Skip to main content

story identification - Ocean of time book?


I remember reading a book where people figured out time travel and when they entered "Time" they could swim through it, but it would cause ripples and change things.


They would take certain time zones and physical locations as their new currency, eventually there were wars in the ocean of time.


After a while there was a hardening of the ocean of time.


I also remember that they never went to the beginning for fear of erasing Humans completely.


Characters: No main Characters


Type: A narrative history (Sci-Fi)


I read this book probably close to 12 years ago (2003?)



What book is this?



Answer



I believe this is All Of An Instant by Richard Garfinkle, published in 1999.


Description from a reviewer on Goodreads.com:



Richard Garfinkle creates one huge metaphor for time travel and works with it to the last consequence.


Time travel is done by a chosen few tribes, who swim in the ocean of time, every movement they make creating a wave which in turn changes the world of normal people. These changes are secondary to the travelers, change in the real world is constant, no one knows what the original history has once been. But every tribe tries to install it's own version of it, and so every tribe is in constant war with the other tribes.



Official summary:




From the author of Celestial Matters, which won the Compton Crook Award for best first novel and earned the author two nominations for the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer, All of an Instant is a large-scale, ground-breaking SF novel. It chronicles the discovery of a medium of existence outside of time (the Instant), from which one can influence all past and future history. War dominates this strange, abstract place -- war among forces contending for control of all time and place.As Harry Turtledove said of Garfinkle's first novel, "This is hard science fiction with a difference. Garfinkle works out the implications inherent in them as rigorously as any writer has done....A fast-paced adventure plot with lively, well-differentiated characters."



Another more confusing summary here.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?
Post a Comment
Read more