reviewing Black Doves; Dark Matter; Dept. Q; Detective Hole; Dexter: Resurrection; Fauda; For All Mankind; Foundation; Hijack; Memory of a Killer; MobLand; Outlander; Paradise; Presumed Innocent; Severance; Silo; Slow Horses; Smoke; Star City; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; Tehran;The: Day of the Jackal, Diplomat, Night Agent; Your Friends & Neighbors +books, films, music, podcasts, politics
George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.
Chuck Todd interviews me about alternate histories
I wanted to give you a heads up about a price hike coming on December 1, 2013 for the Kindle editions of each of my four science fiction novels - The Silk Code, The Consciousness Plague, The Plot to Save Socrates, and Unburning Alexandria. The price, which is currently $4.99 US (and the equivalent in currencies around the world) per novel, will be at least a few dollars higher, starting on December 1, 2013. We may have special contests, promotions, and giveaways, but the list price will remain at the higher level for the foreseeable future. Hey, it's hard to put a price on wisdom and reading pleasure :)
I'm pleased to announce that my novel, Unburning Alexandria, was published yesterday by JoSara MeDia. The long-awaited sequel to The Plot to Save Socrates is now available on Kindle, iTunes, Nook, and Kobo. A paperback was published by JoSara MeDia in at the end of July 2013.
I started writing Unburning Alexandria when I was finishing up The Plot to Save Socrates in late 2005 - indeed, the opening chapter of Unburning Alexandria was originally the next-to-last chapter in The Plot to Save Socrates. But on the urging of my editor at Tor, David Hartwell, I took that chapter out of The Plot to Save Socrates and saved it for Unburning Alexandria. The chapter, along with the next chapter in the novel, were published as a novelette called "Unburning Alexandria" in Analog Magazine in November 2008.
When JoSara published my author's cut of The Plot to Save Socrates last December, I re-inserted that chapter in The Plot to Save Socrates. For the reader's convenience - and for those who read the original printed versions of The Plot to Save Socrates rather than the ebooks - I included that chapter as Chapter 0 in Unburning Alexandria.
In either case, I hope you enjoy Unburning Alexandria, which tells the following story -
Mid-twenty-first century time traveler Sierra Waters, fresh from her mission to save Socrates from the hemlock, is determined to alter history yet again, by saving the ancient Library of Alexandria - where as many as 750,000 one-of-a-kind texts were lost, an event described by many as “one of the greatest intellectual catastrophes in history.”
Along the way she will encounter old friends such as William Henry Appleton the great 19th century American publisher and enemies like the enigmatic time travelling inventor Heron of Alexandria. And her quest will involve such other real historic personages as Hypatia, Cleopatra’s sister Arsinoe, Ptolemy the astronomer, and St. Augustine - again placing her friends, her loved-ones, and herself in deadly jeopardy. In this sequel to THE PLOT TO SAVE SOCRATES, award winning author Paul Levinson offers another time-traveling adventure spanning millennia, full of surprising twists and turns, all the while attempting the seemingly impossible: UNBURNING ALEXANDRIA.
Thanks to Joel Iskowitz, the world-renown illustrator whose works appear on US coins and stamps around the world, for the cover.
Here's a video of a reading I did from the beginning of Unburning Alexandria, at the late great Robin's Bookstore in Philadelphia in 2008.
Read a sample from Unburning Alexandria - a whole chapter, FREE - at SF Signal.
Read why JoSara MeDia published Unburning Alexandria
from Sam Tomaino's review of "Unburning Alexandria" (the novelette in Analog Magazine) in SFRevu in 2008:
Paul Levinson's "Unburning Alexandria" was a nicely told story of time travel set in 413 AD Alexandria and other cities. Sierra is trying to rescue works from the famous library but she has another goal, too. A number of characters, historical and not, pop in to the story filled with intrigue and mystery. I liked this but I was left waiting for more. I hope Mr. Levinson has more to tell.
I did indeed have more - and it's now out in the novel, Unburning Alexandria ...
reviews of the novel
"Levinson's stories are intricately plotted and avoid the tricky Gordian knots of paradoxes with skill and fun." - John DeNardo, Kirkus "You get used to reading verbal bombshells when you read Paul Levinson’s science fiction works.... characters say things like, 'I was here, in Carthage, three months from now'.” - Jim Curtis, The Morton Report
"little quirkinesses ... and a lot of clever ideas" - GF Willmetts, SFCrowsnest
"Not since Ilium had a novel kept me reading into the wee hours of dusk (I finished this sucker at 3:30 am, unable to resist immediately tweeting my triumph from the mountain tops). Just before tossing all aces like a godforsaken magician, Levinson shuffled his paradoxes like a deck of cards, and I have to admit, stoked the flames of my imagination. It was a great ride." - Shane Lindemoen
words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio, demo by John Anealio
In the year 2042, Sierra Waters, a young graduate student in Classics, is shown a new dialog of Socrates, recently discovered, in which a time traveler tries to argue that Socrates might escape death by travel to the future! Thomas, the elderly scholar who has shown her the document, disappears, and Sierra immediately begins to track down the provenance of the manuscript with the help of her classical scholar boyfriend, Max.
The trail leads her to time machines in gentlemen’s clubs in London and in New York, and into the past–and to a time traveler from the future, posing as Heron of Alexandria in 150 AD. Complications, mysteries, travels, and time loops proliferate as Sierra tries to discern who is planning to save the greatest philosopher in human history. Fascinating historical characters from Alcibiades to William Henry Appleton, the great nineteenth-century American publisher, to Hypatia and Plato and Socrates himself appear.
Praise for the novel...
"...challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"heroine Sierra Waters is sexy as hell . . . . there's a bite to Levinson's wit" - Brian Charles Clark, Curled Up With A Good Book
Below is the beginning of this book:
[Athens, 2042 AD]
She ripped the paper in half, then ripped the halves, then ripped what was left, again, into bits and pieces of history that could have been….
Sierra Waters had read once that, years ago, it was thought that men made love for the thrill, while women made love for the sense of connection it gave them. Sierra had always done everything for the thrill. She had no sense of connection, except to her work. Which should have made her an ideal person for this job.
Still … an ideal person would have followed the plan. It was written on the only substance which could survive decades, maybe longer, without batteries, which required only the light of the sun to be read, or the moon on a good night, or a flickering flame when there was no moon. Paper. A marvelous invention. Thin and durable. And she had just torn it into pieces, opened her palm, and given it to the wind to disperse in irreparable directions.
* * *
[earlier, New York City, 2042 AD]
Sierra was a doctoral student at the Old School, in the heart of Manhattan. Her specialty was ancient Athens, or, more precisely, the adoption of the Ionic phonetic alphabet by Athens around 400 BC — the sprouting of the teeth of Cadmus, as Marshall McLuhan had put it — and its impact on the future of the world. “A nice, tidy, manageable little topic,” Thomas O’Leary, a member of her doctoral committee, had commented, testily. But he had agreed to help her, anyway. He was accustomed to unusual pursuits. He was an odd-ball, himself, an independent scholar with no university affiliation. The Old School had a tradition of allowing one such outside expert on its doctoral committees.
Sierra was making good progress on the dissertation — 72 out of a projected 250-page document, written in under half a year’s time — when Thomas called her down to his office, just off Fifth Avenue and 18th Street, on a wet November evening. He had a copy of a slim manuscript, just a few pages in a worn manila folder. He hefted it, as if to assess its intellectual weight. By the expression on his face, it looked to be quite important. He slid it across his pitted oak desk to Sierra. She had mixed feelings about this — it was no doubt an article of some sort that Thomas had come across and deemed relevant to her dissertation. Sierra hated the thought of having to rethink and rewrite any of her work at this point. On the other hand, she relished uncovering new information. It made her heart jump.
She opened the folder. She looked up at Thomas, who was carefully regarding her, his mouth slightly pursed, a long pen of some sort dangling from his fingers like a plastic cigarette. “It’s apparently been kicking around for a while, at least since the 20s,” he said. “It surfaced recently at the Millennium Club up on 49th Street — their librarian spotted it in an old bookcase, sandwiched between the usual stuff.”
“The 2020s?” Sierra asked.
Thomas smiled. “Well, could have been the 1920s, as far as the club goes — it was founded in the 1870s. But the librarian is sure it wasn’t there before 2023 — that was the last time they did a thorough inventory of their holdings — and the Preface says something about carbon-dating the original.”
“So it’s not an obvious forgery. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be showing it to me, right?”
I'm delighted to announce that JoSara MeDia has just published a Kindle edition of my novel, The Plot to Save Socrates.
The Plot to Save Socrates was originally published by Tor Books in 2006, and was praised by The New York Daily News (" Da Vinci-esque thriller"),Entertainment Weekly ("challenging fun"), and reviews in dozens of other places.
This author’s cut of The Plot to Save Socrates not only restores a lot of my original wording, but an entire chapter near the end of the novel that features Hypatia of Alexandria. The novel has a new, specially commissioned cover by Joel Iskowitz, who designed the cover for The Silk Codeebook, and whose designs have appeared on stamps around the world, US coins, and NASA murals.
I chose JoSara MeDia because this small, savvy publisher did such a good job with The Silk Codeauthor's cut ebook brought out this past August. JoSara MeDia has published award-winning authors in multiple formats, including print, eBook, and enhanced eBooks in the form of iPad and Android applications. JoSara MeDia also works with non-profit organizations, such as the Texas State Historical Association, assisting them with strategies and solutions to get their content available in these multiple formats.
Praise for the novel...
"...challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"...a fun book to read" - Dallas Morning News
"resonates with the current political climate . . . . heroine Sierra Waters is sexy as hell . . . . there's a bite to Levinson's wit" - Brian Charles Clark, Curled Up With A Good Book at curledup.com
"a journey through time that'll make you think as it thrills ... so accessible, even those generally put off by sci-fi should enjoy the trip." - Rod Lott, bookgasm.com
"Levinson spins a fascinating tale ... An intriguing premise with believable characters and attention to period detail make this an outstanding choice... Highly recommended." - Library Journal,*starred review
"Light, engaging time-travel yarn . . . neatly satisfies the circularity inherent in time travel, whose paradoxes Levinson links to Greek philosophy." - Publishers Weekly
"A thinking person's time travel story... I felt like I was there." - SF Signal
"This is a dazzling performance. . . .History as science fiction; science fiction as history." - Barry N. Malzberg
"... quick-to-read, entertaining treatment of the problems inherent in time travel with style and flair" - Booklist
"There's a delightfully old-fashioned feel to The Plot to Save Socrates. . . . Levinson's cool, spare style reminded me of the writing of Isaac Asimov. . ." - Colin Harvey, Strange Horizons
"Paul Levinson's new novel is both very different from anything he has done before and very satisfying. . . . This, I think, is the first of Levinson's novels to deserve to be called a tour de force. Watch for it on award ballots." - Tom Easton, Analog: Science Fiction and Fact
"it's exciting to see a book as daring with both its ideas and its approach to narrative structure as this one hit the shelves . . . It's an absolute treat to sit back and be wrapped up in a story that gives a retro SF premise like time travel such a brilliant new kick, and it's doubly delightful to find the story as fun and entertaining as it is thought-provoking." - SF Reviews.net
"proves that excellent entertainment can and ought to be intellectually respectable -- a glorious example to us all." - Brian Stableford
"...readers are sure to enjoy his take on the paradoxes of time travel" - BookPage
"Intricately and intriguingly woven, lots of fun, and extremely thought provoking." - Stanley Schmidt
"Paul Levinson has outdone himself: The Plot to Save Socrates is a philosophically rich gem full of big ideas and wonderful time-travel tricks." - Robert J. Sawyer
"as happens with Kurt Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim . . . . the reader soon becomes unstuck in time . . . . Levinson presents one of the most unique books I've ever encountered. A highly recommended read." - Matt St. Amand
"Paul Levinson brings both intellectual heft and affection for his delightfully depicted characters to this highly original story of time travel . . . bringing all of its threads together in an ending that is emotionally satisfying and extremely moving. The Plot to Save Socrates will provoke thought long after readers have finished the book, at which point many may want to pick it up and read it again, to savor its twists and turns." - Pamela Sargent, SFWeekly
"Fast-paced and full of plot twists." - Davis Enterprise (California)
"an elaborately-reasoned temporal tale - a novelized thought experiment whose logic and ideas Socrates would have approved of" - John Joseph Adams, intergalacticmedicineshow.com
"a philosophically rich, engaging time travel story . . . a charming portrayal of Socrates" - Fantasybookspot.com
"a fun romp through 2500 years of Western history" - freshfiction.com
"I've never read anything like this before . . . The Plot to Save Socrates is highly, original, creative, and engaging. I enjoyed it from the first page." - Book.of.the.moment. at myspace.com/book_of_the_moment.com
"revels in the possibilities for paradoxes . . . . fresh and welcome" - Steven Silver's Reviews at sfsite
"frankly, he [Levinson] is one of my 'read on sight' authors . . . The Plot to Save Socrates is a tapestry of times and characters and philosophies, with an excellent look at history. . . ." - Jerry Wright, Bewildering Stories at bewilderingstories.com
"a very intelligently written novel . . . ." - GF Willmetts, at SFcrowsnest.com
"Paul Levinson handles a complicated plot and a multitude of characters in a manner that can only be described as masterful. . . . I highly recommend this book, and I won't be surprised if it wins several awards." - Scott M. Sandridge, specmusicmuse
"This book was a lot of fun, and surprisingly poignant at the end. (Yes, I'll admit I cried a little.) . . . I was worried this would be a fairly cold sci-fi book, where I never got to like any of the characters, but somehow by halfway through I found I really cared about them. I'm not sure how Levinson managed that . . . but somehow they all just got inside me." - Lady Amalthea, eharlequin.com
". . . a new metaphor for the literary tradition of time travel." - Robert Blechman, blogcritics.org
"Socrates has always seemed a rather dour and dull figure to me but Paul Levinson breathes new life into this time." - Debbie, ck2skwipsandkritiques.com
"truly a thought-provoking, breathtaking, and highly entertaining novel." - Lysette Brodey, PerpetualProse.com
"The Plot to Save Socrates turns on its head Plato's report of Socrates' poisoning ..." - Gerry Elman, Esq., Stanford Alumni Blog
"Doppelgangers, deception, and the sheer amount of historical reference alone make this novel magnificant, but that is not all!... Paul Levinson has created a historical text for all ages, making the plot flow like wine and pleasing to even the most hesitant of readers." - Jenna A, luxuryreading.com "I was hooked by the second page." - Kanti Burns, Book Reviews and more
"A lively cast of historical figures populates this epoch-bending adventure, highly recommended especially for fans of alternate history novels!" - Midwest Bookreview
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 ...
words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio, demo by John Anealio
I confess to not knowing much about tagging in the first decade of the 21st century. But it’s been explained to me that I’m required to list 10 unknown things about me, and then tag 10 other people ... so here goes. (And I’ve got to admit that this should be fun...)
1. My favorite color is sunset orange and my favorite flavor is peach-mango.
2. I cry every time I hear the Beatles’ singing "Real Love," because it was recorded with John Lennon’s voice, years after he was killed, and the Beatles added their voices and instruments to the record. Someday, after I finish my work in Alexandria, I may try to do something about this.
3. Numbers and poetry and harmonies make my heart beat faster.
4. I’ve recently realized that a cuddle with the right person can be almost as good as making love. Actually, I know I’ve always known that, but I didn’t take the time to admit it.
5. I think of Sea Street in Quivett Neck on the Cape as "the town that time forgot." I sometimes walk there, alone, late in the moonlight. You can say hello to me there, if ever you see me.
6. With one exception, I prefer 21st century men over ancient men in bed. On the other hand, ancient women ... :)
7. Synesius, Bishop of Ptolemais, had a lot more style and substance than is admitted in most histories.
8. Falernian wine tastes so fine it makes my eyes water with joy.
9. So far, I have not been able to travel to any time in the future past the end of the 21st century - I’m not sure why.
10. I discovered that the Millennium Club in New York City was known, in an alternate reality, as the Ce-- no, I better not make this public.
Ok - I hope I haven’t revealed too much above, or transgressed any early 21st line of publicly courteous discourse.
MySpace poet Lance Strate has written verses for time traveller Sierra Waters ...
I sent it to one of her listening posts in 2042, and who knows if it will get through, but you can read it any time at A River Song for Sierra Waters...
Added March 3, 2008: And poet Larry Kuechlin has written this sonnet for Sierra ... Of Water
Sierra is really taking on a life of her own, with a Facebook group, a MySpace page, a Second Life life (see picture below), an appearance in an 18th century painting (see below), and now this poem...
Reading from Unburning Alexandria in a Greek amphitheater in the Artists' Village in Second Life
another reading right on your computer! Sierra Waters rockin' the ancient world!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
12:00pm - 1:00pm SLT
Artists Village, Second Life
The hits keep on coming! I've been getting such good response to my readings in Second Life - which you can attend right on your computer - that I decided to accept a invitation to do a reading this Sunday!
It will be in a breathtaking virtual space - a Greek amphitheater in the Artists Village - in Second Life.... what better place to read a little more from my novel in progress, Unburning Alexandria - sequel to The Plot to Save Socrates...
Sierra Waters rockin' the ancient world..
If you already have a Second Life account, IM me at PaulLevinson Freenote, and I'll reply with a landmark to the reading.
If you do not have an SL account, you can get one, for free, at secondlife.com - once you have an account, just do as above. You can use the landmark to get to my reading on the day of the event...
UPDATE - May 3, 2013 - Unburning Alexandria (the novel) is finished and published. Details here. The following announcement is about the publication of the novelette in 2008.
Dear Infinite Regress Friends and Readers -
Many of you have been asking me when the sequel to my novel, The Plot To Save Socrates, will be published. As some of you know, its title is Unburning Alexandria, and I'm currently about half-way through writing the novel (and really enjoying it!)
For a variety of reasons, I still can't give you an exact date for publication of the novel.
But, I'm pleased to tell you that Analog: Science Fiction and Fact magazine will be publishing the first two chapters of "Unburning Alexandria" as a standalone novelette, in August 2008 (the cover date of the issue of Analog will be November, 2008).*
*Note added January 2010: You can purchase the November 2008 issue of Analog, with "Unburning Alexandria," overhere- look for "Back Issues".
For those of you who have read The Plot To Save Socrates, you'll find some dangling questions at the end of the novel answered - as well, of course, as some new ones raised. (My original draft of The Plot to Save Socrates actually had some of this material in the final chapter.)
I am especially pleased that this novelette will be published in Analog. I consider its editor, Stan Schmidt, one of the best editors in the business. Stan published my first three Phil D'Amato stories in Analog in the 1990s, and a lot of my other short fiction in the 1990s. Indeed, the last story I published in Analog was "The Man Who Brought Down the New York Times," in December 2000.
Writing novels, nonfiction books, political blogs, television reviews, chairing a department at Fordham University, has kept me from writing shorter fiction. But I've always loved the short form, and I intend to get back to doing at least a little of that now (along with the novels, nonfiction books, political blogs, tv reviews, and the rest).
And there's no better place to have any science fiction published than in Analog - not only edited by Stan Schmidt, but long the highest circulation science fiction magazine in the field.
You might enjoy visiting the Analog site, and I certainly recommend subscribing if you love science fiction or even just good short stories.
Back by popular demand - I'll be reading from a section of my novel, The Plot to Save Socrates, never before heard in public...
You can hear and see this on your computer, just by connecting to Second Life.
The time of the reading - 3-4pm - is EASTERN TIME, this coming Sunday, Feb 24
If you already have a Second Life account, just send me a note (or leave a comment right here), befriend me on Second Life (if we're not already friends), and I'll reply with a "landmark" which will bring you right to the reading.
If you do not have a Second Life account, you can easily get one, for free, at SecondLife.com - once you get an account, just let me know here or on Second Life.
This reading will not be recorded. If you can't attend, the only way you will be able hear this section is in The Plot to Save Socrates audiobook
- Red Moon author David S. Michaels reacts to a reading from the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates that I gave last week on Aaron Busch's new Primetime and Online webcast
- more review blurbs than you can shake a stick at (whatever that means) ... my favorites are "challenging fun" (Entertainment Weekly) and "Sierra Waters in sexy as hell" (Curled Up with a Good Book)
And here's a videoclip from a reading I did in December in Second Life...
New York City, 2042 ... Sierra Waters reads a previously unknown Socratic dialogue ... it takes place in the prison of Socrates, on the night before his death,, right after Crito's visit ... Socrates receives another visitor, Andros, who makes him an offer...
my avatar reads from the very beginning of The Plot to Save Socrates ... in Second Life ... it starts "Athens, 2042... Sierra Waters had always done everything for the thrill..."
I've already shared with you a bit of Sierra Water's correspondence with Zeshua Alpha (Sierra has received more, which I'll post here later).
In the meantime, I might as well post this exchange with John Titor on my Paul Levinson web page ...
Tuesday, December 26, 2006, 7:52:00 PM
John Titor IP: 24.31.22.93
Hello, Paul. I am looking forward to reading "The Plot to Save Socrates." I find it very amusing if only co-incidental that my partner in this worldline is a TT named Ciara.
Syncronicity? I doubt it. But then again, all things are possible in all worldlines...
Tuesday, January 09, 2007, 4:51:35 PM
Paul Levinson IP: 71.167.152.250
John - Truly honored that you came by to say hello ... I hope you enjoy The Plot to Save Socrates (you of all people should appreciate it)... The synchronicity with Sierra Waters is, as far as I know, purely coincidental ... though, who knows...
=================
John Titor also supplied this e-mail address: futuretech2037@yahoo.com
"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
Sierra has received e-mail from Zeshua Alpha - this e-mail really came in on Sierra's LightonLightThrough.com account. Zeshua is apparently an associate of John Titor - I just found this out when I did a search on Zeshua's name.
Here's the correspondence (Zeshua was apparently responding to Sierra's letter from the future to me)...
From: "Zeshua Alpha" (zeshua@gmail.com) To: Sierra@LightonLightThrough.com Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2007 00:32:05 -0400
Hello Sierra,
What is your current method of communication with the 2007 timeframe? What year is it that you are in communication from?
I do hope that we can share and express certain communication between us.
Good Days... <
Thank you so much for writing, Zeshua Alpha! You are the first - I was afraid no one would reply!
I'm writing this from a "Chair" - which has an email option - in 2061.
Do you have any information about Alcibiades, Heron, or Thomas O'Leary?
Even if not, let's stay in contact - I greatly value having a connection in the early 21st century!
Note: You can see the MySpace group without logging on to MySpace, but you must log on to Join the Group. The same for the Facebook group, except you won't even be able to see the page without first logging on. (You'll of course need to join MySpace and Facebook to log on, if you're not already a member. If you do, by all means Add me as a Friend, and I'll certainly accept.)
Dear Readers - I received the following this morning in my e-mail, and, after much consideration, I've decided to post it on all of my blogs, in an effort to be of whatever assistance I can to Sierra ...
Dear Dr. Levinson - Pardon this unexpected e-mail, but since you have written about me, and my work, I thought you might be receptive. Truthfully, I'm can't be at all sure that this will even reach you. Setting e-mail to be delivered at a future date is one thing. Setting e-mail to be delivered in the past is, of course, something quite else.
First, I do want to sincerely thank you for all the good things you have written about me, and for the good attention you have brought to me from others. This means a lot to me, believe me. I also appreciate the care you have taken in not revealing too much of my story, in too much detail - you seem to understand the dangers of too much leaked information in what I am doing.
So, with that in mind, I would ask you, and anyone who reads this, to convey whatever information you might have about the whereabouts and activities of the following people in 2008: Alcibiades, Heron of Alexandria, and Thomas O'Leary. The first two are of course historical figures, and may be and in fact are likely using different names in 2008. Any information about their 2008 activities would be enormously helpful. Thomas O'Leary is of course a much more common name. I am interested in the Thomas O'Leary who is a member of the secretive Millennium Club in New York City, and, also, I believe, teaches as an "adjunct," likely in philosophy or history, in one or two universities in New York.
I've have taken the liberty of setting an account for myself on your system - I can be reached at Sierra@LightonLightThrough.com
Thank you, again, for everything.
Readers - please feel free to re-post and distribute this as far and as wide as you can. PL
Sierra also sent along this picture - she says it's of her in NYC, date unknown...
Blurbs, details, reviews, links to free samples, videos, etc here about my novels and scholarly books:
thanks to Joel Iskowitz for illustrating the nine above covers
three short books
Featured Books Chronica - sequel to The Plot to Save Socrates and Unburning Alexandria
In this sequel to The Plot to Save Socrates and Unburning Alexandria, Sierra arrives in 2062, and finds the world has somewhat changed. Joe Biden was President from 2009-2017, and train travel is much more prominent. Was this due to the scrolls that she rescued from the ancient Library of Alexandria? Heron's Chronica, which describes how to build a time travel device and was one of the texts Sierra saved from burning, has not yet been published, and Sierra soon realizes that Heron is bent on doing everything in his lethal power to prevent that from happening. Her attempt to safeguard the Chronica, which she left in William Henry Appleton's keeping, takes her to the end of the 1890s, where she crosses paths with John Jacob Astor IV, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, J. P. Morgan, film pioneers William Dickson and Edwin Porter, and other denizens of The Gilded Age. With the Chronica at large, the keys to time travel are up for grabs, and with it the history and future of the world.
My sixth novel, sequel to The Plot to Save Socrates, continues the story of Sierra Waters ...
Mid-twenty-first century time traveler Sierra Waters, fresh from her mission to save Socrates from the hemlock, is determined to alter history yet again, by saving the ancient Library of Alexandria - where as many as 750,000 one-of-a-kind texts were lost, an event described by many as “one of the greatest intellectual catastrophes in history.”
Along the way she will encounter old friends such as William Henry Appleton the great 19th century American publisher and enemies like the enigmatic time travelling inventor Heron of Alexandria. And her quest will involve such other real historic personages as Hypatia, Cleopatra’s sister Arsinoe, Ptolemy the astronomer, and St. Augustine - again placing her friends, her loved-ones, and herself in deadly jeopardy. In this sequel to THE PLOT TO SAVE SOCRATES, award winning author Paul Levinson offers another time-traveling adventure spanning millennia, full of surprising twists and turns, all the while attempting the seemingly impossible: UNBURNING ALEXANDRIA.
Here's a free chapter from Unburning Alexandria, on SF Signal.
Reviews
"Levinson's stories are intricately plotted and avoid the tricky Gordian knots of paradoxes with skill and fun." - John DeNardo, Kirkus
"You get used to reading verbal bombshells when you read Paul Levinson’s science fiction works.... characters say things like, 'I was here, in Carthage, three months from now'.” - Jim Curtis, The Morton Report "little quirkinesses ... and a lot of clever ideas" - GF Willmetts, SFCrowsnest
"Not since Ilium had a novel kept me reading into the wee hours of dusk (I finished this sucker at 3:30 am, unable to resist immediately tweeting my triumph from the mountain tops). Just before tossing all aces like a godforsaken magician, Levinson shuffled his paradoxes like a deck of cards, and I have to admit, stoked the flames of my imagination. It was a great ride." - Shane Lindemoen "one of those extremely rare sequels that end up better than its predecessor ... worthy of the title, blockbuster, if this were a movie ... by far the best time travel story I've ever read" - Scott Sandridge, SpecMusicMuse
"a great example of using the text to put the reader in a similar state as the characters... I also love that the novel seems to be heading toward one of my favorite time travel ideas: the idea of causal loops" - Ethan Mills, Examined Worlds: Philosophy and Science Fiction
~~~ +++ ~~~
on 10 Perfect Summer Reads Author by NYU Alumni list, along with novels by Joseph Heller, Suzanne Collins, Candace Bushnell, and Danielle Steel My fifth novel is a blend of historical mystery and science fiction...a tale of time travel and ancient intrigue...
Sierra Waters, a graduate student in the year 2042, is given a copy of a previously unknown Socratic dialogue in which a time traveler gives the philosopher a tempting plan to escape the hemlock...
What they're saying about the novel...
"...challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"...a fun book to read" - Dallas Morning News
"resonates with the current political climate . . . . heroine Sierra Waters is sexy as hell . . . . there's a bite to Levinson's wit" - Brian Charles Clark, Curled Up With A Good Book at curledup.com
"a journey through time that'll make you think as it thrills ... so accessible, even those generally put off by sci-fi should enjoy the trip." - Rod Lott, bookgasm.com
"Levinson spins a fascinating tale ... An intriguing premise with believable characters and attention to period detail make this an outstanding choice... Highly recommended." - Library Journal, *starred review
"Light, engaging time-travel yarn . . . neatly satisfies the circularity inherent in time travel, whose paradoxes Levinson links to Greek philosophy." - Publishers Weekly
"A thinking person's time travel story... I felt like I was there." - SF Signal
"This is a dazzling performance. . . .History as science fiction; science fiction as history." - Barry N. Malzberg
"... quick-to-read, entertaining treatment of the problems inherent in time travel with style and flair" - Booklist
"There's a delightfully old-fashioned feel to The Plot to Save Socrates. . . . Levinson's cool, spare style reminded me of the writing of Isaac Asimov. . ." - Colin Harvey, Strange Horizons
"Paul Levinson's new novel is both very different from anything he has done before and very satisfying. . . . This, I think, is the first of Levinson's novels to deserve to be called a tour de force. Watch for it on award ballots." - Tom Easton, Analog: Science Fiction and Fact
"it's exciting to see a book as daring with both its ideas and its approach to narrative structure as this one hit the shelves . . . It's an absolute treat to sit back and be wrapped up in a story that gives a retro SF premise like time travel such a brilliant new kick, and it's doubly delightful to find the story as fun and entertaining as it is thought-provoking." - SF Reviews.net
"proves that excellent entertainment can and ought to be intellectually respectable -- a glorious example to us all." - Brian Stableford
"...readers are sure to enjoy his take on the paradoxes of time travel" - BookPage
"Intricately and intriguingly woven, lots of fun, and extremely thought provoking." - Stanley Schmidt
"Paul Levinson has outdone himself: The Plot to Save Socrates is a philosophically rich gem full of big ideas and wonderful time-travel tricks." - Robert J. Sawyer
"as happens with Kurt Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim . . . . the reader soon becomes unstuck in time . . . . Levinson presents one of the most unique books I've ever encountered. A highly recommended read." - Matt St. Amand
"Paul Levinson brings both intellectual heft and affection for his delightfully depicted characters to this highly original story of time travel . . . bringing all of its threads together in an ending that is emotionally satisfying and extremely moving. The Plot to Save Socrates will provoke thought long after readers have finished the book, at which point many may want to pick it up and read it again, to savor its twists and turns." - Pamela Sargent, SFWeekly
"Fast-paced and full of plot twists." - Davis Enterprise (California)
"an elaborately-reasoned temporal tale - a novelized thought experiment whose logic and ideas Socrates would have approved of" - John Joseph Adams, intergalacticmedicineshow.com
"a philosophically rich, engaging time travel story . . . a charming portrayal of Socrates" - Fantasybookspot.com
"a fun romp through 2500 years of Western history" - freshfiction.com
"I've never read anything like this before . . . The Plot to Save Socrates is highly, original, creative, and engaging. I enjoyed it from the first page." - Book.of.the.moment. at myspace.com/book_of_the_moment.com
"revels in the possibilities for paradoxes . . . . fresh and welcome" - Steven Silver's Reviews at sfsite
"frankly, he [Levinson] is one of my 'read on sight' authors . . . The Plot to Save Socrates is a tapestry of times and characters and philosophies, with an excellent look at history. . . ." - Jerry Wright, Bewildering Stories at bewilderingstories.com
"a very intelligently written novel . . . ." - GF Willmetts, at SFcrowsnest.com
"Paul Levinson handles a complicated plot and a multitude of characters in a manner that can only be described as masterful. . . . I highly recommend this book, and I won't be surprised if it wins several awards." - Scott M. Sandridge, specmusicmuse
"This book was a lot of fun, and surprisingly poignant at the end. (Yes, I'll admit I cried a little.) . . . I was worried this would be a fairly cold sci-fi book, where I never got to like any of the characters, but somehow by halfway through I found I really cared about them. I'm not sure how Levinson managed that . . . but somehow they all just got inside me." - Lady Amalthea, eharlequin.com
". . . a new metaphor for the literary tradition of time travel." - Robert Blechman, blogcritics.org
"Socrates has always seemed a rather dour and dull figure to me but Paul Levinson breathes new life into this time." - Debbie, ck2skwipsandkritiques.com
"truly a thought-provoking, breathtaking, and highly entertaining novel." - Lysette Brodey, PerpetualProse.com
"The Plot to Save Socrates turns on its head Plato's report of Socrates' poisoning ..." - Gerry Elman, Esq., Stanford Alumni Blog
"Doppelgangers, deception, and the sheer amount of historical reference alone make this novel magnificent, but that is not all!... Paul Levinson has created a historical text for all ages, making the plot flow like wine and pleasing to even the most hesitant of readers." - Jenna A, luxuryreading.com
"I was hooked by the second page." - Kanti Burns, Book Reviews and More
"A lively cast of historical figures populates this epoch-bending adventure, highly recommended especially for fans of alternate history novels!" - Midwest Book Review
"I was rapidly drawn into this tapestry ..." - Kath Middleton, Ignite Books
"Cool stuff!" - Examined Worlds: Philosophy and Science Fiction
"This single timeline approach is more elegant and more convoluted than other theories, and Levinson handles it extremely well, jumping the narrative through twenty-five hundred years without missing a beat." - Greg Hickey, Socrates, Time Travel, and Donald Trump
In "one of my favorite novels, The Plot to Save Socrates by Paul Levinson ... the recovery of a previously unknown dialogue of Plato prompts an engaging time travel story ... " - Zachary Fruhling Blog
"An adventurous story, where characters from the past, present, and future travel to different eras and cultures. They live their mundane lives there – talk, eat, fight, love, and die – while trying to bend history without destroying it." - Andrey Mir, Time Travel and Media Ecology
The Plot to Save Socrates... now available in "author's cut" ebook!
my avatar reads from the very beginning of The Plot to Save Socrates ... in Second Life ... it starts "Athens, 2042... Sierra Waters had always done everything for the thrill..."
and here's an excerpt from a heretofore unknown Socratic dialogue...
A group has been formed to help Sierra Waters in her adventures:
New New Media, 1st edition, published by Penguin/Pearson/Allyn & Bacon, September 2009
Joan Walsh, Editor-in-Chief of Salon.com, says
Paul Levinson takes you on a walking tour – actually, it's more like a running tour – of the media innovations that are transforming our world. He's not just a scholar, he's an explorer, immersing himself in MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and multiple blogging platforms to help us make sense of the galloping changes in media. Have we entered a glorious new era of media democracy, or are these innovations leveling standards of fairness and authority? Levinson remains an optimist without being blind to the dark side of change. Whether you want to learn to blog, podcast or Twitter yourself, or just keep track of the way such tools are remaking the world around you, the "New New Media" is an indispensable guide.
Jeff Jarvis, Director of New Media Program, City University of New
York's Graduate School of Journalism; Founder, Entertainment Weekly; Creator, BuzzMachine blog, says
Paul Levinson provides an invaluable and encyclopaedic guide to the newest of new media invented so far.
Mignon Fogarty, creator of the award-winning Grammar Girl podcast, and author of the New York Times bestseller Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing , says
Insightful and comprehensive. The overviews are great for people who want to quickly get up-to-speed on the entire landscape or more experienced Web addicts who want to branch out, and the anecdotes and history will delight people who consider themselves old-timers.
40-minute lecture February 23, 2011, at St. Francis College, Brooklyn, NY: "North Africa Shows the Medium is Still the Message: McLuhan at 100" with discussion of new new media ...
20-minute interview Mark Molaro did with Paul Levinson on The Alcove, November 2007 ...
Penguin/Pearson/Allyn & Bacon's promotional video for New New Media...
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The Silk Code
The Silk Code, winner of the Locus Award for Best First Novel of 1999, features NYPD forensic detective Dr. Phil D'Amato - hero of three of my earlier award-nominated novelettes. Published by Tor Books, it reached #8 on the Locus Paperback Best Seller List in February 2001.
Watch the trailer here....
What the critics said:
"As a genre-bending blend of police procedural and science fiction, The Silk Code delivers on its promises." -- Gerald Jonas, The New York Times Book Review
"D'Amato is an appealingly savvy character, and Levinson brings a great deal of invention to the endeavor." -- San Francisco Chronicle
"It is hard to put down, easy to pick up again, and an interesting read. " -- San Diego Union-Tribune
"Mixes up-to-the-minute biotechnology with ancient myth, science fiction with police procedure, and prehistory with the near future. It's an impressive debut." -- Joe Haldeman
"Forensic detective Phil D'Amato is one of my favorite characters, and the puzzles he solves are always imaginative, ingenious, and addictive, but Paul Levinson really outdoes himself this time in a mystery involving murders, moths, mummies, the Silk Road, poisons, fireflies, and forensics, all woven into a mystery only D'Amato could solve! A marvelous book!" -- Connie Willis
"This damn book has everything: interesting science, suspense, characters that live on the page - and that we like! -- and it debuts a new series hero, Dr. Phil D'Amato, forensic detective. I couldn't put The Silk Code down. I'll wager you won't be able to either. Oh, and this is the kicker: The Silk Code is Paul Levinson's first novel. " -- Jack Dann
"At last we get Paul Levinson's superb forensic sleuth, Phil D'Amato, in a full-length novel. If you know Phil from his previous appearances, I need say no more. If you don't, kick back and enjoy a mystery that spans the ages." --Jack McDevitt
"The Silk Code is an intriguing story refreshingly rich not only in action but in ideas. Seldom have I seen a story so engagingly weave together so many seemingly disparate (dare I say it?) threads." --Stanley Schmidt, editor of Analog
"Paul Levinson is an exceptional new writer, behind whose work stands an impressive body of knowledge and a great deal of human understanding. His first novel signals a writer to watch for the provocation and pleasure that he will bring to thoughtful readers. The Silk Code is smoothly written, evocative, and spicy! Highly recommended." -- George Zebrowski
"The Silk Code is a splendidly imaginative novel that explores worlds of ideas both scientific and philosophical, while carrying the reader effortlessly across countries, times, and cultures." -- Charles Sheffield
"The Silk Code is science fiction in the classic style, with an innovative mystery that breaks new ground. Acclaimed for his short fiction and insightful writing on the computer age, Paul Levinson now brings his many talents to a complex novel that will keep you guessing until the last page. " -- Catherine Asaro
"... sheer conceptual verve" -- Robert K. J. Killheffer, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
"...cerebral but gripping" -- Booklist
"Combining Neanderthals and mechanical looms, cantaloupes and coded butterflies, Levinson's debut novel...offers a flurry of amazing prehistoric technologies, demonstrating that the mysteries of our past can be just as fruitful as those of our future... Levinson creatively explains gaps in both ancient history and biology... providing more wonders than many a futuristic epic." -- Publishers Weekly
"...spins an ingenious web of genetic manipulation and anthropological evidence" --Library Journal
"A rare thriller that actually achieves its goals as a detective tale and a work of boldly speculative sf." -- Gary K. Wolfe, Locus Magazine
"I read this book quite a few years ago but I felt compelled to re-read it because parts of the story have been so firmly wedged in my brain that I needed to experience the entire thing again." -- Cannonball Read
"This is one I don't hesitate to recommend." - Jandy's Reading Room
"Paul Levinson's The Silk Code is inventive. I can't said I'd ever read another SF novel that included Neanderthals, bioengineering and the Amish." - Kristin's Book Log
"I found the genetic manipulation that Levinson describes absolutely fascinating." - Silk Screen Views "I was entertained" - The Review Curmudgeon
Cellphone: The Story of the World's Most Mobile Medium and How It Has Transformed Everything!
Cellphone covers everything from books to laptops in exploring the the evolution of media mobility. It focuses on the personal impact and social change-- both freeing and limiting-- of the smartphone in every day life.
Sir Arthur C. Clarke called Cellphone "A superb and often amusing account of one of the greatest revolutions in human history, in which we are now living. The wristwatch phone of the old science fiction stories is now a reality! What more can we expect? Direct brain to brain communication? Stay tuned...."
Douglas Rushkoff, writing in TheFeature.com, says Cellphone makes "an excellent case."
Carlin Romano, writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer, says, "Levinson maintains a sense of humor about the rush to pack every imaginable function into cells."
British MediaWeek calls the book "a thought-provoking analysis".
Talking in the media about Cellphone...
I appeared on National Public Radio's popular program Talk of the Nation in May 2004, talking about my book in a segment called "Cell Phone Culture"... Listen here...
In April 2005, I talked about my book on a nationally broadcast CBS News "The Early Show" segment on kids and cellphones as part of their special series, "Cellular Nation." See the interview and read an excerpt from the book....
I talked about cellphone bling on ABC's Nightline, September 2006.
And The Discovery Channel's new series, "The Inside Story of..." premiered in December 2006 with a look at "The Cellphone Revolution" featuring me talking about the extraordinary social impact of the cellphone... check out the video.
~~~ +++ ~~~
Realspace: The Fate of Physical Presence in the Digital Age, On and Off Planet
Realspace explores the need for real face-to-face interaction and physical movement in an age of cyberspace... the destiny of humanity to reach beyond this planet and explore outer space...and how these themes play in our 21st century world.
Publisher's Weekly says "Fans of Levinson's previous works, as well as those interested in the relations between cyberspace, 'real space' and outer space, should relish this challenging and mind-opening read."
The Midwest Book Review says "RealSpace is an essential, thought-provoking purchase."
Public Intelligence Blog says RealSpace is "a gem of reflection."
And Edward Tenner, author of Why Things Bite Back, called Realspace "a rich, original, and sophisticated work that will be rewarding reading both for science fiction enthusiasts and for professionals in the history and sociology of science and technology."
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Digital McLuhan: A Guide to the Information Millennium
Professors in graduate and undergraduate classes around the world use Digital McLuhan to help their students put the Internet into perspective. This book applies media theorist Marshall McLuhan's ideas from the television age to modern technologies. Wired's Kevin Kelly said about Digital McLuhan, "Paul Levinson completes McLuhan's pioneering work. Read this book if you want to decipher life on the screen." The New York Times said "Levinson performs a useful service ... [he] applies McLuhan's work to almost every facet of modern communications" and in another article "Digital McLuhan presents McLuhan in a new light, [for] a generation grappling with the transforming effects of cyberspace, cell phones and virtual reality." Digital McLuhan was included on the late Robert Anton Wilson's " Recommended Reading List," of "the bare minimum of what everybody really needs to chew and digest before they can converse intelligently about the 21st Century." Digital McLuhan won the "2000 Lewis Mumford Award for Outstanding Scholarship".
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The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution
The Soft Edge received major critical acclaim -- ranging from Wired ("Remarkable in both scholarly sweep and rhetorical lyricism...") and The Financial Times of London ("a book that is both full of insights and provocative") to Amazon.com's Cyberculture editor ("Levinson has a knack for making his reader feel intelligent and respected") and Analog ("...defies the critics of technology").
3 scholars ponder the meaning of The Soft Edge
I talked about The Soft Edge on December 30, 1997 at Borders Bookstore at the World Trade Center. CSPAN recorded the talk and aired it in February 1998. The bookstore was destroyed on 9/11.
~~~ +++ ~~~
More fiction ...
Borrowed Tides
My second novel, Borrowed Tides, tells the story of the first mission to Alpha Centauri led by a philosopher of science and a specialist in Native American mythology, two old friends from the Bronx in their seventies. From the reviews: Library Journal said Borrowed Tides is "...packed with layers of meaning that blend ancient legends and modern science and provides an intriguing glimpse into the mysteries of time and space." Gerald Jonas in The New York Times Book Review said that Borrowed Tides is "....bizarre enough to satisfy readers..." Booklist called it a "to-the-last-page spellbinder." Publishers' Weekly said "Politics blends neatly with spirituality in Levinson's second novel ... an ingenious narrative that loops back on itself like a Moebius strip." Gary K. Wolfe, writing in Locus, said "Levinson does a terrific job .... [reminiscent] of the philosophic space fiction of James Blish or the reality-testing scenarios of Philip K. Dick." Locus also picked it as "New and Notable" in April 2001, and it was a May 2001 Science Fiction Book Club (SFBC) Selection. On the other hand, Adam Wendt said "it has some interesting ideas but no depth" on his Agnostic Audiophile Smorgasborg blog.
~~~ +++ ~~~
The Consciousness Plague
Dr. Phil D'Amato returns in a gripping New York City science fiction mystery, as this NYPD forensics detective faces a strange series of murders and memory losses in The Consciousness Plague. This novel won the 2003 Mary Shelley Award for Outstanding Fictional Work. Roland Green, writing in Booklist, said The Consciousness Plague "more nearly reaches the heights of Isaac Asimov's classic sf mysteries than those of most other genre hands who attempt them manage to do these days." Tom Easton said in the November 2002 issue of Analog that "This is Levinson's best to date." Library Journal said "Levinson's intelligent blend of police procedural and speculative fiction should appeal to fans of mystery and sf." Locus' Gary K. Wolfe called it "a pretty crisp murder mystery." Paul Di Filippo said in SFWeekly that "D'Amato [is] ... an earnest Everyman, operating on a shoeshine and a hunch." And Gregg Thurlbeck in Rambles.net said "it's a clever amalgam of science fiction and police procedural." Locus picked The Consciousness Plague as "New and Notable" in April 2002. And it was selected as a Spring 2002 Science Fiction Book Club (SFBC) Featured Alternate and a Spring Editor's Pick of the Mystery Guild. The audiobook edition of The Consciousness Plague, read by Mark Shanahan, was nominated for a 2005 Audie award.
~~~ +++ ~~~
The Pixel Eye
My fourth novel from Tor is a darker, gritty Phil D'Amato mystery with sf overtones. The Pixel Eye, where holograms, cellphones and squirrels are used for surveillance in near-future New York City -- published in hardcover in 2003 and trade paper in 2004. . . .
The New York Times Book Review said "The nuttiness of the premise and the grittiness of the near-future New York ambiance are equally appealing" and they selected and reprinted several paragraphs from The Pixel Eye in the August 17, 2003 "NY Bookshelf: Novels: Tales of Detectives, Art and Squirrels" feature in The City section -- one of four new "New York" books.
Tom Easton, writing in Analog, said "Paul Levinson's latest Phil D'Amato romp ... is nicely straightforward and an interesting take on the real world of the moment."
Publisher's Weekly calls The Pixel Eye a "breezily chilling story" and says it is "enough to send a shiver down most readers' spines."
Library Journal said "Levinson's latest novel featuring the resourceful and wise-cracking D'Amato delivers another satisfying mix of hard sf intrigue and detective story set against a 21st-century New York City" that is "a fast-moving story that belongs in most libraries."
SF Weekly says "The Pixel Eye is a thoroughly enjoyable book, extremely readable, and brave in confronting the consequences of September 11."
Cinescape says "D'Amato is a charming narrator, and an intriguing character, which also contributes to Pixel's successes."
SFRevu says "Long time readers of science fiction should consider him [Levinson] their first choice when it comes to spreading the word of sf..."
The Pixel Eye was a finalist for the 2004 Prometheus Award, given by The Libertarian Futurist Society.
My award-winning short fiction - science fiction, dark fantasy, mystery - has appeared ten times in Analog, the leading science fiction magazine. My 29 short stories, novelettes, and novellas have also been published in anthologies, reprinted, translated, and adapted into other genres.
Among the highlights:
"The Chronology Protection Case" introduced my popular NYPD forensic detective, Dr. Phil D'Amato, who comes up against no less an antagonist than the Universe itself, attempting to prevent scientists from discovering the secret of time travel. This novelette went on to be a finalist for the Nebula and Sturgeon awards and was adapted into a short film, and into a radio play that was performed at New York's Museum of Television and Radio and nominated for the 2002 Edgar Award for Best Play. The story has been reprinted four times, including in Barry Malzberg's collection The Best Time Travel Stories of All Time. Phil D'Amato returns in "The Copyright Notice Case" and "The Mendelian Lamp Case", and in three of my novels.
Enjoy the Edgar-nominated 38-minute radioplay of "The Chronology Protection Case"
The Chronology Protection Case Edgar nominee 2002 best radio play
or see the 90-second trailer for Jay Kensinger's 2002 movie of my story...
Added May 2009: And here's the complete, uncut, 43-minute movie!
~~~ +++ ~~~ "Loose Ends" is the first in a series of stories in which a group of people who are trying to revive the US space program send Jeff Harris back in time to stop the Challenger disaster - but he gets pulled off-course and lands in November 1963 and is presented with other opportunities as he lives through the 1960s again, and travels to other times as well. This novella was a finalist in the sf short fiction "triple sweeps" - the Hugo, Nebula, and Sturgeon awards - and was followed in Analog by "Little Differences" and "Late Lessons"; the concluding story in the set will be "Last Calls".
My stories have appeared in anthologies edited by Orson Scott Card, Jane Yolen, Jack Dann, Marty Greenberg, Kathryn Cramer and others - and in David Hartwell's 1998 The Year's Best SF 3. You can find a complete list of anthologies with my science fiction stories in my Amazon store.
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Awards
• 2023 Mary Shelley Award for Outstanding Fictional Work winner -- "It's Real Life" (short story &
radio play)
• 2022 Sidewise Award for Alternate History (short form) finalist: "It's Real Life" (short story)
• 2005 Neil Postman Award for Outstanding Public Intellectual winner -- given by the Media
Ecology Association
• 2005 "Audie" Award finalist -- The Consciousness Plague audiobook
• 2004 Teacher of the Year winner -- given by Fordham University's Graduate Student Association
• 2004 Prometheus Award finalist -- The Pixel Eye
• 2003 Mary Shelley Award for Outstanding Fictional Work winner -- The Consciousness Plague
• 2002 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Play nominee -- "The Chronology Protection Case"
• 2000 Locus Award for Best First Novel winner -- The Silk Code
• 2000 Barnes & Noble Maiden Voyages Award for Best First Novel runner-up -- The Silk Code
• 2000 Lewis Mumford Award for Outstanding Scholarship winner -- Digital McLuhan
• 1999 Homer Award finalist, novelette --"Little Differences"
• 1999 Homer Award finalist, novelette --"The Orchard"
• 1999 Sturgeon Award finalist, short story --"Advantage, Bellarmine"
• 1999 Homer Award finalist, short story --"Advantage, Bellarmine"
• 1998 Hugo Award finalist, novella --"Loose Ends"
• 1998 Sturgeon Award finalist, novella -- "Loose Ends"
• 1998 AnLab Award first runner-up, novella --"Loose Ends"
• 1998 Homer Award finalist, short story --"A Medal for Harry"
• 1997 Nebula Award finalist, novella --"Loose Ends"
• 1997 Nebula Award finalist, novelette --"The Copyright Notice Case"
• 1996 Homer Award winner, novelette -- "The Copyright Notice Case"
• 1996 Nebula Award finalist, novelette -- "The Chronology Protection Case"
• 1996 Sturgeon Award finalist, novelette -"The Chronology Protection Case"
"This is a dazzling performance. . . .History as science fiction; science fiction as history." - Barry N. Malzberg 
