BS: books that jump worlds/eras?

Subject: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: GUEST,Emily S
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 02:06 PM

Can anyone recommend books that have stories that flip back and forth between eras or worlds? Some fantasy books do, say the Chronicles of Narnia or Charles de Lint books. Can't think offhand of ones that flip eras except Nevil Shute has at leat one.

Mudcatters are very well-read so hopefully some of you have some recommendations.

Thanks.
Emily

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 02:33 PM

As an antidote to the "Chronicles of Narnia" I would recommend "The Golden Compass"
by Philip Pullman.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Darowyn
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 02:35 PM

T H White's, "The Once and Future King" has Wart (the Young Arthur) transformed into anthropomorphised animal societies.
There are several time jump stories in Rosemary Sutcliffe's books.
The Planets series of adult novels by CS Lewis (adult as in mature, not pornographic) "Out of the Silent Planet", "Perelandra" and "That Hideous Strength" involve journeys to other worlds, as well as some mystical/religious ideas that come a lot closer to Cabbalistic ideas than to the conventional C of E doctrines you would expect.
Neville Shute uses the idea at least twice- Once a flashback to Viking Times, once a reincarnation memory of a life to come by a drunken rancher 'remembering' a future life as a pilot.
There are lots more, which i shall no doubt remember as soon as I have finished typing,
Cheers
Dave

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Sorcha
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 02:41 PM

Gullivers Travels?

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Darowyn
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 03:14 PM

I've just borrowed one from the library today.
Greg Bear, "City at the End of Time"
and for a classic, and an antidote to Neville Shute's high toryism,
"Looking Backward" by Edward Bellamy a book about an American Socialist Utopia in the year 2000, as viewed by a man from 1887.
Oh wel!
Cheers
Dave

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Paul Burke
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 04:10 PM

At Swim-Two_birds, Flann O'Brien. From mythical Ireland to 20th ecentury Dublin, via the Wild West.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 04:18 PM

Read 'Red Shift' by Alan garner. It does it all, and so skilfully. In fact all his stories have elements of this ( The Moon of Gomrath, Elidor, Owl Service, Weirdstone of brisingamen). A great writer, and no mean folklorist.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 04:25 PM

"The Incompleat Enchanter" by L. Sprague de Camp and ?

Sevral by Heinlein: "The Number of the Beast", "Glory Road" are two that come to mind.

"The Time Machine" by HG Wells.

That's a quick answer -- there are many more.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: maeve
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 04:40 PM

The Williamsburg novels by Elswyth Thane http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elswyth_Thane

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Micca
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 04:56 PM

Rap, The L Sprague De Camps books are a Trilogy and are called

" The incomplete enchanter"set in Norse mythology, and Spensers "Faerie Queen"
"The Castle of Iron" set in The Castle of Otranto and ?Arabian nights?

" The Enchanter completed" set in Irish Mythology
The Co author? is Fletcher Pratt
and Powells books in Portland Oregon have what sounds like an omnibus edition containing all the "Harold Shea" books Listed Here

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 05:23 PM

Micca, I knew all that and just plumb forgot.

So I bought the one from Powells. Great bookstore, that.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: GUEST,Emily S
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 05:50 PM

I knew you guys would be a fount of suggestions. Thanks!

Amazingly, I just thought of Harry Potter which is sort of the same thing, muggle world vs wizard world.

I'm planning a trip to the library tomorrow!
Emily

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Skivee
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 07:23 PM

"The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady's Primer" and "Cryptonomicon"
Both by Neal Stephenson, both scary smartly written books. Bring your brain cells.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 07:28 PM

Quite a lot of childrens' stories involve time jumps - Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce is an outstanding example.

And I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Wizard of Oz.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 07:32 PM

Iain Banks, "The Bridge" (present-day Scotland, a sort of steampunk-SF Scotland fantasized in a coma, and the ancient Greek underworld as seen by a Glaswegian thug).

William Hope Hodgson, "The Night Land" (17th century England meets a moribund Earth billions of years in the future) an extraordinarily ambitious attempt at this idea, written in an almost unreadably bizarre pseudo-archaic style. There's nothing else like it.

Chingiz Aitmatov, "The Day Lasts more than a Thousand Years" - central Asia in the 1980s combined with near-future SF. The SF bit doesn't add much but the central Asian story is pretty gripping.

Anna Kavan, "Sleep has his House" (drug addict's dream world vs the real world - rather disturbing book).

Somewhat related are multiple-viewpoint stories, where you you see the same events through different characters' eyes and they come across as so alien you might as well be in a different age or planet. James Hogg's "Confessions of a Justified Sinner" is the original one, Lawrence Durrell's "Alexandria Quartet" is one of the more remarkable.

J. Leslie Mitchell (the real name for Lewis Grassic Gibbon) "Gay Hunter" - post-nuclear-apocalypse utopian future collides with 1930s fascism. Marge Piercy's "Woman on the Edge of Time" does the same sort of thing, with Reagan instead of Mussolini.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: frogprince
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 07:40 PM

Does The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy count? : )

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 07:47 PM

The SF novel that does this: Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-5".

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Maryrrf
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 09:06 PM

Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series involves time travel.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 09:32 PM

Arthur C. Clarke: The Nine Billion Names of God (short story), Childhood's End, the Rama novels, 2001 (and the short story from which it was developed).

The Mote in God's Eye.

Randall Garrett's Lord Darcy stories.

Terry Prachett's stuff.

A Gun For Dinosaur.

James White's Sector General series.

The Man In The High Castle.

Spider Robinson's Callahan series.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Boho
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 10:26 PM

Another from Marge Piercy, "Body of Glass" also under the title "He, She and It", flips between the golem in the ghetto in 17th century Prague and cyborgs in the 21st century.

"Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 10:31 PM

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin. Brilliant.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 10:46 PM

Doris Lessing's five-book series, Canopus in Argos: Archives

Shikasta; The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four & Five; The Sirian Experiments; The Making of the Representative for Planet 8; The Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire

That'll keep ya busy for awhile . . .

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: GUEST,Helen, cookieless
Date: 11 Jul 09 - 05:31 PM

Alan Garner: Red Shift is the first one to come to my mind - already mentioned by Tug the Cox, above.

And Tom's Midnight Garden is brilliant.

Helen

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 11 Jul 09 - 06:23 PM

Earth Abides
    by George R. Stewart

(Art)

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 11 Jul 09 - 07:15 PM

Eh? Earth Abides spans a few decades in the near future. There's no time-jumping in it. (Or in the one of the Doris Lessing quinquology that I read).

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Jul 09 - 08:04 PM

And of course, the Oz books by Baum.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 11 Jul 09 - 08:07 PM

Earth Abides

I'll stick with it.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Amergin
Date: 11 Jul 09 - 08:56 PM

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman....London Above...and London Below...

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Boho
Date: 11 Jul 09 - 09:20 PM

Gould's Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan
Bettany's Book by Thomas Keneally

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 11 Jul 09 - 09:32 PM

> There's no time-jumping in it

Eras or worlds, the lady said.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Anne Lister
Date: 12 Jul 09 - 03:59 PM

Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionnavair Trilogy flips worlds, at least.
I remember a book from childhood called, I think, "The Magic Bookshelf" which was to do with time travel through books and stories.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Sorcha
Date: 12 Jul 09 - 04:21 PM

Book of Kells, fiction, R. A. MacAvoy

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Jul 09 - 04:24 PM

Orphans of the Sky, by Robert Heinlein.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: jeddy
Date: 12 Jul 09 - 09:56 PM

maryrrf, if you like those, have you tried barbara erskine?
most of her books go backwards and forwards in time, they are all about people of the past and are fairly acurate historicaly(?)
very good reads.

take care all, that is when you come out of your books.

happy reading

jade x x x x

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 13 Jul 09 - 03:23 PM

The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. It may lead to the understandingl we may find in the development of life forms on distant planets.

Did anyone mention Asimov's Foundation Series?

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: SharonA
Date: 13 Jul 09 - 05:08 PM

"Replay" by Ken Grimwood. I won't give away the premise, and I recommend that you NOT read any reviews or even the story-summary printed on the back cover or jacket flap of the book itself. Just get it, crack it open, and hang on for a wild ride through time.

I'd read it several years ago, and I still remember how exciting the story was to me.

Have fun!
Sharon

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: peregrina
Date: 13 Jul 09 - 05:14 PM

for children...and others

L.M. Boston, The Children of Greenknowe

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 13 Jul 09 - 05:44 PM

A Wind in the Door and A Wrinkle in Time and A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeliene L'Engle. Really for younger readers but good stuff.

Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials is marvelous.

Disc World series and Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett

The Belgariad is a bit average.

Adult reading -

Ash: A Secret History - Mary Gentle is phenomenal. Joan of Arc like character is being investigated by modern day historians - I can't say more without giving away.

Damn! I am gonna reread that. Take it on holiday along with Pullman.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 14 Jul 09 - 04:33 AM

Orlando, by Virginia Woolf, covers several centuries and a change of sex.
The early part with the description of a frost fair is magical.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Gervase
Date: 14 Jul 09 - 05:35 AM

Peter Ackroyd is good at spanning the centuries - Hawksmoor is well worth a read, as are many of his books, particularly if you want to get under the skin of London.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Peter T.
Date: 14 Jul 09 - 07:16 AM

"A Princess of Mars" - Edgar Rice Burroughs. For some reason, I have no idea why, his Mars series still works. I reread them recently. The prose is clumsy, the plots are rinky-dink, but it's like potato chips.

One of the great (original) time travel books is "Melmoth the Wanderer" -- not exactly time travel, but the hero/villain is cursed to be immortal, and wanders through time. The structure of the book is like Russian dolls. At one point in the book the reader is seven stories deep in the plot, and has to come all the way back out again. The book was written in the 1800's.

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Amergin
Date: 14 Jul 09 - 08:00 AM

The roger zelazny chronicles of amber...

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: SINSULL
Date: 14 Jul 09 - 10:05 AM

Jack Finney (Body Snatchers) wrote Time And Again and From Time To Time.


Great stuff. Especially if you are in to turn of the century NYC.

Subject: RE: BS: books that jump worlds/eras?
From: Rumncoke
Date: 14 Jul 09 - 10:42 AM

I still recall with fondness the novel 'Silverlock' - though I have no idea of its author.

A man wanders between fictional worlds, poems and novels - meets heros, borrows rafts.

Anne Croucher