I know, I know, do your own homework. Let's get all that out the way first.
I'm taking this course, called "Time". It's actually a seminar course, but not only is it about Time and the scientific side of Time it's about science fiction and Time in stories. (It's my soulmate course, the professor would probably be a great Jatraquero, if he's not one already )
By Christmas, I have to read ten Time-related (Time travel, stopping time, playing the time, destroying time, slowing time etc) short stories by "authors who know what they're talking about" (professors words, not mine- we're not allowed to read our little brother's story, for example).
Now, the professor is going to give us a list of possible stories, but being a ignorant first year student it'd be marvellous if I could also read stories recommended by you fabulous folk who know what's good and what's not, because you're all so much older and wiser than I am.
If you really don't want to help me do my homework (you know you want to! All I need is names and, if possible, online sources) you can tell me the name of that story with the dinosaur-hunting butterfly-squashing future-changing person.
(And I know someone's going to write in the very next post, (that is if I get one), "Do your own homework ", so at least let's have some variation, for instance, "Your own homework, do your.")
Thank You!
EDITED: to add the word 'also'.
EDIT: I need to stipulate that they have to be short stories. And I realise yours was a joke, Dagonee.
[ September 15, 2004, 03:41 PM: Message edited by: Teshi ]
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
The Dark Tower series. Posted by dabbler (Member # 6443) on :
Einstein's Dreams
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
The Man Who Folded Himself, by David Gerrold
[ September 15, 2004, 03:28 PM: Message edited by: Elizabeth ]
Posted by msquared (Member # 4484) on :
PastWatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card.
msquared
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Yeah -- what msquared said above. (he beat me to it) Pastwatch is my alltime favorite time-related book.
Farmgirl
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
I was gonna say that's not a short story , but I know there's one set in the Pastwatch world somewhere on this site. I don't think it actually involves time travel, though. More like, time observation?
There's a short story somewhere in MiaM by OSC about time travel...can't remember what it's called though...it's where people go back in time to experience death. Anyone?
[ September 15, 2004, 03:35 PM: Message edited by: sarcasticmuppet ]
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
The butterfly-squishing one = by Ray Bradbury, I think it's called "The Sound of Thunder."
Posted by miles_per_hour (Member # 6451) on :
edit2: this is the short story in the Pastwatch universe
[ September 15, 2004, 03:43 PM: Message edited by: miles_per_hour ]
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Thanks, plaid, I think you're right. Posted by miles_per_hour (Member # 6451) on :
By His Bootstraps by Robert Heinlein.
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
What does "knows what they're doing" mean? If it doesn't require Stephen Hawking-like brilliance, you should try All You Zombies- by Heinlein.
Posted by Uhleeuh (Member # 6803) on :
I don't know if it's quite what you're looking for but maybe Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time or its companions.
[ September 15, 2004, 03:46 PM: Message edited by: Uhleeuh ]
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Sadly, A Wrinkle In Time is too long Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
I like Robert Silverberg's Up the Line, about a guy who's a guide for time tourists, set against the backdrop of medieval Byzantium. Lots of time paradoxes...
(And, speaking of guides, I suppose you could do Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker books.)
[edit: OK, these'll be too long, they're not short stories.]
[ September 15, 2004, 03:54 PM: Message edited by: plaid ]
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
Still not the one I'm thinking of, but it's one of my favorite short stories.
Posted by miles_per_hour (Member # 6451) on :
Scherzo with Tyrannosaur by Swanwick, Michael
Posted by Speed 2: Cruise Control (Member # 6765) on :
If you can find a copy, The Green Futures of Tycho by William Sleator is one of my favorite books, and has been since the fifth grade. And it's a quick and easy read, so that helps too.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Great list!
There was a short story I read once about a man who transported himself back in time to the day of Christ's death. He sort of, well, I don't want to spoil it, but it was one of the best short stories I have read. Grr. I have no clue whatsoever as to its title or author, but it was a fascinationg story.
Posted by Speed 2: Cruise Control (Member # 6765) on :
Oh, yeah. If you're not put off by LDS literature, there's a sci-fi story with a Mormon slant (about the same level as existed in Lost Boys, for example) called Eddie Fantastic. I read it when I was a kid, and I thought it was the greatest. It's one of the ones about slowing down time. I don't know how it'd stand up now, but it had me fully hooked when I read it the first time. And it'd be quick and easy, so that's another plus.
Posted by prolixshore (Member # 4496) on :
Muppet, you are thinking of closing the timelid.
::currently re-reading maps in a mirror for the millionth time::
--ApostleRadio
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Quick and easy is all I can handle these days, anyway.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
This is a fantastic list, if you think of any more put them down. I'm going to chase down the accesible ones and see if they are what I'm looking for.
Thanks a lot!
Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
Elizabeth, I think I've read about the story you're talking about. (How's that for convoluted?) It was in a book of Science Fiction lists which I don't have access to anymore.
That might be a good place to look, though, Teshi, you're library should have a few. They're an interesting read and you learn alot of the history of the genre.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
blacwolve, I am 99 percent sure that it was in a sci fi anthology that was in my classroom.
Gosh, I have kept that story in my head for about fifteen years. I will try to find it.
Posted by Lost Ashes (Member # 6745) on :
Spider Robinson did quite a few in his Callahan's series.
Did you hear the one about...? is fantastically hilarious, if you can catch the puns and the tip of the hat to various sci-fi authors.
Posted by Mabus (Member # 6320) on :
Back in the day I found three short novels in a book that I don't remember the name of. The time-related one was "The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything". I don't know for sure if it qualifies as a short story, though, and it has some sexual content. In some ways it was a lot like the movie Clockstoppers.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Ooh, a treasure trove.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything is a short pulp novel by JohnD.MacDonald of the TravisMcGee mystery novel fame. It isn't really about time travel, but rather a stopwatch which allows the user continue moving normally while stopping the flow of time for everyone else, at least from the user's perspective. Clockstoppers was essentially the same story using younger protagonists.
The "short story about a man who transported himself back in time to the day of Christ's death" may have been MichaelMoorcock's Behold The Man, which was later expanded into a novel.
Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
Yes, that was the one I was thinking of, even though I didn't bring it up!
Posted by Jess N (Member # 6744) on :
It's too bad you're only looking for short stories. Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time handles all of the concepts you are looking to learn about.
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
The Skull and Paycheck by Phillip K. Dick.
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
Mimsy Were The Borogoves, by Lewis Padgett.
My all time favorite short story.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I really liked A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury.
One of my all time favorite stories, and it is short, but powerful.
I bet it is on your list at school!
Kwea
Posted by Trondheim (Member # 4990) on :
"Firewatch" by Connie Willis, found in the book by same title. Of course, I don't know if she knows what she's talking about Posted by vwiggin (Member # 926) on :
My favorite time travel book is "The End of Eternity" by Asimov. I guess it is not a short story, but it is only 189 pages and Asimov's writing is so clear you can fly right through it. Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
I think "Behold the Man" is the one, according to a summary I found. It sounds right. Hmm. I must have read it before I read Moorcock, or I would have remembered he wrote it. The story fits him.
Posted by ae (Member # 3291) on :
A good one is "Great Work of Time" by John Crowley.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
My favorite I cannot name its title or author, but its about a man who doesn't recoginize his future selves as they come back in time to convince him to travel in time until he becomes the all powerful ruler of a pathetically timid future.
But my favorite anti-time travel bit was a forward done by Asimov for his first novel "Pebble in the Sky." I don't know what addition has this forward, but in it he explains why time travel cannot work (if you traveled back in time 100 years, you'd find youself breathing vaccum in the midst of space somewhere where Earth isn't anymore) and why he uses the literary device anyway.
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
Replay by Ken Grimwood was a good story. It might be too long if you're looking for short stories, but it's a good read anyway.
I'm reading a book of short stories by Gene Wolfe called Storeys From the Old Hotel, and I LOVE it.
One of the best stories in there is called "Rubber Bend," and is about a professor who succeeds in reversing the way he comprehends verticality with time. Fabulous, fabulous.
And someone else reccommended Einstein's Dreams, which is a book, but is full of reeeely short stories about weird worlds that handle time in different ways.
*really wants to take this class*
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
"the Jaunt" by Stephen King, which appears in Skeleton Crew.
Goody
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
I read a Richard Peck one about time once, but I can't remember what it was called. Something about "time" and "electric," maybe?
Posted by DocCoyote (Member # 5612) on :
I'd strongly second Einstein's Dreams. That book was amazing.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
The Jaunt is an excellent choice, as it explores the difference between physical time and the perception of time. It's not an obvious choice, either, since it doesn't deal with time travel.
Dagonee
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Perhaps contrast and compare all the theories and uses of time and time travel used in Star Trek, especially TNG.
Oh wait.
There was a requirement that the person "knows what they are doing." That leaves the Star Trek writers out.
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", so at least let's have some variation, for instance, "Your own homework, do your.") ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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