Time Travel

I’m guessing there’s a certain strange tweak in the psyche of those of us fascinated by the idea of time travel. For some, it may be the idea of possibly going back and changing history (which could be sort of an oxymoron) or some other esoteric reason.

My imagination is fueled by the idea of such travel, whether it be forward—which probably fits into the science fiction realm—or backward, which my interest leans toward. I wonder: what exactly did they (the people) wear? What did they eat and how did they cook it? What sort of emotions did they have and how did they express them? What was their health like and how did they treat sickness, broken bones, burns, etc.? What did their homes look like and how were they furnished?

We know some of the answers to these questions, depending on how far back we research and depending on written records of varying sorts. But without imagination the people of those times—whatever historical era we’re interested in—cannot come alive to us.

Recently, I have enjoyed reading Randy Ingermanson’s first book in his trilogy “City of God”. With his background as a physicist,  his main characters travel back in time through a “wormhole” with ample scientific jargon to impress this reader who is totally lacking in any physics background.  Interestingly enough, Ingermanson's time travelers are aimed specifically for the first century AD. (You'll have to read the book to find out why.)

Diane Gabaldon, on the other hand, sends her time travelers through certain large rocks, I’ll call them “standing stones” for lack of a better term—like on a smaller order of Stonehenge. They also have to travel at specific times of the year. Her Outlander books are totally captivating and the time transport quite believable—if you have an active imagination.  However, her characters can never be sure what historical era they may end up in.

The Outlander (her first book in the series) has now been made into a TV show broadcast on Starz  and the first installment was available to watch on FaceBook, which I did. I thought it stayed true to the book and because of the history of Culloden and beyond (the 1700s) which is where Gabaldon sent her heroine, the series could continue on for several seasons if the show makes adequate money for the producers.

If any of you readers have favorite time travel authors/books/movies, please share with us. I have seen some time travel movies on the Hallmark channel and remember at least one story back when I was reading Readers Digest Condensed Book. But I don’t know of any authors of that ilk that have made names for themselves in the genre of time travel (other than the ones mentioned above) so I look forward to hearing from you.