# Time Travel Fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228 "2010-03-29T17:01:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Seamack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@Seamack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seamack)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/41 "2010-03-30T08:45:19Z")
Julian May’s Galactic Milieu cycle is a huge favourite of mine. It’s got future, past, 6 million years in the past and eventually beings from 6 million years in the past going to the near future. It’s a time travel fantasy saga with elements of sci-fi too. ---
**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:** [March 30, 2010, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/42 "2010-03-30T10:48:00Z")
> [@](#): > > What does it mean to not believe the Grandfather Paradox? Does that mean he didn’t believe it’s possible to kill one’s own grandfather, or that he didn’t believe it’s impossible? > Reply With Quote He didn’t believe there was a paradox. In his view, only one thing happens at one point in history, and, even if you have time travel, the event is consistent if seen by all interacting at that point in space time (ignoring the “paradoxes” of relativity). He goes to pains to depict this in TimeMaster. It’s not clear to me what would happen if you actually _did_ try to confront your grandfather and shoot him, but in Forward’s universe you wouldn’t branch to an alternate timeline. Your attempt at interferenbce isn’t a change in the stream of time – it always was part of it. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/43 "2010-03-30T12:00:02Z")
One of my favourites which hasn’t already been mentioned, is _Branch Point_ by **Mona Clee** ; increasingly larger attempts are made to change the past because the future is so horrible. Eventually they end up altering history back far enough so that the USA won’t come into being! A long time since I read it; may have to dig it out again! Another **Robert Silverberg** story I enjoyed was _Hawksbill Station_, about a prison facility placed back before much life had evolved! ---
**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:** [March 30, 2010, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/44 "2010-03-30T12:28:12Z")
Besides the above stories I listed, L. Sprague de Camp also wrote **a Gun for Aristotle** (Brookhaven physicist goes back to try to change some of Aristotle’s ideas) and **The Glory that Was** (Periclean Greece). Special notice to Michael Moorcock’s **Behold the Man** (Time Traveler goes back to find Jesus) ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/45 "2010-03-30T12:33:32Z")
Two that I don’t see mentioned here and that I think reasonably well of… **Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus** is about conceding the changes inherent in viewing the past and the ethics of making changes. **Mammoth** by John Varley. I like the fact that… there’s never any real attempt to discover what the hell caused the time machine to come into being. It’s found, a mathematician attempts to figure out what it is, operates it accidentally, and deals with the consequences. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/46 "2010-03-30T12:40:28Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > **Islands In The Sea of Time** , **Against the Tide of Years** and **On the Oceans of Eternity** by S.M. Stirling are quite good. The basic premise is that Alien Space Bats send the island of Nantucket and surrounding area back in time to 1250BC. Adventures abound. Much enjoyed but these are in your second category of one way trips - not really “time travel” stories as there is no way of seeing what the consequences are to the “present”. (Of course we are finding this out from the Emberverse books and the next, and final, one may actually link the two timelines together :eek: ) ---
**Author:** ![Lethal\_Babydoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3be4f8/32.png) [@Lethal\_Babydoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lethal_Babydoll)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/47 "2010-03-30T12:46:09Z")
Mike McQuay’s \*\*Memories \*\*had me in tears at the end. In the book, there is a way to transfer your mind into any ancestor you had. The main character spends a lot of time as Napoleon. But this just grazes the surface of a funny, exciting, deeply emotional tale that often gets left out of time travel discussions. At the time of it’s release it was highly thought of. It won a Philip K. Dick Award ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/48 "2010-03-30T12:52:33Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Poul Anderson’s Time Patrol stories were a personal favorite of mine. Seconded. I also liked Anderson’s \*The Corridors of Time \*and _The Dancer from Atlantis_. ---
**Author:** ![Wednesday\_Evening](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Wednesday\_Evening](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wednesday_Evening)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/49 "2010-03-30T19:38:21Z")
Thirding (fourthing?)\*\* The Anubis Gates\*\*. I read it because it was recommended in another thread here on the boards and was not disappointed. Terrific novel. One of my other favorite time-travel novels (although no people time-travel, just messages) is **Timescape** by Gregory Benford. The Artemis Fowl books by Eoin Colfer are great fun, and #6, **The Time Paradox** , is no exception. You should read #1-5 first, though. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/50 "2010-03-30T20:20:28Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Regarding time travel movies, there were two based on the works of Catherine L. Moore (with Henry Kuttner) that didn’t get a lot of publicity. In both cases, the short stories were extended, and they took the darker shading off both stories to make them (in my opinion) too damned happy and upbeat. But they’re not run-of-the-mill. One is **The Last Mimzy** (based on Mimsy were the Borogoves), which probably got more publicity. The other is **Timescape** (based on _Vintage Season_) _Timescape_ is better known as _Disaster in Time_, which is how it appears in TV listings and on the video. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/51 "2010-03-30T21:27:57Z")
I’ll vote for Heinlen’s, [The Door Into Summer](http://www.amazon.com/Door-Into-Summer-SFBC-Anniversary/dp/0739431293/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269984429&sr=1-3). ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/52 "2010-03-31T05:54:08Z")
I’ve always like Heinlein’s [The Door Into Summer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Door_Into_Summer). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/53 "2010-03-31T05:59:16Z")
I’ll agree that _The Door into Summer_ was a good one (one of my favorites, in fact), but the time travel doesn’t play nearly as prominent a role as it does in many stories. It’s mostly a Rip Van Winkle story. ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/54 "2010-03-31T11:16:33Z")
My favorites, _Time After Time_, _The Doomsday Book_, and _Replay_ have already been mentioned. There is also _Slaughterhouse-Five._ Nobody has done it quite like Vonnegut. I enjoyed John Maxim’s _[Time Out of Mind,](http://www.amazon.com/Time-Out-Mind-John-Maxim/dp/0380730065/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256732781&sr=1-1)_ it also was a murder mystery/ghost story. “Every time it snows, Jonathan Corbin sees people and scenes that haven’t existed for 100 years. Is he being haunted or has he lost his mind? Sturdevant, the psychiatrist his girlfriend Gwen brings in, has another explanation: Jonathan is in the grip of “genetic memory,” in which ancestral recollections, like physical characteristics, are genetically inherited.” I suppose _The Time Traveler’s Wife_ by Audrey Niffenegger has not been mentioned because some consider it chick lit, but the chronologically-challenged Henry DeTamble was a fully realized character, and the structure of the time travel is complex and intriguing. There is also _The Little Book_ by Selden Edwards. I liked the first half better than the second. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/55 "2010-03-31T14:04:03Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > [Time After Time](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_After_Time_(1979_film)) is hands down the best film, based on the strangest premise, in this genre. I saw it several times in the theatre, but couldn’t get many other people to see it. One of my favorite movies. Did you all know it was based on a novel? I didn’t, until recently. The novel was rereleased recently and I bought it, but haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/56 "2010-03-31T14:53:24Z")
I didn’t see any mention of the _1632_ series by Eric Flint. Similiar to Stirling’s series, this time an interstellar art accident sends a present day West virginia coal town back into the middle of the 30 Years War, and details the resulting events from that. I like Flint’s take on the Butterfly Effect in these novels. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/57 "2010-03-31T16:44:11Z")
> [@](#): > > I suppose The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger has not been mentioned because some consider it chick lit, but the chronologically-challenged Henry DeTamble was a fully realized character, and the structure of the time travel is complex and intriguing. I’ve tried to read that, but after about 30 pages of nothing happening but the protagonists saying over and over how much they love each other, I gave up. ---
**Author:** ![Lethal\_Babydoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3be4f8/32.png) [@Lethal\_Babydoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lethal_Babydoll)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/58 "2010-03-31T18:15:15Z")
> [@Wargamer](#): > > I didn’t see any mention of the _1632_ series by Eric Flint. Similiar to Stirling’s series, this time an interstellar art accident sends a present day West virginia coal town back into the middle of the 30 Years War, and details the resulting events from that. The first book in this series has my all-time favorite time travel scene. When a general in the 40 Years War meets up with the people from our time and has his first look at camouflage. He’s quite impressed. “Clever bastards,” he says ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/59 "2010-03-31T18:23:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ve tried to read that, but after about 30 pages of nothing happening but the protagonists saying over and over how much they love each other, I gave up. Too bad. It is definitely a novel about a love, but I found the time travel aspect imaginative and innovative–different from any other time travel novel I’ve read. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228/60 "2010-03-31T19:08:00Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Seconding the Frankowski, but only the first 4 books. After that they get repetitive and silly. And disgusting. The sexism practically drips off the page, like rotting lube oil. I’m hardly “Mr. Sensitive,” but even I couldn’t stomach it. And if the ‘oompa loompa’ sexual servants don’t revolt you, there are other problems with the stories. Like _knowingly_ infecting the new world with European diseases. And vice versa. Frankly, I think Frankowski was going insane towards the end. He even managed to get fired by Jim Baen (R.I.P.), and that was reportedly _hard_ to do. “_For King And Country_” by Robert Asprin and Linda Evans has a slightly differnt take on things, and works pretty well - Your body doesn’t go, just your personality matrix. And you have to share the body whenever you land with the original personality of the occupant. While we’re at it, despite being a complete goof of a movie, “_Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure_” actually handles time travel and paradox fairly well, albeit with a very irreverant attitude. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-fiction/534228.md?page=4)