Skip to main content

story identification - Searching for a book involving blocks of fog


I read a book nearly twenty years ago when I was in Jr high. What I remember is a man traveling around with a teenage girl, (nothing twisted) in a camper I think, and there were these weird blocks of fog or mist. I believe there may have been a dog also. It was a novel in English. I believe it was written in the 70's or 80's. I remember a part in the book where two blocks of the fog got stuck right where a woman's house was. The man and girls stopped there for the night. I remember the girl didn't talk much. That's about all I can remember. I don't even remember the story behind what caused the fog and I really want to reread the book.



Answer



It's a long stretch, but it's possible you're thinking of Gordon R. Dickson's Time Storm


from one of the reviews on the Amazon link above:




    Gordon Dickson's "Time Storm", first published in 1977, is an excellent post-apocalyptic novel concerning the catastrophic after effects caused by on-going time storms (or time lines that appear as, and are called in the book, 'mistwalls') that continually sweep across sections of the Earth, as well as throughout the universe. As a time storm passes, a large swath of land becomes forever changed in time. A side effect is that for most of the population these time sweeps are deadly.
    Luckily (or you would have no story), a small percentage of the population (including a few animals) seem immune to the deadly effects of the time storms. The three main characters; the protagonist (Marc Despard), an autistic teenage girl (known as 'Girl'), and a leopard (called Sunday), are all richly defined.
    This story begins with the three unlikely partners traveling across country where they cross area after area that has been changed in time. The people (and/or creatures) that have been 'deposited' into the effected areas (if there are anyone at all), are either from some point in the future or from the past, but like any post-apocalyptic story, few are friendly. Even the survivors of his own time can be, and usually are, extremely dangerous.



Here's the intersection of two mistwalls (possibly your "blocks of fog or mist"):


Chapter 9:



    It did not take long to reach the end of it. I kept on a little further, however, not wanting to turn the corner until I could see behind it. But though we kept going further and further, we still did not seem to quite clear the end. Finally, I saw why. We were not going to be able to see behind that mistwall after all. Here at what I had thought was its point of termination, it had either bent to the right and continued, or run into another mistwall going off at an angle in that direction.
    At first, all I felt was disappointment that I was not going to get a look behind it. Then it occurred to me that perhaps the reason neither mistwall nor mistwall section had been moving had been because each had butted up against the other; and the two time change lines coming together had somehow created an unusual state or condition that had halted them both. The moment that I thought it, I was hungry to see what was behind the intersection of those two mistwalls.




There is, indeed a house behind the mistwall intersection, inhabited by a lone woman and her pack of trained dogs. The man, girl and leopard were on foot (on bicycles, actually; one of the few post-apocalypse stories where bikes are used) at this point in the story but in the beginning they were driving a panel truck.


Comments

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.

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 !...

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?

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. ...