Its a fantasy cliche I know but I haven’t read many fantasy books so I still find the concept interesting, basically when someone (or several people) from this world find themselves, (usually involuntarily) transported to another (usually fantasy) world and the shenanigans they get up to while there.
As mentioned above despite having not read much fantasy I really enjoyed ‘Grunts!’ by Mary Gentle, a significent plot-thread having a US Marine transported to the fantasy world of the story setting and his…not exactly…heroic reactions to this unexpected event.
I have ‘The Doomfarers of Caramonde’ by Brian Daley on my bookshelf waiting to be read, I picked it up in a second-hand bookstore for the premise, a platoon of US troops + APC transported to a fantasy-world in order to shoot down a dragon. Looks interesting.
Any other good, or not so good, examples of this particular genre, a small plot-synopsis would be nice as well.
Doesn’t necessarily have to be novels either, the computer game ‘Another World’ (I believe it may have had a different title in the US) had the basic premise of a particle-physicist transported to an alien world after an unfortunate accident with a particle-accelerator.
There was a cartoon I remember liking when I was a child, though god-knows the name of it, with a man from this world somehow ending up in a fantasy-world and again somehow ending up in the body of a dragon. Hilarity ensues. Though I do remember one particular scene with wizards discussing the slow decline of magic as people prefer to turn to scientific solutions, “Well naturally they prefer logic, its so…logical…”
Try: A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The link is to the file at Project Gutenberg, where the entire Martian series is available as a free download.
Edgar Rice Burroughs’s John Carter of Mars stories.
The first two books of C.S. Lewis’s space trilogy, (Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra), plus his Chronicles of Narnia
David Brin’s The Practice Effect, where the hero is transported to a world were practice does indeed make perfect.
Gene Wolfe’s There are Doors, about alternate worlds.
Jack Finney’s short story “The Woodrow Wilson Dime,” where the coin is an entryway into a parallel world.
Terry Brooks **Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold **. A different take on it. The high priced lawyer actually buys his way to the fantasy land.
Jerry Pournelle Janissaries. Not fantasy, but close. Bunch of army guys about to be overrun on a hilltop in Cuba. They get “rescued” by aliens and taken to another planet with a medieval level culture.
Three Hearts and Three Lions, by Poul Anderson – WWII soldier finds himself in a fantasy land, recast as a paladin. A fun, quick read, and inspiration for more than a few traditional D&D monsters.
The Thomas Covenant books (Lord Foul’s Bane, etc.) by Stephen R. Donaldson. Cranky bitter author suffering from leprosy gets conked on head, finds himself in a fantasy world, where he learns that he’s a prophesied savior, and wields tremendous power, at least in part due to his white-gold wedding ring. Very popular series in its day (late 70s/early 80s), though Covenant is pretty much a jerk. I tried re-reading them a few years ago, but couldn’t get through the first book, due to disliking Covenant so much.
Also the book that might have inspired ERB’s Barsoom series, “Lt. Gullivar Jones,” who is transported to Mars by a flying carpet, whose driver had previously crash landed on Earth.
Mickey Zucker Reichert’s Bifrost Guardians trilogy has a Vietnam soldier transported to mythical Scandinavia as an elf and embroiled in some Norse deity shennanigans.
I read the trilogy years and years ago. I don’t remember if it was any good or not as I read a lot of crap fantasyback then.
Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a fair number of cartoon along these lines.
Kidd Video had a group of teenagers transported into a cartoon world where they’re aided by a leg-warmer wearing pixie as they try to return to the real world.
And, of course, the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon where a slew of kids become D&D characters and “fight” bullywogs 24 hours a day as they try to get home.
