Happy 2022, friends!
National Science Fiction Day is January 2nd and since my trilogy is a time travel love story, it definitely falls into the SciFi category! The question I get asked most about the trilogy is, “How did you think of that?”
Now if you are a new reader here, and need a synopsis, let me give you a little context.
In BOOK ONE of the Tracing Time Trilogy, Anna Wright grapples with the effects of her depression while living a secluded life with her young family abroad. When her husband disappears, she is faced with accepting the assumption of his death or uncovering the truth behind his work.
Anna returns to the only thing she knows, her Midwest family, but life on the farm isn’t like what it was growing up. Times and people have changed, and her quest to find herself again turns into a burning desire to know the truth. Her husband’s colleague, Christopher, and the distinguished Professor Trinkton reveal secrets behind their studies, leaving Anna with the impossible choice to either join their efforts or lose David forever.
While she is an involved and loving mother, she does the unthinkable, choosing to travel through space and time without her children, justifying to herself that she’s on a mission to help save the planet and return her husband safely to his family. Her tenacity and determination lead her to successfully embark on an unfathomable journey. And what she finds is unthinkable: her husband, stuck in a time period in which he was unable to access the technology needed to return, has been betrothed to another.
The Victorian British era in which David had been trapped for nearly eight years left him all but hopeless until Anna arrives. Overcoming the epic trials their true love story must face, along with a mystical guide, together they make a way to return. But things aren’t simple when toying with the fabric of time.
In BOOK TWO, fourteen years after the disappearance of David and Anna, Christopher Mack is imprisoned for their murders. Maggie Sturgeon, the young daughter who was left behind had been raised by her mother's brother and Turkish-born auntie, Ami.
Now an adult, Maggie finds that Trinkton, who she knew to be the lawyer involved in the murder case, was actually her parents' former Professor at UCLA. Following in her father's footsteps and being accepted into their science program, she too finds herself uncovering secrets she was never meant to know.
Connecting with a fellow student, and son of a prominent professor himself, Maggie and Rowan join forces to unearth every mystery about the past. What they didn't expect was to be entangled far more than they could have imagined. Rowan finds that his parents were also participants in the infamous time travel program as they uncover a convoluted string of events that led them to become deeply involved in a network of people in The Program.
Arriving in 1970s England, they reunite with their parents only to be plunged into a world from which they only wished they could escape. Maggie and Rowan ultimately believe they can make a difference by trying to thwart the growing effects of climate change, but their compromise is being fully controlled by The Company.
The family drama an absentee parent must face with their adult children takes on new meaning once Maggie confronts her parents as their paths cross in a time period none of them were meant to experience.
In BOOK THREE, after years in The Program, two generations of parents who had struggled to make sense of the lives they built were forced to reveal secrets to yet another generation. Young Maisy had a peaceful life growing up in England as the daughter of expats in the 1990s, but her stoic personality and stunning looks always drew attention. Thinking it was her weirdness that made her feel like she never quite fit in and determined to find herself, she set off on a backpacking adventure that would change her life.
Antonio was unlike anyone she'd ever met. Dropping her a secret note in an airport lounge, he leads Maisy to a startling discovery of who she really was, no spiritual self-revelation involved. Coming to terms with the fact that she was the third generation in a family of time travelers, Maisy conspires with Antonio to blow the whole thing up. She finally feels like she has answers for her misfit life, yet she has only scratched the surface.
Being involved with The Company has taken its toll on everyone, and Maisy is the young blood needed to lead the charge for this family to regain their freedom once and for all. While not fully abandoning the initial mission of trying to help save the planet, she, her parents, and grandparents set off to do collectively what one could not accomplish alone. One problem remains for Maisy, Antonio isn't part of the family.
Leaving the past behind, all three generations duly return to the twenty-first century as Trinkton and Christopher are finally able to share the truth about what had transpired during their absence. Both happy endings and love lost are inevitable.
Intriguing? I hope so! But back to your question! How did I think of that?
The truth is, I think every one of us has encountered a moment in our lives where we would turn back the clock if we could. But we often imagine that everything would be just perfect. Anna experiencing time travel un-aged when her husband has been stuck for eight years was mind-boggling to a neighbor of mine who read my books.
She stopped me on one of our walks around the block with the dog and said, “I read all three books! I never knew time travel could work that way!” Well, me neither, neighbor, me neither. But I imagine it could if ever time travel is made possible. The fact that things don’t always go as planned and countless decisions we make affect so many is something everyone can relate to!
The twists and turns my story takes that can’t be summed up in a synopsis are just imaginations that make me feel like the world is a lovely place because we have the escape of a good story, and perhaps I’ll never know where it all came from. But that’s the short answer. Wouldn’t it be complicated if we tried to turn back the clock? That’s what this story entails. And it’s made me grateful for the time we do have!
So, have you read The Tracing Time Trilogy yet? Use the coupon code Jan2022 to get the first book, Tracing Time for free this week only! And if you’ve read it, remember to leave me an honest review on Amazon or Goodreads today!
I've gotten many questions over the past few years of writing these stories, but I’d love to hear yours. What do YOU want to know?