This article does not cite any sources . (July 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
First edition | |
Author | Richard Bach |
---|---|
Subject | Metaphysics, Alternate worlds |
Published | 1988, William Morrow |
Media type | |
Pages | 400 |
ISBN | 044020562X |
One is a 1988 novel by Richard Bach about what could happen in an alternate world. The characters are based on Bach and his wife, Leslie Parrish.
The author Richard and his wife Leslie have come under a spell of quantum physics. As a result, they find themselves in an alternate world, existing in different incarnations at the same time. First it is as if they were themselves, but living sixteen years in the past, on the day that they first met. In this alternate version of their lives they do not wed, and neither finds the happiness that they've achieved in their actual life. In another universe they find a world without war, where both Leslie and Richard are pilots in nonviolent war games. In a trip to the past they meet Attila the Hun. In another world they meet a saint who has discovered the meaning of life, but immediately burns the evidence, knowing that it would only cause division and ultimately, holy war. They meet the spirit who gives Richard his writing inspiration. They travel to a world where Richard is a bitter, dying man; a world where Leslie has left Richard; and a world where Leslie has died in a plane crash and Richard contemplates suicide.
Alternate history, alternative history, or simply althist, sometimes abbreviated as AH, is a genre of speculative fiction consisting of stories in which one or more historical events occur differently. These stories usually contain "what if" scenarios at crucial points in history and present outcomes other than those in the historical record. The stories are conjectural but are sometimes based on fact. Alternate history has been seen as a subgenre of literary fiction, science fiction, or historical fiction; alternate history works may use tropes from any or all of these genres. Another term occasionally used for the genre is "allohistory".
Richard Phillips Feynman was an American theoretical physicist, known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as his work in particle physics for which he proposed the parton model. For contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 jointly with Julian Schwinger and Shin'ichirō Tomonaga.
Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a widely recognized concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. The idea of a time machine was popularized by H. G. Wells's 1895 novel The Time Machine.
Mister Fantastic is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a founding member of the Fantastic Four. Richards possesses a mastery of mechanical, aerospace and electrical engineering, chemistry, all levels of physics, and human and alien biology. BusinessWeek listed Mister Fantastic as one of the top ten most intelligent fictional characters in American comics. He is the inventor of the spacecraft that was bombarded by cosmic radiation on its maiden voyage, granting the Fantastic Four their powers. Richards gained the ability to stretch his body into any shape he desires.
The Master is a recurring character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its associated spin-off works. The character is a renegade alien Time Lord and the archenemy of the title character the Doctor.
Parallel universe, also known as an alternate universe, or alternate reality, is a hypothetical self-contained plane of existence, co-existing with one's own. The sum of all potential parallel universes that constitute reality is often called a "multiverse".
The Years of Rice and Salt is an alternate history novel by American science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson, published in 2002. The novel explores how world history might have been different if the Black Death plague had killed 99 percent of Europe's population, instead of a third as it did in reality. Divided into ten parts, the story spans hundreds of years, from the army of the Muslim conqueror Timur to the 21st century, with Europe being re-populated by Muslim pioneers, the indigenous peoples of the Americas forming a league to resist Chinese and Muslim invaders, and a 67-year-long world war being fought primarily between Muslim states and the Chinese and their allies. While the ten parts take place in different times and places, they are connected by a group of characters that are reincarnated into each time but are identified to the reader by the first letter of their name being consistent in each life.
Rêve: the Dream Ouroboros is a French fantasy tabletop role-playing game created by Denis Gerfaud and re-published in English by Malcontent Games. It is the translation of Rêve de Dragon, a best-selling game in France.
The Doctor is the title character in the long-running BBC science fiction television programme Doctor Who. Since the show's inception in 1963, the character has been portrayed by thirteen lead actors. In the programme, "the Doctor" is the alias assumed by a millennia-old humanoid alien called a Time Lord who travels through space and time in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. The transition to each succeeding actor is explained within the show's narrative through the plot device of "regeneration", a biological function of the Time Lord race that allows a change of cellular structure and appearance with recovery following a potentially fatal injury.
Timeline is a science fiction novel by American writer Michael Crichton, his twelfth under his own name and twenty-second overall, published in November 1999. It tells the story of a group of history students who travel to 14th-century France to rescue their professor. The book follows in Crichton's long history of combining science, technical details, and action in his books, this time addressing quantum and multiverse theory.
Mel, also sometimes referred to as Melanie, is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A computer programmer from the 20th century who is a companion of the Sixth and Seventh Doctors, she was a regular in the programme from 1986 to 1987. Her family name was never revealed on-screen, but production notes and promotional literature refer to her as Melanie Bush. She was portrayed by Bonnie Langford. Mel appeared in six stories and is the penultimate companion of the classic series.
The Coming of the Quantum Cats is a 1986 science fiction novel by American writer Frederik Pohl. It was originally serialized in Analog science-fiction magazine, January–April 1986.
The Power of Five is a series of five fantasy and suspense novels, written by English author Anthony Horowitz and published between 2005 and 2012. It is an updated re-imagining of Horowitz's Pentagram series, which the author had left unfinished in the 1980s. The series is published in the United Kingdom by Walker Books Ltd and in the United States by Scholastic Press. The novels deal heavily in the occult and examples of things such as human sacrifice and blood rituals are major plot elements, such as in the first book, where Matthew Freeman is hunted by a Cult who want to conduct a blood sacrifice on him to blast open a portal using a combination of nuclear physics and black magic, to unlock another dimension which is holding a group of ancient evil demons captive.
"Random Quest" is a science fiction short story, which is also a love story, by British writer John Wyndham. It was included in his 1961 collection Consider Her Ways and Others. It has been dramatised three times, twice under its original name and once as "Quest for Love".
Jane Foster is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly depicted as a supporting character of the superhero Thor Odinson. Created by writers Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #84. For many years, Foster was a nurse, employed by Dr. Donald Blake, Thor's first mortal host, before becoming a doctor herself. Foster is later revealed to be deemed worthy to wield Thor's hammer Mjolnir when the former is no longer able. During this period, she adopts the mantle of Thor, and joins the Avengers. Foster's stint as Thor ends with the character sacrificing her life and the mantle reverting to the original Thor. After Brunnhilde and the rest of the Valkyrior are killed during "The War of the Realms" storyline, Foster takes up the mantle of Valkyrie.
Old Man Logan is an alternative version of the Marvel Comics character Wolverine. This character is an aged version of Wolverine set in an alternate future universe designated Earth-807128, where the supervillains overthrew the superheroes. Introduced as a self-contained story arc within the Wolverine ongoing series by writer Mark Millar and artist Steve McNiven, the character became popular with fans. After the Death of Wolverine, X-23 took the Wolverine mantle but an Old Man Logan from the similar Earth-21923 was brought in to serve as an X-Man and featured in his own ongoing series.
The Eighth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Paul McGann.
Erekosë is a character in author Michael Moorcock's fantasy novel The Eternal Champion. He is an incarnation of Moorcock's character the Eternal Champion. Like many of those incarnations, he can remember flashes of alternative lives, something that frequently causes him great distress.
Scott Lang is a character portrayed by Paul Rudd in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film franchise, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name and known commonly by his alter ego, Ant-Man. As of 2019, the character is a prominent figure of the MCU, having appeared in four films from his introduction in Ant-Man up to Avengers: Endgame, with references to the character or snippets of archival footage appearing in several other films. Lang will also appear in the upcoming Disney+ animated series What If...?, as well as the upcoming film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.