ qualifies if you consider “Jerry” a time traveler. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/11 "2025-08-09T03:12:23Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > (this is actually a specialty of Robinson - he’s got several stories about people from the present as main characters meeting time travellers) I immediately thought of Spider Robinson’s many Time Traveller short stories. I’d bought the books just because the titles were intriguing: # [Callahann’s Crosstime Saloon](https://www.amazon.com/Callahans-Crosstime-Saloon-Place-Book-ebook/dp/B004IK94VY/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=AUTHOR&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.yEVyYar5aDf7stJQ0EaBpWDbHK_Fsx8P85YPRgRZtKdKlC3NoEt2MUDc2e-1bDH9zUU_EM6vdepz3xMhmHAe4Q38UvImA1VSMXHruT7kJX4hgUBT5n3Sp_dyY-JL5feWx9-66r8v2Xzm8lv1ynyR56_WzLEY_OEAZNFTmFxgdmqWb68Q-ZRT7n5MCLPHf899zyXx9cl3cutg_Soi6QHqajXjfpTMmWJfe-p4lp3XwzM.UJRwc0yG-11U7X3jqhTgI63nLshxqZ4DutkQGqPwiDQ) (which kicked off a whole series of books set at Callahan’s). The second book is: # [Time Travelers Strictly Cash](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/146842.Time_Travellers_Strictly_Cash) [![](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389424291i/146842.jpg) ](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389424291i/146842.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/12 "2025-08-09T03:22:53Z")
There is a book that I’m thinking of that is probably _The Masks of Time_ by Robert Silverberg. > **[The Masks of Time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Masks_of_Time)** > > The Masks of Time is a science fiction novel by American author Robert Silverberg, first published in 1968. It was a nominee for the Nebula Award in 1968. > It was published in the United Kingdom under the title Vornan-19. > Vornan-19 arrives on Christmas Day, 1998 in Rome. He floats down from the sky naked, landing on the Spanish Steps. The police try to arrest him, but he knocks them over with a touch. He is helped and given clothes by Horst Klein, who believes that the apocalypse will come in... ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/13 "2025-08-09T03:32:35Z")
The title is a dead giveaway. _The Time Traveler’s Wife_ qualifies. It’s written in alternating first person between the time traveler and…you guessed it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/14 "2025-08-09T03:38:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m sure there are many works with are primarily about the time travelers but have some secondary non-time traveler characters as well. Would it be fair to say that THE TERMINATOR is more about Sarah Connor dealing with time travelers than, uh, some time travelers dealing with Sarah Connor? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/15 "2025-08-09T03:43:35Z")
There are lots of TV shows and movies like that, but the OP seems to be looking for long-form written fiction. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/16 "2025-08-09T03:49:17Z")
Looper sort of counts ish, maybe? The _protagonist_ and hero/antihero (let’s not get into that discussion again 😉 ) is young Joe, who is definitely not a time traveller. The _antagonist_ who he’s attempting to track down and kill is a time traveller though. Where it gets tricky is they are the same person and he’s trying to track down and kill himself from the future ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/17 "2025-08-09T03:54:33Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > _Vintage Season_ by C.L. Moore Not an answer to your question, but _Vintage Season_ is by Henry Kuttner and his wife C L Moore, who frequently wrote in collaboration and often under a pseudonym, most commonly “Lewis Padgett”. _Vintage Season_ is one of the most beautiful time-travel stories – and indeed among the most beautiful sci-fi stories of any kind – ever written. Kuttner died tragically of a heart attack at the young age of 42. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/18 "2025-08-09T04:34:27Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Not an answer to your question, but _Vintage Season_ is by Henry Kuttner and his wife C L Moore, who frequently wrote in collaboration and often under a pseudonym, most commonly “Lewis Padgett”. In the case of _Vintage Season_ the pseudonym used was Lawrence O’Donnell. And while it’s true that Kuttner and Moore used it as a joint pseudonym, in the case of _Vintage Season_ it’s believed that Moore wrote the story. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/19 "2025-08-09T04:56:41Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > in the case of _Vintage Season_ it’s believed that Moore wrote the story. That may well be. Not to sound sexist, but Kuttner tended to be the one who contributed hard-edged science and cynicism to their stories, while Moore contributed the emotional element, which is why their collaborations worked so well. _Vintage Season_ is overwhelmingly emotional and about the psyche of the inhabitants of the distant future (how did time travel actually work? Who cares!), and I can well imagine that Moore had a major part in its creation. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879/20 "2025-08-09T06:51:57Z")
The movie _Time Bandits_ starts out like that. Kevin is an ordinary kid in 80s England until the time travelers almost literally fall into his lap. He thereafter gets _dragged along_ on their time-traveling adventures and becomes a time traveler himself. But at the end, the adventures conclude and Kevin goes back to not being a time traveler. And the movie more or less sticks with him as the point-of-view character. It doesn’t fit the model entirely but it’s sort of a cousin, I think. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-a-particular-type-of-time-travel-story/1021879.md?page=2)