Island In The Sea Of Time (Mass Market Paperback)

In this novel, Nantucket Island is enclosed in a elliptical dome of fire in March, 1998 AD, and transported back in time to 1249 BC. The Coast Guard training ship Eagle is also trapped in the dome and is taken back in time with the island. Various people recognize that the stars have changed, but Doreen Rosenthal, an astronomy intern for the Margaret Milson Association, is the first on the island to determine their situation, using her scope and stellar progression software to match the current star pattern.

The dome of fire caused some panic, but not much rioting; New Englanders tend to be a phlegmatic lot and it was a little early for the "coofs" to arrive. However, the loss of contact with the twentieth century caused widespread depression, with some suicides among people now separated from their families. Even the Eagle lost her executive officer.

After the excitement died down a bit, the islanders and their fellow exiles in time began to plan for the future. Three fishing boats were in harbor at the time of the event and cod is thick in the surrounding waters. Luckily, Nantucket also had some truck farms dealing in speciality items as well as family gardens, but these farms needed to be greatly expanded to offset the loss of off-island food sources. Moreover, fabricated goods would have to be produced on the island, recycled from existing materiel, or replaced with something else.

Petroleum products, for example, are very limited on the island. However, the islanders can return to whaling, for these sea mammals are very plentiful in this time. Although some of the islanders preferred another approach, whaling was the most feasible alternative for fuel and for food.

Since Cape Cod and the mainland are populated by basically neolithic natives, the islanders make minimal contact with them. However, Europe is currently developing a cottage industry that could supply them with metal and fabric stocks. The Eagle is sent to England -- the Tin Isles -- to explore trade possibilities and there they met other traders from the Mediterranean.

This story is an alternate history much like de Camp's Lest Darkness Fall, where contemporary people accidently travel back in time to create a nexus from which one or more additional timelines diverge. Their sheer presence will change the future, but as they develop anachronistic solutions to their survival problems, the timelines diverge even more radically. What will the future bring?

Other reviews have complained about the personality and actions of the various characters. Since there is plenty of historical evidence of similiar behavior in our own past (and present), what should the author have done? He is not writing an utopia (nor a dystopia), but an adventure story of castaways in time. Maybe these other reviewers ought to study the behavior of castaways and learn something about the real world?

Highly recommended for Stirling and de Camp fans and for anyone who enjoys tales of exiles in time recreating the world to meet their needs and expectations.

-Arthur W. Jordin

The island has a chance if everyone pulls together and police chief-turned political leader Jared Cofflin and coast guard captain Marian Alston do their best to ensure that everyone does so. Unfortunately, human nature rarely allows pure altrusim. In the case of Nantucket, there are those who want to carve out their own kingdom and those who want to prevent the re-creation of western culture. Either could be dangerous. Together, the two forces might just scuttle any hopes for survival--let alone return to the days of the hot shower.

Author S. M. Stirling writes an exciting story. A small city like Nantucket has close to the critical mass needed for modern civilization, but lacks the raw materials that are essential to our lives. As the time travellers contact other people, their risk grows. Stirling personalizes Cofflin and Alston, making the reader care about these characters and their attempts to recreate order in the midst of madness. Fans of military SF will enjoy the battle scenes as the Nantucket residents create effective military technology without access to gunpowder or smokeless powder.

I especially enjoyed Stirling's descriptions of the celtic war bands. With echos of Homer and the Germanic invasions of the late Roman period, the war leaders were proud, generous to followers, and quick to adopt a new military technology. Stirling also hinted at some interesting philosophical questions by setting modern (mostly Christian) people in a world centuries before Jesus, Mohammed, or Plato would be born.