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: