Hank's Guide to Coping with Time Travel

Cover art & design - Jo James

Hello there.

I’ve completed the first book I want to put out it the world, via the interwebs. If you are reading this, you’d like to know little bit more about the book and how I came to write the thing.

This is the synopsis I’m going with:

            Hank Lloyd is bored and rudderless, and he just got his ass kicked by his girlfriend’s ex. What to him was just a depressing night at the emergency room is actually considered a pivotal point in American history --- thirty years in the future. He is soon visited by three people who reshape his entire life in one night: a military strategist, a Ph.D., and an astrophysicist (who also happens to be the mother of time travel).  Soon he will learn that he is the central character in the possible overthrow of the government, and that time travel can be used to not only alter human events, but it’s an excellent way to reinvent yourself. 

            Plus, it’s funny.

            I’m not a big science fiction reader, but I am a big science fiction watcher.  I love the movies. The books I read are usually, well…unusual. This book, with those influences mixed into a fun gumbo, is more human and personal than spacey and epic and Asimovy. I have loved time travel for as long as I can remember. The very first story I ever wrote, when I was twelve or so, was about a time traveler.  I’ve chronicled the how’s and why’s of the genre for a few years, and I decided to put everything I love about it into the type of story I’d like to read. If you’re looking, you should be able to find nearly every trope explored somewhere.  If I’ve missed any, they will turn up in the sequel which will come out in the spring (-ish) of 2016.

            I wrote this story because it’s the type of thing that got me thinking about stories in the first place.  After the Hank story is done, I have different ideas in mind. Writing is sincerely one of the weirdest things you can do with your time.  Those of us who are hooked know how ludicrous it feels to smash keys with sore fingers after you’ve finished a full day of work doing the job that pays the bills. But you do it because something keeps sucking you back. Earlier this year, I gave in.  I put aside my other fun distractions to focus on more time alone in a room thinking about fake stuff.  I want to spend the rest of my days doing this, and I’m happy that this is the first step into the wilderness.

            It’s probably not smart to give spoilers away, but I can at least say that Hank’s Guide is a fun book. It’s meant to be a fast-paced read. (Unknown writers are better off keeping their stories to a limited word count.) I kept that in mind while I wrote this and made notes for a second book.  Dammit, I can do what I want!

            If you’re still reading this you either know me personally or you are very interested in reading the book. I appreciate both groups. (I’m new to the writer blurb thing. It’s surprisingly difficult to write about yourself and something you’ve made.)

            Enjoy it, share it, review it, pass it on.