It Wasn't A Dark And Stormy Night: Titanic Time

By John Chapman

I'm a reluctant time traveller. You won't believe that but that doesn't matter because someone will eventually read this and start thinking, "Maybe..."
This was my second time travel trip and I wasn't looking forward to it. If I went on the Titanic, I would die. If I didn't go the Titanic disaster would never happen and millions would die as a result - and I would never be born because that would kill my grandfather. You're probably confused. I was, but when you are time travelling, paradoxes are one of those things you have to learn to live with. I had to go - to make sure the Titanic sank!

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Chapman
• Release date: Mar 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005074180

John Chapman

We started the 'A Vested Interest' series in 2007 and it took over a year before I came up with an ending we were happy with. At 170,000 words A Vested Interest was too long though for a printed book. We cut it heavily but still ended with a 140,000 word book. There was no alternative, we had to split it into a two book series. Doing that, we thought, would allow us to put back some of the content we had cut and expand the second book (Dark Secrets) a little.Well that was the plan. We ended up splitting the second book and making a trilogy by adding 'No Secrets'. The original ending didn't quite fit now so we moved it into a fourth book - Stones, Stars and Solutions.And so it goes on. We are now writing book 10 and 11 of the series. Shelia has written a spin-off 'Blood of the Rainbow' trilogy. Altogether it's 2 million words so far! In terms of time, we've only covered a few months. There is an end in sight but not for another 5,000 years. Maybe I'll get to use my original ending then?About the AuthorsJohn and Shelia Chapman are a husband and wife team who met on Internet and crossed the Atlantic to be together. John, an English ex-science and computer teacher contributed the technology and 'nasty' bits while Shelia drew on her medical experience in the USA and produced the romance. The humour? That came from real life.

Book preview

It Wasn’t A Dark And Stormy Night

Titanic Time

By John Chapman

Edition 1.0 Hexham

2015

John Chapman has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Copyright ©2015 John Chapman

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

ISBN-13: 9781005074180

This book uses UK English, so expect words like ‘favourite’, ‘colour’, ‘travelling’, ‘realise’ and ‘metre’, temperatures in Celsius and expressions such as ‘I put it in my car boot’… but then… I may use US spelling and expressions.

Oh well – you’ll see

We believe that the boat is unsinkable.

Philip Franklin, Vice-President of White Star Line, three hours after the Titanic had sunk, April 15th, 1912

I’ve been told by one of the characters in this story that you won’t believe this. However, enough will stick in minds for it to trigger an idea. That alone will cause the founding of TACO – the Time Agency Chronoclasm Organisation which controls time travel.

Chapter 1

I no longer like dark and stormy nights. I haven’t since I found Alex Pearin, the time traveler, accidentally infected me with timebots. I say ‘accidentally’ but I’m not so sure. It may well have been a very deliberate act. He would have known of their effect on me, long before the ‘accident.’

I feel storms coming. It’s indescribable - kind of an extra sense. One