"I don't think I like time-travel" she said, you know, like a liar

[excaliburedpan]

The other day I was washing dishes and listening to the latest Witch, Please episode, as you do. The subject of the episode was time-travel and how it worked (or didn’t) within Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. “An OK episode all in all”, thought I, “Pity I don’t like any time-travel stories”.

This post is its own form of personal time-travel, as I turn into my own past and slap myself in the face for somehow forgetting all of my many favourite time-travel narratives. So I share them with you. (a personal note to x_los: no Doctor Who included so manage your expectations. It’s been too long and I’ve done my time, served my sentence, dated the 10^th Doctor lookalike that kept trying to speak in a Scottish accent at me despite being Greek… Maybe one day I’ll be able to go back to my Doctor Who future. Not yet.)

Without further ado!

Honourable mentions :
About Time (a good emotional film that is *not* a rom-com despite what my ex thinks)
Kate & Leopold (I have nothing but fond memories of this movie which is why I’ve not attempted to watch it in over a decade)
Doomsday Book, Connie Willis (is it better all in all that TSNotD? Maybe. Will I ever have the emotional fortitude to reread it and find out? Sources say no)
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett (listen, I know, I just like my choice better)
Time Was, Ian McDonald (I need to reread before it earns a spot)
How to Travel Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Charles Yu (see above)

Marita’s Top 7 Time-Travel Narratives.

7. Happy Death-Day: Listen there had to be a. one horror film and b. one Groundhog Day-type time travel narrative here. Luckily, Happy Death Day is both and a bloody good film besides. Horror comedy about a girl forced to relive her last day until she solves the mystery of her own murder and exposes the person that killed her. Delightful, funny, with some solid jump-scares and a few unexpectedly solid emotional beats. I love re-watching it.

6. This is how you lose the time war, Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone: Idk man, I know this is a basic bitch pick in the year of our lord 2021 but this is a good book for me. The prose, the plot (or lack thereof), the characters, the romance. It’s good. It works. I love it. I would like more of it but also I really wouldn’t

5. A Taste of Honey, Kai Ashante Wilson: I love KAW’s work and while this novella is probably not my favourite it’s a close damn call. What if I’d made a different choice type of time travel and it’s beautiful and heart-breaking and great. Some bitch tried to tell me KAW was NOT one of the best names in epic fantasy once. She was never seen again.

4. [Diana Wynne Jones Free Square] I fully cannot decide which one goes here and which is an honourable mention because I love both Time of the Ghost and Black Maria a normal amount. To say nothing of the “does this really count?” entries like Hexwood, Archer’s Goon, or The Crown of Dalemark. Suffice to say time-travel narratives loop through DWJ’s work and never fail to create interesting stories.

3. Kindred, Octavia Butler: Is there really anything to say about this book that hasn’t already been said? I loved it. I loved discussing it in class for my MLitt, I love reading scholarship about it now. Amazing use of time travel.

2. To Say Nothing of the Dog or, How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last, Connie Willis: Listen. I fucking LOVE Connie Willis when she does rom-coms and this one? This one is the best. I’m talking the BEST. Time-travelling historians go into history for the sake of ACADEMIA and get TIME TRAVEL SICK and also FALL IN LOVE (to say nothing of the dog.)

1.  Thief of Time, Terry Pratchett: This is my favourite book in the whole entire world and I will argue at length about how it’s Pratchett’s *best crafted* novel. Is it a time travel book? Well. Yes. But time travel is so baked into every single aspect of the narrative that you almost forget about it. Also, eventually I’ll use my year of rest and hyperfixation into wuxia/xianxia and Chinese SFF in general to think proper academic thoughts about Pratchett’s use of wuxia elements in Thief of Time and the problems/etc with that but for now I’m just: Brain empty/Literalizing the cinematic use of slow motion and time fuckery that is so prevalent in wuxia cinema and making it actual time slicing? Brilliant. What a fun way to play with transmedial adaptation of tropes.

 

Anyway this was me, and my time travel. If it looks like I've forgotten a big one, I'll let you in on a little secret: I probably haven't seen/read it.

Comments

[x_los]

About Time is certainly a rom com, if you like father son incest/the emotional core of the narrative.

[excaliburedpan]

when you put it like that, you're right but also: I do not like to think about it. I wish I'd thought to reply like that when the BMeX was like "it's a rom com because he is in love" and i had to explain the difference between the romance being the emotional crutch of a film and just a side piece....

[superborb]

I'm shocked bc I've somehow read none of these??

[superborb]

And I ran into the issue AGAIN with DWJ books where only the kid books are easily available from the library smh this is why I've been stymied

[excaliburedpan]

I definitely recommend them! Happy to chat more about which of them might be closer to your taste etc I know my reading habits are all over the place (also I've got a lot of digital DWJ copies if you need any,,,,,,,)