Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Tourist
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1962
WEBSITE:
CITY: Brighton, England
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
au blog: https://robertdickinson.wordpress.com/ * http://www.myriadeditions.com/creator/robert-dickinson/ * http://www.concatenation.org/frev/dickinson_tourist.html
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2008175283
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2008175283
HEADING: Dickinson, Robert, 1962-
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100 1_ |a Dickinson, Robert, |d 1962-
670 __ |a Talbot, J. Path of miracles, c2005: |b caption (text, Robert Dickinson)
670 __ |a Signum Records WWW site, Nov. 25, 2008: |b catalogue (Robert Dickinson; b. 1962, London; poet, lyricist, playwright) |u http://www.signumrecords.com/catalogue/sigcd078/credits.htm
670 __ |a The tourist, 2016: |b t.p. (Robert Dickinson)
670 __ |a amazon.com, viewed on 02-01-2017: |b (Robert Dickinson; lives in Brighton, England; His two previous novels were published by a small press. The tourist is his third novel)
670 __ |a robertdickinson.wordpress.com, viewed on 02-01-2017: |b (Robert Dickinson; author of Micrographia (Waterloo Press, 2010),and two novels: The Noise of Strangers and The Schism (both Myriad Editions). He lives in Brighton)
PERSONAL
Born 1962.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, novelist, and poet. Has worked in a succession of office jobs.
AVOCATIONS:Reading and listening to music.
WRITINGS
Also coauthor with Andrew Dilger of the poetry collection titled Szyzgy and author of a comedy drama titled Murder’s Last Case. Author of the libretto for the choral work Path of Miracles by Joby Talbot.
SIDELIGHTS
Robert Dickinson is a novelist and poet. Dickinson’s two volumes of poetry are titled Micrographia and Szyzgy, the latter coauthored with Andrew Dilger. He is also the author of a comedy drama and a libretto for the choral work Path of Miracles by Joe Talbot.
The Noise of Strangers
In his debut novel, The Noise of Strangers, Dickinson tells the story of a dystopian future city named Brighton where patronage and armed force rule. Civil conflict has resulted in a breakdown in society where government workers and the elite live in guarded, gated communities to protect themselves from the Scoomers, who drive around the streets in beat up cars. The only major employers are the government Council and the Amex company.
Four couples who are part of the elite class meet regularly for dinner parties, trying to keep a semblance of middle class life. However, they rarely discuss anything of importance because they basically do not trust each other. When Jack and Denise are driving home after one party, they see a a fatal car crash in which a Councilor is killed. The death of the Councilor results in a special election that leads to intrigue within the circles of the elite and a uprising of violence that threatens everyone’s security. “I loved the structure of The Noise of Strangers – it flits between ‘standard’ narrative, transcripts of phonecalls and meetings, inter-departmental memos, sinister notes, and articles from an underground newspaper,” noted a TheBookbag.co.uk Web site contributor.
The Schism
In his next novel, titled The Schism, Dickinson tells the story of Patrick Farrell, whose job is to scour the streets of London in search of missing debtors and to repossess credit cards. Meanwhile, Patrick’s schizophrenic brother, Mike, is hospitalized. Convinced that he is being watched, Mike spends his time staring out the hospital windows except in the evenings when Patrick visits him. Patrick is eventually introduced to Jane, and the couple start a romance. It is Jane who introduces Patrick to some of her friends who are interested in the occult.
Patrick has little interest or belief int he occult, but Jane’s friends seem to be nice people. However, they are strange and claim to be able to see the future. Patrick pays little attention to their prognostications. Still, Patrick is bothered by the beliefs of Joshua Painter, who he keeps running into even though the others have basically dropped him from the group.
“The writing is absolutely fine but I wish that the plot had been just a little bit darker,” wrote a contributor to the Eloquent Page Web site. Writing for Newbooks Online, Debbie Mika pointed out that the the novel presents three particular schisms involving witchcraft, science or tradition; madness and reality; and the known world and other more occult worlds. Mika went on to write: “These are all comprehensively covered during the novel.”
The Tourist
In his novel titled The Tourist, Dickinson examines various aspects of time travel via the a story set in the future where people can take tourism trips back from the twenty-third century to the past. Traveling back in time, however, takes some adjustment. The tourist clients of the Tri-Millennium travel agency are encouraged to just take a look around for an hour or so to adjust to differences in dialects and terms. Nevertheless, they tend to stand out from the crowd. The places they visit are located in the same place where the Number Cities they call home are located in the future.
Travel agency rep Spens has led a group to the twenty-first century only to realize upon returning that one of the client’s is missing. To make matters worse, the missing woman is an ex-convict jailed for sabotage and murder Furthermore, the woman had previously been trained as an agent for the Defense Committee. Even more troubling is that the records show the woman never went missing.
The story is told in a split narration. Spens tells the tale in the first person and readers quickly learn that one of the travel agent’s goals is to go back to December 22, 1808 and see a specific Beethoven concert. The missing tourist also supplies a narrative in the second person. “We have two overlapping stories that must meet at some point and lead to the start again,” wrote a contributor to TheBookbag.co.uk Web site, adding: “This invariably creates complications and some of the actions taken by the characters are with the knowledge they are only doing it as to not affect the past.”
Spens is charged with the task of finding the missing tourist. As the story unfolds, Spens discovers that the woman may be on a mission to change the future. The only problem is Spens is not sure whether she is part of a time traveling terrorist group. As a result, the question is whether the missing tourist wants to end humanity or save it.
“The leaps of time, identity, and chronology create a dark, chillingly claustrophobic atmosphere,” wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor. Michele Leber, writing for Booklist, remarked: “Dickinson has created a bleak future world and spins a plot most appropriate for readers who appreciate ambiguity.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, October 1, 2016, Michele Leber, review of The Tourist, p. 35.
Publishers Weekly, August 29, 2016, review of The Tourist, p. 68.
ONLINE
100 Percent Rock Magazine, http://magazine.100percentrock.com/ (November 19, 2016), Steph O’Connell, review of The Tourist.
Bookbag, http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/ (May 30, 2017), review of The Noise of Strangers and The Tourist.
Book Plank, http://thebookplank.blogspot.com/ (September 20, 2016), “Author Interview with Robert Dickinson.”
Concatenation, http://www.concatenation.org/ (May 30, 2017), review of The Tourist.
Eloquent Page, http://www.theeloquentpage.co.uk/ (March 14, 2013), review of The Schism.
For Winter Nights, https://forwinternights.wordpress.com/ (October 20, 2016), review of The Tourist.
Girly Book Club, http://girlybookclub.com/ (December 21, 2016), review of The Tourist.
Newbooks Online, http://www.newbooksmag.com/ (May 31, 2017), Debbie Mika, review of The Schism.
Pulped Machina, https://pulpedmachina.com/ (January 18, 2017), review of The Tourist.
Robert Dickinson Home Page, https://robertdickinson.wordpress.com (May 29, 2017).
SciFi Now, https://www.scifinow.co.uk/ (October 20, 2016), Steve Wright, review of The Tourist.
SFcrowsnest, http://sfcrowsnest.org.uk/ (October 24, 2016), review of The Tourist.
Washington Times Online, http://www.washingtontimes.com/ (October 18, 2016), Jeff Ayers, review of The Tourist.*
is the author of Micrographia (Waterloo Press, 2010),and two novels: The Noise of Strangers and The Schism (both Myriad Editions). He lives in Brighton.
Robert Dickinson is the author of two novels, The Noise of Strangers, published in 2010, and The Schism, published in 2013. He is also the author of two volumes of poetry, Micrographia and Szyzgy (with Andrew Dilger), a comedy drama, Murder’s Last Case, and the libretto for Joby Talbot’s choral work Path of Miracles. He lives in Brighton.
Author interview with Robert Dickinson
Author interview with Robert Dickinson
Hi Robert, welcome over to thebookplank and for taking your time to answer these few questions for us!
BP: First off, can you tell us a bit more as to who Robert Dickinson is, what are your likes/dislikes and hobbies?
RD: I’ve had a succession of office jobs, most of which involved spreadsheets. Whenever I’ve joined any kind of artistic association they usually ask me to be treasurer. This possibly tells you something. When I’m not pretending to understand lists of numbers I read, listen to music, attempt to write, and worry about how much time I spend watching television – did I really need to watch that episode of CSI: Cyber? I could have listened to that Ligeti string quartet or memorised two or three Russian words. Instead I find myself admiring the cast’s ability to keep a straight face while they explain cybercrime to each other. Apart from the mild self-loathing induced by rubbish television most of my dislikes are related to politics and the kind of language used by politicians, not to mention the kind of language they provoke me to use.
BP: The Tourist is your debut novel, what gave you the idea to start writing this book?
RD: I’d previously had two novels published by an independent publisher. The Tourist is my first science fiction novel. The idea for this one came out of the blue. I remember waking up from a dream that involved travelling back to 1960s Paris and from that started thinking about the idea of time travel. As somebody once said, we know it’s impossible because if it was possible we’d have met travellers from the future. Well, what if it was possible and we did meet travellers? I thought about it over the course of a Sunday morning and realised I had enough to make a start.
BP: Pursuing the career as an author is chancy road, what gave you the motivation to pick up the pen and start writing?
RD: The first things I ever had published were poems. That soon reconciles you to the idea of never making a living from writing. I started because I had ideas for things that seemed original, if only to me. In the last few years I’d built up enough savings to be able to take extended breaks from work. That gave me the time to write.
BP: Starting to write novel takes a lot of planning how did you went about writing The Tourist?
RD: By that Sunday afternoon I had the basic idea. I let it simmer for a few days and then started writing. I was certain I’d be able to iron out any inconsistencies as I went. When you start anything you need a certain misplaced optimism.
BP: if you look back on writing The Tourist, what did you find the hardest?
RD: There are two plot strands running through the book. The hardest part was balancing these. You don’t want one to overwhelm the other, and you want to keep both interesting, but in different ways.
BP: Besides the hardest part, which part came to you the easiest?
RD: The tone of the principle narrator. Once you have a tone of voice, a lot of the rest follows.
BP: Which character, scene or chapter did you enjoy writing about the most?
RD: There’s a minor character called Ivan. The narrator doesn’t like him, and it was fun to write about his dislike. Maybe I’ll write something from Ivan’s point of view.
BP: The Tourist will be published on the 20th of October, if you could rewrite or change one scene in the book would you do it? If yes what would you chance and why?
RD: If it was still in my hands I’d probably find something. You don’t finish books: you either get fed up with them or somebody takes them away from you. I trust the editor’s judgement. Perhaps in five years I’ll look back and see what could be different. Or I’ll just use that to write a different book.
BP: The Tourist is about 23rd century tourist visiting the same place a few centuries earlier. If you would be given the chance to visit an earlier century, which one would it be and why?
RD: Ignoring the health risks, the 13th century. As travel destinations go it’s relatively unspoilt (the Renaissance would be full of students on a gap year).
BP: Writing about future and time travel is a tricky bit, there must always be implications, did you find any of did particular hard, by just one movement the future can be altered and the time traveller might never have been born, how did you keep track of things?
RD: The trickiness was something I decided to revel in. It’s even mentioned in the book that the people have two new tenses – one for actions in the future that have already been completed, and another for actions in the past that haven’t yet been undertaken (because that person hasn’t yet been sent back). The characters generally believe they can’t alter the future – anything they do in the past is part of the history they’ve developed from. The problems arise when there isn’t anything in their records. What are they supposed to do then? It’s the same problem faced by people who belong to the era they’re visiting; the travellers are just less used to it. Generally I kept track of the developments in my head, though I occasionally had to go back – or forward – to check that a character hadn’t developed inappropriate foreknowledge of events.
BP: If you would have to sell The Tourist with a single sentence, how would it go?
RD: On and on and on.
BP: which authors and which stories are your source of inspiration?
RD: I’ll steal from anybody. I was impressed by Felix Gilman’s The Half-Made World and inspired by Naomi Foyle’s turn to activist science fiction in her Gaia Chronicles. Other current favourites include Vanished Kingdoms by Norman Davies and the poetry of Karen Solie. There’s also the negative inspiration – where you read or see something and think: No, that’s a mistake or That’s a missed opportunity. Films are good for this.
BP: And last but not least, can you give us a sneak peek of what will be instore for us in The Tourist?
RD: A fed-up travel rep’s account of early 21st century England, terrorism, and some hints about happens after civilisation-as-we-know-it collapses.
BP: Thank you very much for your time Robert and good luck with writing your next book!
The Tourist
Michele Leber
Booklist.
113.3 (Oct. 1, 2016): p35.
COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
The Tourist.
By Robert Dickinson.
Oct. 2016. 368p. Redhook, $26 (9780316399425).
In the mid-twenty-fourth century--long after a series of calamitous events ended civilization as it was known--time travel is common, with the
early twenty-first century a popular destination. Tri-Millennium rep Spens is escorting a group to the "21st" when he discovers, on the return, that
he has lost one client. And this is not just any client but a woman who had been selected to be trained by the Defense Committee but was
eventually imprisoned for a host of offenses, including sabotage and murder. In this world it is not permissible to try to change the past during
travel to it, nor is it possible to change future events even though they are known. The narrative of Spens--who wants to go back for a Beethoven
concert on December 22, 1808--is in the first person, while the tourist's is in the second person, and inevitably the two threads converge.
Dickinson has created a bleak future world and spins a plot most appropriate for readers who appreciate ambiguity.--Michele Leber
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Leber, Michele. "The Tourist." Booklist, 1 Oct. 2016, p. 35. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA467148032&it=r&asid=069809427689e955d33c7ac8054eb000. Accessed 14 May
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A467148032
---
5/14/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1494816453215 2/2
The Tourist
Publishers Weekly.
263.35 (Aug. 29, 2016): p68.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Tourist
Robert Dickinson. Redhook, $26 (368p) ISBN 978-0-316-39942-5
British author Dickinson makes his U.S. debut with a murky, dystopian thriller, which depicts a 24th-century world replete with brutal,
militaristic societies of slaves and biomechanically enhanced superhumans. Time-travel technology allows visits to eras before the NEE (Near
Extinction Event), which transformed the world and its surviving inhabitants. Spens is a guide at a time-travel "resort," where tourists can visit
early 21st-century England. When a visitor vanishes from a group excursion, Spens must pursue her. He slowly realizes that his quarry may be an
agent from another time whose actions in the past may change the future, causing humanity's near annihilation--or preventing it.
The leaps of time, identity, and chronology create a dark, chillingly claustrophobic atmosphere, but the choppy chronology and elaborate sci-fi
imaginings overshadow and obscure the plot and meaningful character development. "Travel is confusing," is a frequent refrain, and the same can
be said for this ambitious but unsatisfying vision of the future. Agent: Oli Munson, A.M. Heath (U.K.). (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Tourist." Publishers Weekly, 29 Aug. 2016, p. 68. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA462236431&it=r&asid=bb3a3a2c6d3cd0d22d708799a98a985a. Accessed 14 May
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A462236431
Time travel in any format is a tricky business. In the real world it is pretty much impossible, or we would all be reading about how people from the future kept trying to assassinate Hitler, but he managed to avoid them. In film, time travel can be super cool and lead to some mind bending adventures, but spend a few moments unbending your mind and you discover more plot holes than an entire Terminator Tetralogy. In the written form this is even worse as you don't have the visual splendour to distract the eye. The key to time travel in science fiction is to keep it simple. Or you could just ignore this advice and write The Tourist.
The novel opens with a prisoner sometime in the future. We don't know where she has been or what she has done. We do know that the authorities want her to travel to a distant city to help them find some missing travellers. Parallel to this tale is that of Spens, a tourist guide who has been sent back from the future to early 20th Century Britain to show future tourists around a typical shopping centre. When one of his charges goes missing he finds himself no longer giving a guided tour of Britain, but having to chase a potential time criminal.
By their very nature many time travel books are circular; the beginning informs the end, which in term informs the beginning again. In fact, for the book to work everything must lead to a point that you already know. Robert Dickinson does have some fun with his idea by creating a group of inter-time terrorists who are trying to alter the future by messing with previous events. However, rather than being something that actually may work, they are seem as idiots who don't understand science. In fact, Dickinson goes as far as to play very close to the rules of time travel.
For a devotee of the genre, this plays well to the audience. We have two overlapping stories that must meet at some point and lead to the start again. This invariably creates complications and some of the actions taken by the characters are with the knowledge they are only doing it as to not affect the past. All a little confusing and when it comes down to it, not that much fun. A book as rigid as 'The Tourist' abandons the fun that can be had by messing up the rules and instead sticks to them. This leads to one of the blandest endings to a book I have read in a long time.
Despite my many misgivings with the structure of the book, science fiction fans will still gain some joy from the well-designed world building by Dickinson. An alternative present day that has visitors from the future is an intriguing one and I love the fact that they only come back to gape at the backward yokels. If Dickinson has kept to one character to follow, or simplified the story even further, there would have been enough in the world alone to make the book entertaining. As it is, the complexities and rules of time travel are followed and this leads to a book that does not follow the most interesting direction for the reader, but is compelled to conclude in the only way it can – dryly.
Complex mind bending science fiction can be entertaining too as Afterparty by Daryl Gregory attests, but Zero World by Jason M Hough shows that Dickinson is not the first author to lose their way.
t is the near future and we are getting time-travelling visitors from the 23rd century coming to see what life was like back in the 21st. Our protagonist is attached to 'Happiness' and is a rep for the Tri-Millennium tourism company – a cheap rate version of the more classier Heritage package holiday operation – that operates out of Resort 4, a huge domed complex somewhere presumably in the Home counties outside of London.
We (the readers) soon learn that the locals (21st century natives) are very aware of their tourist visitors and that they are from the future (though a few still think that time travel is science fiction). We also soon learn (though the natives are unaware) that in the decades to come there will be a near extinction event (NEE) and that one of the things that attracts the tourists from 23rd is that ours is a pre-NEE, populous time of plenty with people living out in the open air.
Our tourist rep, Spens, is in charge of a group on a visit to a shopping mall. He is aware that in a few weeks time he will be sent back to the 23rd having broken some – to him as yet unknown – protocol or other: he does not know what as people's timeline records are not fully available to themselves, presumably to prevent paradoxes. He is also aware that their coach on the way back to Resort 4 will have a minor accident with another vehicle. The tourists onboard are eagerly awaiting the impending accident, unconcerned as they too are in the full knowledge that it will be inconsequential but is an anticipated moment of excitement. Except that the problem is that it isn't: during the itinerary break caused by the accident, one of the tourists wanders off and is unaccounted. As a result Spens gets an unofficial secondment to 'Safety' and charged with locating and bringing back the missing tourist. Yet what seems to be a reasonably routine affair soon spirals out of control when Spens discovers two locals are also after the tourist and that despite his, and his boss at Resort 4's, best efforts the tourist remains absent: it seems as if the tourist going missing was deliberate! The question then becomes one of not only locating the tourist but finding out what the tourist was hoping to do and achieve. This is especially important as some of the (what we will call in a depopulated future) 'cities' of the 23rd have a certain enmity, if not outright hostility towards some of the others; it could be that they are using time travel to gain some sort of advantage. Matters would be easier if everyone had a full record of what was to happen but they don't. This is not just because of the need to restrict information (again purportedly to avoid temporal paradoxes) but because those of the further future 25th century have decided to shield themselves from visitors from their past: try to go forward to the 25th and you will be bounced back to goodness knows where and in all likelihood be stranded there.
And then there are the 'extemps', those from the 23rd who have chosen to live in the 21st with the natives. There are also those who will find artefacts and pre-NEE resources in the 21st and then secretly bury them somewhere for retrieval in the 23rd. Plus there is the reaction of the 21st locals to those from their future. It all makes for a heady mix.
The Tourist is an SF thriller or pedantically – given time travel as is portrayed so scientifically unlikely – it is science fantasy, but it is very much first and foremost an SF thriller. Yet while The Tourist is very firmly SF, it is not written in a hard SF way: there are no light cones, space-time horizons, no Cherenkov glow as a transport arrives, etc., but there does not need to be. There is enough fascination and sensawunda on a multiple of fronts from the implications of time travel (such as knowing you have a past future in the future and vice-versa), through the cultural implications of having overt future visitors on the (our) present, and to discovering what it is like in the 23rd, let alone the story behind the NEE (which is it transpires a central event around which many of the plot elements pivot). In short there is plenty to assuage the SF reader's thirst.
It has been said that the rise of the mobile (cell) phone in the early 21st century has had an adverse impact on detective stories as people – potential victims or the detective(s) that otherwise might have been isolated and find themselves threatened – can simply make a call or can be tracked using GPS. And more generally, there is no excuse for information not being shared quickly regardless of distance or the need to meet. Actually, a little thought is all it takes to realise that such concerns are meaningless: it just means that writers need to be more inventive. However, if one does accept that there is something to such a concern then there is one obvious genre workaround given we (hence all fictional settings) are in a space-time continuum. If the mobile phone has effectively removed spatial constraints (anyone can quickly contact someone anywhere) then the obvious genre solution is to work with time. This is one way where time travel stories can come into their own. While it may be known how to reach people, replacement alternative elements of unknowns can provide the mystery; for example, who is, was, or will be this person, and from when will they come and to when will they go?
It is not clear that Robert Dickinson himself is that versed in the genre: there do not seem to be any references to other SF works. Yet time travel is such a core SF trope, arguably notably starting with H. G. Wells' The Time Machine (1894), and The Tourist is so richly crafted a novel, that some of the novel's ideas are almost invariably reminiscent of earlier works. For example, the notion of 'Safety' – the 23rd century's equivalent of the security services – and especially their talked about but not seen operation in Geneva, being necessary to police (as well as protect) the time travelling tourists is reminiscent of the Time Service in Up the Line by Robert Silverberg (1969). Also the isolated 25th century clearly has a parallel in the 'Hidden Centuries' between 70,000th and 150,000th in Isaac Asimov's The End of Eternity (1955), and then there are the time tourists in David Twohy's film Timescape (1991). So, if Robert Dickinson is steeped in SF it does not show, but this does not at all matter as The Tourist assuredly stands on its own two feet.
Robert Dickinson provides a detailed portrayal of his novel's set-up. This is engaging in itself but also allows for some observations on our own time's potentially quirky aspects: we value visual imagery and electronic records, but the visitors from the post-NEE future (where electronic records have been destroyed) value books. And then there is the future visitors enjoyment of music as it was originally played back in the 17th and 18th centuries, recordings of which were obtained by risky long-distance time-travel to unseated locales where there are no permanent time-links.
The novel deftly carries the reader through a time convoluted plot to a satisfactory conclusion that at least resolves questions the reader might have about the book's opening chapter. In this sense the novel is satisfactorily complete. Having said that, there are a number of loose ends and a couple of unanswered inconsistencies (only noticed if you are paying reasonable attention). This means that there is the potential for a sequel re-visiting (albeit in part) the events of this novel be it from the perspective of this book's principal protagonist Spens, and/or from one of the other lead characters. Having said that, as far as I know from the publisher, no sequel is currently planned. Nonetheless, I do hope that Dickinson returns to his creation of The Tourist as there are a number of potentialities that would resolve those nagging loose ends and I would be fascinated to find out which, if any, of these, or if there are other possibilities, the author had in mind.
The Tourist is Dickinson's break-out novel, his first with a major publishing house. He has had a couple of prior novels published by Myriad Editions: the Orwellian The Noise of Strangers; and the occult riffed The Schism.
The Tourist is truly an accomplished work. Each decade seems to have one (or two) remarkable novels related to an SF subgenre or core trope. The works cited previously are arguably examples of such notable time travel novels: others, should you want exemplars, might include Fritz Leiber's The Big Time (novelette 1958, novel 1961) and Gregory Benford's Timescape (1980). I would not be surprised if in years to come and we look back The Tourist might well be one of this decade's stand-out time travel novels. Expect it to be long-listed, possibly short-listed, for an SF award or two in 2017.
The Tourist by Robert Dickinson
8 Replies
The Tourist | Robert Dickinson | 2016 (20 October) | Orbit | 320p | Review copy | Buy the book
The Tourist by Robert DickinsonTime travel – the tourism of the future into the past. And for those who live in the relatively grim and unappealing 24th century, there’s nothing quite like the 21st century for a holiday destination. Resorts have sprung up all over the place in this bygone century, the locals are almost used to the idea of these time travellers in their midst. As for the travellers – all those trees, shops and so many people! Something happened later in the 21st century, something apocalyptic. Discussing it with the indigenous 21st century population isn’t the done thing but these descendants of the survivors relish the chance to immerse themselves in this more innocent time.
The tour guide is kept busy escorting groups back and forth though time. He would love to go back further into time – the chance to watch the great composers present their masterpieces – but the rules of time travel are complex and watched over by the disapproving eye of the mysterious people of the 25th century. But it’s a good job. Until the day when he returns home and a female passenger is missing. She has been left behind and, it’s soon apparent, the tourist is not quite what she seems. The tour guide follows her trail and the mystery deepens.
I’m not going to say anymore about the plot for two reasons. Firstly, I wouldn’t want to spoil anything and, secondly, I wouldn’t be able to tell you even if I wanted to. The premise of The Tourist is fantastic. I love novels about time travel, even more so when there’s an apocalyptic tale in there as well. I’m also a big fan of science fiction thrillers and I read a fair few of them and even if I can’t understand the science behind them (I’ve enjoyed a number of quantum physics thrillers recently) it doesn’t stop the fun. My issue with The Tourist is not with the science particularly – this was left suitably vague – but with the plotting, the frequent jumping between past and present, and the mix of perspectives (first person and second person – the latter a difficult perspective to read at the best of times). It’s fair to say that for the vast majority of the time I didn’t have a clue what was going on, which character I was with, and what the mystery was all about. The ending left me none the wiser.
There are some elements of the novel I did enjoy. Its mood and atmosphere are wonderful and I found myself thinking about the novel whenever I wasn’t reading it. It wasn’t difficult to pick it up even when I felt so clueless. There are some fantastic ideas in it – the resorts, the people from the future who choose to live in the past, the interaction between people from the past with the guests from the future, the odd 25th-century people, the apocalypse. And I was waiting for these themes to be explored far more than they were. I wanted to get to know the characters better because they intrigued me. But there were too many times when I didn’t even know which character was which due to the confusing structure.
Ultimately, for me, The Tourist didn’t succeed as a thriller because I couldn’t follow it. The science fiction elements were more successful but weren’t developed enough for my curiosity. The author undoubtedly writes well and his imagination and creativity are vast and original – just what I want in science fiction – but I do hope that in future novels some allowance is made for the poor reader who wants so much to understand. Having said all that, this isn’t a novel I’ll forget in a hurry thanks to its atmosphere of foreboding and its pleasingly unusual treatment of time travel.
THE TOURIST BY ROBERT DICKINSON BOOK REVIEW
Time travel is commonplace in Robert Dickinson’s The Tourist
By Steve Wright 20-10-16 47,147 0
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Author:
Robert Dickinson
Publisher:
Orbit
Released:
20 October 2016
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The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August by Claire North
Another roundabout trip through time – only this time it lasts the distance.
New inventions inspire wonder, at least up until the point where they become commodities. In Robert Dickinson’s The Tourist, this even extends to time travel, which people from a far-flung future use to return to the 21st century, eager to sample the delights of a bygone age.
As with any industry, what is leisure for some is merely business to those tasked with making sure that everything goes smoothly, which is where we find our protagonist ‘Tunnel Boy’, as one of those tasked with making sure the time-travelling sightseers don’t wonder off and cause an incident – a task made easier by the foreknowledge of the past making people aware of any such events. So when somebody does go missing, things take a turn for the topsy-turvy.
The Tourist draws its inspiration from various areas of classic science fiction – from the constant references to a far-off NEE (Near Extinction Event) evoking Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys, to the future numbered cities (governed by departments like Happiness, Safety and Awareness) not-so-subtly reflecting George Orwell’s Nineteen-Eighty Four – and initially at least, it’s greater than the sum of its parts.
The story is slowly but surely teased out, intermittently dropping little details while advancing the plot at a breathtaking pace. The first two thirds are among the most gripping we’ve read of any sci-fi fiction this year.
Unfortunately, as in most time-bending literature, the final third grinds to a halt, building out to a peak before fizzling out. All the characters remain so enigmatic and the future similarly unknowable that it’s hard to really invest anything in the emotional well-being of the leads, or be gripped by their potential fates. It doesn’t so much end as stop.
If it had carried on as it had begun, it would have a higher score. As it is, it falls short.
Readers will feel lost in ‘The Tourist’ by Robert Dickinson
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This book cover image released by Redhook shows "The Tourist," by Robert Dickinson. (Redhook via AP)
This book cover image released by Redhook shows “The Tourist,” by Robert Dickinson. (Redhook via AP) more >
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By JEFF AYERS - Associated Press - Tuesday, October 18, 2016
“The Tourist” (Redhook), by Robert Dickinson
Robert Dickinson’s latest novel, “The Tourist,” is billed as a conspiracy thriller, but it’s a sci-fi novel that explores various ramifications of time travel.
In a future that appears bleak, people can take trips into the past. These vacations are to places such as a shopping mall where tourists can mingle with folks in the past while enjoying clear fresh air.
Every aspect of the excursion is known ahead of time. Every detail of what everyone will accomplish and do in their lifetime is established.
Then a tour to the 21st century comes back with one tourist missing. The records say this woman didn’t go missing, so this anomaly shouldn’t exist. If nothing is supposed to go wrong, what happens when the report and the facts are wrong?
Dickinson has created an interesting premise to build his somewhat vague future. Elements of the best sci-fi novels take time to explain how the future came to be, while also making the reader feel immersed in the minute details of the society. Not in this novel. Readers will feel a bit lost because the author doesn’t fully build his world to make it understandable. Dickinson explains little, creating a narrative that’s both a struggle and somewhat disjointed.
The Tourist by Robert Dickinson (book review).
October 24, 2016 | By UncleGeoff | Reply
With Robert Dickinson’s novel, ‘The Tourist’, you are thrown in at the deep end and have to work out what is going on from the start. There is Spens, a female prisoner in isolation whose crime you aren’t really informed of but she’s been there a long time. A few chapters in, you discover that she killed someone in a time travel trip into the past. The current authorities now need Spens for another trip as someone is missing in one of the time zones she frequented. She is accompanied by Riemann Aldis and, if successful, might actually be finally released. That’s the plot in a nutshell but struggles to stay with it.
thetourist
The time travel trope of time tourists going missing isn’t new neither. Unfortunately, ‘The Tourist’ is a bit of a mess. You barely get glimpses of the different time zones and, a lot of the time, its swamped in dialogue and there is no sense of what is really going on and I’m still puzzling over what conspiracy there is from the title. It’s all pretty writing but the plot really gets lost. You come away from this hoping something has been done but, well and truly, I really was no wiser when I got to the end.
BOOK REVIEW: The Tourist by Robert Dickinson
Stephanie O'Connell | Nov 19, 2016 | Comments 0
BOOK REVIEW: The Tourist by Robert Dickinson
Orbit
November 2016
Paperback, $32.99
Reviewed by Steph O’Connell
Science Fiction/Thriller
7/10
tourist1
Agency has been a concern since the early years of travel. It’s still the subject of most entertainments. If you know your loved one is going to be killed in an accident do you try to stop them leaving for work? If you find out they’re going to commit a crime do you try to talk them out of it? The entertainments always give the same answer: you can’t change what’s going to happen. You warn somebody about the accident; they take a different route, which results in the accident. You warn them not to commit the crime and it turns out you gave them the idea.
The Tourist is a time travel novel that, at the beginning, did remind this reader a little of the situation with the Observers in the tv show, Fringe. It deals with a whole bunch of time travel theories, and is told, for the most part, from the point of view of one of these people from the future, working as a tourism rep in the “early 21st” for a company that allows people from the 23rd century to spend some vacation time in the early 21st century. It’s easy to tell that these people don’t belong in the time of shopping malls and film-based entertainment, and they certainly stand out in a crowd. They live in Number Cities where they come from, the dialect has changed over the centuries, and they also don’t have the best grasp of the terms used by the “natives”.
He hesitates. “No, wait. It’s probably best if you don’t take a native. We’ll keep this quiet for now. You can work on your own, can’t you? You know how to drive their” – he gropes for the word, gives up – “their things?”
“I have a licence.”
“Good. I’ll authorise the use of a thing.” He makes hand gestures over his desk.
The natives aren’t exactly fans of the people from the future, in part because they feel like information is being withheld; as though, because they’re from a time beyond our own, they know every little thing that is going to happen.
When we first announced our presence to the early 21st the natives had a lot of questions. Their scientists had thought travel was either impossible, or theoretically possible but impractical (requiring more energy than exists in the universe, etc.), or possible in only one direction (I forget which). And the people who weren’t scientists assumed we could pick a date and go back or forward to whenever we pleased.
Tensions rise as an organised march against the interlopers draws closer, and people speculate more and more on why it is, exactly, that these beings have come back to this time. The natives don’t know, of course, about the Near Extinction Event looming, but there are all kinds of theories circulating about the people from the future. Are they here to steal resources? Do they want to enslave the people of the 21st? What are they hiding?
And to top it all off, our other narrator is working against the people from the Number Cities.
If you are sent you must understand you may never see your friends again.
She must know you haven’t made any friends: that’s why you were chosen. Out of all the damaged girls you’re the most solitary. Not the most vicious, not the cleverest or the funniest, or the best fighter or the prettiest, but the one who can live surrounded by strangers and not care. You were made for this.
The blurb of this book is highly misleading, suggesting that it is a thriller with a potential time travel twist, but in reality it is all about the time travel. The fact that it was marketed as thriller more than time travel almost lead to me deciding not to read this title. But in the end, it is produced by Orbit, an imprint known for their speculative fiction, so I gave it a go and was pleasantly surprised. Someone who reads a lot of crime thrillers would likely have the opposite reaction when discovering that there is so much about time travel and timelines here, and that even the mystery hinted at in the blurb is entirely wrapped up in time travel itself.
This is not the kind of book that anyone can pick up and understand; you need to have at least some knowledge of time travel or it will lose you early on.
One of the big plot points in this story is agency. If you meet someone and you’re further along the intersecting timeline than they are, you have to be careful about what you tell them, and there’s a lot of people doing things because they were told to do things by the records that say they already did these things.
If this makes sense to you, congratulations, you will quite possibly enjoy this book!
Quite a few instances of the incorrect tense being used did stand out for this reader, though it is understandable that a book about time travel, which takes place over many different time periods, would face more than the standard share of such errors. There were undoubtedly many more that were caught in the editing stages, and ten such errors aren’t a deal-breaker in a 342 page novel, but they happened frequently enough to warrant a mention in this review.
Overall it was an enjoyable read, if at times confusing; but if you read as many books a year as this reviewer does, you’re likely pleasantly surprised when a book can keep you on your toes. The world-building is subtle enough that it will put your inferencing muscles to the test, and the character-building is… very much on the light side, but this book is a good fun, well put-together read.
At least for the most part.
One of the reasons this has been rated 7/10 rather than 8 or 9 is the fact that it doesn’t seem to go anywhere. There’s all this build up, with the conspiracies and different elements of humanity working against each other, and as the threads start to come together, you realise how it all connects. But then? Then it just stops. It feels almost as though the author didn’t know how to end the story, and so the big crescendo that has been building just never ends up going anywhere, and the “race” to the finish line ends up being more of a confused shamble.
I am glad to have read it, and quite enjoyed my time spent in the world Dickinson offers us, but it could have been so much more.
The Tourist by Robert Dickinson. A Review by Sarah Ryan
by Erin Book Reviews off
Rating: 3/5
Meet Spens – he’s tall, likes classical music, and works as a travel rep. Pretty standard stuff, except he’s from the 24th Century and when I say travel, I mean time travel. He’ll be fired eventually. He doesn’t know the exact details, but records sent from the future indicate it’ll be soon, maybe due to the client that’s just disappeared during a tour of the 21st century. But is ‘disappeared’ the right word for someone who was never recorded as being there in the first place?
Karia is released from prison by a man who needs her to complete a mission. She’s met this man before, in her past, or is it her future? It’s hard to remember now. Like the saying goes ‘Travel is confusing’.
I had mixed feelings about this book, hence the 3 stars. On one hand, the author is a master of cliff-hangers. Every time I went to take a break, another literary carrot was dangled in front of me that kept me turning the page. The world building is subtle enough to be relatable, particularly in the tensions between ‘natives’ and ‘travellers’. The book deals with time travel in a fresh, thoughtful way that injects a healthy dose of British humour. Spens is instantly likeable, reminiscent of Hank Palace in ‘The Last Policeman’ trilogy.
What let this book down is an over-convoluted plot. Jumping back and forth between different time periods, trying to make sense of the revelations and how the characters related to each other, left me scratching my head. That said, it attempts to tie everything up at the end, and this is a book I suspect is much better second time around.
While this isn’t a GBC choice, The Tourist is worth a read if you’re looking for a modern sci-fi thriller.
https://pulpedmachina.com/2017/01/18/book-review-the-tourist-by-robert-dickinson/
In a dystopian Brighton where the Council and the Amex company are the only major employers, and council departments have very different purposes to those they have in our own country today - notably the sinister Parks - four couples share dinner parties and discuss as little as possible, due to the problems they have trusting each other. When a Councillor is killed in a car crash, and one of the couples witness it, it triggers a by-election which leads to political manouevring which they're all caught up in.
I loved the structure of The Noise of Strangers - it flits between 'standard' narrative, transcripts of phonecalls and meetings, inter-departmental memos, sinister notes, and articles from an underground newspaper. As a satire, it works well, and is completely believable as a 'nightmare present' scenario. I admired Robert Dickinson's imagination in coming up with this setting, and especially the way in which he described it by just letting details slip out every now and then, rather than with jarring exposition. It's also a beautifully presented edition, with a variety of fonts making it immediately clear what you're reading without the author needing to state it.
Having said that, I admired the book far more than I actually liked it. The characters were generally rather unsympathetic, and while for some of them that was clearly the intention, I thought that Dickinson wanted me to care far more than I actually did about a few of the others, especially Siobhan, who I felt I should have pitied but didn't really care about enough to do so. The transcripts, memos and newspaper reports were far more interesting to me than the main narrative part and I'd actually have been really interested to see if Dickinson could have pulled it off without using a main narrative at all – possibly if he'd used diary extracts from a couple of the characters I'd have felt more involved.
The overall plot is actually quite neatly done, but I think the lack of connection I felt with the characters stopped me from becoming too involved. I wouldn't say this is a book to go out of your way to read, but the interesting structure makes it at least a mild recommendation to check out.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
Further Reading: For more dystopian fiction, Neal Shusterman's Unwind is a strong recommendation for all despite it being marketed for teens. Jim Crace's The Pesthouse is also excellent.
The Schism by Robert Dickinson
PUBLISHED MARCH 14, 2013 | BY PABLOCHEESECAKE
Patrick Farrell’s life is complex, but under control. His work takes him through the streets of South London, repossessing credit cards and searching for missing debtors. And in the evenings he visits his schizophrenic brother, Mike, who stares out of his hospital room window, convinced he’s being watched.
But when Patrick’s girlfriend introduces him to a new crowd with a strange interest in astrology and the occult, his world is thrown dramatically out of kilter.
This is a tricky review for me to write, if I’m being honest I didn’t enjoy this novel. I tried to, I really did, but I just didn’t get anything from it.
There were some things that I did like. The relationship between Patrick and his brother Mike came across well. The scenes where the brothers interact, or in some cases don’t, were actually pretty good. Sadly, none of the others characters felt anywhere as real to me. I like to feel something for the characters I read about, doesn’t matter if that feeling is negative or positive, but in this instance I didn’t connect.
The writing is absolutely fine but I wish that the plot had been just a little bit darker. I appreciate that the author has tried to leave things as open ended as possible so that any reader can draw their own conclusions. That’s fine, I’ve read books like that in the past, but in this case things felt fuzzy and ill defined.
There is a running joke in the book where various characters say everything is ok when in actual fact they mean that things are far from it. The further I got into the story, the more I felt like responding that way about the book. It’s ok, it’s just not great.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some interesting ideas going on here and I liked the initial premise, but I think I was looking for something a bit more overt when it comes to the supernatural elements. There is a suggestion something otherworldly may be occurring but it’s not explored in any great depth. The idea of paranormal powers are skirted around on a number of occasions, but no definitive answer is ever reached. This kinda felt like the author didn’t want to commit either way.
I mentioned earlier that I didn’t like the novel, and though that’s true, I didn’t really hate the novel either. I sort of felt like I was watching a film that hadn’t really won me over. I persevered with it, hoping that things would improve, but sadly it wasn’t to be.
In conclusion, this book really wasn’t for me. It’s rare that I find myself in this situation but the law of averages means it was bound to happen eventually. In an effort to be as even-handed as possible I would direct you to the following review that offers a differing opinion. Pam appears to have had a far better/more positive experience with the novel than I did.
http://pamreader.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/review-of-schism-by-robert-dickinson.html
The Schism is published by Myriad Editions and is available now.
The Schism
Robert Dickinson (Author)
This review appeared in nb75
Patrick Farrell is the lead character in this novel. His brother Mike has schizophrenia and resides at the local institution where Patrick appears to be his only visitor as their parents have cut him completely out of their lives. Patrick leads a rather solitary and boring life. He works at a collections company repossessing credit cards and searching for missing debtors, rather unsuccessfully. It is through his friends there that he becomes
involved with Janel as a prospective girlfriend, and becomes involved with the occult.
The story has at least three recognisable schisms. There is the schism between whether witchcraft is a sort of science or a sort of tradition, the schism between what we consider reality and madness and the schism between our world and other worlds. These are all comprehensively covered during the novel.
This book covers a delicate subject in schizophrenia and may not be suitable for all book groups although it could lead to some very interesting discussions in the right groups.
This is Robert Dickinson’s second book. I enjoyed the story more than I had expected to and would consider reading other works by this author.
Reviewed by: Debbie Mika - Brighton
Personal read:
Group read:
Publisher: Myriad Editions
ISBN:
Published Date: Thu 18th Apr 2013
Format: Paperback