Faces in Time: A Time Travel Thriller
by admin on Jul.10, 2010, under Travel
 A fascinating exploration of the science of the impossible�from death rays and force fields to invisibility cloaks�revealing to what extent such technologies might be achievable decades or millennia into the future.
One hundred years ago, scientists would have said that lasers, televisions, and the atomic bomb were beyond the realm of physical possibility. In Physics of the Impossible, the renowned physicist Michio Kaku explores to what extent the technologies and devices of science fiction that are deemed equally impossible today might well become commonplace in the future. From teleportation to telekinesis, Kaku uses the world of science fiction to explore the fundamentalsâÂ�Â�and the limitsâÂ�Â�of the laws of physics as we know them today. He ranks the impossible technologies by categoriesâÂ�Â�Class I, II, and III, depending on when they might be achieved, within the next century, millennia, or perhaps never. In a compelling and thought-provoking narrative, he explains: Ã�· How the science of optics and electromagnetism may one day enable us to bend light around an object, like a stream flowing around a boulder, making the object invisible to observers âÂ�Â�downstreamâÂ�Â� Ã�· How ramjet rockets, laser sails, antimatter engines, and nanorockets may one day take us to the nearby stars Ã�· How telepathy and psychokinesis, once considered pseudoscience, may one day be possible using advances in MRI, computers, superconductivity, and nanotechnology Ã�· Why a time machine is apparently consistent with the known laws of quantum physics, although it would take an unbelievably advanced civilization to actually build one Kaku uses his discussion of each technology as a jumping-off point to explain the science behind it. An extraordinary scientific adventure, Physics of the Impossible takes readers on an unforgettable, mesmerizing journey into the world of science that both enlightens and entertains.A 20-Year Race Through Time… In the near future, one man holds the key to our past. Chester Fuze lived a solitary life until he flung himself twenty years back in time. For years, he had loved movie star Rhonda Romero through television screens, movie theaters, and magazine covers. It wasn’t until she had fallen so far as to sell her face for a cosmetic transplant that he knew he had to travel back and save her before her life headed down such a tragic and destructive path. Lunging backward through two decades in a flash, Chester races across country and enters the world of seedy gambling and the bizarre jungle of behind-the-scenes Hollywood, while being hunted down by a deranged bookie, an escaped convict, and even his past self, all of whom are determined to kill him. He had put aside the secret to time travel, daring not risk the world to test his theory. It had placed him in a straight jacket for several years of his life. It had estranged his own mother from him. He had let it go for his own sanity. Now, he’ll pick it back up to save Rhonda. God help us all. PRAISE FOR FACES IN TIME: âÂ�Â�There is craftsmanship in AlemanâÂ�Â�s details; elaborate use of adjectival simile and metaphor âÂ�¦ stimulates âÂ�¦ memorable âÂ�¦ spacetime research well doneâÂ�Â� -Where Y’At Magazine, Dionne Charlet, February 2010 “Faces in Time was an adventurous, fast paced, time traveling novel…loved the twists and turns…Lewis writes beautifully, his work is filled with great detailed descriptions…a great adventure. I haven’t seen anything out like it.” -La Femme Readers, December 12, 2009 PRAISE for Lewis Aleman’s Cold Streak: An enthralling story of vengeance, “Cold Streak” is deftly written and a must for thriller fans… — Midwest Book Review, June 2008 Lewis’s hold-your-breath style of descriptive writing will keep you swimming in his creative vocabulary for hours…multi-layered metaphors…elaborate prose… — Alex Hutchinson – Blogcritics, January 22, 2008 |
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Kindle edition review, 2010-09-04 By J. W. Cornett (Saint Louis, MO) The editing is atrocious. It is so bad it detracks from the plot. It is not simple typos or missing modifiers, but plot discontinuities. Example: Chester and Rhonda are at the zoo. They are involved in an altercation with a small child and the childs mother. Out of nowhere a female acquaintance, Chester had met once, jumps into the confrontation and acts like Chester’s boss. To defuse the situation the acquaintance “fires” Chester. No scene set up on why a person you barely know would behave like that and no follow up to the scene. It is just dropped into the plot and not referenced again.
This is a Kindle edition and I don’t know if the print version suffers from the same problems. I have had several editing issues with Kindle versions: typos, awkward phrasing, missing modifiers and conjunctions. To sum up. I am not sure if the disruptive flow of the book is the author, editors, or translation from print to digital, but it drops the book from a 4/5 to a 3/5. I enjoyed the premise of the book. I might give the author another try. Fantastic Time Travel and Great Writing, 2010-09-01 By Andrew Dwyer () Faces in Time isn’t your standard time traveling tale. It’s very well written but it’s in more of the style of a literary book than an action book. The author uses similes and metaphors and is more interested in the characters than squeezing in another big explosion. Not there aren’t big explosions and action in this story. The book does have its fare share of that. It’s just to me the book is more about realistic characters going through a wild adventure. The main character Chester is the main focus of the story, but all of the other characters are essential for the story to happen. It’s not that they’re adding something interesting to the story–it’s more than that. The story couldn’t take place at all without all of them. That’s the interesting thing about time travel. One of my favorite bits of writing is:
“One discriminates one’s company shrewdly in youth, lightly in adulthood, and with broad abandon in age. In youth, one expects the most interesting and perfectly uniform friends. By old age, one brightens just at the sight of another born within the same decade who might remember the same song, movie, or event–one who might hold some knowledge on how to defeat their ticking nemesis or, in the least, help one better enjoy life’s slow, automated ride.” Interesting Spin on Time Travel, 2010-08-31 By Libby Mari () I really wish I could rate the first half of this book separately from the second half. The first half almost made me give up: the dialogue was a bit cheesy, the premise bare, and the plot seemed excruciatingly slow. And then, about 40-50% through things got interesting. The last half of the novel is truly terrific, while I would rate the first half as only average. The second half has many plot twists that come out of nowhere, and ties up loose ends nicely. There is action, mystery, and a bit of heartfelt character development that will leave you rooting for the survival of the characters–which is interesting because the author can essentially kill them off at will and then resurrect them for a do-over by going back in time.
That being said, I’ll admit that I skimmed over the half dozen or so rather tedious explanations of the science of time travel, including one recurring theme of how it is possible to go back in time, kill your past self, and still exist in the future. Clearly this paradox was important for the storyline, but it still made for some confusing (and unnecessary) verbage in several places. For such a cheap price in the Kindle Edition I’d say it’s worth the read, but only if you’re willing to put up with a bit of mediocracy to get a great reward in the end. This book is horrible, 2010-08-27 By Don (West Sacramento, CA USA) Like others, I bought this book based on some of the good reviews. I should have taken the bad reviews more seriously because they are right on. I knew I may have a problem with this book when I read this on the first page: “The television is a flickering tormentor, basting him in a painful glow like a live bird in an oven.” Huh? Live bird in an oven? This is but one of many examples of the bad writing. Also, the explanation of how time travel could be possible given all the paradoxes it would create is extremely weak and contrived. I made it to about page 90 and gave up. I only give it one star because zero is not an option. Not for Stupid People, 2010-08-14 By Philip Turanga () The title of my review might seem harsh, but it cuts to the chase. If you’re looking for a light, mindless read, this probably isn’t the book for you. This is definitely not a book that you can skip and skim through and enjoy. There are no wasted paragraphs. The descriptions set the mood which establishes character and tone. All of the actions are essential in explaining how the stories tie together. The way the two story arcs come together really impressed me. I usually find that when two storylines come together I feel like it’s disjointed or forced, but these two were essential. SPOILER WARNING: Because it all deals with time travel, one story can’t exist without the other. It’s a solid time travel book with a lot of fresh new ideas. You won’t find a single cliche in the whole book. The characters are three dimensional. None of them are sci-fi stereotypes. The writing is solid, and the plot is smooth and kept me turning pages. The time travel concept in this book is as good as anything I’ve read in both fiction and physics. I’m no quantum physicist, but I have read some quantum physics books and this theory seems logical to me, especially regarding the violation of the conservation of matter. It was a well thought out premise executed very well. |
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