# Stories with people transported to other worlds **URL:** \ **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:** 3
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/41 "2009-02-25T03:03:20Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I haven’t looked for a sequel, really. I suspect one was intended. Non-spoiler The book ends (IIRC) with a very important prophetic dream which we never get interpreted for us, like all the other dreams have been. There are all kinds of other little touches which point to a sequel. The paperback copy we have - I can’t find it right now, unfortunately - had a little blurb about a sequel being on the way. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2009, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/42 "2009-02-25T03:13:39Z")
> [@vison](#): > > Omigawd. :eek: You are the only other person I know who’s read this besides me and my son. > > The author never wrote the sequel, did he? We looked for years, but as far as I know, it was never written or if it was, it was never published. > > Stephen Boyett. Wasn’t that his name? Steven R. Boyett. Also wrote the novel _Ariel_, which was damn good for a 21-year-old. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/43 "2009-02-25T03:28:52Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > There are various anime series with this theme, e.g., The Twelve Kingdoms, The Vision of Escaflowne. I tell you what, if I ever go to the Tokyo Tower and I **don’t** get to go be a magical princess in Bishonen World, I am going to be seriously pissed. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/44 "2009-02-25T03:34:23Z")
“Man of Two Worlds” by Raymond F. Jones. Read it in High School, but the only thing I remember is one character’s name is William Douglas, maybe? And another is “Organizer Cady.” ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/45 "2009-02-25T04:14:48Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > Steven R. Boyett. Also wrote the novel _Ariel_, which was damn good for a 21-year-old. My son certainly enjoyed it, I remember that. He would have been about 15 when he read it. Google tells me little about any possible sequel to Architect. Well, actually, it tells me nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/46 "2009-02-25T05:49:17Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Read Abraham Merritt. This general area of the genre is known as “Lost world” stories. H. Rider Haggard was another master of the style. An interesting historical volume is _A Journey in Other Worlds_ by John Jacob Astor (yeah, the guy on the _Titanic_) ---
**Author:** ![Omi\_no\_Kami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Omi\_no\_Kami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omi_no_Kami)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/47 "2009-02-25T07:14:36Z")
I see someone has already brought up the Japanese anime _12 kingdoms_, so I thought I’d mention that the show is based on a series of novels which are, generally speaking, significantly better than the animated adaptation. I think that an English translation of the first book has been published or is about to be, and if it’s anywhere near as amusing as the Japanese version, I think it’d be worth a read. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2009, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/48 "2009-02-25T13:18:39Z")
A few : The Spellsong Cycle from LE Modesitt Jr, where a professionally trained singer from Earth is summoned to a world where song makes magic. Given her training and knowledge, turn-armies-to-ash and level-cities levels of magic. Very good, high body count. _Here Abide Dragons_ by Andre Norton, people from modern Earth end up in an apparently uninhabited ( at first ) world. In David Weber’s novella _Sword Brother_ modern American soldiers and their armored vehicle take a side trip to his fantasy setting. It puts into perspective just how formidable the main character Bahzell is when the demons he’s fighting are a serious challenge to them and their modern firepower & armor as well. _Drinking Midnight Wine_ by Simon Green, a man from our world of Veritie ends up in the magical world of Mysterie. Another good one. _Doc Sidhe_, a homage to Doc Savage where the protagonist ends up transported from our world, the “grim world”, to the “fair world”. A place where technology is roughly like a larger than life 1930s, but with magic added, and the populace burns at the touch of iron. I reread this one and it’s sequel often. _Moon Dreams_ and sequels by Brad Strickland; an advertising guy ends up in a world where magic can be worked by speaking any word or phrase that hasn’t been used before - and the locals don’t speak English. So he can say “This sword is NEW and IMPROVED !”, and it is. Not exactly serious, but amusing. Alan Dean Foster’s Spellsinger books are set in a world populated mostly by anthropomorphic animals, and the main character is accidentally summoned by a wizard looking for an engineer. His job title was “sanitation engineer”, see . . . _Crystal Sorcerers_, where WWII airmen end up in a fantasy world where they can work magic, since they lack the gene that prevents most of the locals from doing so. The Gandalara Cycle, Randall Garret’s series about a modern man who mysteriously finds himself in the body of a not-quite-human young man in the mostly-desert land of Gandalara. One of my favorite series. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/49 "2009-02-25T13:18:57Z")
> [@Hunter\_Hawk](#): > > This general area of the genre is known as “Lost world” stories. H. Rider Haggard was another master of the style. > > An interesting historical volume is _A Journey in Other Worlds_ by John Jacob Astor (yeah, the guy on the _Titanic_) I’ve read many books by H. Rider Haggard. Since ebooks came out I let them play as I do stuff that doesn’t need speech or to much mental concentration. The books are done in a day or two. I could tell you what they are all about without prompting, if my memory was dependable anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/50 "2009-02-25T14:00:05Z")
> [@Buran](#): > > 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. I had totally forgotten that book! When I was about 10-12, that was my older brothers favorite book. He _raved_ about it. ---
**Author:** ![Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petrobey_Mavromihalis)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/51 "2009-02-25T14:34:47Z")
The _Fionavar Tapestry_ trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay has 4 US university students transported to a fantasy world with Celtic overtones. It’s pretty good stuff, but his later work (particularly _Tigana_, _The Lions of Al-Rassan_ and _Song for Arbonne_) are fantastic, but they don’t fit the OP. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/52 "2009-02-25T14:38:09Z")
In David Drake’s _Ranks of Bronze_ the Roman survivors of Crassus’ army that was defeated at Carrhae are purchased by aliens, and used to fight wars for them. They’ve got some Prime Directive type rules that if you want to fight against primitives, you have to use primitive means yourselves, and predicably, advanced aliens don’t really want to fight with swords & shields. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/53 "2009-02-25T14:44:47Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Alan Dean Foster’s Spellsinger books are set in a world populated mostly by anthropomorphic animals, and the main character is accidentally summoned by a wizard looking for an engineer. His job title was “sanitation engineer”, see . . . A wizard named “Clothahump”, as it happens… ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/54 "2009-02-25T14:45:14Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > In David Drake’s _Ranks of Bronze_ the Roman survivors of Crassus’ army that was defeated at Carrhae are purchased by aliens, and used to fight wars for them. They’ve got some Prime Directive type rules that if you want to fight against primitives, you have to use primitive means yourselves, and predicably, advanced aliens don’t really want to fight with swords & shields. For an interesting take on this, see Joe Haldeman’s _The Forever War_. Energy-suppression technology becomes so advanced that soldiers are reduced to using bows, arrows, swords and spears. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/55 "2009-02-25T14:52:33Z")
> [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](#): > > The _Fionavar Tapestry_ trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay has 4 US university students transported to a fantasy world with Celtic overtones. It’s pretty good stuff, but his later work (particularly _Tigana_, _The Lions of Al-Rassan_ and _Song for Arbonne_) are fantastic, but they don’t fit the OP. Mmm… the first Fionavar Tapestry book is _awesome_. The second one has a lot of good stuff. The third one gets creatively bankrupt and sucks donkey balls, IMHO. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/56 "2009-02-25T14:54:57Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > In David Drake’s _Ranks of Bronze_ the Roman survivors of Crassus’ army that was defeated at Carrhae are purchased by aliens, and used to fight wars for them. They’ve got some Prime Directive type rules that if you want to fight against primitives, you have to use primitive means yourselves, and predicably, advanced aliens don’t really want to fight with swords & shields. Set in the same universe is David Weber’s _The Excalibur Alternative_; a bunch of English soldiers and their families are taken for the same reason. The Romans are mentioned near the end of the book. It’s available at the [Baen Free Library](http://www.baen.com/library/) as well. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/57 "2009-02-25T15:02:00Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The Romans are mentioned near the end of the book. Edit expired; I should say that the **fate** of the Romans is mentioned near the end of the books. Their effectiveness is the motivation for the English being grabbed. ---
**Author:** ![Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petrobey_Mavromihalis)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/58 "2009-02-25T15:10:58Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Mmm… the first Fionavar Tapestry book is _awesome_. The second one has a lot of good stuff. The third one gets creatively bankrupt and sucks donkey balls, IMHO. I pretty much agree (but probably wouldn’t go as far as the donkey balls). But the other three I mention are better than any of them. ---
**Author:** ![Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ec9cab/32.png) [@Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/59 "2009-02-25T17:13:39Z")
The there theres one of the best SF novels of all time (as it tell’s me on the cover). Glory Road - Robert A. Heinlein. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269/60 "2009-02-25T17:44:29Z")
I don’t think _Glory Road_ is Heinlein’s best, but it’s a fun read. Would _The Door into Summer_ count? There’s another Heinlein book, whose title I will remember as soon as the edit window expires. _Quag Keep_, by Andre Norton. Edgar Rice Burroughs Mars novels have already been mentioned. There are also his Venus novels. _Pirates of Venus_ is the first in the series. Flash Gordon has already been mentioned. In the comic books, Adam Strange also travels to another world. If you count time travel, then Buck Rogers does, too. The comic strip _Buck Rogers in the 25th Century_ was based on the novel _Armageddon 2419 A.D._, by Philip Frances Nowlan. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-with-people-transported-to-other-worlds/487269.md?page=4)