fiction
time travel is false advertising. time doesn’t really exist. it’s just a way for our minds to get around the vast and endless space that comprises our universe. that’s what the puddlejumpers say at least. they see everything as space, and time as an illusion.
illusion or not, gary indiana is tripping all over it.
seven years ago he watched his father jump off a bridge into the mississippi river, never to be seen again. today, he found him. and all he had to do was jump in himself.
what began as a search for his father, and a potential way out for gary, led him to his birthright as a puddlejumper. it also saddled him with a lead role in averting the destruction of our universe. he’s been tossed back in history by the powers that be to make sure things go wrong, so that everything turns out all right. battling through impossible scenarios, straddling the fine line between fate and free will and questioning his sanity every step of the way. gary is hunted, by an evil family doctor, a doppelganger assassin and a father he might not know anymore. It’s a lot for an existentialist, midwest teenager in love and on medication to handle.
the speed at which i travel is the first in a series of novels that follow gary throughout time, space, paranoia and heartbreak. i began the process by writing one episode at a time, each chapter created and posted right away to an audience that was/is following the story. it’s like a facebook novel version of serials, like captain marvel, flash gordon and superman, which were film, radio and tv episodes that kids from the 30’s-50’s used to tune into or go to see religiously. i was raised by a father who would take me to old, revival movie houses in los angeles that would play these shorts before old feature films, like charlie chan and the thin man. i fell in love with them and they’ve had a colorful impact on the way i express myself in story.
the series is also inspired by jj abrams’ “mystery box” the method that he has employed so well with lost.
‘the speed at which i travel’ is a work in progress. the first two parts (chapters 1-22) are excerpted below in an early draft form.