# Stories with people transported to other worlds
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 24, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269 "2009-02-24T20:59:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Buran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buran)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/1 "2009-02-24T20:59:19Z")
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…”
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/2 "2009-02-24T21:04:33Z")
The cartoon you’re referring to is [The Flight of Dragons](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0083951/), based on the novel by Peter Dickinson.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/3 "2009-02-24T21:08:53Z")
**The Time Machine** , 1960. There was a character named Weena, which provided my brother and me with endless hours of snickers.
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### Author:  [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/4 "2009-02-24T21:09:44Z")
Try: [A Princess of Mars](http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rgs/pmars-table.html) by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The link is to the file at Project Gutenberg, where the entire Martian series is available as a free download.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/5 "2009-02-24T21:09:54Z")
There are hundreds, and not just fantasy.
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.
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### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/6 "2009-02-24T21:16:04Z")
The Dragon and the George, possibly. Part of a series.
Christopher Stasheff’s Her Majesty’s Wizard series.
John Carter of Mars, but that’s not the first, I don’t think.
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/7 "2009-02-24T21:36:04Z")
I’ll mention Dan Simmons’ **Ilium** and **Olympos** books, but only if you promise me you won’t read them.
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### Author:  [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/8 "2009-02-24T21:40:24Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/9 "2009-02-24T21:44:37Z")
> [@Fugazi](#):
>
> 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.
Hilltop in Africa, just about to be over-run by Cubans. 😃
Keith Laumer’s **Universe Twister** books.
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/10 "2009-02-24T21:50:02Z")
There are various anime series with this theme, e.g., The Twelve Kingdoms, The Vision of Escaflowne.
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### Author:  [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/11 "2009-02-24T21:52:24Z")
Have we forgotten _The Wizard of Oz_?
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/12 "2009-02-24T21:56:41Z")
Gah! Remark removed on account of dumbness.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/13 "2009-02-24T21:57:37Z")
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. 😃
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/14 "2009-02-24T22:03:26Z")
The Guardians of the Flame series (The Sleeping Dragon, etc.) by Joel Rosenberg.
A bunch of college kids play D&D, and get themselves transported into the fantasy world created by one of their college professors.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/15 "2009-02-24T22:07:40Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/16 "2009-02-24T22:11:57Z")
Mickey Zucker Reichert’s _[Bifrost Guardians](http://www.amazon.com/Godslayer-Climber-Dragonrank-Bifrost-Guardians/dp/0886779197)_ 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.
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### Author:  [@Buran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buran)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/17 "2009-02-24T22:15:32Z")
> [@ricksummon](#):
>
> The cartoon you’re referring to is [The Flight of Dragons](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0083951/), based on the novel by Peter Dickinson.
That’s the one! You Sir, are a genius!
Thanks for the replies everyone, you’re right, there are a _lot_ of these stories.
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/18 "2009-02-24T22:21:09Z")
Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a fair number of cartoon along these lines.
[Kidd Video](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086743/) 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](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085011/) cartoon where a slew of kids become D&D characters and “fight” bullywogs 24 hours a day as they try to get home.
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### Author:  [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/19 "2009-02-24T22:30:07Z")
I love the _Thomas Covenant_ books (the first trilogy anyway).
Donaldson also did two _Mordant’s Need_ books with a similarly self-loathing protagonist ending up in a fantasy world, but I didn’t care for them.
Several of the characters in Stephen King’s _Dark Tower_ series are transported from other worlds.
The _Dragon Waking_ books by Craig Shaw Gardner. An entire suburb gets transported.
_The Neverending Story_ was a book before it was a movie.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/20 "2009-02-24T22:43:13Z")
_Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland_ and _Through the Looking Glass_.
Arguably, _Gulliver’s Travels_.
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