how to live safely in a science fictional universe

When he leaves the temple, he finds himself back in his TM-31. He sees a woman who seems to be the woman his mother should have been, and his father’s shoes. When he does so, he finds himself in a Buddhist temple. He speculates as to what would happen if he jumps ahead in the book. He realizes that when he does anything, the book is rewritten to match his action he further realizes that he is writing the book as he lives his life. He begins to read the book, and discovers a similarly-titled book on the computer of his TM-31. Future Yu gives him a book called How To Live Safely In a Science Fictional Universe, telling him that the book is â€›the key.’ Yu realizes that he has created a time loop for himself: He is now destined to go back in time, bringing the book with him and allowing himself to be shot by his past self. Panicked, he shoots his future self and then rushes to him. The next day, Yu rushes to the TM-31 and sees a future version of himself emerge from it. Yu obeys the order and goes to visit his mother, who lives inside a time loop reliving a single hour of her life where she serves him dinner as a young boy. Yu is called in by Phil, his superior, to have his TM-31 serviced. He is sent to help a woman who wishes to travel to the moment her grandmother died in order to be with her, and he must explain that the rules of time travel forbid this, as she was not actually present at her grandmother’s passing. Because of the nature of MU 31, many of these people are fictional or tangentially so for example, one of his service calls is to Linus Skywalker, the son of Luke Skywalker who wishes to travel into the past to kill his father. In his work as a repairman, he attempts to fix time machines used by people attempting to alter the past. It is just 17% core reality with science fiction wrapped around it.

Yu is in what’s known as Minor Universe 31, which is not as â€›real’ as other universes. The TM-31 is equipped with an artificial intelligence named TAMMY that is revealed to be quite depressed. Similar to the dog, he often imagines the Woman He Never Married, named Marie.

He is accompanied by his dog, Ed, which does not actually exist.

He lives in the TM-31 and has done so for a decade, drifting between jobs and thinking about his father, who disappeared in a time machine long ago. The story begins with the narrator, Charles Yu, describing the TM-31 Recreational Time Travel Device and some of the experience of using it, much of which is unpleasant: It has just enough room for one person, and he experiences some negative physical effects like sore gums and an inability to focus his thoughts. Yu uses the concept of different layers and quantities of â€›reality’ to tell a story that is ultimately an exploration of what defines the self and how we build and rely on relationships. How To Live Safely In a Science Fictional Universe is a novel by Charles Yu, published in 2010.

How to live safely in a science fictional universe