Time Travel Novel? Maybe Not!

I was on Query Shark's blog (shades of Ms. Snark there, although the agent is somewhat gentler), looking at and commenting on some of the queries.

One was about a story wherein the characters go back in time to the launched/about to be launched/being built Titantic. It sounded fascinating, if a bit long (150K words!), and the title didn't grab me.

But...

That got me thinking (always a scary thing) about my current WIP, Yesterday's Gone:

• MC time travels back to 1942 from 1974
• Time travel does not include a machine or some SF way of travelling
• A Roman goddess sends the MC back in time
• Although not a huge part of the story, the goddess does do, um, certain things on the sly

By "certain things on the sly," I mean magical-type things: She "talks" telepathically (when she feels like it), can come down to Earth in either her goddess form or in mortal (earthly) form, she can influence (or not) certain events, and she can play around with/rearrange the structure of buildings (or make it seem that way).

So...

Because of a Wikipedia article on time travel, and another one on historical fantasy, I now think I should pitch my novel as historical fantasy.

What made me change my mind is this section about historical fantasy:

Historical fantasy is a subgenre of fanatsy, related to historical fiction. It includes stories set in a specified historical period but with some element of fantasy added to the world, such as magic or a mythical creature hidden in the cracks. Often the magic retreats from the world so as to allow history to continue unaltered[...]

Takes place in 1974New Jersey (eh, maybe not that part of it) and 1942 Los Angeles and San Francisco (definitely historical). Check.

Has a Roman goddess. Check.

Roman goddess can do magical stuff, but it's hidden (except to those in the know, of course). Check.

Oh!

(Always wanted to do that...if anyone has seen The Three Stooges, and, specifically, a completely politically-incorrect short having to do with the Stooges crashing a WWII Nazi/Japanese spy ring...then you know what I'm getting at.)

Then again, maybe even the Stoogeaphiles don't have a clue. ::shrug::

Anyway, I don't think it can be a straight time travel novel because the time travel aspect isn't the central thing, isn't referred to again and again, doesn't have a machine that causes the time travel to happen.

It's a trope I've used to move the story along.

Plus I have the addition of the Roman goddess; she's snarky, which is not exactly typical of a god or a goddess. She can lay on the booming voice and other goddess-type crap when she feels she needs to, but she's more interested in following a certain character around because she finds the character's actions and reactions fascinating.

Which is the main reason why the Roman goddess grants the MC's plea for help in finding her birth mother.

Historical fantasy. Yup. That's what it's going to be from now on.

~Nancy Beck

Time Travel Novel? Maybe Not!

I was on Query Shark's blog (shades of Ms. Snark there, although the agent is somewhat gentler), looking at and commenting on some of the queries.

One was about a story wherein the characters go back in time to the launched/about to be launched/being built Titantic. It sounded fascinating, if a bit long (150K words!), and the title didn't grab me.

But...

That got me thinking (always a scary thing) about my current WIP, Yesterday's Gone:

• MC time travels back to 1942 from 1974
• Time travel does not include a machine or some SF way of travelling
• A Roman goddess sends the MC back in time
• Although not a huge part of the story, the goddess does do, um, certain things on the sly

By "certain things on the sly," I mean magical-type things: She "talks" telepathically (when she feels like it), can come down to Earth in either her goddess form or in mortal (earthly) form, she can influence (or not) certain events, and she can play around with/rearrange the structure of buildings (or make it seem that way).

So...

Because of a Wikipedia article on time travel, and another one on historical fantasy, I now think I should pitch my novel as historical fantasy.

What made me change my mind is this section about historical fantasy:

Historical fantasy is a subgenre of fanatsy, related to historical fiction. It includes stories set in a specified historical period but with some element of fantasy added to the world, such as magic or a mythical creature hidden in the cracks. Often the magic retreats from the world so as to allow history to continue unaltered[...]

Takes place in 1974New Jersey (eh, maybe not that part of it) and 1942 Los Angeles and San Francisco (definitely historical). Check.

Has a Roman goddess. Check.

Roman goddess can do magical stuff, but it's hidden (except to those in the know, of course). Check.

Oh!

(Always wanted to do that...if anyone has seen The Three Stooges, and, specifically, a completely politically-incorrect short having to do with the Stooges crashing a WWII Nazi/Japanese spy ring...then you know what I'm getting at.)

Then again, maybe even the Stoogeaphiles don't have a clue. ::shrug::

Anyway, I don't think it can be a straight time travel novel because the time travel aspect isn't the central thing, isn't referred to again and again, doesn't have a machine that causes the time travel to happen.

It's a trope I've used to move the story along.

Plus I have the addition of the Roman goddess; she's snarky, which is not exactly typical of a god or a goddess. She can lay on the booming voice and other goddess-type crap when she feels she needs to, but she's more interested in following a certain character around because she finds the character's actions and reactions fascinating.

Which is the main reason why the Roman goddess grants the MC's plea for help in finding her birth mother.

Historical fantasy. Yup. That's what it's going to be from now on.

~Nancy Beck

Audible Launches New Imprint

This is something that sounds like a science fiction (SF) or fantasy fiction fan would gobble up.

The announcement of this launching also included what I found even more interesting than having access to certain SF and fantasy audio books: A monthly recommendation by Orson Scott Card.

Monthly Selections

Now, I'm no great fan of Orson Scott Card; I read the original Ender book and didn't care for it. That it soured me against his fiction (a personal thing, for sure) didn't mean it soured me from purchasing his excellent book on writing, Characters and Viewpoint.

But what has me intrigued is that not only is going to be talking about classic books, but also new books:

It's easy for great novels and novellas to get lost in the bookstore - not everything can get front-of-store display!” Card said. “That's what I'll be doing with ‘OSC Selects’ - moving new and classic sci-fi and fantasy right to the front, so fans will have a better chance of noticing terrific stories performed by first-rate readers.

His first pick is a classic (which doesn't surprise me :-)) from Andre Norton, Star Born.

Guest Columns

The release also touts a monthly guest column with "a different prominent science fiction and fantasy writer." Ben Bova is first up.

Nice to See

It's nice to see SF and fantasy novels (and novellas!) coming to audio in a big way. I'm not sure if I'll partake of this right away, as my financial situation is a bit tenuous, but I'll try to keep track of it and see if it lives up to the PR.

Again, here's Audible's PR release about the new SF and fantasy imprint.

~Nancy Beck