80 Hours

By Steven R. Southard

Wendi Pegram accepted a game show challenge to travel around the world in eighty hours, with no prior notice, no opportunity to plan. 150 years after Jules Verne's famous adventure, Around the World in Eighty Days, Wendi must complete her trip in only eighty hours to win her prize. To do it, she'll need all the luck she can get.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steven R. Southard
• Release date: Oct 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215159927

Steven R. Southard

A long-time Jules Verne fan, Steven R. Southard writes alternate history, steampunk, and science fiction. His short stories have appeared in over a dozen anthologies, including Not Far from Roswell, Re-Terrify, and Quoth the Raven. Fourteen of his stories form the What Man Hath Wrought series. His other Verne-inspired stories include “The Steam Elephant,” “The Cometeers,” and “Rallying Cry.” He co-edited the anthology 20,000 Leagues Remembered. Learn more about Steve at https://stevenrsouthard.com, where he’s known as Poseidon’s Scribe.

Book preview

80 Hours

Steven R. Southard

Published by Steven R. Southard, 2022.

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

80 HOURS

First edition. October 2, 2022.

Copyright © 2022 Steven R. Southard.

Written by Steven R. Southard.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

80 Hours

About the Author

To the memory of Jules Verne, who helped us realize how small the world is when compared with our ingenuity.

80 Hours

FINGERING HER NECKLACE stone, Wendi Pegram waited backstage, fearing the moment she’d be called out on the set.

On the game show stage, host Dirk Darington said, Welcome to—

The studio audience shouted with him, Ultimate Surprise Challenge!

Darington continued, —the show where people take ultimate risks for ultimate prizes. Let’s meet this week’s contestant, shall we? He beckoned to her.

Nervous, Wendi stepped forward, still stroking the necklace. Her grandmother had given it to her for luck, but it always gave her more comfort than luck.

This is Wendi Pegram, the handsome host said. Where are you from, Wendi? He held the microphone toward her.

Pasadena. She looked at her shoes.  

What do you do there?

I’m a research librarian.

Any outside interests, Wendi?

I collect dolls, and plan events for my church. She stammered. I have three fur-babies—Mittens, Cuddles, and Purry.

Great, Dirk said. "Let’s introduce your challenge. You’ve heard of Jules Verne’s story Around the World in Eighty Days, right?" 

She nodded, feeling apprehensive. She’d never read the book, but had once seen an old movie based on it. Shirley MacLaine had starred, and Wendi remembered hot air balloons, steamships, trains, and wonderful scenery.

"Your challenge is to take that same journey, but in just eighty hours. You’ll travel to all the same cities Verne’s characters did, though we changed the route a little. Instead of Suez, Yokohama, and San Francisco, you’ll go through Cairo, and Tokyo, and Los Angeles. Got that?"

She nodded again, biting her lip.

Dirk pointed to a mark on the floor. When you cross that red line, we’ll begin timing you with our eighty-hour precision timer. A curtain rose behind him, revealing a display of 80 Hours, 00 Minutes, and 00.00 Seconds, "Now listen, in Verne’s book,