A Universe Less Traveled

by Eric Von Schrader

Overview

What if there were another world, almost like ours, but not quite? It brushes up against us, like the tail end of a dream, but stays just barely out of reach.

What if you found a way to go there?

Billy Boustany stumbles upon the ability to slip into a surprising new version of his sleepy midwestern city. He begins a journey that is most fun he's had in years. Then it turns into an obsession that upends his life, his family, and everything he knows.

A Universe Less Traveled tells Billy's story, framed by tales of other accidental travelers to this mysterious city, and provides a glimpse into an alternate history of the twentieth century.

Looking for an escape from the troubles of his failing business, Billy discovers a teeming metropolis with iridescent skyscrapers and throngs of immigrants and tourists from all over the world. As he explores, he meets peculiar allies and experiences raucous celebrations. Billy questions his sanity as he struggles to make sense of this bizarre world. Though he fears screwing up his adventure, he lets his college student daughter in on the secret. Together they go further into this amazing place, until they reach the ultimate destination, a magnificent city of Native Americans that has sprung up at an ancient site. There she begins a relationship with a handsome young man with a startling plan.

Billy also meets a formidable enemy - the Knights, a shadowy organization with a mission to keep people like him out of their world. They reveal how the two worlds diverged a century ago and warn him to stay away at all costs.

When his daughter disappears at the hands of the Knights, Billy and his wife go on a frantic search to find her in the other city. It leads to heartbreak, then to a new beginning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781732970625
Publisher:	Absom Books
Publication date:	09/10/2020
Series:	Intersecting Worlds , #1
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	669,412
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.85(d)

About the Author

Eric von Schrader has made documentary films, produced television shows, and written countless business and educational programs.He was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, where he spent years exploring the city and imagining what might have been.He lives in Carpinteria, California.

Table of Contents

Strange Doings on Arsenal (1908) 11
A Man Without Hobbies (2010) 23
Down Then Up (1929) 49
If at First You Don't Succ eed (2010) 57
Collapse (1931) 71
Sons of Rest (2010) 89
Own a Piece of the Future (1939) 107
Interference (2010) 113
Precession (1982) 139
A Partner in Crime (2010) 171
Rabbits and Zippers (1941) 187
Bricks and Taffy (2010) 197
Supreme Protector (1942) 223
The Permeability Problem (2010) 235
Three Cities (1958) 253
Corn Mother and Morning Star (2010) 267
Pickup and Delivery (1966) 313
Family is the Most Important Thing (2010) 321
Acknowledgements 381
About the Author 383

Editorial Reviews

An enjoyable, gentle fantasy that gives new meaning to the phrase "Spirit of St. Louis."-Kirkus Reviews



"I read A Universe Less Traveled in two days, which I never do. It's an intriguing novel of ideas and a lively adventure yarn as well, told in a brisk, readable style." - David Carkeet, author of I Been There Before, The Full Catastrophe and other novels

"What if there existed a better, more successful, happier St. Louis than the one we know? A place where men wear shorts in the summer, a place where people sometimes break into song and street parties are a must-see for the tourists who flock to St Louis from all over the world. What would a visitor from our St. Louis think of that St. Louis - and what would the people of that St. Louis think of us? It's hard to come up with original ideas, but Eric von Schrader has done it. A wistful take on our continuing angst of what we might have been." - Bill McClellan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"There have been many tales of parallel worlds, but few have offered this much heart, imagination, and good old-fashioned storytelling fun." - Steve Pick, Co-author of St. Louis Sound: An Illustrated Timeline

"For St. Louis sci-fi buffs, 'A Universe Less Traveled' amounts to Must Reading - and then some. Eric von Schrader's St. Louis is actually two cities - the one that we all know and then the other. It's an idyllic place, with splendid architecture, a booming economy and a rapidly growing population of people content with their lot. The two cities somehow exist at the same time, each unbeknown to the other. Except for a few people, and they form the basis of von Schrader's saga. Principal among them is Billy Boustany, who owns of string of poorly performing appliance stores in our city and its suburbs. One day, by accident, he manages to cross into the Other St. Louis, where he marvels at its wonders. His back-and-forthing between the two versions of St. Louis makes up much of this tale's complicated plot."-St. Louis Post Dispatch

From the Publisher

2020-06-23
In the 20th century, citizens of St. Louis discover that a parallel-universe effect exists, allowing them to periodically cross over to a different, more ideal city.

Von Schrader’s debut novel should especially captivate readers familiar with St. Louis, but even those unacquainted with the city will find this parallel-worlds yarn worth a visit. In 1929, during the stock market crash, Missouri financier James Whittemore Hines is contemplating suicide when he suddenly finds himself in an alternate St. Louis, with no economic malaise. World War I never happened either (apparently thanks to a benevolent Kaiser Wilhelm II) and nobody’s heard of Charles Lindbergh. Pragmatic Hines doesn’t question the phenomenon but uses his acumen to become part of the city’s infrastructure. When a devastating earthquake hits in 1931, Hines’ radical plan of citizen shareholder ownership of the wrecked city not only rebuilds St. Louis, but also tackles racism, jump-starts scientific development, and makes the place a radiant, world-class metropolis (though this town doesn’t have that landmark steel arch). Years later, in the original St. Louis of 2010, blighted and racially divided (but at least it’s got the Gateway Arch), Billy Boustany is the harried head of a failing chain of electronics/appliance stores. He accidentally crosses over into the other St. Louis (which he calls “HD St. Louis”) and is charmed by the eclectic markets, pedestrian-friendly streets, curious inventions, and upbeat ambiance. He revisits the alt-city again and again and finds the secret too good to keep to himself. Which is a problem, because, as the narrative divulges, an elite corps in “HD St. Louis,” the Knights of the Carnelian, polices the shifting boundaries between the worlds and strives to keep out intruders from the original city, characterizing them (understandably) as uncouth, racist, and generally detrimental. But even as villains, they are fairly soft-edged. While the plotline of von Schrader’s tale may remind SF readers of China Miéville’s The City & the City (2009), its heart is much closer to the soothing fantasies of Jack Finney (Time and Again; I Love Galesburg in the Springtime), with their nostalgic longing for bygone (or, in this case, alternate) eras and communities. Von Schrader’s prose is butter smooth, and the chronological jumps the narrative makes back and forth throughout history (in both universes) are never tangled or confusing.

An enjoyable, gentle fantasy that gives new meaning to the phrase “Spirit of St. Louis.” (afterword, author bio)

Kirkus Reviews