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* WackyWaysideTribe: Rattler really has no point to be there besides being an {{expy}} of Gollum. Hell, she wasn't even corrupted by the mobius strip, she's just a hobby project that escaped.

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* WackyWaysideTribe: Rattler really has no point to be there besides being an {{expy}} of Gollum. Hell, she it wasn't even corrupted by the mobius strip, she's just a hobby project of the Ressurrectionists captain that escaped.

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* PortalNetwork: People traverse the galaxy using wormholes. Unusually, they only go one way -- you have to find a different wormhole to take you back.

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* PortalNetwork: People traverse the galaxy using wormholes. Unusually, they only go one way -- you have to find a different wormhole to take you back. [[spoiler: The Snark is the controller for the whole network, and allows for travel both ways-but due to relativity effects, you meet yourself leaving when entering and smash yourself to peices on your past self, which is probably why they do it the way they do.]]


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* WackyWaysideTribe: Rattler really has no point to be there besides being an {{expy}} of Gollum. Hell, she wasn't even corrupted by the mobius strip, she's just a hobby project that escaped.

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* AltumVidetur: The Latin phrase ''Eadem mutata resurgo'' ("Though changing, I arise the same") recurs throughout the book.


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* GratuitousLatin: The Latin phrase ''Eadem mutata resurgo'' ("Though changing, I arise the same") recurs throughout the book.
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Pat Murphy's novel ''There and Back Again'' is the story of Bailey Beldon, a simple, respectable [[{{Hobbits}} norbit]] who is content with his sleepy life in the Asteroid Belt until a cyborg adventurer and a clan of clones hijack him for a grand adventure to [[TheHuntingOfTheSnark hunt a Snark]] and win back a lost treasure at the center of the galaxy, forcing him to grow out of his comfortable little world. Along the way he encounters swashbuckling pirates, seductive Trancers, greedy Resurrectionists, and other fantastic characters and creatures before coming face to face with the Snark itself -- which is, naturally, a Boojum.

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Pat Murphy's novel ''There and Back Again'' is the story of Bailey Beldon, a simple, respectable [[{{Hobbits}} norbit]] who is content with his sleepy life in the Asteroid Belt until a cyborg adventurer and a clan of clones hijack him for a grand adventure to [[TheHuntingOfTheSnark [[Literature/TheHuntingOfTheSnark hunt a Snark]] and win back a lost treasure at the center of the galaxy, forcing him to grow out of his comfortable little world. Along the way he encounters swashbuckling pirates, seductive Trancers, greedy Resurrectionists, and other fantastic characters and creatures before coming face to face with the Snark itself -- which is, naturally, a Boojum.



* FutureImperfect: ''TheHuntingOfTheSnark'' is apparently still remembered perfectly (and remnants of the Old Ones' civilization are called "snarks" in reference to it). However, it's remembered as an actual how-to guide -- that is, people believe there was a real Earth animal called a Snark that could be hunted as per the poem.

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* FutureImperfect: ''TheHuntingOfTheSnark'' ''Literature/TheHuntingOfTheSnark'' is apparently still remembered perfectly (and remnants of the Old Ones' civilization are called "snarks" in reference to it). However, it's remembered as an actual how-to guide -- that is, people believe there was a real Earth animal called a Snark that could be hunted as per the poem.
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[[quoteright:181:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/there-and-back-again_9062.jpg]]
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Pat Murphy's novel ''There and Back Again'' is the story of Bailey Beldon, a simple, respectable [[{{Hobbits}} norbit]] who is content with his sleepy life in the Asteroid Belt until a cyborg adventurer and a clan of clones hijack him for a grand adventure to [[TheHuntingOfTheSnark hunt a Snark]] and win back a lost treasure at the center of the galaxy, forcing him to grow out of his comfortable little world. Along the way he encounters swashbuckling pirates, seductive Trancers, greedy Resurrectionists, and other fantastic characters and creatures before coming face to face with the Snark itself -- which is, naturally, a Boojum.

Sound [[RecycledInSpace familiar]]? [[Literature/TheHobbit It should.]]
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!!Tropes featured include:
* AltumVidetur: The Latin phrase ''Eadem mutata resurgo'' ("Though changing, I arise the same") recurs throughout the book.
* AsteroidThicket: Farr Station is inside an asteroid thicket around Epsilon Eridani; the book justifies it by saying the asteroid belt hasn't been around long enough to thin out.
* AuthorAvatar: The Curator, whose real name is Pat Murphy (no relation to the Murphys who live on Ceres).
* BrainUploading:
** Myra Farr, the original Farr clone, uploaded her mind to a computer in preference to dying of old age.
** Fluffy is a composite of an adventurer and her cat, involuntarily uploaded by the Resurrectionists to serve as an automatic pilot for one of their space fighters.
* BrownNote: The Trancer's rhythm, which gets lodged in everyone's head and takes their mind over.
* DisabilityImmunity: Bailey is tone-deaf. This makes him immune to the Trancer's rhythm, and he can break its hold over other people by singing.
* ExpendableClone: The Resurrectionists believe that all clones are expendable. Since most of the main party is made up of clones, this is problematic.
* FutureImperfect: ''TheHuntingOfTheSnark'' is apparently still remembered perfectly (and remnants of the Old Ones' civilization are called "snarks" in reference to it). However, it's remembered as an actual how-to guide -- that is, people believe there was a real Earth animal called a Snark that could be hunted as per the poem.
* GenderFlip: While ''The Hobbit'' has no female characters whatsoever, ''There and Back Again'' has almost no male characters except Bailey himself. In particular, Gitara (the Gandalf-equivalent) and the Farr clones (who include the equivalents of all the dwarves) are all women.
* MirrorChemistry: Every time anyone passes through a wormhole, they get mirror-flipped. This makes cooking dinner for a group of interstellar travelers difficult.
* OnlySmartPeopleMayPass: In order to open the tunnel that leads to the Boojum, Bailey has to recognize the Fibonacci numbers. In base 12.
* PortalNetwork: People traverse the galaxy using wormholes. Unusually, they only go one way -- you have to find a different wormhole to take you back.
* {{Precursors}}: The Old Ones, creators of the portal network as well as most of the other artifacts in the book.
* RecycledInSpace: Yes, this is ''Literature/TheHobbit'' [-AS A SPACE OPERA-]. Very much so.
* SapientShip: Fluffy.
* SpacePirates: Several different flavors of them; the purest examples are Blackbeard's crew (who play the role of ''The Hobbit'''s Wood-Elves).
* StableTimeLoop: At the end of the book Bailey contrives to leave the note for himself that he found at the beginning, as well as sending a key message that lets the Curator and 'pataphysicians arrive in time to save the day.
* TimeStandsStill: Bailey's Mobius strip allows him to speed up or slow down time in a bubble around him. It's not quite a ring of invisibility, but it serves much the same purpose...
* WasOnceAMan: Anyone who's spent enough time being experimented on by the Resurrectionists; Rattler is the most plot-important example.
* WetwareCPU: The Resurrectionists' ''modus operandi''.
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