Revenge of the Time-Nerds
Thrilling Historical Fiction
Back in 2012, during one of my insomnia-fueled midnight television sessions, I flipped through channels and landed on a documentary on the 1918 Flu Pandemic. After it was over, my first thought was how is it possible that I never heard of the 1918 flu?
Maybe you’re like me: a story junkie who can spend hours falling down internet rabbit holes. You take home boxes of old books even if they’re mildewy and stink up the house. When you were little, you terrorized your relatives to tell you stories and the best ones were from the uncles who were in The War (as in WWII). You bugged your grandmother, who happened to be born during that 1918 flu, to tell you about New York City in the 1940s, going to clubs called Zanzibar and The Copacabana. You keep family keepsakes that are broken and worthless and any sane person would chuck into the garbage. An antique store isn’t just mere shopping but a hunting expedition to find an item to connect you to places you have never been but want to visit. You open an old book and see an ink-scrawled dedication: To Andrew, Merry Christmas ‘29! Love, Mother. And you run your fingers over it because you know them.
That midnight insomnia TV session birthed an obsession with creating a story around a military base in Kansas called Camp Funston at Fort Riley, where the first major outbreak of the flu in showed up in March of 1918. I wonder why there? And the beginnings of Shadowtime were born.
Purchased from Ebay, an original book published “under the direction of the Department of Camp Activities and Amusements. Camp Funston, Kansas. Copyright 1918.” Finds like this were a major help in visualizing the setting for SHADOWTIME.
Major General Leonard Wood. He’s not in the story. But he looks like someone who is! Photo from Cantonment Life, 1918.
I created Theda’s Time Machine for readers who like historical fiction that’s fast-paced and full of danger. Shadowtime is the first installment in a series of books about a young woman named Theda who thwarted an anarchist attack in Philadelphia and is now on the run. Hiding in the middle of Kansas should be the solution, but when a man named Patrick Conlin shows up who knows too much about her past and, incredibly, her future, she finds herself in a group of time travelers who are searching for a crooked doctor who has a thing for starting outbreaks at very inconvenient times.
There is another reason why I created Theda’s Time Machine, and that is to have fun. One of the greatest joys is getting into a story, living in it and wanting it to never end. If you read my story and feel that way, I’d be truly honored.
And listen, I know we’re tired of anything related to a pandemic. But this story leads up to the 1918 flu but isn’t really about it. So you’re safe!
Let’s build a community of time-nerds. Someday, if this little corner of the internet turns profitable, I’d love to bring on other writers, another time-nerd to bring you your favorite stories.
Why subscribe?
Paying subscribers will have access to the full chapters of the novel and the extra material of historical essays and photographs. Supporting independent writers is a blessing for those of us carving our own place in the world.
Two chapters a week will be released, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. In the beginning, these will stay free but put behind a paywall after a week. Eventually, most chapters will have a preview but the remainder will be paywalled.
Non-fiction essay every other week, most of them paywalled. Eventually I’d like to up this to once a week.
Merch is coming! Because t-shirts and tote bags rule.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for subscribing! I’ll see you in the comments.