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Across Realtime Hardcover – November 1, 1986

4.4 out of 5 stars 81 ratings

Fifty years ago, back in 1997, the Pace Authority eliminated war. In one smashing worldwide coup, the Authority removed missiles, armies, goverments, entire citiex - everything that could oppose peace.

The Peace Authority's weapon was - and still is - the "bobble," a unique spherical state of stasis that can encapsulate an object in an impenetrable force field. Nothing can get in our out of a bobble, not even light or air; it's a prison - perfect, even beautiful. And permanent.

Since the "peace war," all high technology has been banned, and civilization has fallen into a semi-feudal state. What has replaced war is tyranny, but as Peace Authority Director Hamilton Avery would add, it is a benign tyranny, isn't it? A small price to pay for permanent peace.

Only old-timers like Paul Naismith, the reclusive leader of the Tinker underground, can recall a time before the Authority's reign. A mathematical genius, he's spent 50 years secretly developing his own extraordinary, illegal, technology, far surpassing that of the Authority, hoping to strike back some day. But nothing can defeat the Authority's bobbler.

Until now.

Something is happening to the bobbles . . . something that the theory said could never occur. And it means Paul can launch his revolution. He has a 16-year-old vagabond for help - a natural genius as brilliant as himself - plus the network of Tinker misfits, and a secret about the bobbles the Authority does not guess.

He also has a traitor in his midst. . . .

Comprising THE PEACE WAR and MAROONED IN REALTIME, ACROSS REALTIME melds brilliant hard-science and all-too-possible social speculation into a gripping depiction of a revolution against "peace," a revolution that will continue beyond Earth's time . . . on a near-deserted Earth 50 million years in the future . . . among a small group of survivors faced with a murder that only someone - one of their own number - skilled with a bobbler could commit.
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00070W9XO
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Nelson Doubleday / SFBC
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 1, 1986
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ Book Club
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 532 pages
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.37 pounds
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 81 ratings

About the author

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Vernor Vinge
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Vernor Steffen Vinge (Listeni/ˈvɜːrnər ˈvɪndʒiː/; born October 2, 1944) is a retired San Diego State University (SDSU) Professor of Mathematics, computer scientist, and science fiction author. He is best known for his Hugo Award-winning novels and novellas A Fire Upon the Deep (1992), A Deepness in the Sky (1999), Rainbows End (2006), Fast Times at Fairmont High (2002), and The Cookie Monster (2004), as well as for his 1984 novel The Peace War and his 1993 essay "The Coming Technological Singularity", in which he argues that the creation of superhuman artificial intelligence will mark the point at which "the human era will be ended", such that no current models of reality are sufficient to predict beyond it.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Raul654, Maarten1980, Zanaq (Eigen werk Self-made, Image:Vernor Vinge.jpg) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
81 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book beautifully written and consider it a great series in one volume. The storytelling receives mixed reactions, with one customer describing it as a great hard science fiction series while another finds the narrative plodding.

7 customers mention "Readability"7 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and beautifully written.

"...She's "Marooned in Real Time" hence the title of the second novel. Way good reading and I am not going to spoil any other parts. Buy it, read it." Read more

"Great book, but it was listed as “very good” condition and when received, pages were falling out, cover was quite frayed and basically in poor..." Read more

"I read this book multiple times as a child. It’s a great go-to book that’s more of a character study with fantastical things happening." Read more

"...Beautifully written." Read more

3 customers mention "Book series"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book series, with one describing it as a great collection of stories in one volume and another praising it as their favorite science fiction series.

"My favorite SF series! I received it in great shape, thirty years after publication! It was well packaged." Read more

"A Great Classic..." Read more

"Great series in one book..." Read more

5 customers mention "Storytelling"3 positive2 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the storytelling in the book, with one describing it as a great hard science fiction series, while another finds the narrative plodding.

"...It examines a fictional setting in which some alien civilizations have reached their Singulatiry transition but not all members have followed their..." Read more

"The Peace War part was fantastic but it got a lot less interesting in the second book. Still good read." Read more

"It's a very imaginative novel, and philosophic, and highly reflective of the immense reach of geologic time. Beautifully written." Read more

"...Marooned in Realtime offered the same plodding narrative, so I stopped reading it much sooner. Very much not recommended." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2023
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    I bought this because I can't find my original copy and I really still enjoy reading it. I got a kick out of his apology for slowing down the rate of progression of human society and knowledge in order to have time in his novels for the action to take place. The first novel is The Peace War. A group of scientists at Lawrence Livermore have a secret lab and develop what the call a "Bobble" which creates and absolutely impenetrable spherical surface wherever they decide something needs to be stopped. Like all the military vehicles and bombs and such. They do it to every countries military all over the world. They think they have killed everyone inside the bobbles but we find out in the second novel that it ain't so. (LOL). They also thought they were forever. Also not so. Marooned in Real Time, the second novel tells the story of what happens when they start popping (for want of a better word). Including one that was put in place in the microseconds between a nuclear bomb going off and the explosion actually happening. That made a mess. It also covers the strange "singularity" that happens sometime after the "peace war" happens when most of mankind installs bio-ware and connectivity is right there in their heads and they find out they can become a hive mind and then they disappear from the point of view of the folks who are being revived by the popping of the bobbles. Also in the second novel is a murder mystery. One of the enhanced people who did not leave is left outside of her bobbles that they use to jump forward in time and she dies because there's no way to access her technology. She's "Marooned in Real Time" hence the title of the second novel. Way good reading and I am not going to spoil any other parts. Buy it, read it.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2024
    Format: Mass Market PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I have a version of this that is older than I want to admit, but its been read and abused for so long that it's missing a couple pages in the middle. REALLY happy to see this being republished. On Kindle its broken into two books: The Peace War books 1 & 2.
  • Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2021
    Format: Mass Market PaperbackVerified Purchase
    When people who mean well have the power to force you to do what they have decided is best?
  • Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2022
    Only had The Peace War in paperback, and was looking to purchase the rest. Would of loved to have gotten this as a hardcover, but from what I understand, the various hardcover editions probably lack the short story The Ungoverned, so went with purchasing the version of the paperback one reviewer mentioned contains not only The Peace War and Marooned in Real Time, but also The Ungoverned. This would be great for Audible to pick up, but while some of the author's titles exist as audio books, alas no Bobbles on Audible (yet?).
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2021
    My favorite SF series! I received it in great shape, thirty years after publication! It was well packaged.
  • Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2025
    I first read The Peace War in the 90s and loved it. A group at LLNL create bobbles, which separate whatever is inside from the rest of realtime. They then assume control of the world as the Peace Authority. What the scientists who stole the work from one of their own didn't know is that bobbles aren't forever and what's inside is actually in stasis. The biggest threat to them is the man who actually created the tech and who is going to end up, with others, leading a war against The Peace Authority which ends their tyranny.

    Then there is a short story set about 60 years after the events of the Peace War called The Ungoverned. Honestly, you buy this book FOR THIS STORY. The novels are fantastic but that short story should be mandatory reading. I'm not going to give any of it away, just trust me.

    The third story is the second novel, Marooned In Realtime. At some point in the early 23rd century, humans disappeared from the solar system. There were a few very advanced and wealthy people who, prior to the Singularity, bobbled up to help those who had been shanghai'd, bobbled up into the distant future with nothing to support them. These advanced travelers, gathered all the 'lo techs' together millions of years in the future to determine what they should do. There is a murder mystery in all this and the reappearance of one of the most evil characters from the Peace War. It's a fantastic read.

    Buy this book. You won't regret it. It's especially interesting if you do live in the Bay Area and ever have to go into Livermore from the South Bay. You'll understand why after you read it.
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2021
    Great book, but it was listed as “very good” condition and when received, pages were falling out, cover was quite frayed and basically in poor condition.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2001
    Format: Mass Market PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Issac Asimov, Orson Scott Card, Terry Goodkind, J.R.R. Tolkien... the name of Vernor Vinge belongs with these. If you can usually figure out what's going to happen in a story and you hunger for that rare author who can keep you in a continual state of amazement, read Vernor Vinge. I have a library of nearly 2,000 books and Across Realtime is definitely one of my top ten favorites. My only criticism of the man is that he hasn't written more for you and me to read.
    15 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Yatima
    5.0 out of 5 stars Ground-breaking science fiction
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 23, 2000
    Format: Mass Market PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Vinge has come up with the some of the core concepts of modern science fiction yet his books have always been criminally hard to find. Get these two novels in this new imprint while you can. A superb tale of life across a longer timescale, crucially introducing the concept of 'the singularity' in human affairs- an idea way ahead of it's time, now starting to loom large in the real-life human world. In short, a superb read, and an enlightening experience - essential for properly informed living in a rapidly advancing human society.
  • Max
    5.0 out of 5 stars Zeitreise mal ganz anders
    Reviewed in Germany on December 25, 2015
    Format: Mass Market PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Eine beeindruckende Story, die wie immer bei Vernore Vinge, etwas braucht bis sie richtig Fahrt aufnimmt. Wie die Zeitreise hier umgesetzt ist und was die Konsequenzen sind, das, so muss ich gestehen, hat imho etwas sehr emotional berührendes.
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great series
    Reviewed in Canada on April 7, 2019
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Bought this to replace the one my son lost on me. I found it two days before this arrived.
  • D. Kerridge
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best sci-fi books I have read for a long time
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2016
    Format: Mass Market PaperbackVerified Purchase
    One of the best sci-fi books I have read for a long time. Feels a little slow at the start but stick with it, it becomes a page turner.
  • J. Finch
    5.0 out of 5 stars Two volumes in one
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 4, 2024
    Format: Mass Market PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Peace War and Marooned in Realtime in one book.