Time Travel Archives - Gary David Gillen

112263 by Stephen King

Introduction

In 112263 by Stephen King, Jake had a problem. He’s friends with Al, a diner owner and cook, who tells him about what he calls a rabbit hole that he found in his diner. Al says the rabbit hole is a time portal back to 1958. He wants Jake to go back and prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Was Lee Harvey Oswald a lone gunman or was there a conspiracy? Will Jake find out in time and save Kennedy or will he doom the future?

Summary

112263 by Stephen King starts with schoolteacher Jake Epping making friends with diner owner Al Templeton. Al tells Jake that he finds what he calls a rabbit hole in his diner. The rabbit hole takes him back to 1958, he has made many trips, and he always returns exactly two minutes after he left. Al is sick and he wants Jake to do something for him that he can’t do for himself because of his condition.

Jake doesn’t believe Al. Al gives Jake a diary with all the information he will need to succeed in the past. Al wants him to go back and prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on 11-22-63 in Dallas, Texas. Al wants Kennedy to live because he believes that the escalation of the Vietnam War will not happen and the current time will be better because of it. Jake discovers two tests that will show if changing the past will affect the future.

Jake does his tests and returns to the past under the alias of George Amberson. At first, he pretends to be a novelist but to make money he gets a job as a substitute teacher in Jolie, Texas which is near Dallas. He needs to figure out if Lee Harvey Oswald is the lone gunman and prevent the assassination. His mission is compromised when he falls in love with the school librarian Sadie Dunhill. The timeline of history pushes back at his efforts as he gets closer to the date in question. Will he or won’t he succeed? What will happen to Sadie?

Recommendation

I think that 112263 by Stephen King is a great novel. This novel is a romance, but that’s not clear until Jake meets Sadie. In the afterward, King said his son, Joe Hill, insisted on the ending that is in the novel that closes the loop on the romance. He was right about that ending and the last chapter is what makes the novel great in my opinion. There is a good miniseries adaption of the novel on Hulu called 11.22.63 that presents the novel well, especially that last scene. Did Lee Harvey Oswald act alone? Stephen King writes in the novel’s afterward that he is 99% sure that he was. Whatever you believe, if you treat this novel as a fantasy, one possibility of what had happened in the past, then you should enjoy it. I certainly did.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of 11/22/63 by Stephen King.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12530184-11-22-63

In Gerald’s Game by Stephen King, what happens when they are at their isolated lake house, Jessie is cuffed to the bed, and Gerald is incapacitated? Will Jessie escape before she goes crazy, or will she die of dehydration?

Gerald’s Game by Stephen King

In Thinner by Stephen King, Billy accidentally kills an old gypsy woman. Her father curses him to lose weight until he dies. Can Billy reverse the curse, or will he wither and die?

Thinner by Stephen King

In The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub, twelve-year-old Jack Sawyer’s mother is dying. The only way for him to save her is to find the mythical Talisman, which is in a parallel world called the Territories. He must pass many challenges to obtain his goal. Will Jack find the Talisman in time to save his mother from death?

Talisman by Stephen King

It is by Stephen King and has seven kids who face horror. As adults, they face it again. Will the Losers Club defeat the hidden evil in the Derry sewers, or will they perish?

It by Stephen King

In The Waste Lands by Stephen King, Roland and his group search for a way to the Dark Tower. They find the city of Lud and the way forward. Will Roland and his gunslingers continue their path to the Dark Tower, or will they fail before they even get started?

The Waste Lands by Stephen King

Drawing of the Three by Stephen King, book #2 of The Dark Tower series, features Roland, Eddie Dean, and Odetta Holmes. Roland gets one step closer to reaching the Dark Tower.

Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

The Gunslinger by Stephen King, book #1 of The Dark Tower series, seemed to set up for a climax that never happened. What is there is a trippy and metaphysical non-ending.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore

Introduction

In Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore, Hodge is a historian living in a world where the South won the Civil War. They call it the war of Southron Independence. He lives in a much-reduced North and wonders how his history was shaped. He gets the chance to see the past as it happens. Will the North win this time and bring the jubilee to the South?

Summary

Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore is said to be a memoir by Hodge, a historian from the world where the South won the Civil War. Hodge grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania. When he turns 17, he seeks his fortune in New York City. The South is a superpower, while the North is lesser. The South and Great Britain are allies, while the German Union and the Spanish empire are allied against them. Hodge gets a job in New York City and learns about the state of the world. He forms his desire to be an historian from living in New York.

The war of Southron Independence facinates Hodge and especially the battle of Gettysburg, which the South won which led the South to winning the war. He has an opportunity to see the battle firsthand. His goal was to be an observer only, but the reality did not follow his plans.

Recommendation

Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore is an alternate history and time traveling novel that raises interesting questions. Would the world be a better place if the South had won the war? Would it be different? Can events change the course of history? Hodge raises these questions and more in the novel. He portrays the uninvolved observer. But not choosing is still a choice. He had a wonderful life in his timeline with Catalina, but he had to learn what he wanted to learn which cost him in the end. This novel is a tragedy to me, a well written tragedy. I’m glad a read this novel.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61355290-bring-the-jubilee

This novel has one alternate history narrative while the following novel has four alternate history timelines.

In The Female Man by Joanna Russ, four identical women, separated by chance, come together for a reason revealed only at the end of the novel. The novel explores how their different upbringing shapes each of these women. It was disturbing and thought-provoking.

Female Man by Joanna Russ

One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence

Introduction

One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence is the first book in the Impossible Times Trilogy. Nick Hayes enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons (D & D) with his friends. The novel takes place in January 1986 in London, England. Nick has problems. They diagnosed him with leukemia and he likes the new girl in his D & D group, Mia, but a mysterious stranger arrives and turns his life upside down. Can Nick figure out his next move? His life and future depend on him making the right choice.

Summary

Nick friends are in his D & D group. They are Elton (the dungeon master), John (the warrior), Simon (the thief), Nick is the mage, and Mia is a priest in the group. Nick starts his chemotherapy for leukemia and thinks about his mortality. Demus is the mysterious stranger that wants Nick and Mia to do a dangerous task for him. Nick and Mia need the special talents of the kids in their group. John is wealthy, Simon is a skilled computer hacker, and Elton has a way to break into a computer facility The story is complicated by what the drug dealer Sacks wants and what the psychopath Rust wants from them.

Recommendation

I wasn’t sure where this novel was going because the cliched use of amnesia seemed unlikely. The thrilling ending saves the novel by connecting it all together. With the nostalgia angle, I thought this short novel would be more like Ready Player One, but it was not. One Word Kill is a time travel novel. It explores time travel, destiny, and paradox. I thought it interesting that the Goodreads readers shelved it as 144 Fantasy and 103 Science Fiction. In my experience, time travel was known as Science Fiction. Is this a changing of genres? What changed to make this story fantasy? Maybe readers shelved this novel as fantasy because they know Mark Lawrence as a fantasy author.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39792427-one-word-kill

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Limited Wish by Mark Lawrence. Book 2 of the Impossible Times Trilogy.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41771517-limited-wish

A similar book that uses a knowledge of the 80s a critical part of the plot is Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

This is the link to my review of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline