Time Machine (novel series)

Last updated

Time Machine is a series of children's novels published in the United States by Bantam Books from 1984 to 1989, similar to their more successful Choose Your Own Adventure line of "interactive" novels. Each book was written in the second person, with the reader choosing how the story should progress. They were designed by Byron Preiss Visual Publications.

Contents

The main difference between the Choose Your Own Adventure series and the Time Machine series was that Time Machine books featured only one ending, forcing the reader to try many different choices until they discovered it. Also, the series taught children basic history about many diverse subjects, from dinosaurs to World War II. Only the sixth book in the series, The Rings of Saturn, departed from actual history; it is set in the future, and features educational content about the solar system. Some books gave the reader their choice from a small list of equipment at the beginning, and this choice would affect events later in the book (e.g. "If you brought the pen knife, turn to page 52, if not turn to page 45. [1] "). Another main difference between the Time Machine novels and the Choose Your Own Adventure counterparts was hints offered at certain junctures, where the reader was advised to look at hints at the back of the book. An example was in Mission to World War II about the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, where the reader was given the choice of starting the mission in the Jewish ghetto or the Aryan part of Warsaw, in which the hint read "Ringelblum was Jewish", suggesting the reader should begin in the Jewish section of the city, but not ordering it, or it was possible for the hint to be missed.

The line spawned a brief spin-off series for younger readers, the Time Traveler novels.

Books

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

See also

Footnotes

  1. Mueller, Richard; World War I Flying Ace (Time Machine, No. 24); page 32

Related Research Articles

<i>Choose Your Own Adventure</i> Book series

Choose Your Own Adventure is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actions and the plot's outcome. The series was based upon a concept created by Edward Packard and originally published by Constance Cappel's and R. A. Montgomery's Vermont Crossroads Press as the "Adventures of You" series, starting with Packard's Sugarcane Island in 1976.

Hypertext fiction is a genre of electronic literature, characterized by the use of hypertext links that provide a new context for non-linearity in literature and reader interaction. The reader typically chooses links to move from one node of text to the next, and in this fashion arranges a story from a deeper pool of potential stories. Its spirit can also be seen in interactive fiction.

David John Morris is a British author of gamebooks, novels and comics and a designer of computer games and role-playing games.

A gamebook is a work of printed fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making choices. The narrative branches along various paths, typically through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages. Each narrative typically does not follow paragraphs in a linear or ordered fashion. Gamebooks are sometimes called choose your own adventure books or CYOA after the influential Choose Your Own Adventure series originally published by US company Bantam Books. Gamebooks influenced hypertext fiction.

<i>Give Yourself Goosebumps</i> Goosebumps give yourself goosebumps books

Give Yourself Goosebumps is a children's horror fiction gamebook series by R. L. Stine. After the success of the regular Goosebumps books, Scholastic Press decided to create this spin-off series in 1995. In fact, Stine had written gamebooks in previous years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nintendo gamebooks</span> Novels based on Nintendo video games

Nintendo gamebooks are novels based on video games created by Nintendo. The gamebooks feature characters and settings from the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda franchises, in two series, Nintendo Adventure Books and You Decide on the Adventure.

<i>Worlds of Power</i>

The Worlds of Power books are a series of novelizations of video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System released in the early 1990s by Scholastic. The series was created by Seth Godin and take creative liberties with their source material. They usually include game hints written upside down at the end of chapters and are written in a simplistic, easy-to-read style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Byron Preiss</span> American writer, editor, and publisher

Byron Preiss was an American writer, editor, and publisher. He founded and served as president of Byron Preiss Visual Publications, and later of ibooks Inc. Many of his projects were in the forms of graphic novels, comics, illustrated books, and children's books. Beyond traditional printed books, Preiss frequently embraced emerging technologies, and was recognized as a pioneer in digital publishing and as among the first to publish in such formats as CD-ROM books and ebooks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan North</span> Canadian writer

Ryan North is a Canadian writer and computer programmer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Endless Quest</span>

The Endless Quest books were three series of gamebooks. The first two series were released in the 1980s and 1990s by TSR, while the third series was released by Wizards of the Coast. Originally, these books were the result of an Educational department established by TSR with the intention of developing curriculum programs for subjects such as reading, math, history, and problem solving.

<i>Flight from the Dark</i> Book by Joe Dever

Flight from the Dark is the first installment in the award-winning Lone Wolf book series created by Joe Dever.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Be an Interplanetary Spy</span> Book series

Be An Interplanetary Spy is a series of twelve interactive children's science fiction books designed by Byron Preiss Visual Publications and first published by Bantam Books from 1983 to 1985.

Indiana Jones is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology, that began in 1981 with the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. In 1984, a prequel, The Temple of Doom, was released, and in 1989, a sequel, The Last Crusade. A fourth film followed in 2008, titled The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. A fifth and final film, titled The Dial of Destiny, is in production and is scheduled to be released in 2023. The series was created by George Lucas and stars Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. The first four films were directed by Steven Spielberg, who worked closely with Lucas during their production.

Fantasy Forest is a series of ten gamebooks published by TSR, Inc. from 1983 to 1984. The books are works of children's literature; eight of them are set in the fantasy world of the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game created by TSR, Inc., and two are set in TSR's science fiction world of Star Frontiers. They have been compared to other gamebook series, such as Choose Your Own Adventure or Endless Quest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Lerangis</span> American author

Peter Duncan Lerangis is an American author of children's and young adult fiction, best known for his Seven Wonders series and his work on the 39 Clues series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twistaplot</span>

Twistaplot is a series of children's gamebooks that were published by Scholastic from 1982 to 1985. Books #1, #4, #9, and #14 were written by R.L. Stine, who would go on to write the Fear Street series and the Goosebumps series, which in turn spawned the gamebook spin-off series Give Yourself Goosebumps. The remaining books were written by various authors including Louise Munro Foley. They were Scholastic's response to the Choose Your Own Adventure series. After the success of the Goosebumps series, the Twistaplot titles that were written by R. L. Stine were reissued with new covers in 1994 and 1995.

Brynne Chandler is a writer and story editor best known for her work on animated television series such as Gargoyles, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Batman: The Animated Series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, amongst many others. She was nominated for an Emmy award for her work on Batman, and was at one point the highest-paid female animation writer working in Hollywood. She also has extensive credits in writing/adapting graphic novels, as well as editing and adapting manga.