# Ordinary mortal stumbles into magical world
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 10, 2014, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786 "2014-07-10T19:55:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/1 "2014-07-10T19:55:28Z")
I’d like some more books like Neverwhere by Gaiman, please.
Ones where a ordinary mortal walks thru some sort of gate into a Fantasy world.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/2 "2014-07-10T20:00:12Z")
Depending on how loosely you interpret “stumble” or “gate,” this is an old and common trope in fantasy literature, going back to Alice, Oz, and Narnia, among others.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/3 "2014-07-10T20:00:39Z")
The Sleeping Dragon, first novel in a series (Guardians of the Flame), by Joel Rosenberg.
> **[Amazon.com: Sleeping Dragon, The (Guardians of the Flame): 9781522602026: Joel...](https://www.amazon.com/Sleeping-Dragon-Guardians-Flame/dp/152260202X)**
>
> Amazon.com: Sleeping Dragon, The (Guardians of the Flame): 9781522602026: Joel Rosenberg, Keith Silverstein: Books
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/4 "2014-07-10T20:01:59Z")
[Eccentric Circles](http://www.amazon.com/Eccentric-Circles-Rebecca-Lickiss/dp/0441008283)? It’s not as whiz-bang as Neil Gaiman. It’s the sort of book where characters make cups of tea and mull over problems.
The main character inherits her grandmother’s cottage which unbeknownst to her abuts the faerie world and she must solve her grandmother’s murder before evil overwhelms both worlds.
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/5 "2014-07-10T20:05:22Z")
You can’t (and won’t) go wrong with Brian Daley’s _Coramonde_ books: a squad of American army infantry in the Vietnam War, plus their APV, is somehow transported to a world of dragons and wizards and castles and demons and such.
Also recommend Pullman’s _His Dark Materials_ trilogy, most famous for the (woefully inadequate) film of the first book, _The Golden Compass_.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/6 "2014-07-10T20:11:00Z")
Read all of those but Eccentric Circles, and just ordered it.
Keep 'em coming.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/7 "2014-07-10T20:18:37Z")
Not quite a fantasy world but _Conquistador_ by S.M. Stirling has a 1946 WWII veteran finding a gate into an alternate universe where society got stuck in the ancient age. He recruits some of his fellow veterans and they decide to start their own empire.
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/8 "2014-07-10T20:23:48Z")
[Bifrost Guardians trilogy](http://www.amazon.com/Godslayer-Climber-Dragonrank-Bifrost-Guardians/dp/0886779197) by Mickey Zucker Reichert.
I don’t remember if it was any good (though I guess it was good enough for me to read all three) or how my tastes now would have compared to back then. Fits the OP though.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/9 "2014-07-10T20:27:31Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#):
>
> Also recommend Pullman’s _His Dark Materials_ trilogy, **most famous** for the (woefully inadequate) film of the first book, _The Golden Compass_.
(bolding mine)
That is a … misstatement. HDM was quite famous before being filmed, and the film’s resounding and deserved flop did not make it more famous; it probably hurt. I certainly left the theatre screaming “Don’t go in, anybody else! Save yourselves!”
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/10 "2014-07-10T20:34:18Z")
There’s Stephen R. Donaldson’s _The Mirror of Her Dreams_ and _A Man Rides Through It_. It’s about an ordinary - albeit very messed up - New York girl who gets sucked into a moderately magical realm via magic mirror. Lots of action, intrigue, angst and sex ensure, with an unusual mirror-based magic system. The books can be a bit of a slog at times, but they end very well - say what you want about Donaldson, but he always nails his landings.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/11 "2014-07-10T20:38:06Z")
Jack Chalker’s [Dancing Gods](http://www.bestsfbooks.com/series/69/Dancing-Gods) starts with its protagonists going into a portal to a fantasy world.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/12 "2014-07-10T21:10:12Z")
Not sure if Brown’s _What Mad Universe_ counts here, but it’s (IMHO) a must-read for sf fans.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/13 "2014-07-10T21:54:36Z")
TVTropes pages:
[Another Dimension](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnotherDimension)
[Cool Gate](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CoolGate)
[Dark World](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarkWorld)
[Portal Door](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PortalDoor)
[Magical Land](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagicalLand?from=Main.MagicLand)
[Trapped In Another World](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TrappedInAnotherWorld)
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/14 "2014-07-10T22:25:01Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> (bolding mine)
> That is a … misstatement. HDM was quite famous before being filmed, and the film’s resounding and deserved flop did not make it more famous; it probably hurt. I certainly left the theatre screaming “Don’t go in, anybody else! Save yourselves!”
Unfortunately it’s probably true that any book is more famous for its movie adaptation if such exists. This is why Alan Moore gets pissed off. _The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_ was a very popular comic book series and a box office failure movie - but still more people saw the movie then read the comic book.
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### Author:  [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/15 "2014-07-10T22:27:09Z")
Faeirie Tale, Feist?
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### Author:  [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/16 "2014-07-10T22:28:44Z")
The Chronicles of Narnia
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/17 "2014-07-10T22:31:02Z")
Tolkien had one of these: _Farmer Giles of Ham_. Shakespeare did, too, in _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_.
Do you require that the ordinary mortal remain an ordinary mortal once he’s in the fantasy land? Because there are quite a few stories where the protagonist, despite being nonmagical in our world, discovers a knack for magic in the magical world.
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### Author:  [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/18 "2014-07-10T22:36:56Z")
There’s the [Nekropolis stories](http://www.amazon.com/Nekropolis-Archives-Tim-Waggoner-ebook/dp/B005FG0Z4A/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-9&qid=1405031258), Matt Richter as the only self-willed zombie P.I. Let’s say the first part of his foray into the magical world didn’t go well.
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### Author:  [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/19 "2014-07-10T22:37:21Z")
Stephen R Donaldson loves this trope. You’ll find it in the [The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Covenant,_the_Unbeliever) (First, Second and Last, 10 books total) and in [Mordant’s Need](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordant%27s_Need) (2 book).
In fact, you may particularly like the Mordant’s Need books because magic in that world is primarily based on building mirrors that see through to alternate worlds. So if you build a mirror to a lava world, you can pour lava on your enemies. If you build one to sci-fi land, you summon a guy with power armor and laser rifles.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2014, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/20 "2014-07-10T22:47:42Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> Unfortunately it’s probably true that any book is more famous for its movie adaptation if such exists. This is why Alan Moore gets pissed off. _The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_ was a very popular comic book series and a box office failure movie - but still more people saw the movie then read the comic book.
I am not sure if he really is pissed or that’s just a act. He read the contract, he signed the contract, he cashed the check.
And yes, he turned over some small later checks to other artists, but remember, this happened with From Hell, then League , then V, etc…
From wiki "In 2012, Moore claimed that he had sold the rights to these two works simply for the money; he did not expect the films ever to be made. He was simply “getting money for old rope”. To date, Moore has seen neither film…The New York Times article also interviewed David Lloyd about Moore’s reaction to the film’s production, stating, “Mr. Lloyd, the illustrator of V for Vendetta, also found it difficult to sympathise with Mr. Moore’s protests. When he and Mr. Moore sold their film rights to the comic book, Mr. Lloyd said: “We didn’t do it innocently. Neither myself nor Alan thought we were signing it over to a board of trustees who would look after it like it was the Dead Sea Scrolls.”[39]”
But he’s a very strange bird, so who know?
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