# Please recommend some worthwhile time travel fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 6, 2008, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-worthwhile-time-travel-fiction/462336 "2008-09-06T13:42:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-worthwhile-time-travel-fiction/462336/41 "2008-09-08T15:40:28Z")
Seconding the recommendations of Heinlein (especially _The Door Into Summer_) and Gerrold’s _The Man Who Folded Himself_ – which was written specifically to contrdict Heinlein’s deterministic theory of time. Also intriguing, though dated: H. Beam Piper’s “Paratime” stories, including _Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen_. * * * Not everybody’s cup of tea, but something that was strongly recommended to me by a gay friend, a fellow SF fan who knew I had no issues with gay people and gay-oriented fiction, and which I found fascinating reading. Do you want to try a bit of online fiction that – well, know what a “Mary Sue” is? The author’s idealization of herself, or himself, injected as a character. This is one of them, but just as some genre fiction works transcend the limitations of their genre, this one rises above the horrendousness of the typical Mary Sue story by the author’s ruthless self-honesty in the sequelae. The story is Dan Kirk’s [_Do Over_](http://dkstories.gayauthors.org/do-over/index.php) series. The set-up: Down-on-his-luck 35-year-old gay ex-Navy veteran jumps at the chance to make $10,000 by participating in a scientific experiment – which turns out to be, they’ll inject him with some (unspecified) chemicals and scan his brain with a MRI machine – and then transmit his consciousness back in time where he can observe his own past for 20 minutes. Only he discovers he’s stuck there, 35-year-old man with memories up through 2004, in his 12-year-old body in 1981. And far from being an observer, he can act – and discovers he can make some changes Book One, “Do Over”, is the “Mary Sue” story – but is quite well done. Book Two, “Do Over Redux,” posits he needs to repeat the process – and things go disastrously wrong. Well, if at first you don’t succeed… And “Do Over Redux” ends with what I think is the most inevitable, satisfying conclusion I’ve ever read. Book Three, “Doing It Right”, is fluff by comparison, but fun. And it makes the important point that even in an idealized world, there are sometimes tough – and costly – moral choices to make. And Book Four, “Let’s Do It,” examines the same general plotline-comple from a different perspective. Like I said, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea – but I found it a refreshing variation on the concept of time travel and alternate universes. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-worthwhile-time-travel-fiction/462336/42 "2008-09-08T15:51:26Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Thanks for the plug, it was an enjoyable read. Thank you for your kind review. ---
**Author:** ![rhythmonly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@rhythmonly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhythmonly)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-worthwhile-time-travel-fiction/462336/43 "2008-09-08T21:43:42Z")
“A Gun for Dinosaur” by L.Sprague DeCamp. ---
**Author:** ![Daerlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Daerlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daerlyn)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-worthwhile-time-travel-fiction/462336/44 "2008-09-08T21:51:27Z")
> [@Meurglys](#): > > It’s **Alastair Reynolds** who wrote it, not Huxley… Good book. Crap. I got Huxley in my head when I was talking about _Brave New World_ with someone. I stand corrected. ---
**Author:** ![Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frustrated_Wonderer)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-worthwhile-time-travel-fiction/462336/45 "2008-09-08T22:06:57Z")
I’m suprised Michael Crichton’s _Timeline_ hasn’t been mentioned. It’s quite an entertaining book. I think its one of Crichton’s best, though many people dislike as well. I think it’s worth a try. Oh, and do skip the movie it’s complete utter crap. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-worthwhile-time-travel-fiction/462336/46 "2008-09-08T22:23:51Z")
> [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](#): > > It is a bit of a different spin on time manipulation, and has some racy parts, but I thoroughly enjoyed [_The Fermata_](http://www.amazon.com/Fermata-Nicholson-Baker/dp/0679759336) by Nicholson Baker. You beat me to it. Not time travel _per se_, but definitely worth reading. Another not-quite-time-travel is Clarke’s _The Light of Other Days_. It’s worth reading even if it is probably just his nameplate on Baxter’s book. ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-worthwhile-time-travel-fiction/462336/47 "2008-09-09T00:03:35Z")
Wasn’t there another, recent time travel thread? Anyway I want to second or third or whatever all the Connie Willis stuff, as well as the Time Traveler’s Wife, Replay, The Little Book, and Time and Again. I also enjoy the Diana Gabaldon Outlander books, but sometimes, for me, the lovey-dovey stuff gets in the way of the story. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-worthwhile-time-travel-fiction/462336/48 "2008-09-09T01:24:13Z")
I’m surprised I get to be the first one to mention Terry Pratchett’s _Night Watch_. It’s a late entry in the Discworld series and I don’t know that someone who hasn’t read at least some of the others will be able to fully appreciate it, but I remember seeing at least one SDMB poster say that _Night Watch_ was the first Discworld book he ever read and that he loved it. _Night Watch_ is one of the darker entries in the Discworld series, and has few fantastic elements other than the time travel. The way time travel was handled in the book was very clever and different from most other time travel fiction I’ve read, although I’d say there are some similarities to _The Anubis Gates_. Basic plot: Hardboiled police commander Sam Vimes, who is transported back in time 30 years while in pursuit of a notorious criminal. Matters are further complicated by the fact that (as Vimes well remembers) a bloody rebellion against the city’s leader is about to break out. Vimes the time traveler soon finds himself serving as mentor to a novice watchman named Sam…himself as a teenager. Vimes must try to teach his younger self everything he knows while keeping history on track through the revolution and hunting down the escaped killer. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-worthwhile-time-travel-fiction/462336/49 "2008-09-09T01:26:10Z")
> [@Caprese](#): > > Wasn’t there another, recent time travel thread? Yes, it was posted three weeks from now. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-worthwhile-time-travel-fiction/462336/50 "2008-09-09T01:26:28Z")
> [@](#): > > “A Gun for Dinosaur” by L.Sprague DeCamp. The first entry in post #35, along with its much-later sequels. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-worthwhile-time-travel-fiction/462336/51 "2008-09-09T01:27:22Z")
> [@paul in saudi](#): > > yes, it was posted three weeks from now. Let it be known that this post should earn Paul many accolades, and splendiferous titles when **Fabulous Creature** ’s new regime comes to pass. It seems that some wombat has snuck in and edited the code on the smilies. I can’t make the big grin. ---
**Author:** ![rhythmonly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@rhythmonly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhythmonly)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-worthwhile-time-travel-fiction/462336/52 "2008-09-09T15:02:33Z")
Andre Norton wrote a few books about time travel: The Defiant Agents Here Abide Monsters Key Out Of Time The Crossroads Of Time Quest Crosstime Some short stories that come to mind: Tolliver’s Travels, by Frank Fenton and Joseph Petracca. Flight to Forever, by Poul Anderson. A Little Something for Us Tempunauts, by Phillip K. Dick. (he also wrote a book called Martian Time Slip) The Man who Evolved, by Edmond Hamilton. The Jameson Satellite, by Neil R. Jones. We Remember Babylon, by Ian Watson. The Picture Man, by John Damas. Doing Lennon, by Gregory Benford. The World of the Red Sun, by Clifford D. Simak. Jeffty is 5, by Harlan Ellison. Sailing To Byzantium, by Robert Silverberg. Some of these may be hard to find; it appears that I have been in a time warp when it comes to reading current fiction. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-worthwhile-time-travel-fiction/462336/53 "2008-09-09T16:41:25Z")
I’m probably in the minority here - and its been a long time since I read it - but I really enjoyed **Roger Zelazny’s Roadmarks**. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-worthwhile-time-travel-fiction/462336/54 "2008-09-11T06:17:24Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > The story is Dan Kirk’s [_Do Over_](http://dkstories.gayauthors.org/do-over/index.php) series. I just want to thank you for recommending this. I just read the first book and loved it, although my eyes glossed over during some of the detailed descriptions of military things. I couldn’t stop reading, and found it somewhat inspirational as well. I’m a few chapters into the second book now and can’t wait to see how it all turns out. ---
**Author:** ![DarRRva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/53a042/32.png) [@DarRRva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarRRva)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-worthwhile-time-travel-fiction/462336/55 "2008-09-11T08:54:42Z")
If you know this book is about time travel it’s kind of a minor spoiler. But it’s still pretty damn good. Rant, by Chuck Palahniuk But I thought it had one of the coolerst time travel theroies I had read in a long time. Maybe it’s not original, I don’t read a lot of Time-Travel fiction, so I don’t know. But I really enjoyed it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-worthwhile-time-travel-fiction/462336.md?page=2)