Black detective, travel forward *only* in time? trying to find the novel

[MarkJ]

Hi!

I read a novel a decade or so back about a group of wealthy people who could travel forward in time (basically by going into a kind of deep sleep for thousands of years), which also has a detective fiction twist. Ring any bells? I think this is a series. Many thanks for any info

 

[K. Riehl]

It sounds like a Walter Mosley title. I can't recall which. Sorry

 

[PaulMmn]

Check out "The Worthing Chronicle," (by Orson Scott Card) which involves a universe where people use a drug called Somec to induce suspended animation. Several volumes in the series, including Hot Sleep. The title arises from the operation of Somec, the life extension drug forming the foundation of the interstellar Empire. Somec creates an unbearable, torturous burning sensation throughout the body while pushing the patient to suspended animation. However, the Somec process exterminates the user's memory, and so these memories are recorded and stored separately shortly before they go under, to be returned to the body after they have awakened, and so the memory of the process itself cannot be retained. Thus, each Somec patient experiences the panic of burning hot sleep "for the first time" (as far as their memory goes) no matter how many times they have taken Somec before. Other volumes in the Chronicle include "Capitol," "The Worthing Chronicle," and "The Worthing Saga."

--Paul E Musselman

 

[MarkJ]

It sounds like a Walter Mosley title. I can't recall which. Sorry

Thanks very much! It isn't a Mosley book but you've reminded me that he is a great crime writer - thanks.

 

[MarkJ]

Check out "The Worthing Chronicle," (by Orson Scott Card) which involves a universe where people use a drug called Somec to induce suspended animation..."

--Paul E Musselman

Hi - thanks for this. This is not the novel I was looking for but sounds very interesting and I will go and look for them.

 

[williamjm]

Hi!

I read a novel a decade or so back about a group of wealthy people who could travel forward in time (basically by going into a kind of deep sleep for thousands of years), which also has a detective fiction twist. Ring any bells? I think this is a series. Many thanks for any info

It doesn't match all of your details, but I'm reminded a bit of Marooned In Realtime by Vernor Vinge which is a SF murder mystery where the protagonist is a black (if I remember correctly) detective and the key technological gimmick is a device that will freeze time within a sphere. That's a bit different to your description of them going into a deep sleep, and it's not the first book in a series (it's a loose sequel to The Peace War).

 

[MarkJ]

It doesn't match all of your details, but I'm reminded a bit of Marooned In Realtime by Vernor Vinge which is a SF murder mystery where the protagonist is a black (if I remember correctly) detective and the key technological gimmick is a device that will freeze time within a sphere. That's a bit different to your description of them going into a deep sleep, and it's not the first book in a series (it's a loose sequel to The Peace War).

Williamjm - thank you! Marooned in Realtime is exactly what I was thinking of, and you are right - it was a freeze time device, rather than extended sleep. Many thanks again.