Timedetectors

Timedetectors  (1995) Post 352

Timedetectors is the first one of a pair of science fiction thrillers my husband and I co-wrote back in the 1990s. It's going up today in honour of our grandson's 8th birthday- he's just the age for it and a copy is on its way for him and his sister. It's a favourite of mine, and has quite a back story.

My husband had lately got a metal detector, bought in those pre-internet-shopping days via a friend in the US. We used to go camping at the Asbestos Ranges at that point (now the place is renamed Narawntapu  which I don't say because I can't pronounce it!). It was great fun. We took the metal detector along, and got bitten by jackjumpers and had (as I recall) to climb a steep hill to get any mobile signal.

One night when we were at home, my husband woke me up quite late at night and informed me he had an idea for a book. He told me about it and it was such a wonderfully good idea I got up and made copious notes. Together, we thrashed out the logistics of the plot which concerns a couple of boys named Tom Stratton and Thane "Coxie" Cox who go camping in the Asbestos Ranges. They borrow Tom's dad's metal detector and discover an opalised skull and some medallions made from a metal the detector can't identify. The boys end up in a time-travel adventure, during which Tom is shot by a stun-gun wielded by the villain, Palmer, which has far-reaching effects. This story has a tie-in to another book; Wolfmaster, because Tom and Coxie want to join the Adventurers, which is the club Dane belongs to in that book. Recently, I found a peculiar Prezi presentation of this book on the 'net. It's at https://prezi.com/iof1rf7ngxam/timedetectors and my main reaction is ...ummmm?

ABOUT THE BLOG

Sally is Sally Odgers; author, manuscript assessor, editor, anthologist and reader. She runs http://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com and Prints Charming Books. (Sally is me, by the way, and I am lots of other things too, but these are the relevant ones for now.)

The goal for 2017 is to write a post a day profiling the background behind one of my books; how it came to be written, what it's about, and any things of note that happened along the way. If you're an author, an aspiring author, a reader or just someone who enjoys windows into worlds, you might find this fun. The books are not in any special order, but will be assigned approximate dates, and pictures, where they exist.