Time Travel discussion

Our group read for January 15 - February 15 is The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma.

About the Book
Set in Victorian London with characters real and imagined, The Map of Time boasts a triple-play of intertwined plots in which a skeptical H.G. Wells is called upon to investigate purported incidents of time travel and thereby save the lives of an aristocrat in love with a murdered prostitute from the past; of a woman bent on fleeing the strictures of Victorian society; and of his very own wife, who may have become a pawn in a fourth-dimensional plot to murder the authors of Dracula, The Time Machine, and The War of the Worlds, in order to alter their identities and steal their fictional creations.

But what happens if we change history? Mingling fictional characters with real ones, Felix J. Palma weaves a historical fantasy as imaginative as it is exciting, a story full of love and adventure that also pays homage to the roots of science fiction while transporting its readers to a fascinating Victorian London for their own taste of time travel.

About the Author
Felix J. Palma has been unanimously acclaimed by critics as one of the most brilliant and original storytellers of our time. His devotion to the short story genre has earned him more than a hundred awards. The Map of Time is his first book to be published in the United States. It received the 2008 Ateneo de Sevila XL Prize and will be published in more than 30 countries.

I am only just starting to read this now. How is everyone else getting on?

I am off to a slow start also. Only about 15 percent done. Very interesting thus far, and a very easy read. I like the conversational style the author uses.

I did this novel in audio and I just finished it last night. I thought the variation of time travel was interstingly portrayed here.
The concept of the main branch of time and all of the smaller branches stemming out with each new decision almost made my head spin with the infinite amount of possibilities.
I now will certainly have to read some HG Wells novels and maybe a biography on him!

There is no way I can complete this book before the deadline. Any chance of delaying the next book if many others are also having a hard time finishing this one?

We often have people who are unable to finish the book before the 15th. You are welcome to take as long as you need to finish, and post your comments at a later time. The discussion thread will remain open. In fact, I recently saw someone post a comment on a book we read months ago.

Anyone have any other suggestions? I would be curious to know what others do when they need extra time to finish our monthly group read. Like Dan, I'm also having trouble finding the time to finish this month's book. So I may skip the next book club depending on which book gets selected.

Me too, Dan. You can finish it and discuss it later. Those that have read it already can respond too anytime.

However, I suspect not many people are reading this month's book read. So John, perhaps a suggestion is to commence the next book as normal but to give everyone a chance of a reset, perhaps we can make the next book a 6 week read? Because I rather we dont skip books. Maybe every 4 months we have a 6 week book read month.

I like the idea of a 6-week read on the next book to allow everyone to catch up. I was getting the sense that "The Map of Time" was going slowly for several people, and this offers a good solution.

Well, I'm far enough along in this book that I feel I can post a few somewhat intelligent questions to help get the discussion started. If you have other comments not related to these questions, please feel free to post them as well.

1) Do you think this book should be classified as time travel fiction?
2) Of the three stories featured in this book, which one is your favorite?
3) What do you think of the conversational style of the "narrarator" in this book? In paticular, what do you think about the occassional passage where the person telling these stories refers to himself (or herself) in the first person and reminds us that he (or she) knows and sees all?

Also please take a moment to rate this book as a group using the following poll:

http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/61...

1) I was wondering the same thing until I got to the third story. Unless that one takes a completely unexpected turn, which is entirely possible, I think it does fit in the category of time travel fiction.
2) I need to wait until I finish the book.
3) Something gave me the impression that this approach was intentional to mimic that of "The Time Machine." However, it has been so long since I read the latter, that I do not remember if it had a similar style. Overall, I could have done without it, but if it did intentionally follow the style of 19th century science fiction I am prepared to give it more slack.

Dan, thanks for pointing out the possible similarities in the narrative style to "The Time Machine." It's been so long since I read "The Time Machine" that I wouldn't have made the connection... if, as you say, there is one. Can anyone in the group who remembers "The Time Machine" better than Dan and I confirm or deny this connection?

*I think it is time travel fiction. Although, it takes a while, there is some actual time travel near the end! Also, time travel is an ongoing theme throughout.
*I enjoyed Claire's story the most because she is different and defiant. Tom is such a typical man, at first but falls for her despite himself!
I also liked Andrew's plight simply because I have always had a morbid fascination for Jack the Ripper. There is a movie called From Hell with Johnny Depp, that told the Ripper story very well.
*I was very amused by the nameless narrator.

Dan, I'm also still finishing the third part of the book. However, I decided to skip ahead and read the acknowledgements which talk about how "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells was such a huge influence on this book. So I'm sure that it also influenced the literary and narrative style of "The Map of Time." In fact, Palma talks about how he wanted to make this new book a tribute to Wells. This is why Wells is such a big character in each story. Interestingly, "The Time Machine" has been included at the end of the kindle version of this book for those who wish to read it. I would be curious to know if it is also included in the paperback or hardback copy of the book. If so, do any of you plan or reading "The Time Machine" since it is part of Palma's book?

I finally finished this book today, and will now answer my own questions. I also liked the second story the best despite the fact that it was esentially a love story. When I posed the question about whether to classify this as time travel fiction, I had only read the first two parts in which the time traveling turns out to be a hoax. Part three did contain the more traditional time travel element. However, I think all three stories could be classified in the time travel genre even if they don't fit the traditional model. As for the conversational style, it didn't really bother me but I did think it kind of interupted the flow of the story. If in fact that author was trying to mimic the style of "The Time Machine," then I think it was a nice touch.

I have one additional question about the end of Chapter 42 (XLII). What does the author mean when he says: "the universe they were in vanished as if it had never existed"? Is he suggesting that the parrallel universe ceased to exist and that the next chapter jumps to the unaltered timelime? Or does Wells use his time traveling ability to jump to the unaltered timeline leaving the other universe to go on without him? I don't feel like the author really explained this... at least not to my satisfaction.

I finished the book, finally, and would also say part two was my favorite. I liked the first two parts better than the third, because these two had a surprising twist, both being hoaxes. I did not like the method of time travel used in this book. I can accept almost any type of machine that allows time travel, but a genetic ability just does not do it for me. I was also not thrilled with the way the multiverse was used in this book. In this case, you can never see any effect of traveling in time, because each such event will lead to a new universe where the "change" will be the new normality. We did not follow up on any of the original timelines, we just took part in whatever new one was generated. To me, that took all of the fun out of the concept. I think this book will be a stark contrast to our new read, even though I am only a few pages into it.

I just read another short story that featured H.G. Wells as a character, but this one did not involve time travel. The story is part of a collection of Sherlock Holmes adventures written by modern day authors (The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes). This paticular story was written by Stephen Baxter who also wrote The Time Ships, which is considered the authorized sequel to The Time Machine.

The introduction to the story included this bit of trivia about Wells which I wanted to share with you all: "Wells is also important to science fiction fans because he published the first rulebook for tabletop wargaming, which was instrumental in the development of pen and pencil role-playing games (such as Dungeons & Dragons) and the immensely popular computer versions that followed."

Dan wrote: "There is no way I can complete this book before the deadline. Any chance of delaying the next book if many others are also having a hard time finishing this one?"

I only just got it from the library last week, and with other books on my plate, I am only up to page 20 or so.

Yeah, it'll be a while before I can join the conversation on this one.

About halfway through Part I, I was confused about this mashup. Now that I just finished the first part and am about 20 pages into the 2nd part, I am not only completely confused (view spoiler)[The Elephant Man? really?!? (hide spoiler)], but also depressed! So far, both parts have started with people who (view spoiler)[do not want to live (hide spoiler)]!
Someone, please tell me this gets better, or I'm just going to quit reading it and move onto something better, like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Dan wrote: "I finished the book, finally, and would also say part two was my favorite. I liked the first two parts better than the third, because these two had a surprising twist..."

Even though the topic heading says "spoilers", please use the spoiler HTML tag. Thank you.

Jamie wrote: "Someone, please tell me this gets better, or I'm just going to quit reading it and move onto something better, like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter..."

So, nobody's going to try to convince me to continuing reading this?

Jamie wrote: "So, nobody's going to try to convince me to continuing reading this?"

Finished part 2 - a little better than part 1, but (view spoiler)[still not about "genuine" time travel (hide spoiler)].

Oddly enough, nobody has been able to convince me to continue reading this, so I think I'm going to drop it completely and pick up one of my other "currently reading" books.

I just finished the book today, and I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but I found each story very entertaining. As others have mentioned, the second story was probably my favorite. I couldn't put the book down at that point - I had to see how Tom would get out the pickle he got himself into.

I was admittedly a little disappointed going into the third part, knowing that so far, none of the time travel was real, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that there actually WAS some time travel in the last act, though the explanation of how it was done irritated me (I wish people would stop perpetuating that stupid myth that we only use part of our brain). I am glad that it cleared up why Jack the Ripper was caught and convicted, which had been bugging me since I first read it.

I think the description on the book cover is very misleading, which is probably responsible for a lot of the disappointment felt by readers who were expecting something different. Granted, you do finally get to the events described on the cover, with actual time travel and all that, but having to read 500 pages to get there will no doubt turn some people off. And whoever wrote the book blurb didn't even get the name of Wells's book that would have been wiped from existence right. It would have been The Invisible Man (plus everything he wrote after that), not The Time Machine. Anyway, that's my two cents.