Saturday, April 22, 2017

All the Time in the World

I’ve authored many books and short stories and I’m often asked which is my favorite. I usually answer whatever I’m working on at the moment, because that’s where my enthusiasm will be. But there’s one book that may well be my best; I believe it’s certainly the most important I’ve written. If you have a moment, I’d like to tell you about it.

The book is part of a three-book series I crafted for teenagers and young adults. I wanted to re-create the adventure series of my youth but tailored to the modern reader. Anyone who grew up watching HBO and cable TV, and exploring the nether regions of the Internet, would find books from my childhood too tame and rather boring. So I sought to create a poignant adventure series, packed with action and cliffhangers, that would deal with issues relevant to young people today.

Our protagonist – I won’t call him a hero because he doesn’t want to be one – is a teenage boy; one part Peter Parker, one part Archie Andrews, and one part Marty McFly. It’s a coming-of-age story told in three books. In the first novel, The 25th Hour, 13-year-old Mackenzie Mortimer finds a pocket watch made by his long-missing inventor-grandfather. He discovers the watch can freeze time around him, which comes in handy dealing with bullies and school lockdowns. Of course there’s a girl: not Vanessa,  the one he’s infatuated with from afar, but his BFF Marlene who’s struggling to free herself from the friend zone.  Mac learns his first coming-of-age lesson: With great power comes great responsibility.

In the second book, The Tomorrow Paradox, Mac learns the hard way that the watch can be used to travel through time. Life in the future is very different but some things never change: Mac still finds action and adventure at every turn; and of course, there’s a girl: Gemma, a clone who’s legally considered property, not a person. Didn’t we fight a civil war over that? Mac learns the second coming-of-age lesson: If you have the power to make a difference when no one else can, then you have a moral obligation to do so.

But it’s in the soon-to-be published conclusion, All the Time in the World, that Mac learns his most important coming-of-age lesson. Mac experiences fascism firsthand in occupied Belgium; encountering the Resistance, the Hitler Youth, the SS, and a concentration camp. These experiences change Mackenzie Mortimer, just as writing about them had a profound impact on me. I hope it’s the best book I’ve written; I know it’s the most important. You can pre-order All the Time in the World now from these vendors:


The e-books will be published on April 29 and the paperback will be available on Amazon.
Even better: Get all 3 books! The Adventures of Mackenzie Mortimer Young Adult SF trilogy in paperback, Kindle, and EPUB:

The 25th Hour (Book 1)



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