Re: Cool Time Travel Fiction

There's some great Time Travel fiction about - and some truly dire stuff too. The problem, I find, is that many authors fail to grasp the subject and merely write on the basis of an ill-informed yet basically good idea they've dreamt up ... and as a result tend to churn out the same plotlines as several hundred others have previously.

I've enjoyed the Jack Finney books, but must state without any hesitation that my all time (forgive the pun) favourite is "The Man Who Folded Himself" by David Gerrold. This is one of the few books that examines the paradoxical implications of time travel rather than zapping the traveler into the past or future and seeing what they do there. It's well thought out, utterly gripping ... and short enough to read in one sitting. It's getting harder to find these days - but I picked up a signed copy on ebay for about five dollars a while back - so it's well worth looking out for.

I quite enjoyed "The Time Traveller's Wife" by Audrey Niffineggar. On first glance it might look like a slushy chick-lit romance novel, but the multi-stranded plot is intriguing ... and I really liked the way that the plotlines weren't dealt with in chronological order, but jumped around so that you really needed to concentrate to fit everything together. In this book there's no "time machine"; the "hero" has a fictional illness that causes him to leap through time randomly, especially at times of stress of anxiety. So, if you like the wormhole/multi-universe technical stuff this book might not be for you as it deals mainly with the "relationship" problems time travel would undoubtedly create.

If you'd like to get a handle on Einstein's theories of Time and Space but find it all a bit mind-blowing, then I'd heartily recommend the old children's book: "The Time and Space of Uncle Albert" by Russell Stannard. The plot is slim, almost non-existant, but visualizing the action as you read the simple chapters is a fantastic way to really get your head around the bizarre effects of traveling at lightspeed, along with what is and isn't theoretically possible. Once you've read this you'll have no problems explaining Einstein's theories and impressing your friends and family!

Another interesting looking kids' book I've come across recently is "Justin Thyme" by Panama Oxridge; I discovered a web site about this book during one of my trawls for time travel fiction. The site is www.justinthyme.info - it looks kinda interesting. I haven't bought this yet - but probably will.

Finally, not exactly fiction, but if you like reading about time travel then have you read: "How to Build a Time Machine" by Paul Davies? It's a very entertaining look at the real possibilities of time travel, and a must-have addition to any time traveler's library.

Regards,
Igor.