A Couple Through Time Series

Zoe enters a Wizard of Oz-like world to find her lost friend Tod. There, she finds help in the form of a Sphere, a Rubbery Man, and a Rock Man. Their journey takes them below ground where they find Ancient Ones made of stone,  a castle ruled by a mad scientist, and a planet where no more children are being born. This  tale is the first of a seven-part series, which follows a couple throughout their lives. 

Zoe and Tod, friends since childhood,  travel into the mountains of Guatemala where they explore the ways of village life. Invited to witness a Mayan ritual, they enter a deep cave. The New Year is to be brought in by the elders, but  time is stopped and the ancient gods demand a sacrifice. In the swirling chaos of un-time, Zoe and Tod have a revelation that will change their lives.

Zoe and Tod meet Mac, a homeless person, who they knew as Rock Man from a fantasy realm. Together, they try to help a runaway teenager, who has dissociated -- gone "up above"  into a symbolic world. Things become even more complicated when their lives intersect with a doctor, in need of a human subject for a risky experimental procedure. In the end something uncanny happens, which show  Zoe and Tod that their fantasy has some basis in reality. This story explores the meaning of symbolic worlds, the danger that others can pose in not understanding them, and how resolution and true healing can occur.    

Along the oldest river in North America, New River, Zoe and Tod take a vacation with their teenage daughter Diana, who is experiencing a heartbreak. The beauty of Appalachia presents a new world in many ways, with intimations of the past and future mixing together. When Diana is swept down river due to unknown causes,  an unexpected world opens up. Laden with dangers and tests, the question arises whether another world can help bring love to this one.  

Zoe and Tod have been married for several years and have successful careers. But something is missing, as they want a child in their life. The couple try to resolve things by taking a trip to the Chesapeake bay region, where they experience the beauty of the bay with an old fashioned crabber. Complications ensue. The crabber is love-sick and looking for his lost love; Tod discovers a lost child, and Zoe encounters a ghost on the bay.  The story ends with an unexpected resolution to their problem.

Zoe and Tod, who have been married for many years, seek to reignite their relationship with a trip abroad. Zoe wants to go to Europe, and Tod agrees on the condition that they do one wild thing in each country. This leads to complications from accidentally ingesting mushrooms in Dionysian Greece, having their clothes eaten by goats after having a vision of a medieval saint in a waterfall, and a crash amid windmills in Don Quixote's Spain. In the end their adventures and misadventures touch upon an essence of each country and leads them to discover something deeper about their relationship.

Retired from their professions, Zoe and Tod take a second honeymoon to find a new direction in their lives. They go to Yosemite and experience its exceptional beauty, but it's tinged with premonitions of death and signs of the spirit world. In the end they meet an indigenous stranger whose identity remains unknown. The man leads them to their vision quest on a mountain, where they experience another dimension.      

Zoe and Tod go vision questing on a mountain in Yosemite Park and find out they have died. Transported to a Way-Station world, they are joined by an angelic being who serves as their guide. In the after world, they experience colors, each producing an exotic experience which challenges their conception of being. The couple also encounters people who still carry earthly possessions and hurts they need to discard. The end holds a surprise for which the reader will have to answer. Read this book for a novel perspective on the immediate afterlife beyond death.