# Science Fiction set around the time of the end of the universe **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 29, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056 "2008-05-29T18:52:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/41 "2008-05-29T23:47:16Z")
There’s Michael Moorcock’s _Dancers at the End of Time_ series; more whimsical Moorcockian fantasy than hard sf, though. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/42 "2008-05-30T00:12:26Z")
[QUOTE=Saltire] Baxter’s “Manifold” series covered the far reaches of time at points, but like you, I can’t recall details. There’s Pohl’s Tau Zero, which is the story of a spaceship forced to keep accelerating until relativistic time dilation allows it to travel to the end of the universe within the lifetimes of the crew. [/QUOTE] That’s Poul, as in Poul Anderson, already mentioned. Yes, **Manifold: Time** does go through several universes. **Ring** doesn’t go quite to the end, but goes quite a bit into the future. In **Slaughterhouse Five** we learn that the Tralfmadorians cause the universe to end when some space pilot pushes the wrong button. The trouble is that even a billion years out is nowhere close to the end of the universe. If that far counts, we have **The City and the Stars** by Clarke, set a billion years from now, plus **Twilight** by Campbell, also set in the far future. But not as far as the end by any means. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/43 "2008-05-30T01:52:43Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] James Blish (of Star Trek novelization fame) wrote the _Cities in Flight_ series. The last book ends with the end of this universe (and the beginning of the next). [/QUOTE] While Blish is known for the ST books, he was much more famous in SF for the [Cities In Flight](http://www.amazon.com/Cities-Flight-James-Blish/dp/1585676020/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212111902&sr=8-1) books and [A Case of Conscience](http://www.amazon.com/Case-Conscience-Del-Rey-Impact/dp/0345438353/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212111902&sr=8-2), for which he won a Hugo. Both well worth reading, although the Cities books are the only ones that fit this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/44 "2008-05-30T01:57:06Z")
Jack Vance’s [Dying Earth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Vance#The_Dying_Earth) books are set on Earth as the sun is flickering and dying; whether you consider them SF is another thing, as they are essentially magical fantasy. Great reads though. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/45 "2008-05-30T02:29:34Z")
The Doctor Who story \*Utopia \*takes place in the dying days of the Universe. Book four in the original series of Neil Gaiman’s [The Books Of Magic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_books_of_magic#Four_issue_series) The young student magician Timothy Potter travels to the far future and sees the final death of the universe. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/46 "2008-05-30T02:52:59Z")
_Between the Strokes of Night_ by Charles Sheffield has humanity using a combination of cryogenics and a special ultra-slow metabolic rate and consciousness at ultra-cold temperatures to approach the Big Crunch. _Job: A Comedy of Justice_ by Robert A. Heinlein is an SF novel that postulates the Bible as literally true, and follows a protagonist through the Trump and the Shout and God ending His Creation. \*\*\* Ponder ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/47 "2008-05-30T03:35:04Z")
Job is actually a pastiche of [James Branch Cabell’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Branch_Cabell) works, especially _Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice_. Although it does fit into the thread here. ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/48 "2008-05-30T04:03:21Z")
[QUOTE=Askance] Jack Vance’s [Dying Earth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Vance#The_Dying_Earth) books are set on Earth as the sun is flickering and dying; whether you consider them SF is another thing, as they are essentially magical fantasy. Great reads though. [/QUOTE] What I like about SDMB: as soon as I get ready to add my 2 cents’ worth, someone else phrases it better than I ever could. I didn’t think man would still be around at the end of the universe, though insofar as I’m concerned the universe ends when I die. Solipsist much? Yeah, when it comes to topics like these. ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/49 "2008-05-30T04:33:08Z")
I last read this story over 40 years ago and don’t remember the title, but there was an issue of Edmond Hamilton’s [Captain Future](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Future) where he and his band of Future Men (the brain, the robot, and the android) travel to the end of the universe to save humanity from some evil mutants. In this tale, the universe is expected to start contracting after it has reached maximum expansion. And not to spoil the ending in case you plan to read it, Captain Future destroys the mutants by re-inventing the carbon arc light and mowing them all down with U-V radiation 😛 . Hey, when I was 9, I thought it was great! ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/50 "2008-05-30T04:54:15Z")
[QUOTE=Lightray] Also from comics, and now collected in a graphic novel IIRC, is Gaiman’s _Books of Magic_ series. At one point Tim Hunter goes all the way to the end of the universe. [/QUOTE] Curse you! _shakes fist_ (That was an awesomely eerie sequence. Why isn’t there more Tim Hunter out there? _sigh_) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/51 "2008-05-30T05:00:14Z")
**Lightray** , thanks! I’m gonna ask for that one at Star Clipper; it might be the one I heard about. Really vague, but I understood it was that Alan Moore, and it had all the immortal critters like The Watcher at universal heat death. ???I dunno ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/52 "2008-05-30T05:36:05Z")
If you mean the Books of Magic, it was Gaiman and didn’t include The Watcher, since it was set in the DC universe. It did have John Constantine, the Phantom Stranger, Mister E (who was the one that took Tim to the end of the Universe), and Dr. Occult, along with some guest appearances by various other DC magic types. Really good book. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/53 "2008-05-30T08:14:48Z")
This is a bit of a spoiler, but it can’t be avoided - just naming the book here is going to do that, so a spoiler box seems kind of superfluous, but I’ll give it a go: _Darwinia_ By Robert Charles Wilson:Everything in the novel actually takes place in a simulation at the Omega point and there’s a good term to google for one kind of end-of-universe stories: [Omega Point](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_point) ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/54 "2008-05-30T10:27:04Z")
[QUOTE=Justin\_Bailey] If the sun dies, wouldn’t the known universe end? It’s hair-splitting I know, but the premise of the movie is that all life would end. [/QUOTE] “The known universe” isn’t just places we have been, but everything we have seen. The death of our sun isn’t going to affect a quasar billions of lightyears away. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/55 "2008-05-30T16:10:50Z")
_Nightland_ by **William Hope Hodgson** is set towards the end of the Universe… _Cosm_ by **Gregory Benford** features the end of _a_ universe, iirc… ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/56 "2008-05-30T17:28:23Z")
Not well known (it was self published), but parts of [The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect](http://www.kuro5hin.org/prime-intellect/) arguably takes place at the end of the Universe. Warning, there are some pretty violent scenes in that book. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/57 "2008-05-30T18:31:27Z")
[QUOTE=Justin Credible] I read that just now. It was awesome. [/QUOTE] Yeah. It’s been a long time since I’ve read it and since re-reading the story I find it as brilliant as I remembered it. 🙂 “Asimov Rules” ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/58 "2008-06-01T22:58:50Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] The trouble is that even a billion years out is nowhere close to the end of the universe. If that far counts, we have **The City and the Stars** by Clarke, set a billion years from now, plus **Twilight** by Campbell, also set in the far future. But not as far as the end by any means. [/QUOTE] Campbell wrote another story, called “Night”, set untold billions, maybe trillions, of years in the future, with only a few stars dimly glowing at the end of the Universe. Probably not accurate even by 1935 cosmology, but very evocative. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056/59 "2008-06-04T01:17:15Z")
Going through my old books just now, I found _Dark is the Sun_ by Philip Jose Farmer. It’s set 15 billion years from now, and the universe is dying, if not dead. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-set-around-the-time-of-the-end-of-the-universe/451056.md?page=2)