Goosebumps-like book

August 22, 2012 7:01 AM

A sci-fi teen book from the 90's?

I keep remembering a book that I read growing up in the 90's and I cant find it online. The storyline was about a couple of kids who discover a portal to another world/planet/dimension in their garage/barn, and they could send and receive objects from both sides.
I remember that when receiving an object from the portal they could see it fuzzy and in the distance, and judging by how far away it looks they could determine how many days/hours it would take to get to Earth.
I remember at first they received an alien clock with light up dots, and the climax of the book was that they saw an extremely large object with hundreds of teeth on its way to them and they struggled to close the portal.

Any ideas? Im fairly certain this one wasnt a dream. :)

posted by lain to Writing & Language (11 answers total)

oh, and they were at their uncle's house for the summer? and they were twin boys, and one realized that there were weird time effects near the portal, and decided to hang out in the shelter his uncle had built and work out and 'age' for a year?

I read this too, I'm looking....
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:07 AM on August 22, 2012

Best answer: was it Singularity by William Sleator?
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:09 AM on August 22, 2012 [3 favorites]

Sounds like William Sleator's Singularity, with the twin boys and the barn with a different timing speed and the teeth. The teeth were very memorable.
posted by jeather at 7:10 AM on August 22, 2012

the man of twists and turns: "was it Singularity by William Sleator?"

Definitely.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:11 AM on August 22, 2012

Oh man, I am totally reading this. I loved these kind of books, and judging by that cover I would have been all over it. HOW have I not read this yet!? Thanks for the question!
posted by phunniemee at 7:15 AM on August 22, 2012

Nthing Singularity.
posted by griphus at 7:22 AM on August 22, 2012

Usually our Sleator Name-That-Book question is about House of Stairs [1, 2, 3, etc.], so Singularity is a nice change of pace. If you like any of his books, you should really try them all. Interstellar Pig was probably my favorite.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:28 AM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

I also enjoyed The Boy Who Reversed Himself, Strange Attractors and The Duplicate
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:35 AM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

There's two FPPs on Sleator worth checking out (and, uh, one of them is mine.)
posted by griphus at 7:35 AM on August 22, 2012

Glad you found it! In a similar vein, there is Wildside.
posted by seasparrow at 8:55 AM on August 22, 2012

Response by poster: That was killing me for years! I love the green!
posted by lain at 9:10 AM on August 22, 2012