On Thursday, February 24, 1994 at 11:12:29 AM UTC-6, Ken Cox wrote:
> Robert Williams wrote:
> > I'm interested in novels and short stories where characters have
> >the ability to stop time.
> Others have mentioned "The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything" and
> Spider Robinson's use of the idea in "Kill the Editor" (part of the
> novel "Lady Slings the Booze").
> A similar notion was used in an episode of "Friday the 13th -- The
> Series". A pocketwatch allowed the holder to stop time for one hour
> each night at 1:00. This was magic, not technology.
> Orson Scott Card's _Treason_ (formerly _A Planet Called Treason_) has
> a group of people who can adjust their time flow either up or down.
> They didn't actually stop time, but they could speed themselves up
> until everything else seemed stopped.
> Two for which I can't remember title or author, but maybe someone's
> memory will be jogged -- I'll try to include as much as I remember:
> A fairly old short story (40's or 50's, maybe) about a device that
> could speed up metabolism so the person could live much faster. One
> of the inventors used it to kill a woman by handcuffing her to a
> fixture and accelerating her -- she starved quickly. A friend/lover
> of the woman then accelerated the murderer, but he could move around.
> Moving was difficult because of the perceived viscosity of the air.
> His clothes fell apart from friction. Everything was silent, except
> one time when he heard a low rumble and found it was the shrill sound
> of a braking subway train. He was not normally seen, except a few
> times while he slept (eight hours of relative stillness translating
> into half a second or so of visibility). He died after many years of
> his time, one day of normal time.

"Half-Past Eternity" by John D. MacDonald.
https://archive.org/details/Super_Science_Stories_v07n01_1950-07/page/n11/mode/2up

On Friday, May 19, 2023 at 10:59:37 PM UTC+1, Butch Malahide wrote:
> On Thursday, February 24, 1994 at 11:12:29 AM UTC-6, Ken Cox wrote:
> > Robert Williams wrote:
> > > I'm interested in novels and short stories where characters have
> > >the ability to stop time.
> > Others have mentioned "The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything" and
> > Spider Robinson's use of the idea in "Kill the Editor" (part of the
> > novel "Lady Slings the Booze").
> > A similar notion was used in an episode of "Friday the 13th -- The
> > Series". A pocketwatch allowed the holder to stop time for one hour
> > each night at 1:00. This was magic, not technology.
> > Orson Scott Card's _Treason_ (formerly _A Planet Called Treason_) has
> > a group of people who can adjust their time flow either up or down.
> > They didn't actually stop time, but they could speed themselves up
> > until everything else seemed stopped.
> > Two for which I can't remember title or author, but maybe someone's
> > memory will be jogged -- I'll try to include as much as I remember:
> > A fairly old short story (40's or 50's, maybe) about a device that
> > could speed up metabolism so the person could live much faster. One
> > of the inventors used it to kill a woman by handcuffing her to a
> > fixture and accelerating her -- she starved quickly. A friend/lover
> > of the woman then accelerated the murderer, but he could move around.
> > Moving was difficult because of the perceived viscosity of the air.
> > His clothes fell apart from friction. Everything was silent, except
> > one time when he heard a low rumble and found it was the shrill sound
> > of a braking subway train. He was not normally seen, except a few
> > times while he slept (eight hours of relative stillness translating
> > into half a second or so of visibility). He died after many years of
> > his time, one day of normal time.
>
> "Half-Past Eternity" by John D. MacDonald.
> https://archive.org/details/Super_Science_Stories_v07n01_1950-07/page/n11/mode/2up

Piers Anthony's series, Incarnations of Immortality, Book 2 "Bearing and Hourglass" - Chronos, the Incarnation of Time, could freeze time, or travel into the past or future with certain constraints. Magic, not technology, with his hourglass as the talisman of power or whatever the correct terminology is.

Des

On Sat, 20 May 2023 03:15:26 -0700 (PDT), Des
<desmondkavanagh@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Friday, May 19, 2023 at 10:59:37?PM UTC+1, Butch Malahide wrote:
>> On Thursday, February 24, 1994 at 11:12:29?AM UTC-6, Ken Cox wrote:
>> > Robert Williams wrote:
>> > > I'm interested in novels and short stories where characters have
>> > >the ability to stop time.
>> > Others have mentioned "The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything" and
>> > Spider Robinson's use of the idea in "Kill the Editor" (part of the
>> > novel "Lady Slings the Booze").
>> > A similar notion was used in an episode of "Friday the 13th -- The
>> > Series". A pocketwatch allowed the holder to stop time for one hour
>> > each night at 1:00. This was magic, not technology.
>> > Orson Scott Card's _Treason_ (formerly _A Planet Called Treason_) has
>> > a group of people who can adjust their time flow either up or down.
>> > They didn't actually stop time, but they could speed themselves up
>> > until everything else seemed stopped.
>> > Two for which I can't remember title or author, but maybe someone's
>> > memory will be jogged -- I'll try to include as much as I remember:
>> > A fairly old short story (40's or 50's, maybe) about a device that
>> > could speed up metabolism so the person could live much faster. One
>> > of the inventors used it to kill a woman by handcuffing her to a
>> > fixture and accelerating her -- she starved quickly. A friend/lover
>> > of the woman then accelerated the murderer, but he could move around.
>> > Moving was difficult because of the perceived viscosity of the air.
>> > His clothes fell apart from friction. Everything was silent, except
>> > one time when he heard a low rumble and found it was the shrill sound
>> > of a braking subway train. He was not normally seen, except a few
>> > times while he slept (eight hours of relative stillness translating
>> > into half a second or so of visibility). He died after many years of
>> > his time, one day of normal time.
>>
>> "Half-Past Eternity" by John D. MacDonald.
>> https://archive.org/details/Super_Science_Stories_v07n01_1950-07/page/n11/mode/2up
>
>Piers Anthony's series, Incarnations of Immortality, Book 2 "Bearing and Hourglass" - Chronos, the Incarnation of Time, could freeze time, or travel into the past or future with certain constraints. Magic, not technology, with his hourglass as the talisman of power or whatever the correct terminology is.

I thought the idea was that he lived backwards, so that he started out
quite old and ended up quite young.

So he /remembered/ the future (having come from there) and moved
constantly into the past. (Except when stopping time, of course -- I
don't actually remember that happening.)
--
"In this connexion, unquestionably the most significant
development was the disintegration, under Christian
influence, of classical conceptions of the family and
of family right."

On Saturday, May 20, 2023 at 11:42:14 AM UTC-4, Paul S Person wrote:
> On Sat, 20 May 2023 03:15:26 -0700 (PDT), Des
> <desmond...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >On Friday, May 19, 2023 at 10:59:37?PM UTC+1, Butch Malahide wrote:
> >> On Thursday, February 24, 1994 at 11:12:29?AM UTC-6, Ken Cox wrote:
> >> > Robert Williams wrote:
> >> > > I'm interested in novels and short stories where characters have
> >> > >the ability to stop time.
> >> > Others have mentioned "The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything" and
> >> > Spider Robinson's use of the idea in "Kill the Editor" (part of the
> >> > novel "Lady Slings the Booze").
> >> > A similar notion was used in an episode of "Friday the 13th -- The
> >> > Series". A pocketwatch allowed the holder to stop time for one hour
> >> > each night at 1:00. This was magic, not technology.
> >> > Orson Scott Card's _Treason_ (formerly _A Planet Called Treason_) has
> >> > a group of people who can adjust their time flow either up or down.
> >> > They didn't actually stop time, but they could speed themselves up
> >> > until everything else seemed stopped.
> >> > Two for which I can't remember title or author, but maybe someone's
> >> > memory will be jogged -- I'll try to include as much as I remember:
> >> > A fairly old short story (40's or 50's, maybe) about a device that
> >> > could speed up metabolism so the person could live much faster. One
> >> > of the inventors used it to kill a woman by handcuffing her to a
> >> > fixture and accelerating her -- she starved quickly. A friend/lover
> >> > of the woman then accelerated the murderer, but he could move around..
> >> > Moving was difficult because of the perceived viscosity of the air.
> >> > His clothes fell apart from friction. Everything was silent, except
> >> > one time when he heard a low rumble and found it was the shrill sound
> >> > of a braking subway train. He was not normally seen, except a few
> >> > times while he slept (eight hours of relative stillness translating
> >> > into half a second or so of visibility). He died after many years of
> >> > his time, one day of normal time.
> >>
> >> "Half-Past Eternity" by John D. MacDonald.
> >> https://archive.org/details/Super_Science_Stories_v07n01_1950-07/page/n11/mode/2up
> >
> >Piers Anthony's series, Incarnations of Immortality, Book 2 "Bearing and Hourglass" - Chronos, the Incarnation of Time, could freeze time, or travel into the past or future with certain constraints. Magic, not technology, with his hourglass as the talisman of power or whatever the correct terminology is.
> I thought the idea was that he lived backwards, so that he started out
> quite old and ended up quite young.
>
> So he /remembered/ the future (having come from there) and moved
> constantly into the past. (Except when stopping time, of course -- I
> don't actually remember that happening.)

I think you're remembering TH White's version of Merlin in 'The Sword in
the Stone".

Pt

On 5/20/2023 10:06 AM, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Saturday, May 20, 2023 at 11:42:14 AM UTC-4, Paul S Person wrote:
>> On Sat, 20 May 2023 03:15:26 -0700 (PDT), Des
>> <desmond...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On Friday, May 19, 2023 at 10:59:37?PM UTC+1, Butch Malahide wrote:
>>>> On Thursday, February 24, 1994 at 11:12:29?AM UTC-6, Ken Cox wrote:
>>>>> Robert Williams wrote:
>>>>>> I'm interested in novels and short stories where characters have
>>>>>> the ability to stop time.
>>>>> Others have mentioned "The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything" and
>>>>> Spider Robinson's use of the idea in "Kill the Editor" (part of the
>>>>> novel "Lady Slings the Booze").
>>>>> A similar notion was used in an episode of "Friday the 13th -- The
>>>>> Series". A pocketwatch allowed the holder to stop time for one hour
>>>>> each night at 1:00. This was magic, not technology.
>>>>> Orson Scott Card's _Treason_ (formerly _A Planet Called Treason_) has
>>>>> a group of people who can adjust their time flow either up or down.
>>>>> They didn't actually stop time, but they could speed themselves up
>>>>> until everything else seemed stopped.
>>>>> Two for which I can't remember title or author, but maybe someone's
>>>>> memory will be jogged -- I'll try to include as much as I remember:
>>>>> A fairly old short story (40's or 50's, maybe) about a device that
>>>>> could speed up metabolism so the person could live much faster. One
>>>>> of the inventors used it to kill a woman by handcuffing her to a
>>>>> fixture and accelerating her -- she starved quickly. A friend/lover
>>>>> of the woman then accelerated the murderer, but he could move around.
>>>>> Moving was difficult because of the perceived viscosity of the air.
>>>>> His clothes fell apart from friction. Everything was silent, except
>>>>> one time when he heard a low rumble and found it was the shrill sound
>>>>> of a braking subway train. He was not normally seen, except a few
>>>>> times while he slept (eight hours of relative stillness translating
>>>>> into half a second or so of visibility). He died after many years of
>>>>> his time, one day of normal time.
>>>>
>>>> "Half-Past Eternity" by John D. MacDonald.
>>>> https://archive.org/details/Super_Science_Stories_v07n01_1950-07/page/n11/mode/2up
>>>
>>> Piers Anthony's series, Incarnations of Immortality, Book 2 "Bearing and Hourglass" - Chronos, the Incarnation of Time, could freeze time, or travel into the past or future with certain constraints. Magic, not technology, with his hourglass as the talisman of power or whatever the correct terminology is.
>> I thought the idea was that he lived backwards, so that he started out
>> quite old and ended up quite young.
>>
>> So he /remembered/ the future (having come from there) and moved
>> constantly into the past. (Except when stopping time, of course -- I
>> don't actually remember that happening.)
>
> I think you're remembering TH White's version of Merlin in 'The Sword in
> the Stone".
>
No, his description of Chronos from that book series matches my memory
from reading it decades ago.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

In article <u4auv4$14f9g$1@dont-email.me>,
Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
>On 5/20/2023 10:06 AM, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
>> On Saturday, May 20, 2023 at 11:42:14 AM UTC-4, Paul S Person wrote:
>>> On Sat, 20 May 2023 03:15:26 -0700 (PDT), Des
>>> <desmond...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Friday, May 19, 2023 at 10:59:37?PM UTC+1, Butch Malahide wrote:
>>>>> On Thursday, February 24, 1994 at 11:12:29?AM UTC-6, Ken Cox wrote:
>>>>>> Robert Williams wrote:
>>>>>>> I'm interested in novels and short stories where characters have
>>>>>>> the ability to stop time.
>>>>>> Others have mentioned "The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything" and
>>>>>> Spider Robinson's use of the idea in "Kill the Editor" (part of the
>>>>>> novel "Lady Slings the Booze").
>>>>>> A similar notion was used in an episode of "Friday the 13th -- The
>>>>>> Series". A pocketwatch allowed the holder to stop time for one hour
>>>>>> each night at 1:00. This was magic, not technology.
>>>>>> Orson Scott Card's _Treason_ (formerly _A Planet Called Treason_) has
>>>>>> a group of people who can adjust their time flow either up or down.
>>>>>> They didn't actually stop time, but they could speed themselves up
>>>>>> until everything else seemed stopped.
>>>>>> Two for which I can't remember title or author, but maybe someone's
>>>>>> memory will be jogged -- I'll try to include as much as I remember:
>>>>>> A fairly old short story (40's or 50's, maybe) about a device that
>>>>>> could speed up metabolism so the person could live much faster. One
>>>>>> of the inventors used it to kill a woman by handcuffing her to a
>>>>>> fixture and accelerating her -- she starved quickly. A friend/lover
>>>>>> of the woman then accelerated the murderer, but he could move around.
>>>>>> Moving was difficult because of the perceived viscosity of the air.
>>>>>> His clothes fell apart from friction. Everything was silent, except
>>>>>> one time when he heard a low rumble and found it was the shrill sound
>>>>>> of a braking subway train. He was not normally seen, except a few
>>>>>> times while he slept (eight hours of relative stillness translating
>>>>>> into half a second or so of visibility). He died after many years of
>>>>>> his time, one day of normal time.
>>>>>
>>>>> "Half-Past Eternity" by John D. MacDonald.
>>>>>
>https://archive.org/details/Super_Science_Stories_v07n01_1950-07/page/n11/mode/2up
>>>>
>>>> Piers Anthony's series, Incarnations of Immortality, Book 2 "Bearing
>and Hourglass" - Chronos, the Incarnation of Time, could freeze time, or
>travel into the past or future with certain constraints. Magic, not
>technology, with his hourglass as the talisman of power or whatever the
>correct terminology is.
>>> I thought the idea was that he lived backwards, so that he started out
>>> quite old and ended up quite young.
>>>
>>> So he /remembered/ the future (having come from there) and moved
>>> constantly into the past. (Except when stopping time, of course -- I
>>> don't actually remember that happening.)
>>
>> I think you're remembering TH White's version of Merlin in 'The Sword in
>> the Stone".
>>
>No, his description of Chronos from that book series matches my memory
>from reading it decades ago.
>
>

Karen Chance also did a riff on the "Merlin living backwards" thing in
the Cassie books.

Oh, and she can stop time as well as can her acolytes to some extent.
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

On Sunday, May 21, 2023 at 1:42:14 AM UTC+10, Paul S Person wrote:
> On Sat, 20 May 2023 03:15:26 -0700 (PDT), Des
> <desmond...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >On Friday, May 19, 2023 at 10:59:37?PM UTC+1, Butch Malahide wrote:
> >> On Thursday, February 24, 1994 at 11:12:29?AM UTC-6, Ken Cox wrote:
> >> > Robert Williams wrote:
> >> > > I'm interested in novels and short stories where characters have
> >> > >the ability to stop time.
> >> > Others have mentioned "The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything" and
> >> > Spider Robinson's use of the idea in "Kill the Editor" (part of the
> >> > novel "Lady Slings the Booze").
> >> > A similar notion was used in an episode of "Friday the 13th -- The
> >> > Series". A pocketwatch allowed the holder to stop time for one hour
> >> > each night at 1:00. This was magic, not technology.
> >> > Orson Scott Card's _Treason_ (formerly _A Planet Called Treason_) has
> >> > a group of people who can adjust their time flow either up or down.
> >> > They didn't actually stop time, but they could speed themselves up
> >> > until everything else seemed stopped.
> >> > Two for which I can't remember title or author, but maybe someone's
> >> > memory will be jogged -- I'll try to include as much as I remember:
> >> > A fairly old short story (40's or 50's, maybe) about a device that
> >> > could speed up metabolism so the person could live much faster. One
> >> > of the inventors used it to kill a woman by handcuffing her to a
> >> > fixture and accelerating her -- she starved quickly. A friend/lover
> >> > of the woman then accelerated the murderer, but he could move around..
> >> > Moving was difficult because of the perceived viscosity of the air.
> >> > His clothes fell apart from friction. Everything was silent, except
> >> > one time when he heard a low rumble and found it was the shrill sound
> >> > of a braking subway train. He was not normally seen, except a few
> >> > times while he slept (eight hours of relative stillness translating
> >> > into half a second or so of visibility). He died after many years of
> >> > his time, one day of normal time.
> >>
> >> "Half-Past Eternity" by John D. MacDonald.
> >> https://archive.org/details/Super_Science_Stories_v07n01_1950-07/page/n11/mode/2up
> >
> >Piers Anthony's series, Incarnations of Immortality, Book 2 "Bearing and Hourglass" - Chronos, the Incarnation of Time, could freeze time, or travel into the past or future with certain constraints. Magic, not technology, with his hourglass as the talisman of power or whatever the correct terminology is.
> I thought the idea was that he lived backwards, so that he started out
> quite old and ended up quite young.
>
> So he /remembered/ the future (having come from there) and moved
> constantly into the past. (Except when stopping time, of course -- I
> don't actually remember that happening.)

The 5 generally recognised incarnations of immortality characters have different ways they pass their roles off
Death serves as death until one of the people he's meant to process kills him (he only has to deal with people who are very close to the heaven/hell cutoff)
Chronos serves going backwards in time between the time he picks up the hourglass and when he's born
There are 3 separate people who serve as fate and they all get to chose to step out back into the normal world as human again
I don't think I ever read the ones on War or Nature so I don't know how that works

Chronos can also travel through time - at least within his era between birth and becoming Chronos, I don't know if he can go outside that period. I'd imagine that even if he can he's got much reduced power - and do a heap of other tricks with time. He can definitely freeze time, or at least make the progression so slow that it's effectively frozen for anybody else.

On Sun, 21 May 2023 20:03:29 -0700 (PDT), Hamish Laws
<hamish.laws@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Sunday, May 21, 2023 at 1:42:14?AM UTC+10, Paul S Person wrote:
>> On Sat, 20 May 2023 03:15:26 -0700 (PDT), Des
>> <desmond...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> >On Friday, May 19, 2023 at 10:59:37?PM UTC+1, Butch Malahide wrote:
>> >> On Thursday, February 24, 1994 at 11:12:29?AM UTC-6, Ken Cox wrote:
>> >> > Robert Williams wrote:
>> >> > > I'm interested in novels and short stories where characters have
>> >> > >the ability to stop time.
>> >> > Others have mentioned "The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything" and
>> >> > Spider Robinson's use of the idea in "Kill the Editor" (part of the
>> >> > novel "Lady Slings the Booze").
>> >> > A similar notion was used in an episode of "Friday the 13th -- The
>> >> > Series". A pocketwatch allowed the holder to stop time for one hour
>> >> > each night at 1:00. This was magic, not technology.
>> >> > Orson Scott Card's _Treason_ (formerly _A Planet Called Treason_) has
>> >> > a group of people who can adjust their time flow either up or down.
>> >> > They didn't actually stop time, but they could speed themselves up
>> >> > until everything else seemed stopped.
>> >> > Two for which I can't remember title or author, but maybe someone's
>> >> > memory will be jogged -- I'll try to include as much as I remember:
>> >> > A fairly old short story (40's or 50's, maybe) about a device that
>> >> > could speed up metabolism so the person could live much faster. One
>> >> > of the inventors used it to kill a woman by handcuffing her to a
>> >> > fixture and accelerating her -- she starved quickly. A friend/lover
>> >> > of the woman then accelerated the murderer, but he could move around.
>> >> > Moving was difficult because of the perceived viscosity of the air.
>> >> > His clothes fell apart from friction. Everything was silent, except
>> >> > one time when he heard a low rumble and found it was the shrill sound
>> >> > of a braking subway train. He was not normally seen, except a few
>> >> > times while he slept (eight hours of relative stillness translating
>> >> > into half a second or so of visibility). He died after many years of
>> >> > his time, one day of normal time.
>> >>
>> >> "Half-Past Eternity" by John D. MacDonald.
>> >> https://archive.org/details/Super_Science_Stories_v07n01_1950-07/page/n11/mode/2up
>> >
>> >Piers Anthony's series, Incarnations of Immortality, Book 2 "Bearing and Hourglass" - Chronos, the Incarnation of Time, could freeze time, or travel into the past or future with certain constraints. Magic, not technology, with his hourglass as the talisman of power or whatever the correct terminology is.
>> I thought the idea was that he lived backwards, so that he started out
>> quite old and ended up quite young.
>>
>> So he /remembered/ the future (having come from there) and moved
>> constantly into the past. (Except when stopping time, of course -- I
>> don't actually remember that happening.)
>
>The 5 generally recognised incarnations of immortality characters have different ways they pass their roles off
>Death serves as death until one of the people he's meant to process kills him (he only has to deal with people who are very close to the heaven/hell cutoff)

In one book, he goes on strike, and /nobody/ dies, even those in
agony. But it may well be that the limitation you present is also
given in the books, consistency being the hobgoblin of small minds and
all that.

>Chronos serves going backwards in time between the time he picks up the hourglass and when he's born
>There are 3 separate people who serve as fate and they all get to chose to step out back into the normal world as human again
>I don't think I ever read the ones on War or Nature so I don't know how that works

I read all seven books in the five-book series. If you missed the last
two, you really missed something. Well, IMHO, of course. YMMV.

>Chronos can also travel through time - at least within his era between birth and becoming Chronos, I don't know if he can go outside that period. I'd imagine that even if he can he's got much reduced power - and do a heap of other tricks with time. He can definitely freeze time, or at least make the progression so slow that it's effectively frozen for anybody else.

It's been a while since I read the books, so I'll take your word for
this.
--
"In this connexion, unquestionably the most significant
development was the disintegration, under Christian
influence, of classical conceptions of the family and
of family right."