No Enemy But Time
Encyclopedia
No Enemy But Time is a 1982 science fiction
novel
by Michael Bishop
. It won the 1982 Nebula Award
for Best Novel
, and was also nominated for the 1983 John W. Campbell Memorial Award. It was included in David Pringle
's book Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels
.
, where he meets (and eventually mates) with humanity's prehistoric ancestors.
Less than 1-year old John Monegal is abandoned by his mother, a Spanish dumb vagrant, and adopted by an USAF
officer, Hugo Monegal and his wife Jeanette. Since the very beginning of his life, John dreams of an ancient world and becomes an expert of the pleistocene
epoch, the era of the Homo habilis
in Africa
. When he is 18, John gets in touch with a paleonthologist
, Alistair Patrick Blair, who serves as prime minister in the fictional country
of Zarakal (approximately representing Kenya
according to the author's preface) and works closely with a US physical scientist, Woodrow Kaprow, who has developed a time machine
which brings John back to the era he dreams of. Just before leaving to the past, John discovers his mother wants to publish a book based on voice records of his dreams and, angry and deluded, he leaves her house and changes his name into Joshua Kampa.
Almost lost in the remote past of a world which is the frontier between non-human and human life, John/Joshua feels he has reached the reality he always belonged to, and is accepted by a group of individuals who live in the African savanna
. He gives a name to all his new friends, and learns to eat and live like them. Joshua starts thinking he will never get back to the twentieth century. After a while he falls in love with a pre-historic woman, Helen, who gets pregnant and dies at the daughter's birth. To save his child and let her survive in a better world, Joshua goes back to area of the time machine, where he is mysteriously saved by two African astronaut
s apparently coming from the future. Back to his actual life, Joshua finds he lost his dreaming power and learns that only a month in modern world's time has passed since he left; this is why he struggles in being believed about his daughter. As years pass, Joshua learns his daughter has the same dreaming power he used to have, but she is projected towards the future.
After several years Joshua becomes a minister of Zarakali government and his 15-year old daughter escapes with an agent from Uganda, Dick Aruj, who convinced her to join a program of time travel to the future.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Michael Bishop
Michael Bishop (author)
Michael Lawson Bishop is an award-winning American writer. Over four decades and thirty books, he has created a body of work that stands among the most admired in modern science fiction and fantasy literature....
. It won the 1982 Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
for Best Novel
Nebula Award for Best Novel
Winners of the Nebula Award for Best Novel, awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The stated year is that of publication; awards are given in the following year.- Winners and other nominees :...
, and was also nominated for the 1983 John W. Campbell Memorial Award. It was included in David Pringle
David Pringle
David Pringle is a Scottish science fiction editor.Pringle served as the editor of Foundation, an academic journal, from 1980 through 1986, during which time he became one of the prime movers of the collective which founded Interzone in 1982...
's book Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels
Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels
Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, An English-Language Selection, 1949-1984 is a nonfiction book by David Pringle, published by Xanadu in 1985. The foreword is by Michael Moorcock....
.
Plot synopsis
The novel follows the story of a modern black American man who is able to mentally project himself back to pre-human AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, where he meets (and eventually mates) with humanity's prehistoric ancestors.
Less than 1-year old John Monegal is abandoned by his mother, a Spanish dumb vagrant, and adopted by an USAF
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
officer, Hugo Monegal and his wife Jeanette. Since the very beginning of his life, John dreams of an ancient world and becomes an expert of the pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
epoch, the era of the Homo habilis
Homo habilis
Homo habilis is a species of the genus Homo, which lived from approximately at the beginning of the Pleistocene period. The discovery and description of this species is credited to both Mary and Louis Leakey, who found fossils in Tanzania, East Africa, between 1962 and 1964. Homo habilis Homo...
in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. When he is 18, John gets in touch with a paleonthologist
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
, Alistair Patrick Blair, who serves as prime minister in the fictional country
Fictional country
A fictional country is a country that is made up for fictional stories, and does not exist in real life, or one that people believe in without proof....
of Zarakal (approximately representing Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
according to the author's preface) and works closely with a US physical scientist, Woodrow Kaprow, who has developed a time machine
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
which brings John back to the era he dreams of. Just before leaving to the past, John discovers his mother wants to publish a book based on voice records of his dreams and, angry and deluded, he leaves her house and changes his name into Joshua Kampa.
Almost lost in the remote past of a world which is the frontier between non-human and human life, John/Joshua feels he has reached the reality he always belonged to, and is accepted by a group of individuals who live in the African savanna
Savanna
A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...
. He gives a name to all his new friends, and learns to eat and live like them. Joshua starts thinking he will never get back to the twentieth century. After a while he falls in love with a pre-historic woman, Helen, who gets pregnant and dies at the daughter's birth. To save his child and let her survive in a better world, Joshua goes back to area of the time machine, where he is mysteriously saved by two African astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
s apparently coming from the future. Back to his actual life, Joshua finds he lost his dreaming power and learns that only a month in modern world's time has passed since he left; this is why he struggles in being believed about his daughter. As years pass, Joshua learns his daughter has the same dreaming power he used to have, but she is projected towards the future.
After several years Joshua becomes a minister of Zarakali government and his 15-year old daughter escapes with an agent from Uganda, Dick Aruj, who convinced her to join a program of time travel to the future.