A Reading List on Time Travel, Paradoxes, Time Police Alternate Realities, and Parallel Worlds

Time ParadoxesTime PoliceTime Travel and Space Flight |
Reversal or Breakdown of TimeAlternative Realities (History) |
Parrallel Worlds (Fantasy)Critical Sources
 

Time Paradoxes

Heinlein, Robert, "By His Bootstraps," 1941. --First great classic combing time paradox and parallel worlds

Miller, P. Schyler. AAs Never Was.@ (1944) -- Knife is transferred back in time; classic closed loop

Tenn, William, "Brooklyn Project," 1948 **(VT)

Van Vogt, A.E. The Weapon Ships of Isher, 1951.

Bradbury, Ray, "A Sound of Thunder," 1952 *(RR) -- Stepping on a butterfly during prehistoric safari causes major   transformations in future

Masson, David, "Traveler's Rest" 1956 (VT)

Lieber, Fritz. ATry and Change the Past.@ (1958)

Bester, Alfred. AThe Men Who Murdered Mohammed.@ (1958)

Heinlein, Robert. AAll You Zombies@ (1959) --Ultimate minimalist loop

Zelazny, Roger. ADivine Madness@ (1966)

Silverberg, Robert, ed. Voyagers in Time 1967 (ANTHOLOGY) **(PZ1 S587 Vo)

Tiptree, James, "Forever to a Hudson Bay Blanket," 1972 *(10000LY)

Gerrold, David. The Man Who Folded Himself (1973)

Priest, AAn Infinite Summer@ (1976)

Delany, Sam. Empire Star -- Multiplex vs. Simplex perspective; ends at the beginning



 

Time Police

Williamson, Jack, The Legion of Time, 1938; 1952. --Two potential futures struggle for reality

Asimov, Isaac, The End of Eternity, 1955. -- AChronocracy@: secret agents from@inaccessible millennia@ battle to
overthrow dictator

Lieber, Fritz. The Big Time (1958) -- The Change War stories

Anderson, Poul, Guardians of Time (1960); The Corridors of Time, 1965; AA Shield of Time (1990)
Silverberg, Robert.  Up the Line, 1969.
Laumer, Keith, Dinosaur Beach, 1971.

Silverberg, Robert. .Up the Line (1969) --Time tourists and inept couriers

Russ, Joanna. The Adventures of Alyx. -- Time-traveling tour guide



Time Travel and Space Flight

L. Ron Hubbard. Return to Tomorrow (1950) -- Black holes distort time

Blish, James, "Common Time," (1953)

Heinlein, Robert. Time for the Stars (1956)

LeGuin, Ursula, "Semele's Gift" (1964) --Tragedy of a woman who doesn=t understand cost of space flight *

Anderson, Poul, Tau Zero, 1967. -- Ever-accelerating starship and crew manage to outlast the universe

Haldeman, Joe, The Forever War, 1974. -- Infantry grunts experience ultimate alienation from society b/c of time jumps



Reversal or Breakdown of Time

Hoyle, Fred, October the First is Too Late, 1966. -- Different historical eras existing
simultaneously

Aldiss, Brian, Cryptozoic! 1967.

Dick, Philip K. Counter-Clock World, 1967. -- Everything runs backwards, including eating

Tiptree, James, "The Man Who Walked Home, (1967) (10 LY)

Aldiss, Brian, Frankenstein Unbound, 1973.

Dickson, Gordon, Time Storm, 1977.

Chaevsky, Paddy, Altered States 1980. -- Genetic reversion


Alternate Realities (History)

Moore, Ward, Bring the Jubilee, 1952. -- South wins Civil War.

Brunner, John, Times without Number, 1962. -- Spanish Armada doesn't lose.

Dick, Philip K., Man in the High Castle, 1962. -- Nazis and Japanese win WWII.

Hersey, John, The White Lotus, 1965. -- Atomic energy not discovered.

Moorcock, Michael, Behold the Man 1966. -- Man goes back to visit Christ.

Roberts, Keith, Pavane, 1966. -- Queen Elizabeth I is assassinated.

Le Guin, Ursula, Lathe of Heaven, 1971. -- Man's dreams change course of history.

Moorcock, Michael, The Warlord of the Air, 1971, The Land Leviathan, 1971, The Steel Tsar,
1981. -- Romp through satiric alternative world where Ronald Reagan is a Scout Leader.

Spinrad, Norman. The Iron Dream, 1972. -- Hitler is an sf writer; Nazism only a bad fantasy novel?

Ellison, Harlan. "City on the Edge of Forever" -- Hitler

Norton, Andre. Crossroads of Time. Hitler

Piercy, Marge, Woman on the Edge of Time, 1976. -- Possibly insane woman may have a chance to fight for a utopian future

Varley, John, "Air Raid," (1976) Enl. as Millennium. -- Future robs present of people just before airplane crashes

Butler, Octavia, Kindred, 1979. Black woman travels back in time to Civil War.

Eisenstein, Phyllis. Shadow of Earth (1979) --North America if British had not routed Armada

Willis, Connie. Doomsday Book (1992; won both Hugo and Nebula) -- A history student in 2048 is transported to an English village in the 14th century just before the Black Plague.

Baxter, Stephen. The Time Ships (1995; runner-up for Hugo) -- Return to land of the Eloi and Morlocks

Clee, Mona. Branch Point (2996) -- Traveling back from 2062 to 1962 to prevent nuclear war

Card, Orson Scott. Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (1996) -- Historical researcher in the far future thinks she can prevent much bloodshed by keeping Columbus from discovering America



Parallel Worlds (Fantasy)

Leinster, Murray, "Sidewise in Time," 1934. -- Fifth-dimension catapult

Daniel, David R. "The Branches of Time" 1935. -- Articulates theory

Weinbaum, Stanley, "The Worlds of If" 1935 **(OD PZ1 S587 Ot)

deCamp, L. Sprague and Fletcher Pratt, The Incomplete Enchanter, -- Journeys into parallel literary worlds: Faerie Queene, Norse legends, etc.

Simak, Clifford, Ring Around the Sun, 1953. -- Many empty earths are opened to colonization

Anderson, Poul, Three Hearts and Three Lions, 1961.

Heinlein, Robert, Glory Road, 1963. *
            ---. The Cat Who Walked Through Walls -- Parallel worlds concept allows Heinlein to unify his entire oeuvre

Zelazny, Roger, Nine Princes in Amber (series) -- Parallel magic and non-magic worlds

Anderson, Poul, A Midsummer's Tempest, 1974. -- Shakespeare=s characters live

Dickson, Gordon, The Dragon and the George, 1976. -- Mathematician follows girlfriend into alternate reality to rescue her; only he turns into dragon rather than knight.

Bradley, Marion Zimmer, The House Between the Worlds, 1980. -- World traveling

Card, Orson Scott. Alvin Series: Seventh Son 91987), Red Prophet (1988), Prentice Alvin (1989), Alvin Journeyman (1995; Locus Award for Best Fantasy) -- Alternate America where folk magic works.



Critical Sources

Foote, Bud. The Connecticut Yankee in the twentieth century : travel to the past in science fiction. New York : Greenwood Press, 1991.

Leiby, David A. AThe Tooth That Gnaws: Reflections on Time Travel; Alternatives.@107-118 IN Slusser-George-E. (ed.); Rabkin-Eric-S. (ed.). Intersections: Fantasy and Science Fiction. Carbondale:  Southern Illinois UP, 1987.

Pierce, John. AThe Possibility Binders.@Great Themes of SF, 174-87.

Slusser, George. A Heinlein's Perpetual Motion Fur Farm.@ Science-Fiction-Studies, 9:1 (March 1982) , 61-7.

Cook,-Monte. ATips for Time Travel.@ 47-55 IN Smith-Nicholas-D. (ed. pref. & introd.); Miller-Fred- D.-Jr. (introd.). Philosophers Look at Science Fiction. Chicago : Nelson-Hall, 1982. xi, 204 pp.

Jakiel, S. James and Rosanadra E. Levinthatl. AThe Laws of Time Travel.@Extrapolation 21.2 (1980): 130-8.

Lem, Stanislaw, Hoisington, Thomas H,. Suvin, Darko. AThe Time-Travel Story and Related Matters of S(cience) F(iction) Structuring.@Science-Fiction-Studies 1:3 (1974), 143-54.
 
 

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