I’ve always loved the concept of time travel. One of my favourite movies is Back To The Future. I loved the crazy professor, the DeLorean time machine, and the “flux capacitor” which magically made the time machine work. I also loved how neatly interwoven the past and present were, and how, when Marty McFly returned from the past, the present was altered because of his actions.
So when I began writing Asher’s Dilemma I thought I had time travel all sorted out in my head. Turns out, once you accept that time travel is possible, the door is opened to all sorts of mental gymnastics. I spent hours pondering the various scenarios, wondering what would happen to X if Y did this to him in the past? Would X disappear? Be wiped out from history? Travel to another dimension?
As I investigated time travel, I discovered scads of information on the subject, and I realised I had to choose a theory of time travel from one of three broad choices:
(1) There is only one single fixed history which is unchangeable
(2) History is flexible and subject to change
(3) There are multiple co-existing timelines.
Even after I’d chosen my theory, I had to work out my storyline to fit in with it. Many roundabout arguments with myself ensued enough to make my head ache. Every now and then I had to remind myself that I was writing fiction, not a scientific thesis! It’s a strange experience striving to be logical about something that is unproven, illogical, and—so far— impossible.
Time travel glitches not withstanding, I hope readers will enjoy reading Asher’s Dilemma as much as I enjoyed puzzling it out.
Ever since he awoke one day on the floor of his workshop with a brain-splitting headache, Asher Quigley has been haunted by fleeting visions of a beautiful woman everywhere he looks—a woman he’s sure he knows, but can’t recall. In spite of this he has finished his most wondrous invention yet, one that will literally make history: a time machine. But before he can complete his exacting calculations a bizarre accident causes the device to be activated, with him inside! He awakes to find himself in his lab, eight months in the past, and suddenly he remembers her…
Asher knows that something in the near future causes Minerva Lambkin, the woman who turned down his marriage proposal, to be erased from existence. And he’s sure it has something to do with his device. Alone in a familiar world where he doesn’t belong, he’ll have to find a way to destroy the time machine to save the woman he loves from extinction. Even if that means erasing his own future.
ASHER’S DILEMMA – Carina Press | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iTunes
When you have to brush your teeth with bottled water and rely on a hand-cranked radio just to hear another human voice, you begin to get some sense of what it is to lose everything in a matter of minutes. The recent tragedies here in the states, Japan and Australia reminded me how lucky I’ve been.
Rita tore out entire trees by the roots, taking the underground water lines with them. The fence surrounding our five acres hung on twisted posts, or were buried under trees and debris. Over a hundred pines were snapped in half like toothpicks. The power line to our house lay tangled in tree limbs, and our town was almost entirely deserted by the time we returned from our exodus.
We got to work as soon as we arrived, clearing brush and moving trees off the house and shop from dawn until dark. When it was too dark to work outside, I cleaned house by lantern light. The worst job of all was emptying and disinfecting the refrigerator and freezers of spoiled food. Not a job for the weak of stomach. I probably used an entire gallon of bleach in the kitchen alone.
While I was writing this post, I couldn’t help but remember a few of my favorite time travel stories. I love all three Back to the Future films, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and especially