Off to Be the Wizard by Scott Meyer

[tabacco]

http://www.amazon.com/Off-Wizard-Magic-2-0-Book-ebook/dp/B00EF8Z32I?tag=idlthu-20

 

Basically I picked this up because it was a cheap Kindle book and I go through books like mad on the bus. But it ended up being a really fun read.

 

The short version of the premise is that a guy figures out reality is just a computer program he can manipulate the data files for, immediately gets arrested for bank fraud, and decides to go try and be a wizard in medieval England. It's super goofy, and certainly not a book of Substance™, but worth the not-very-long it'll take you to read it. Think of a sillier version of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

[Berzee]

I enjoyed the free chapters I read, though I never got around to buying it -- mainly because time travel almost always bothers me, so I thought I might not like it as much when he gets to that part =). As long as he mostly stays put once he gets there it might be fine though.

 

Incidentally his web-o-comic Basic Instructions has been part of my check-daily routine for quite a while now.

[tabacco]

I enjoyed the free chapters I read, though I never got around to buying it -- mainly because time travel almost always bothers me, so I thought I might not like it as much when he gets to that part =). As long as he mostly stays put once he gets there it might be fine though.

 

Incidentally his web-o-comic Basic Instructions has been part of my check-daily routine for quite a while now.

 

It basically never gets bogged down in time travel mechanics. It essentially says "Well, whatever!" and moves on with the story.

[Berzee]

Good. I guess when it's not *real* time you're manipulating but just *computer* time, you don't have to worry so much. =P If I ever find myself inexplicably in possession of a computer-that-only-computes-books (or hankering to purchase a physical book) I will keep this wizard in mind.

 

Not to hijack the thread and make it about other books, but this one reminded me (in passing) of the Rogue Wizard series by Christopher Stasheff, which are about a psychic-man (+ sidekick) who lands his sentient spaceship on planets of lesser technological sophistication, pretends to be a wizard, and tries to start revolutions and stuff. It's another good way of achieving "modern or future man stuck in a bygone era" without actually having to introduce a real time machine.