In Anderson's Operation Chaos, when Valeria Matuchek is abducted to the hell universe, her rescuers arrive there before she does.
Thus, each universe has its own distinct time dimension. If I stop reading one book at p.100, then I can start reading another book from p. 1, not necessarily from p.101. Similarly, if I leave this universe and spend half an hour in another, then I am not obliged to return to this universe exactly half an hour after I left it.
However, since it takes a long time for Holger to return to the Carolingian universe, it is legitimate for Harry Turtledove to write a story ("The Man Who Came Late") about the passage of time, thus about Holger arriving back thirty years later.
Other authors would have written different kinds of sequels.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, but I'm still not wholly convinced Turtledove's premise in "The Man Who Came Late" about Holger Danske returning to the Carolingian universe thirty years after the events in THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS was "correct." Holger was definitely not that much older when we see him in A MIDSUMMER TEMPEST--and he was being taught by Valeria how to more efficiently travel between alternate worlds. Both of which indicates, to me, that Anderson did not think of Holger needing an unusually long period of time to get back to Alianora.
At most, the Holger interlude in A MIDSUMMER TEMPEST gives Turtledove some room for his premise in "The Man Who Came Late."
I think it also makes sense to assume that, unless you can "time" it, if you leave this universe and then come back, it will not necessarily be a few seconds after leaving it.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment