Minority Report 1.1: Boding Well

Minority Report debuted on Fox tonight.   It's based on the 1956 short story by Philip K. Dick (a pure masterpiece) and 2002 movie by Steven Spielberg (quite good), but other than pointing that out, I'll try to say little as possible about these previous versions when I review this series, because comparisons to earlier incarnations aren't usually helpful.  The work under scrutiny must stand on its own two or more feet.

Yeah, I'm going to review the series because the debut tonight was also quite good.   The genius of Dick's idea is still there, and plays well in the pilot:  pre-cogs (three of them) can see the future, including crimes and murders.   Society once used them to arrest people seen in the future to be murderers, but stopped for a variety of reasons, including that the pre-cog visions weren't always right.  Indeed, the name of the narrative comes from a situation in which one of the pre-cogs sees something different from the other two - hence, a minority report of a future crime.

Though the pre-cogs as an official team have been disbanded, they're still very much alive.   The pilot centers on one of the pre-cogs, Dash, and the alliance he initiates with a detective, Lara, to stop a heinous mass murder.   Their success heralds a continuing relationship - but the going won't be easy, especially since the other pre-cogs see some dire dangers in what Dash is doing.

This is a nice set-up, and the environment of 2065 Washington DC where the action takes place is well sketched.   In fact, that part is so well rendered that our futuristic detective Lara, with all kinds of bio-enhancements at her disposal, would be interesting and fun to follow, even if there were no pre-cogs around.  But there are, and this adds to the foundation of a what looks like an appealing series.

Kevin Falls, who did such a good job with the late, lamented (by me and other discerning viewers) time-travel series Journeyman on NBC a few years ago, is Executive Producer for Minority Report, which also bodes well.

See that?  I can see something of the future, too, and I know for a fact that I'll be watching every episode of the new series - unless, wait, is there a minority report on that?



not pre-cog, but pretty strange

Falling Skies

Caught the first two episodes of TNT's Falling Skies.  Quite good.

More like The Walking Dead and The Terminator than V - much closer to the ground - Falling Skies is probably most like H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds.  Steven Spielberg had a hand in both the 2005 movie version of War of the Worlds and the new Falling Skies, which so far looks considerably better than the movie.

It's good to see Noah Wyle back on television, best known for his great work in ER.  Moon Bloodgood, in such shortlived science fiction gems as Daybreak and Journeyman - seriously - and on the cover of Maxim, too, plays a pediatrician with the freedom fighters.  The rest of the cast is also good and believable.

The most-of-humanity-wiped-out motif is not an easy one to bring to a television series, despite the success of The Walking Dead, at least so far.  Come to think of it, Battlestar Galactica succeeded with this, too - except out in space not with alien invaders down on Earth - though its success, unfortunately, was more with critics than big numbers of viewers.   If television's prime advantage is to provide a little relief and release from the hard day, you can see why apocalyptic stories have such a tough time of it.  On the other hand, it's not as if Criminal Minds is such a joy ride, and it's generally a winner in the ratings.

Well, I'll be watching Falling Skies even its ratings fall, which, with any luck, will move in the opposite direction.

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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

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Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...

Life on Mars #6 Meets Itself on Television in New York

Ok, I've gotten it out of my system - Life on Mars, at least in America, is not time travel. It has nothing to do with Journeyman or Quantum Leap or The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

It is, however, one very interesting series of post-modern, meta-fiction - hey, I don't get academic on you all too often - and Episode 6 brought that out in high mirrors-on-mirrors style. This one really is infinite regress...

Sam in 1973 hears enough through his coma in 2008 to know that he's in danger of being taken off life support unless he gives the future some kind of little sign of life. He's gets sucked into another 1973 caper, in which he's knocked out, reminded about the value of life, and smiles through time, to the future, so the people around him there know there's still something ticking within - at least, that's what Sam and we see on television in the soap opera in 1973 featuring a man in a coma in a hospital room...

But Sam in 1973 also soon sees Maya saying goodbye to him and the guy in the coma on the soap opera. This frees him to get together with Annie - I hope/think - and in the last scene he sees Annie in a bar, she looks at him, and the final credits roll...

Actually, not quite final - for Episode 6 of Life on Mars (in America) circa 2008 - for the credits we first see are on an old fashioned screen. Those credits are for the soap opera Sam has been seeing - "Life on Mars".

If this makes your head spin, that's all to the good.

One question that sill occurs to me about the coma and no time travel - is Sam definitely in the coma in 2008, dreaming of 1973 - or could it be he's in a coma in 1973, dreaming about 2008?

The thing about comas is that they can cut both ways.

On the other hand, how would Sam in 1973 have any knowledge of 2008, unless he first was in 2008?

Ok, I think I got it now...

See also Life on Mars Debuts in America ... Life on Mars 2nd Episode in America: Coma, Time Travel, Mars Rover ... Life on Mars Goes On in America: What Happens When a Time Traveler Runs Into His Earlier Self? ... Life on Mars #4: All in the Family ... Life on Mars #5 Meets the Wire ... Life on Mars #7: Is Annie Real?

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

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Life On Mars Debuts in America

Fine start of Life on Mars on ABC tonight, and you know that I'm going to review this American version of the British series here on Infinite Regress, since I watch everything I can get my hands on regarding time travel, including Journeyman, relevant episodes of Lost and Heroes, and Deja Vu, too.

Here's the story: Det. Sam Tyler is after a kidnapping killer in 2008, who apparently has just grabbed his girlfiend and colleague crime fighter Maya. He steps out of his car with David Bowie's "Life of Mars" playing on his iPod- and gets hit straight on by a car. He wakes up with David Bowie still singing the same song, but now off cassette tape- because Sam is back, in the exact same place, in 1973. David Bowie has thus given this series a perfect acoustic segue along with a memorable name.

As is the case with Journeyman and Quantum Leap (3 series, featuring 2 Sams and a Dan), neither Tyler nor we can be sure at first if he is really in the past, or just dreaming in a coma. In Journeyman and Quantum Leap, that question is resolved by the end of the first episode - the time traveler is really time traveling. Further, we even pretty quickly learn why: to correct some bad event in the past. What we never learn in those two series is who is calling shots - who or what is making the time traveler travel?

Life on Mars provides even fewer resolutions in this first episode. There is a hint that maybe Sam's purpose in the past is to learn and/or do something that can help save Maya in 2008. Possibly, Sam has already done a little in that direction, by talking to the kidnapper as a boy in 1973 at the end of this episode.

But unlike Journeyman and Quantum Leap, Life on Mars will be one continuing, over-arching story, with Sam from 2008 back in 1973. I'm glad to see this, since I thought both Journeyman and Quantum Leap gave too much attention to specific episode story lines, and not enough to the backbone of the plot (Journeyman improved greatly in this respect near the end).

Most of the 1973 touches are authentic and excellent. The music is outstanding - in addition to Bowie, it was great hear the Stones "Out of Time". So was a bit with Cannon - the great Quinn Martin detective - on television in 1973. And the misunderstanding of Sam's saying "cell phone" as his wanting to "sell" something was nice.

The NYPD detectives in 1973, though, are a little bogus in their roughing up of suspects and disregard of their Miranda rights. Miranda v. Arizona was decided by the Supreme Court in 1966. I know, it's tough to get every little historical detail right, but Mad Men has set a pretty high standard, and the culture of 1973 cops is pretty central to this new series.

But Life on Mars gets credit for having the courage to use the Twin Towers as a 1973 backdrop. And the shout-out to Fordham University - Sam's likely romantic interest in 1973, Annie, got a degree at Fordham in psychology - certainly makes me and my students happy.

Looking forward to more time in the past- next week.

See also Life on Mars 2nd Episode in America: Coma, Time Travel, Mars Rover ... Life on Mars Goes On in America: What Happens When a Time Traveler Runs Into His Earlier Self? ... Life on Mars #4: All in the Family ... Life on Mars #5 Meets the Wire ... Life on Mars #6 Meets Itself on Television ... Life on Mars #7: Is Annie Real, Or, Is Life on Mars a False Memory

=== But I just came back - don't say I never give you anything - to post this great video of the Stones' "Out of Time" ... whew, "You're obsolete, my baby, my poor old-fashioned baby..." the original, ragged, Rolling Stone 1966 album performance...



And here, courtesy of ABC TV, is entire premier episode of Life on Mars, for your viewing pleasure...

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

The Sarah Connor Chronicles 2.2: Firing on All Cylinders

Excellent second episode of second season of The Sarah Connor Chronicles tonight - with action in all areas of thought, emotion, and, of course, action...

Among the highlights -

1. I really like Cameron this year - more multi-dimensional. Although she's recovered from the exploding car, and gotten back her override, there's more to her than the lingering suspicion that she could go bad at any instant. Her brush with death has made her more human.

2. John is starting to hook up with a girl at school. Don't tell me she's a Terminator, I won't believe it, and I'll be disappointed. It would be far more interesting to see them have some kind of relationship, with Cameron jealous, Sarah concerned, etc.

3. Sonya Walger's back as Charley Dixon's wife. Now, if they could bring on Charlie Pace and Desmond ... But, even so, it's always good to see Sonya/Penny.

4. Speaking of shoutouts, good to see Paul Schulze on the show tonight - aka Agent Richard Garrity on Journeyman, Ryan Chappelle on 24 and Father Phil on The Sopranos. Alas, Schulze's character on Sarah Connor had the same fate as Garrity on Journeyman and Chappelle on 24....

5. Back to Charley - good scene with him and Agent Ellison...

6. And Sarah gets exposed to radiation - which may or may not be what ultimately kills her. Nice can't avoid your fate touch there.

This season is off to a better than last year's, and is already firing on all cylinders.

See also 2.1: Cameron's Back ... 2.3 Who, Truly, Is Agent Ellison? ... 2.4: Meet Allison ... 2.5: Unpacking the Future ... 2.6: Terminator Mom, Human Daughter, Questions



See also 2.1 Cameron's Back

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Mad Men 2.6: Jackie, Marilyn, and Liberty Valance

Another moody, powerful, jingle-jangling episode of Mad Men tonight.

But first my obligatory movie celebration brought on by the show: Pete spoils The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance for Peggy by telling who shot him. Don't worry, I won't tell you, I'm not as much of a cad as Pete. But I will tell you it was great to hear that title again, not only of a great movie, but the even better song by Gene Pitney.

Peggy has a good comeback, after Pete insincerely apologizes. No problem, you saved me 50 cents, she says. (I'm pretty sure I paid a quarter to see the movie at the Allerton Theater in Bronx, but prices were a little higher in Manhattan and maybe in Brooklyn where Peggy lives.) Peggy doesn't do so well with the other men at Sterling Cooper, though, who shut her out of their planning of a bra campaign. It's based on the premise that all women want either to be Jackie Kennedy or Marilyn Monroe, and Peggy looks like neither. Joan - unknowingly building on Bobbi's good advice from last week - sets Peggy straight. Stop dressing like a little girl if you want to be taken seriously, Joan tells Peggy. And, lo and behold, Peggy gets taken very seriously after she takes that advice, and visits the Playtex guys and Sterling Cooper gang at a strip bar later that night.

That's about the lightest part of the episode. Duck behaves horribly to his dog, Don isn't too nice to Betty, and, for that matter, not too nice to Bobbi, either (Melinda McGraw - last seen in The Dark Knight, and two choice episodes of Journeyman - is giving her a great, sultry portrayal) ...

And in a wrenching last scene - again reminiscent of The Sopranos (high praise in my book) because you can't quite say just why it's wrenching - we see Don looking in the mirror and starting to come to terms with something.

But what? His past and present lives? His double-timing Betty? Is there something physically wrong with him?

Well, he did cough a little before that scene, but I'm thinking the crisis he's facing is all or mostly in his roiling mind...



See also: Mad Men Returns with a Xerox and a Call Girl ... 2.2: The Advertising Devil and the Deep Blue Sea ... 2.3 Double-Barreled Power ... 2.4: Betty and Don's Son ... 2.5: Best Montage Since Hitchcock ... 2.7: Double Dons ... 2.8: Did Don Get What He Deserved? ... 2.9: Don and Roger ... 2.10: Between Ray Bradbury and Telstar ... 2.11: Welcome to the Hotel California ... 2.12: The Day the Earth Stood Still on Mad Men

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And listen to my fabulous 20-minute interview last Fall with Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) at Light On Light Through



The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

New Amstersdam, 1, 2, 3...

You know how devoted I am to time travel - Journeyman, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the time travel in Lost, and my most recent novel, The Plot to Save Socrates. New Amsterdam on Fox isn't quite time travel, but its story of an immortal in New York City has a lot of classic time travel elements in a hero who's been in town, since before it was a town, and continuously since 1642. In the first three episodes, we've already seen some erudite scenes in the Civil War and 1940s - as well as in the present.

I'm also partial to detective fiction - I just finished reviewing The Wire here on Sunday, and, yeah, I've written science fiction detective novels, too, including The Silk Code, The Consciousness Plague, and The Pixel Eye. So much the better, then, that John Amsterdam - the immortal in New Amsterdam - is a smart-talking detective in New York, New York. He's not only sharp, but has, of course, a great and pinpoint accurate historical knowledge. In his centuries he's a been a surgeon in the Civil War, a lawyer and then a soldier in the 1940s, and he also said something about being a history prof at Columbia University.

It's nice touches like this that make New Amsterdam a delight for the intellect. The series also isn't afraid to shock us with details like his old friend, in his 60s, is really John's son, from a woman he loved deeply in the 1940s...

John became immortal when he saved an Native American woman in New York in 1642, was run through with a sword, and she saved his life and blew some substance of immortality into him. John will live forever at age 35, or until he meets his true love, at which point he will start to age normally with the love of his long life.

If this sounds corny, it isn't at all in New Amsterdam. The series has a wisdom as well as a slight bit of CSI slickness, and the mix so far in the first three episodes looks to be just right.

The show also has a poetry - Walt Whitman and the verses of Omar Khayyam have already played roles in the series.

And Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is just right for John Amsterdam, with an off-English accent which is just what you'd expect of someone who has been around three and a half centuries. Zuleikha Robinson (who played Gaia opposite Ray Stevenson's Pullo in Rome!) as his attractive partner Eva, Stephen Henderson as his 65-year-old son Omar, and Alexie Gilmore as ER-doc Sara, who may be the love of his life, are fine, too.

I'm expecting to stay with New Amsterdam a long time...

See also 4. Poetry and Parenthesis ... 5. Meets Mad Men ... 6. The DNA of Art ... 7. What Kept John from Dying? ... 8. New Amsterdam Bows: Lessons in Cons and Backsides

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winner of the Locus Award for Best First Science Fiction novel of 1999

"delivers on its promises" - The New York Times

Silk Code trailer

Science Fiction and the New Golden Age of Television: Another Chance to Hear What You Missed in Philadelphia

It started in the mid-late 1990s with HBO's original series, especially "The Sopranos" in 1999. This revolution in television - frank, gritty, real, intellectually sophisticated - soon spread to other cable and old-fashioned network television.

In the past few years, science fiction has taken a leading role. In this special podcast - based on a lecture I gave to the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society on 25 January 2008 - I look at the contributions of five science fiction series to this new golden age of television ... Lost, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Journeyman, Battlestar Galactica, and Heroes... all reviewed here in Infinite Regress.

Hey, if you missed the lecture - and let's face it, most of you did :) - you can get the gist right here in this 20-minute podcast... which you can listen to on your computer...

See also my infamous Only Idiots Don't Watch Television ... first published under the more innocuous title of "TV's New Golden Age" in Newsday in July 2006...


20-minute podcast: Science Fiction in the New Golden Age of TV

Talking Science Fiction in Philadelphia on Friday!

Hey Philadelphia - Come See Me This Friday at 9PM!
January 25, 2008

Or by all means get yourself to Philadelphia and come by!

I'll be taking a night off from the politics, and talking to the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society this Friday, Jan 25, at 9PM ... about ...

SCIENCE FICTION IN THE CURRENT GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION ...

The Sarah Connor Chronicles ... Journeyman ... Heroes ... LOST!

and much more ... what I think about what's on the screen and on the page...

Admission is free and wide open to the public!

Where: International House, 37th and Chestnut Streets

(Hey, I'll even be autographing copies of The Plot to Save Socrates, and revealing some nuggets from the sequel, which I'm currently writing.)

You can read what I've been writing about the above great television shows right here at Infinite Regress - look in the Index in the right-hand column for listings...

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

The Sarah Connor Chronicles: 1 and 2

Well, I wasn't going to watch and review it. I didn't want to disrupt my recollection and appreciation of Terminator 1 and 2, which I thought were superb, or even Terminator 3, which I also enjoyed. That, and I don't think movies shrink very well to the television screen. For every Stargate and Buffy, in which the television was far better than the movie, you have tens of Alien Nation, Blade, Animal House, Dirty Dancings.

On the other hand, the Terminator stories are about time travel. And that, as readers here know, is a pretty big hand, for me. And I heard some good things about The Chronicles...

So I saw the first two episodes on Fox's On Demand online website last night.

And I thought they were excellent. The pilot, in fact, is one of the best hours of television I've seen in the past few months - meaning, it's right up there with the best of Journeyman and The Wire. And the second episode was powerful and appealing, too.

The story in The Chronicles starts after T2. Sarah, played by Lena Headey (of 300 fame), is living quietly with her fiancé and son John in the midwest. One of the problems with any remake is new acting talent playing a character whose face and mannerisms belong to another. It's still hard to imagine anyone other than Linda Hamilton as Sarah, but Lena Headey's performance is strong and convincing.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles also has lots of nice attention to detail. Sarah's fiancé - Charley Dixon - is played by Dean Winters, who looks a lot like Kyle Reese/Michael Biehn. Makes sense that Sarah would be attracted to the same kind of man.

There are some fine jolts in the plot, which I won't give away in this review, except to say think more Terminator models and, of course, time travel - but done with surprise and panache.

And Lost fans - Penny (Sonya Walger) has a continuing role in the Chronicles! I hope she hasn't given up searching for Desmond, but she's certainly better off without that cold fish she was married to in Tell Me You Love Me.

I'll be watching The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Fox, reviewing them right here on Infinite Regress, and after giving you a chance to see the first two episodes (which play nicely on Fox's web site), I'll start discussing significant plot elements with spoilers in the reviews - that will be later tonight, after I see Episode 3 at 9pm.

It's good to have The Terminator story back on the screen. It always had a unique blend of mostly breathtaking action and a sprinkle of winning humor. The Chronicles has that, too.

In one telling scene, a bad Terminator is about to smash into a bank. He notices lots of police, bristling with weapons, out front. His screen quickly sizes them up, and we see a brief advisory - "no threat".

The police are no threat - that's the kind of thing I like to see in a story...

See also The Sarah Connor Chronicles 3 ... 4: A Robot Primer ... 5 ... 6 ... 7 ... 8-9: Terminate with Puzzles, Surprises, and Soul

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

The Wire's Back! Sneak Preview Review of Season 5, Episode 1 (no real spoilers)

Whoah! What a New Year's treat. I just saw the first episode of the new, final Season 5 of The Wire on HBO's On Demand!

And I loved it!

Here are some of the reasons why ...

It's great to hear Steve Earle's rendition of "Down in the Hole". Clear and smooth as a whistle. You can hear it here, if you don't believe me ... And here are more of my thoughts about the now-five versions of this great title song...

And the storyline this season looks fine, too. This television season - 2007-2008 - may be remembered as one of the great years for newspapers on television. Journeyman featured a time traveler working out of a newspaper in San Francisco (and I sure hope it continues), and The Wire's finale season will look at the workings of a newspaper in Baltimore.

Meldrick from Homicide: Life on the Street - aka Clark Johnson - looks to be playing the main newspaper part, and that's good news. Johnson's a fine actor. And I'm in favor of all possible, deepening connections between Homicide and The Wire, two now-classic Baltimore cop and crime shows. (My favorite, until now, was Callie Thorne (Laura Ballard on Homicide -> Elena McNulty on The Wire). Hey, McNulty, you were crazy to let that fall apart, and I still hope the two of you get together somehow at the end of this season...

And speaking of McNulty - Dominic West is better than ever in that role, and gives The Wire something else in common with Journeyman: both have Brits playing Americans. West is incredible in his American accent - you can't hear a trace of his UK. (Kevin McKidd as Dan Vassar on Journeyman is almost as good...)

Lots of other good stuff in the season premier. Michael (Tristan Wilds) has really grown into his role. He's on his way to becoming a leader - with all the good and bad that that entails - including looking out for Dukie (Jermain Crawford). Herc (Domenick Lombardozzi) is working for the drug-lawyer Levy (Michael Kostroff). And Marlo's power - starting with the ice-cool Marlo (Jamie Hector) himself, and his deadly-duo muscle Snoop (Felicia Pearson) and Chris (Gbenga Akinnagbe) - is looking more chilling than ever...

But, hey, I promised not to give too much away ...

So, suffice to say, don't miss this premier next week. Or, if you have HBO On-Demand, don't miss it right now ...

"When you walk through the garden...."



4-minute podcast of this Wire review

See also Looking Back At The Wire and Episode 3: McNulty and Marlo ... 4. One Down ... 5. Media Chasing Their Own Tales and Tails ... 6. Superman Omar and Tall Stories ... 7. King of Diamonds ... 8. Two Down ... 9. Cold, Killer Sweetheart ... 10. The Wire Bows out Gracefully

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

The Time-Travel Blind and Journeyman: My Response to TV Guide's Adam Schubak

Journeyman was included in TV Guide's Worst TV of 2007. Writes TV Guide's Adam Schubak, "The major problem with this show is not so much the time traveling as it is the two completely unnecessary love triangles . . . . Week after week, the show spends half the episode dealing with the family drama while the rest is spent in the past trying to help random strangers whose fate has them going on to do something great in the future."

Wow, talk about clueless. The great strength of Journeyman is its powerful mix of family/love triangles on the one hand, and the societal issues on the other, and this mix was brought to a near-perfect pitch in the last two episodes.

But beyond the fact that Schubak just didn't get Journeyman - and was by no means alone among TV critics - I think there is a more serious, and therefore more interesting, factor at work here.

I realized a long time ago, when I was just a kid, and I'd spend hours holed away reading science fiction, and my mother would chide me for wasting my time, that some people, otherwise intelligent and even sensitive, are just blind to the virtues and appeal of science fiction. Years later, when I published my first science fiction novel - The Silk Code, in 1999 - my mother was steadfast in her well-meaning opinion. "You're a good writer. Why don't you write novels about real things?"

"Ma, science fiction is about real things ... ," I tried to answer.

In fact, it's about the most real things in our existence - our uniquely human capacity to edit the very nature of the universe.

As a genre of science fiction especially complex, time travel stories bear a special challenge. You've got to love the buzz-saw of paradox, have a high tolerance for - actually, a zest for - the nearly incompatible, the things that don't add up to any common sense.

The appeal of a time-travel series such as Journeyman is that it is especially uncommon. How can a man choose between a son he knows and loves, and a daughter that has just been brought into being in a new timeline he has created? Whatever choice he makes brings him pain, personal and cosmic.

Adam Schubak is entitled to find a show that presents such a choice of little interest - just as a color-blind person might understandably turn his back on a magical sunset.

"Quantum Leap it ain't. Heck, it's not even Back to the Future Part 3," Schubak concludes about Journeyman. He's right about Quantum Leap, at least - Journeyman, especially in its last two episodes, was far better. As for Back to the Future - well, let's just say that Part 3 was an integral part of the trilogy masterpiece, which doesn't jibe with Schuback's "not even Part 3".

But, it's ok. Schubak is time-travel blind, so of course he doesn't get it. It's just that ... well, maybe next time TV Guide should take its cues from someone a little better versed in the genre.

My reviews of Journeyman episodes ... 1: NBC Quantum Leaps Into Journeyman ...2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5 ... 6... 7 ... 8. Livia's Story ... 9. Dan Unravels His Present ... 10. Jack's In! ... 11. Livia's Beau ... 12. The Perfect Time Travel Story ... Lucky 13

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

NBC's Journeyman in Second Life: Media Within Media Within Media...

And here I am, plugging NBC's Journeyman, in Adele Ward's Meet the Author interview with me...

Or, more precisely, it's my avatar plugging Journeyman, on Adele Ward's Meet the Author show in Second Life, as broadcast on the web via SLCN.tv ...

You gotta love this: a shout-out for a network television series, via webcast of an interview in a virtual world...

A good example of an observation I first made in Digital McLuhan. The distinction we often make between medium (say, television) and content (Journeyman) is too simple. What we really have are media within media within media, almost ad infinitum ...

Also a good example of how Second Life is increasingly spilling over and into real life - as I pointed out in my Second Life Meets Real Life piece on Internet Evolution a few weeks ago.

So, when you look at the above ad, you're seeing the medium of this blog, which contains the medium of a YouTube video, which contains my plug for Journeyman, which is itself a clip from SLCN.tv's webcast of my (avatar's) interview by Adele Ward('s avatar) in Second Life ...

Little boxes ... no, that's Weeds ... though weeds, viral marketing, and media within media all partake of a kind of dandelion spore dissemination...

Journeyman Lucky 13//Contest Winner!

It feels really good, exhilarating to be reviewing a great new episode of Journeyman just two days after the last one - two days after the Episode 12 masterpiece - but it also feels a little bitter sweet, and it makes me sad. Because tonight's wonderful Episode 13 may be Journeyman's last.

The show tonight pulled out a lot of the best time travel stops. Running into yourself in the past is the arch danger that every time traveler must avoid, lest he or she cause his or her mind to unravel - into infinite regress. I spent a lot of time tweezing the timelines in The Plot to Save Socrates so this didn't happen, and in the sequel, well...

But future Dan manages to just stay out of sight of past Dan in this episode, which is good, and exquisite, since Dan's past in this show is September 2007 - or, the beginning of Journeyman in our and Dan's time.

That little dance between the present and the beginning of the series will make this episode a classic, too - but I still like that first scene with Dan and Katie and their daughter on Monday best of anything in this series.

There were other fine touches in tonight's show. The split-up of the politician and his wife, three months after Dan's new time traveling colleague gets to dance with her - I love little details like that - they make time travel sing and ring true. Dr. Tachyon Langley's explanation to Dan was good, too. I like cosmic forces moving things, rather than evil geniuses pulling the strings.

The beginning of tonight's story - Dan in a mental institution - was a bit too close to 12 Monkeys, and I think the other time traveler dying of a heart attack was a bit pat, but those are just little quibbles.

What would have happened to Journeyman had the first two shows been as powerful and satisfying as these last two? Impossible to know, unless we were able to go back in time and make that happen....

As it is, we have been treated to the best time travel series ever on television, and a twofer ending which both explained a lot of things and left us hungering for more. Kevin McKidd and Reed Diamond were never better in their acting, and the series reached some real peaks in story telling. I'm predicting that we will indeed see more of Journeyman someday - I just hope we don't have to wait too long...

That last scene between Dan and Katie was pure gold. I can still see it shining...

============================
Which brings us to tonight's contest winner... the first person who sent me email with the last word that Dan uttered tonight. It was "Katie" - which couldn't be more appropriate...

And Rahul Gupta of Virginia got me that answer within a minute of the show's conclusion! Congratulations, Rahul!

An autographed copy of The Plot to Save Socrates will be in the mail to Rahul tomorrow!

For everyone else: If you've already answered the question correctly - but got it in after Rahul - I'll be happy to send you, via e-mail, a copy of my 1997 award-nominated time travel novella, Loose Ends (first published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact Magazine, and widely reprinted, including on Fictionwise.com).

And, further, for anyone who answered tonight's question correctly, I'll be happy to autograph and return to you at my expense any copies of The Plot to Save Socrates that you send to me between now and the end of this year.

My email is Levinson.paul@gmail.com

But Rahul gets the free copy of my novel for tonight's episode.

And this will be the end of this Journeyman-Plot to Save Socrates giveaway. It has been my pleasure to give away autographed copies of my novel to four of Journeyman's devoted viewers.

Hey - if the show comes back in the Spring, or any time, maybe I'll do another contest for either The Plot to Save Socrates, or its sequel.

I'll definitely keep you posted.

My reviews of other Journeyman episodes ... 1: NBC Quantum Leaps Into Journeyman ...2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5 ... 6... 7 ... 8. Livia's Story ... 9. Dan Unravels His Present ... 10. Jack's In! ... 11. Livia's Beau ... 12. The Perfect Time Travel Story


And Troy Price has a great interview on his podcast with Journeyman creator Kevin Falls!

---

The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Journeyman Continues: 12: The Perfect Time Travel Story//Contest Winner!

Tonight's Episode 12 of Journeyman was one of the best hours of time travel ever on television. I expect it will become a classic-

But first, we have a new winner for tonight's contest. Like last week, I was emailed the correct answer for Dan's last word in tonight's episode within a minute of it being said-

No, I'll get back with the name of the winner, and some consolation prizes, at the end of this review...

Let's talk about this splendid show, first:

We had a perfect time travel story on Journeyman tonight, and I predict it will become an all-time travel television classic, along with "City on the Edge of Forever" in Star Trek: The Original Series and "Yesterday's Enterprise" in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and that's about it.

Even the beginning was perfect: Dan goes eight years back in time to save a mother and son, sitting in the front of an RV, perched half over a cliff. Dan's sheer weight, when he materializes at the back of the vehicle, prevents it from tipping over. And he then uses the weight of his intellect, as always, to talk the mother and son out of the vehicle.

All's well, except ...

Dan has left his new 2007 digital camera in this past. It fell out of his hands. Now leaving any piece of future technology in the past can be very dangerous. It can engender all kinds of profound changes in the present and future.

And it does. The introduction of this digital technology eight years ahead of our time catapults our digital technology far ahead of where it is today, in our and now Dan's original timeline. A scene in the Register's office makes this beautifully clear, as Dan and we see the marvels of digital paper, at least three or four years away from our real time.

But that's the least of it.

When Dan gets home - where he goes before seeing the advanced digital technology - he finds that Zach is gone, and Dan and Katie have a beautiful little girl, by the name of Caroline. Everything else is the same. Katie - and Jack - know about Dan's time traveling. Except Katie, of course, loves Caroline, just as she loved Zach in Dan's (and our) original timeline. And Dan, of course, is desperate to get Zach back ... which he tries to communicate to Katie. In one of the best scenes in the series - an exquisite scene, really - Katie makes it clear to Dan that he better not do anything to change Caroline...

Lovelines and timelines always clash in the better time travel stories, and this episode of Journeyman was one of the best of these I've ever read or seen.

As the time traveler, and agent of the change, Dan of course remembers and will remember everything. (We discussed this here in Infinite Regress last week.) When Dan goes back in time and eventually destroys the digital camera he left in the past, he gets Zach and his original life back. Katie doesn't suffer, because in this reinstated original reality she was always the mother of Zach not Caroline.

But what about Dan? He remembers everything, including the picture of a butterfly that Caroline made for him in school, and Zach now proudly presents his own rendition of to him ...

I wouldn't want to be in that position as a father, and watching this wonderful episode made me glad that I'm a writer of time travel stories, not a time traveler myself, though I've thought about it from time to time.

There were other fine touches in tonight's show - including a bit of information about why Dan and Livia are time travelers, and another cryptic appearance of our tachyon Dr. Langley.

I'll save discussion of those themes for Wednesday, and the 13th episode of Journeyman... I'm looking forward to every minute.

============================
Which brings us to tonight's contest winner... the first to send me email with the last word that Dan uttered tonight. It was "minute" - as in, "you're kidding - wait a minute," Dan's last words to Langley, when the tachyon doc claimed he didn't know Dan...

But I know the winner of tonight's contest, and it's Stephanie! Congratulations!

An autographed copy of The Plot to Save Socrates will be in the mail to Stephanie tomorrow!

For everyone else: If you've already answered the question correctly - but got it in after Stephanie - I'll be happy to send you, via e-mail, a copy of my 1997 award-nominated time travel novella, Loose Ends (first published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact Magazine, and widely reprinted, including on Fictionwise.com).

And, further, for anyone who answered tonight's question correctly, I'll be happy to autograph and return to you at my expense any copies of The Plot to Save Socrates that you send to me between now and the end of this year.

My email is Levinson.paul@gmail.com

But Stephanie gets the free copy of my novel for tonight's episode.

Every minute really counted tonight. Believe it or not, I got another correct answer, just a minute after Stephanie's.

And the contest will continue for the next episode of Journeyman. I'll give a free, autographed copy of The Plot to Save Socrates to first person, after Wednesday's show, who e-mails Dan's last word on the show to me! See Extending The Plot to Save Socrates - Journeyman Contest for details.

Note, by the way, that the contest calls for Dan's last word spoken on each episode - not the last word spoken by someone else, if that last word is the last word on the show.

My reviews of other Journeyman episodes ... 1: NBC Quantum Leaps Into Journeyman ...2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5 ... 6... 7 ... 8. Livia's Story ... 9. Dan Unravels His Present ... 10. Jack's In! ... 11. Livia's Beau ... Lucky 13

---

The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Meet the Author: Talking and Reading My Science Fiction in Second Life

Click To Play

I'm interviewed, in my Second Life avatar identity, by Adele Ward on her Second Life Meet the Author show on December 9, 2007. Videotaped by SLCN.tv - Second Life Cable Network.

I talk about how I came to write The Plot to Save Socrates, my love of time travel and Journeyman, my nonfiction books (ranging from The Soft Edge to Cellphone to In Pursuit of Truth), and other goodies. I give advice to new writers and discuss how to work with your editor. And ... I read the first two sections of The Plot to Save Socrates...

Sixty minutes in all ... enjoy.

---

The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Journeyman Continues: 11: Livia's Beau//Save the Paper Save the World!// Contest Winner!

And we have a new winner for tonight's contest - like last week, I was emailed the correct answer for Dan's last word in tonight's superb episode within seconds after it was said. Look for the name of the winner, and some consolation prizes, at the end of this review...

And what a wonderful holiday episode it was. Tonight's Episode 11 of Journeyman was about family, and deepened and developed the relationships of all the major characters.

The chapter began and ended with Livia in 1948. She's proposed to, and accepts. Now she and Dan are equal. Both are married, both are caught up in the time travel and the feelings they have for each other. (Livia has a picture of Dan and her on her table.) At this point, Katie knows much more than Livia's fiance, and it would be nice to see how he plays out in the late 1940s and after.

Jack and Theresa (played by beautiful Lisa Sheridan) are getting much closer, too. Theresa tells him she's pregnant with their child...

And Dan's assignment this week concerns family, too. The Scrooge owner of the paper intends to fire a big portion of the staff, on Christmas eve, no less. Dan goes back to the late 1970s and finds the owner's father. Turns out he suffered a coronary, and the son took a little too long to call for medical help ... One other person knows what really happened - a young woman who would do anything to become a reporter back in 1979, and has been a fixture with the paper ever since. Dan convinces her to speak to the son, turned Scrooge, in 2007 - and, much as in the Charles Dickens classic, he relents with the firing.

And just to turn this time-traveling Christmas Carol one more twist, Dan also has a talk with his father, back in that 1979 Christmas party at the office. To convince his father not to leave his family would have bent the time line far too much ... but Dan does get his father to at least tell his younger self and brother Jack the night before he left, which has the good effect of keeping the boys from wondering all of their lives if their father's leaving was their fault.

Back in 2007, Jack of course now has always known this - and I can't help feeling that maybe Dan's good deed in time will make Jack a happier, better person. That's one of the nice dividends of time-travel stories.

Dan tells Jack he doesn't remember what their father said that night. If he truly doesn't, this means that Dan, at least as far as his own life is concerned, is one of those time travelers who doesn't remember original realities he changes in the past. (I always have my time travelers remember - since they're traveling in time, their minds are stacked with memories of all alternate realities.) But I have feeling that Dan told his brother he doesn't recall just to keep it less complicated. In previous episodes, Dan seemed thoroughly aware of all sets of realities in which he was involved.

And so Journeyman continues to strengthen its family roots and thereby the possibilities for future story lines. The show belongs here...

"Here" - which was also Dan's last word tonight - when he says "I belong here" ... which brings us to the contest winner...

=======================================================
Who is ... John Muth of Pittsburgh!

An autographed copy of The Plot to Save Socrates will be in the mail to John tomorrow! Congratulations, John!

For everyone else: If you've already answered the question correctly - but got it in after John - I'll be happy to send you, via e-mail, a copy of my 1997 award-nominated time travel novella, Loose Ends (first published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact Magazine, and widely reprinted, including on Fictionwise.com).

And, further, for anyone who answered tonight's question correctly, I'll be happy to autograph and return to you at my expense any copies of The Plot to Save Socrates that you send to me between now and the end of this year.

My email is Levinson.paul@gmail.com

But John gets the free copy for tonight's episode.

And the contest will continue for the next two episodes of Journeyman. I'll give a free, autographed copy of The Plot to Save Socrates to first person, after each show, who e-mails Dan's last word on the show to me! See Extending The Plot to Save Socrates - Journeyman Contest for details.

Note, by the way, that the contest calls for Dan's last word spoken on each episode - not the last word spoken by someone else, if that last word is the last word on the show. Livia had the last word tonight, when she said "Yes" to that proposal. But the last word I was looking for is Dan's....

My reviews of other Journeyman episodes ... 1: NBC Quantum Leaps Into Journeyman ...2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5 ... 6... 7 ... 8. Livia's Story ... 9. Dan Unravels His Present ... 10. Jack's In! ... 12. The Perfect Time Travel Story ... Lucky 13

---

The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

The Plot to Save Journeyman: Extending The Plot to Save Socrates - Journeyman Contest!

There is excellent news about Journeyman - three more episodes will definitely air, after all!

And - I received such good response to The Plot To Save Socrates - Journeyman contest on Monday - in which Matt Pollari of Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota emailed me with the correct answer to what was the last word that Dan said on Monday's show - "life" - within 30 seconds after the show ...

That I've decided to extend my Plot to Save Socrates giveaway for the next three episodes of Journeyman!

That's right - I will send a free, autographed copy of my time travel novel, The Plot to Save Socrates - Entertainment Weekly said it's "challenging fun" - to the first e-mail I receive, after each of the next three episodes of Journeyman, that correctly identifies the last word that Dan says on the show...

The next three episodes will be broadcast on NBC on Monday, Dec 10 ... Monday Dec 17 ... and Wednesday, Dec 17 ... at 10 pm...

Levinson.paul@gmail. com is my e-mail.

And I'll also be giving away an additional copy to a randomly chosen member of the Fans of Journeyman Unite group on Facebook, if the group gets 500 members before the start of the last episode of Journeyman this year - check Facebook for details.

I'm delighted to do whatever I can to attract viewers to this excellent series, because I'm confident that once you see an episode or two, you'll be a fan!

---

The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Journeyman Continues: 10: Jack's In! // Contest Winner!

And we have a winner for the contest - I got the correct answer for Dan's last word in tonight's superb episode about 30 seconds after it was over. Look for the name of the winner, and some consolation prizes, at the end of this review...

Tonight's Episode 10 of Journeyman was a wonderful, satisfying chapter, in many ways.

First, it daringly courted but avoided paradoxes. Dan's traveling back to stop the guy who shot him risked unraveling Dan's and everyone's reality: had Dan gotten to the boy, gotten him out of his abusive home, then the boy might well have grown up not to do the bad things he did last week, and not to shoot Dan tonight.... Which would have left Dan - and us - where? A lot worse off in the narrative than Dan being wounded and seriously infected.

Speaking of which - I liked that Dan got infected because he carried bacteria back with him two decades, which were resistant to antibiotics back then. Very nice time traveling touch.

Also helpful to maintaining the time travel sanctity of the show was the bad guy killing the FBI guy. Although I'll miss Paul Schulze and his fine acting, the character clearly knew too much to continue on his course. He either had to brought into the fold - not likely if he was FBI - or eliminated.

Which brings us to Jack - the most satisfying development of all in tonight's episode. Jack has been edging closer in previous shows to believing Dan. Tonight Livia comes to see Jack in the present - because Dan needs his help - and that of course finally convinces Jack that his brother is not crazy, and is really time traveling....

Which brings us to the contest winner. At the end of tonight's episode, Jack asks Dan if this - the near insanity, the brushes with death, everything Jack went through tonight - is the way it always is.

To which Dan gives a fine answer: "Welcome to our life."

=======================================================
And Matt Pollari of Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota emailed me with the correct answer within 30 seconds: "life"!

An autographed copy of The Plot to Save Socrates will be in the mail to Matt tomorrow! Congratulations, Matt!

For everyone else who answered, and who keeps watching the show: If you've already answered the question correctly - but got it in after Matt - or if you tell me Dan's last word on the next two shows,* I'll be happy to send you, via e-mail, a copy of my 1997 award-nominated time travel novella, Loose Ends (first published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact Magazine, and widely reprinted, including on Fictionwise.com).

And, further, for anyone who answered tonight's question correctly, or who e-mails me Dan's last word on the next shows,* I'll be happy to autograph and return to you at my expense any copies of The Plot to Save Socrates that you send to me between now and the end of this year.

My email is Levinson.paul@gmail.com

But Matt gets the free copy.

*NOTE ADDED 3O NOVEMBER 2007: I've decided to continue the contest for the next three episodes of Journeyman, and give a free, autographed copy of The Plot to Save Socrates to first person, after each show, who e-mails Dan's last word on the show to me! See Extending The Plot to Save Socrates - Journeyman Contest for details.

And, you know, "life" is an apt last word. Journeyman has more life than ever now. I want to see Dan and Jack finally working together. Years ago, in the 1960s, NBC made a mistake and canceled Star Trek - I hope they don't make the same mistake with Journeyman.

My reviews of other Journeyman episodes ... 1: NBC Quantum Leaps Into Journeyman ...2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5 ... 6... 7 ... 8. Livia's Story ... 9. Dan Unravels His Present 11. Livia' Beau//Save the Newspaper, Save the World ... 12. The Perfect Time Travel Story ... Lucky 13

---

The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Journeyman Continues: 9: Dan Unravels His Present//Announcing Contest!

Two intense, important stories are going on in NBC's Journeyman right now. One, as reported in BuddyTV yesterday, is about how much longer NBC will continue the series. The future is stormy - the series could be pulled after next week's Episode 10.

To help keep the series alive, in whatever small way I can, I'm announcing a contest about next week's episode (look for it in this text after I conclude my review of Episode 9). But, first, my review...

Last night's episode was by far the best yet, and I've been pretty much saying that about every episode of Journeyman. It's one of my two-three favorite series now on television, and the best time travel series, ever.

It keeps pushing the envelope - which, in time travel stories, means playing ever more dangerously with the paradoxes time travel inevitably engenders.

Dan strays from his mission last night. Against Livia's advice, he does things he was not "meant" to do (we still do not know who is calling the ultimate shots and thereby the meaning). But, in the process, Dan undermines the crucial progress he has made with his brother Jack - who, on the basis of an event that first took place, was beginning to believe that Dan might really be time traveling, or at least not psycho. Dan's going beyond the plan in the past results in that crucial event not occurring, which leaves Jack in the present back to his doubting ways - which are now so much in the driver's seat that Jack is on his way to trying to get Dan committed ... (I'm reminded of Marshall McLuhan's great quip that the only people who have proof of their sanity are those who have been discharged from mental institutions)...

But this is just the tip of things "not going well" because of Dan's divergence from the plan - as Livia so aptly put it. Once you change just one thing in the past - as Ray Bradbury mapped out so well, so many ways ago, in his "Sound of Thunder" - your whole present and future can crumble around and on top of you...

Which raises an interesting point about Journeyman. Apparently, if Dan follows the plan - whoever is devising it - he's relatively free of paradox. Only if he diverges does he court disaster....

I look forward to finding out more next week, when this two-part episode concludes.

Which brings me to our CONTEST: Here it is: I will send a free, autographed copy of my own time travel novel, The Plot to Save Socrates, to the first person who e-mails me at

Levinson.paul@gmail.com

with the last word that Dan says on next week's episode.

I just want that last word, and I'll send the novel to the first person who e-mails me on gmail - "first" determined by the gmail time stamp.

You can see what the novel looks like, and read some of the blurbs about it, below.

But, more importantly, watch the show! Television will be at lot less compelling if it's taken off the air.

My reviews of other Journeyman episodes ... 1: NBC Quantum Leaps Into Journeyman ...2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5 ... 6... 7 ... 8. Livia's Story ... 9. Dan Unravels His Present ... 10. Jack's In!... 11. Livia's Beau//Save the Newspaper, Save the World ... 12. The Perfect Time Travel Story ... Lucky 13

---

The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!