You might say I’m a little obsessed with time. Stories like H.G. Wells, “The Time Machine,” fascinate me. When I was growing up, I watched a T.V. show called, “The Time Tunnel.” In the late 90’s, “Seven Days” caught my attention. Then there was “Continuum,” in which the characters totally effed up the flow of time. Sign me up for an episode of Star Trek that has to do with time travel. Likewise, any movie that has “time” in the title, even “Somewhere in Time.” I was a fan of Dr. Who before it became fashionable.
Would I be called a chronofile? Maybe. Nevertheless, it seems to me timelines are important. Chronology matters, even when it’s warped and twisted, in a “timey-wimey” way, in the service of fiction. One of my physics professors called time, “unidimensional and unidirectional,” and my logical brain accepts this principle. Yet, I love to fantasize, to imagine the possibilities of being a time traveler, or to speculate about time being non-linear or bidirectional.
In the real world, time is what it is, to use a popular tautology. Historians and attorneys usually want to establish a correct sequence of events. It’s important to know who did what and in what order they did it. If one is accused of a crime, forgive me, causality can be a bitch. It pains me to see people trying to re-write the timeline of the real world, as if to say the real sequence of events does not matter. Yet, how could the thing that happened after cause the thing that happened before, except in fiction? Tom Clancy said, “The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.” We are living in a time in which reality often becomes fiction to suit some partisan fantasy, while fiction is becoming more real by the day.
What does all this have to do with me? Well, some might be interested in a chronology of my fiction, not that this has anything to do with interrelatedness or my development as a writer. I move from idea to idea in a non-dimensional, non-linear way, much like a fractured timeline. I’ll leave it to wiser minds to draw connections or to comment on my development, or lack thereof. The order of my works:
1. The Bloodstone Intercepts – a multi-year project inspired by 18 faculty members losing their jobs at my university. After a little practice, I discovered I could do the thing C.S. Lewis declared he would never teach – write in the voice of a tempter. The first few intercepts were based on organizational theory and inter-personal ethics. The concept branched out from there.
2. The Old Man in the Garage – inspired by a child’s comment on my age. “I like the old man in the garage.” She now calls me, “Bebop.” Another story.
3. The Emissary – my reaction to the intransigence of our so-called leaders and political parties. What would it take to convince the world to come together? I still don’t know.
4. Abbi – a thought experiment about the results of putting a super Alexa in people’s heads.
5. Season’s Greetings – a reflection on “The Night Before Christmas,” my seasonal affective disorder, and an adventure that holds the cure.
6. A Higher Calling – what if aliens are not hostile, but are more ethical than fiction typically portrays?
7. Timeshare – what if we could “share” our time on Earth with deserving recipients?
8. The Runaway – if a sentient android existed, what would he or she understand about human relationships and love?
9. Michael – what if an archangel took a break and lived on Earth as an atheist?
MurrayWorks 