October the First Is Too Late

by Fred Hoyle

Release: 1966
Format: Novel
Genres: Science Fiction, Music and Musicals
Audience: Adults
Content: Definite Time Travel
Original Language: English

Dick, a composer, and his boyhood friend John, now an eminent scientist, find themselves in a patchwork world of different times from classical Greece to a far future that humanity barely survives.

My favorable impression is no doubt reflective of the time when I read it (the summer of 1970, nearly 13, while moving from Washington State to Alabama). Perhaps the fiction doesn’t hold up as well decades later up, but the issues of time that it brings up still interest me and it was my first exposure to the idea of a geographic timeslip. And, similar to Asimov, Hoyle served to cultivate my interest in the natural sciences.

— Michael Main

To the Reader: The “science” in this book is mostly scaffolding for the story, story-telling in the traditional sense. However, the discussions of the significance of time and the meaning of consciousness are intended to be quite serious, as also are the contents of chapter fourteen. —from Hoyle’s preface

DEBUT

October the First Is Too Late (William Heinemann, 1966).

VARIANTS

1 English variant

TRANSLATIONS

Translations to French

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Time Periods

Ancient History (3000 BC to AD 476: Bronze/Iron Ages): Classical Greece.
Circa AD 1960 to 1969: John and Dick’s home time.
Near Future, AD 2300 and Beyond: A US reversion to pre-industrial, a future Mexican society.
Far Future: Russian glass landscape.

Timeline Models

Mixed-Era Geography

Real-World Tags

Ancient Greece
World War I: France.

Fictional Tags

Post-Apocalyptic and Post-Holocaust Worlds: Russian glass landscape, the US reversion to pre-industrial.

Groupings

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY (SPOILERS!)

From United States, 1966 ⋙ to an unknown time. Note: John and Dick first experience time oddities.
From United States, unspecified future that has reverted to preindustrial times ⋙ to the geographic patchwork of times at an unknown time. Note: John and Dick flyover.
From France, circa 1917 ⋙ to the geographic patchwork of times at an unknown time. Note: John and Dick, in present-day England, hear about France in World War I.
From Russia, far future, post-apocalyptic ⋙ to the geographic patchwork of times at an unknown time. Note: John and Dick flyover.
From Greece, classical times ⋙ to the geographic patchwork of times at an unknown time. Note: John and Dick visit.
From Mexico, far future, advanced society ⋙ to the geographic patchwork of times at an unknown time. Note: John and Dick visit.
From Mexico, in the patchwork ⋙ to United States, 1966. Note: only Dick returns.