Inverted World

[Foxbat]

Looking for something -

I remember reading this story quite a few years ago. It's about an alternative Earth where, as you near the equator, mass reaches almost to infinity. The result of this is that everything is moving towards the equator and, thus, to stay in one place, you have to keep moving. What this means in practical terms is that a city is dragged along tracks by its inhabitants in order that they might survive.

I've ordered a second hand copy of Inverted World by Christopher Priest and I hope it's the one I'm thinking of. Does this description ring any bells for anybody else?

 

[GOLLUM]

Well Foxbat I've not seen that book before but I do have an interest in his other book The Prestige that won an award, namely the 1996 World Fantasy Award, which is not to say these kinds of awards are the be all or end all of course.

Christopher Nolan, director of the film Momento is shceduled to start shooting for the film version of this book next year. Main leads are Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine and Christain Bale.

Here's a blurb on the book, which seems to have had some reasonable reviews from people I know, so it could be good. I plan to track it down before the movie comes out.

Two 19th-century stage illusionists, the aristocratic Rupert Angier and the working class Alfred Borden, engage in a bitter and deadly feud; the effects are still being felt by their respective families a hundred years later. Working in the gaslight-and-velvet world of Victorian music halls, both men lurk in the background of each other's shadowy life, driven to the extremes by a deadly combination of obsessive secrecy and insatiable curiosity. At the heart of the row is an amazing stage illusion they both perform. The secret of the magic is simple (the reader is in on it almost from the start) but to the antagonists the real mystery lies deeper. Both have something more to hide than the mere workings of a trick.

 

[Foxbat]

I've never read The Prestige but it sounds interesting. I'll look out for it.

Incidentally, I've just received a good quality second-hand copy of The Inverted World through the post and it seems to be the one I was looking for. It was quite a few years ago when I first read this so it will be interesting to see how much my attitude has changed (or not) towards it.

Hopefully I'll stick up a review some time down the line.

 

[GOLLUM]

Yes please do. I'd appreciate it!!...

 

[Brys]

That book sounds really interesting, but I haven't read it. Tell us if it is "Inverted World".

 

[steve12553]

I read "the Inverted World" 15 or so years ago and that sounds like the premise. It's been so long I don't remember too much more.