Abbie Spence,
Philosophy-Lit Major
Time Travel and
Changing History
The Robinson Crusoe
Connection
About the Author and
his Next Book
All content ©2000
Arch Grove Press
ISLAND WOMAN: TIME TRAVEL AND CHANGING THE COURSE OF HISTORY
Cognoscenti will recognize wormhole or tunneling effects as the theoretical underpinnings of the time traveling in Island Woman. Yet the mechanistic descriptions in the story are highly unusual. As one reviewer states, "The idea of time travel in this fashion is unique."
Strange events are portended when Abbie introduces herself in the book's first three paragraphs:
As a girl I recall my father saying that astrology, miracles, psychic happenings, and all such stuff were hocus pocus. For him there was a scientific explanation for everything, even if science hadn't gotten around to it yet. You would expect this of a Professor of Mechanical Engineering…
At Reed College, I took a class in modern physics and learned something about relativity, quantum phenomena, and the grand unification theories. It was then I realized that physicists found the laws of matter quite mysterious. After all, how can one seriously consider that there may be twenty-something dimensions in the universe, as current string theory has it? I thought a lot about what these singularities might be—beyond the usual three space dimensions plus time—but I just couldn't imagine them…
So even though I shared my father's faith in science, I decided to keep an open mind to all of the inexplicable things about the world.
One paradox of going back in time—how one remembers things yet to happen—frequently puzzles Abbie. Are there parallel universes? The plan of the mysterious Englishman is 
based on another paradox of time travel—can one intervene back in time to change history?
Sessions deals with the most difficult metaphysical aspects of time and reality in an elegant way. Devices are there but they enhance rather than impede the story. Perhaps that is why Science Fiction Chronicle describes Island Woman as "an interesting historical novel set inside the fantastic frame." It is a great read for time travel aficionados. The two-step, warp ending will especially delight.
