Elsewhen (1941) is a science fiction novella by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, concerning time travel and parallel universes. It was first published as Elsewhere in the September 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction , under the pen name Caleb Saunders, [1] and was reprinted in the 1953 book Assignment in Eternity , with some minor changes, and an additional character and that character's journey.
The story concerns five (originally four) diverse students who attend a philosophy seminar. The professor, Arthur Frost, explains that he learned how to use his mind to go back in time and correct a bad mistake in his life. Using hypnosis he lets them travel to alternate worlds of their choice. All the students disappear except one, Howard Jenkins. The hypnotic suggestions had no effect on him, because he could not at all believe that it was possible. He is distraught at the disappearances, but the professor assures him that they all received a hypnotic suggestion to come back in two hours.
After two hours the students start coming back, and they tell their stories. In each case, the subjective time elapsed was much longer than two hours. Some of them spent a whole lifetime in the alternate world.
The first one back is Martha Ross. She comes back as an angel. She lived as a missionary in the parallel world, died for her cause, and went to heaven. After telling her story, she disappears. (This section was not part of the original story.)
Next arrives Helen Fisher. She has traveled multiple, very improbable timelines. One of them was in prehistory, where she lived with an old Neanderthal. He was treating her fatherly, and she enjoyed the place, until she was assaulted by a young Neanderthal. Another timeline was in modern time New York City, but she entered the timeline backwards. For a short while there she moved backwards in time, until she fainted and got moved into a different timeline. Eventually she arrived in a place with an extra spatial dimension; there she realized she could see inside solid objects. She studied her own body, and performed appendectomy on herself with her nails.
After Helen finishes her story, Robert Monroe arrives. He has changed physically, having a shorter, stockier body; with this, and with his peaked hood, he calls to mind a gnome. He is seriously injured: his arm has been badly burned. He perceives his new timeline as his home. His name there is Igor and he has a sister. His world is at war with space invaders, and his sister is a military leader. The situation is dire and their side is losing. He refuses to go to hospital for his injury, so Fisher uses her knowledge of first aid to treat him. Fisher then chooses to return with him, and she helps him carry books and tools. They become a couple, though the story doesn't show any emotional buildup.
After a long wait it becomes apparent that Estelle Martin isn't coming back. Frost attempts to find her by listening to the same hypnotic-suggestion recording that she had used and by thinking about her. Jenkins watches him disappear, so that he would start believing in this possibility, and be eventually able to travel between timelines. Frost arrives on a Flash Gordon-like planet, and finds Estelle to be a priestess with the name Star Light. She refuses to go back, because she considers her new reality to be real and the old one to be a dream. Frost goes back and returns with Jenkins. As they arrive, Jenkins has turned into a native. He is a soldier with a blaster, and he knows Estelle as Star Light.
Frost returns to the original timeline and is arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and possibly murdering his students. He knows that the authorities wouldn't believe the truth, so he disappears into Robert Monroe's timeline. He stays there for a while and discovers that his theoretical knowledge is not helpful with the war efforts. The books and tools that Fisher brought were helpful, but not enough, so he travels to Estelle's and Jenkins' timeline, returning with Jenkins and his blaster. Jenkins explains the blaster's functionality and leaves his as a model. Igor is certain that the blaster technology will enable them to win the war.
Frost escorts Jenkins back to Estelle's timeline, and he decides to settle there. He plans to spend his time tutoring children and trying to develop a time theory that would explain the experiences of all five students.
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accuracy in his fiction, and was thus a pioneer of the subgenre of hard science fiction. His published works, both fiction and non-fiction, express admiration for competence and emphasize the value of critical thinking. His plots often posed provocative situations which challenged conventional social mores. His work continues to have an influence on the science-fiction genre, and on modern culture more generally.
To Sail Beyond the Sunset is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, published in 1987. It was the last novel published before his death in 1988. The title is taken from the poem "Ulysses", by Alfred Tennyson. The stanza of which it is a part, quoted by a character in the novel, is as follows:
Glory Road is a science fantasy novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, originally serialized in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and published in hardcover the same year. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1964.
" '—All You Zombies—' " is a science fiction short story by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. It was written in one day, July 11, 1958, and first published in the March 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction after being rejected by Playboy.
"By His Bootstraps" is a 20,000 word science fiction novella by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. It plays with some of the inherent paradoxes that would be caused by time travel.
"If This Goes On—" is a science fiction novella by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first serialized in 1940 in Astounding Science-Fiction and revised and expanded for inclusion in the 1953 collection Revolt in 2100. The novella shows what might happen to Christianity in the United States with mass communications, applied psychology, and a hysterical populace. The novel is part of Heinlein's Future History series.
"The Menace From Earth" is a science fiction short story by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first published in the August 1957 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
Farnham's Freehold is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. A serialised version, edited by Frederik Pohl, appeared in Worlds of If magazine. The complete version was published in novel form by G.P. Putnam later in 1964.
"The Ugly Little Boy" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the September 1958 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction under the title "Lastborn", and was reprinted under its current title in the 1959 collection Nine Tomorrows. The story deals with a Homo neanderthalensis child which is brought to the future by means of time travel. Robert Silverberg later expanded it into a novel with the same title published in 1992.
The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag is a science fantasy novella by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. It was originally published in the October 1942 issue of Unknown Worlds magazine under the pseudonym of "John Riverside". The novella also lends its title to a collection of Heinlein's short stories published in 1959.
"Solution Unsatisfactory" is a 1941 science fiction short story by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. It describes the US effort to build a nuclear weapon in order to end the ongoing World War II, and its dystopian consequences to the nation and the world.
"The Frost-Giant's Daughter" is one of the original fantasy short stories about Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard.
Variable Star is a 2006 science fiction novel by American author Spider Robinson, based on the surviving seven pages of an eight-page 1955 novel outline by the late Robert A. Heinlein. The book is set in a divergent offshoot of Heinlein's Future History and contains many references to works by Heinlein and other authors. It describes the coming of age of a young musician who signs on to the crew of a starship as a way of escaping from a failed romance. Robinson posted a note on his website in 2009 noting that his agent had sold a trilogy of sequels based on the novel and its characters.
Only Human is a BBC Books original novel written by Gareth Roberts and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was published on 8 September 2005, alongside The Deviant Strain and The Stealers of Dreams. It features the Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler and Captain Jack.
Wayne Duncan is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Jonathon Sammy-Lee. He made his first screen appearance as Wayne during the episode broadcast on 4 February 1993. Wayne becomes a chemistry teacher at Erinsborough High with an unorthodox approach. He is arrogant, intelligent and articulate – all traits that make him confident in arguments. A country man and strong believer in violence when protecting property – Wayne's attitude and gun possession polarized the way other characters viewed him. He has a destructive romance with Gaby Willis. The pair enjoy sparring throughout their relationship but eventually realise they need to separate.
The Heinlein juveniles are the science-fiction novels written by Robert A. Heinlein for Scribner's young-adult line. Each features "a young male protagonist entering the adult world of conflict, decisions, and responsibilities." Together, they tell a loosely connected story of space exploration. Scribner's published the first 12 between 1947 and 1958, but rejected the 13th, Starship Troopers. That one was instead published by Putnam. A 14th novel, Podkayne of Mars, is sometimes listed as a "Heinlein juvenile", although Heinlein himself did not consider it to be one.
Off the Main Sequence: The Other Science Fiction Stories of Robert A. Heinlein (ISBN 1-58288-184-7) is a collection of 27 short stories by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, including three that were never previously collected in book form.
The Keyhole is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy-drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Kay Francis, George Brent, Glenda Farrell and Allen Jenkins. It was released by Warner Bros. on March 25, 1933. A woman with two husbands tries to divorce one of them by heading down to Havana where things get more complicated.
The Beloved Brat is a 1938 American comedy-drama film directed by Arthur Lubin and starring Bonita Granville, Dolores Costello, and Donald Crisp. The screenplay was written by Lawrence Kimble from an original story by Jean Negulesco.
High Tension is a 1936 American comedy drama film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Brian Donlevy, Glenda Farrell, and Norman Foster. It was released by 20th Century Fox on July 17, 1936. The film was based on the story written by J. Robert Bren and Norman Houston.