~Michio Kaku, Wired Magazine, Aug. 2003
Because of this blog I am offered review copies of books on a fairly regular basis. I try not to take very many because my reading stacks are fairly backed up. Of those I do take I don't read as many as I'd like because, as the saying goes, "my eyes are bigger than my stomach."
Nevertheless, the concept in Eddie Upnick's Time Will Tell was interesting on two counts. First, because I have written a few stories related to time and alternate histories (see Unremembered Histories ) and because of my father-in-law's own superb volume about his World War II experiences, a second theme of Upnick's story.
We're all familiar with H.G. Wells' classic The Time Machine, and who has not enjoyed Hollywood's three part Back to the Future series? Here's Upnick talking about why he wrote this book.
EN: What prompted you to write this book?
Eddie Upnick: I wrote Time Will Tell because of a chance meeting I had with a man named Sidney Dowse in 1995 in Antigua. Mr. Dowse was one of the men who escaped from Sagan, the prison camp portrayed in the 1963 movie The Great Escape. He was one of 76 men who escaped from the German prisoner of war camp. 50 of the men were murdered by the Gestapo, Sidney was recaptured. The stories that Mr. Dowse finally shared with me, after three days of trying to get him to talk, were amazing. Before the war started, Sidney Dowse worked with Stewert Menzies, who headed up MI-6, British intelligence. Menzies had daily meetings with Churchill. The shocking hidden details of World War Two history were the reason I wrote Time Will Tell.
EN: Having written a book titled Future Tense, you are obviously fascinated with time. When did this kind of interest emerge in your life?
EU: I was influenced in early childhood by Rod Serling's Twilight Zone and the Outer Limits series. Rod Serling was my greatest writing influence. His Twilight Zone episodes fascinated me a child. Gene Roddenberry was also a strong influence with the original Star Trek series. I hope readers will be both entertained by the story and learn a little lost history as well.
EU: Stephen King's novels are interesting to me, but they had no influence on me or my writing style at all. All of his novels that relate to time keep the genre alive and well. So I wish him well.
EN: I suppose you'd like to see this as a movie. How would you compare this story to 13 Monkees with Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt?
EU: Yes, I think all three books in this trilogy would make for great movies. 13 Monkees was certainly an interesting, yet dark film with a time travel theme. I would envision my "movies" as more uplifting and humorous.
EN: What are the biggest challenges in writing this kind of fiction?
EU: I call my writing style reality-based science fiction. Beginning each book with a real life premise and slowly morph into the Sci-Fi elements keeps the books believable and entertaining.
2052, the final book deals with the end of life on Earth and how our heroes attack the problem, battling enemies and getting help from allies in outer space. 2052 answers all the open questions left from the first two books.
40 years of stories told to me by top level people in many industries helped me piece this trilogy together. These novels are a fast read, that much I can promise your readers.
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EdNote: Though the book will never be considered classic literature there are readers who will enjoy the game. It's always interesting to see where another person's unrestrained imagination will take a reader if they choose to follow. Like all fiction of this type the enjoyment requires the usual suspension of disbelief. There is a lot of improbable to impossible here, but isn't that a given in time travel stories? The book is available in paperback as well as the digital version on Kindle. Download the beginning free and if it grips you, go for it.
If you can get past all the grammatical errors, the trilogy is just horrible.....strictly 6th grade.
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