In the year, 2342, Cynthia is pursued in “border space” by the Cataxi, an alien domain willing to destroy a planet to kill her.

Just as her space ship, driven by her onboard computer, “Chris,” attempts a jump to lightspeed, a shot from the Cataxi takes out the planet from which Cynthia et al just departed. The percussion from the explosion sends our foul-mouthed, video-gaming heroine back to nineteenth century England.  

Cynthia is more concerned about her video game than her real life fate. She passes off the possibility of prison with this remark to Chris, “Damn. I suppose prison is better than starving to death. Let me know when you pick up the guidance beam. I’ll be in the AR3 suite. I want to see if I can finally seduce Mr. Darcy. Take him away from that dreadful Elizabeth Bennett.”

In response, Chris asks, “That Jane Austen game, again? Why don’t you play something wholesome, like Battle for Mars or Kabul Shootout?”

Cynthia the invincible is the Marty McFly of the 21st Century with Chris instead of Doc Brown at her side.  Together they seek adventure, romance, and a little fun while their spaceship is repaired.

Author Amelia Grace Treader, in her fifth book, takes readers through the space time continuum as Major Tom meets Downton Abbey. We like the use of dialog to drive plot with a bare minimal scene-setting. We’ve been into the future with Dave and HAL and we’ve seen the past with Barry Lyndon. Treader allows readers to use their imagination rather than lengthy descriptions—and it works. We find it a refreshing diversion from the typical “dark and stormy night syndrome” often found in this genre. The challenge of juggling space exploration, time travel, and romance is adequately met by this author, who is, herself, a Southern Belle. Readers will be glad to know a sequel is in the works.

Will Cynthia find true love in the past?

Will she give her suitor reasons to love her?

Will she give readers reasons to care about her?

Will she be happy enough in 19th Century England to stay?

Just how old is Cynthia and will she age like Dick Clark?

Pick up a copy on Amazon and get the answers today.

Image credit: Copyright 2014 Wayne Parris Photography, used with permission. Details of this beautiful photograph will be the subject of a future blog. Wayne’s image inspired my short story.

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The Eight Sentences:

“We have too many generations of perfection,” Dr. Culpepper replied.

“How many generations of patients have you treated?” asked his assistant.

“Five. The span of years between each successive generation has gotten progressively shorter–the babies are smaller and our lives are requiring less and less physical activity. Next thing you know, we’ll have a generation of entities without a physical body. Nothing but a conscious being,” he paused, “a spirit.”

“I thought you were an atheist.”

“I am.”

The Back Story:

From my first short story in over forty years.

Genre: sci-fi (futuristic)

Dr. Culpepper practices pediatrics in the year 3905.

He has just seen his last patient of any kind and certainly the last pediatric patient. His speculation on the evolution of mankind to the point that no body would be necessary comes from an interview in Playboy by Arthur C. Clarke. Acting on the premise that such an event would  occur, I chose to write about the beginning of such an era. The Connection is about the first child born with no body.

Here are the links to the short story: Episode One  and Episode Two.

Make your own connection Here:

Join us here at Weekend Writing Warriors.The  same link will take you to the work of dozens of talented writers. For a treat, please check out their work, too.

Here’s the Facebook link for the Sunday Snippett group.  

On New Year’s Day, Chapter Eight of A Year Without Killing debuted HERE.

The next day, my regular Friday blog on Venture Galleries featured the debut of my first short story in over forty years.

The Connection was inspired by the featured photograph and is being presented in two episodes. This is the FIRST.

Then, on Saturday, Jan. 3, I resumed participation in Weekend Writing Warriors, a blog hop in which authors post eight sentence samples of their work (either published or a work in progress.)  My snippet this time was from AYWK and featured a scene featuring The League of Old Men. The snippet is HERE.

Finally, we closed out the weekend with Chapter Nine of AYWK. It opens with one of my favorite passages from the book.

My main character, Claudia Barry is writing in her journal about a dream from which she has just awoken:

The bullet was headed straight towards my eyes. Would it strike my brow just above my nose?

Image credit: Caters News Agency

The markings in the lead from the rifling of the barrel made it easy to see the rotation.

Here comes death.

In ultra-slow motion.

Somehow, I was aware that I had fired the round myself from a hotel room across the street.