Author: Janet Gershen-Siegel

Review – A Chance Encounter in Time

One of the more notable things about A Chance Encounter in Time is that it represents the first appearance of character Sharon Ensley. I grew to really like Sharon, and would love to create a series for her.

I wrote this short story during second quarter 2021. This was a year when I was writing every single day until November, when I switched over to NaNoWriMo.

Background

While I was not exactly looking for another way to use the Obolonk universe, it almost chose me. So, in a way, this story is a way to find other uses for that universe. After all, it’s far too well-developed to just forget about it.

I also was not necessarily looking to write a story about the West Islip Public Library, but here we are anyway. With my mother’s death in 2023, any writing about WIPL is kind of special. It was her last employer.

Plot

Time traveler Sharon Ensley seems to be stuck in August of 2001 when her temporal disc cracks. But when she meets Tim Parker and he offers to try to solder her disc back together, the two start to work together.

But then Sharon uncovers a major change to the timeline which is clear proof that someone has tampered with the events of 9/11.

Characters

The major human characters are Sharon Ensley and Tim Parker. There are some more minor human characters who are Sharon’s colleagues. The only one with any real screen time is Marlon.

Obolonk characters are They Say This One is Very Efficient (her assistant) and They Say This One Holds Time Close. The latter runs the time travel organization.

Sharon mentions a temporal sensitive like Josie James, but never identifies that person.

Memorable Quotes {Sharon Explains Hawhoa to Tim}

“The disc creates the field after I give it a command. And then away we go. But no matter what, I should tell you about Hawhoa.”

“Ha-what?”

Sharon smiled for a second. “We don’t use pure water anymore, not really. We use Hawhoa. “

“Use?”

“Yeah—to drink, bathe, flush, water the plants, you name it.”

“But don’t we need water to survive?”

“We sure do. But see, there’s a ton of space in atoms. And…”

“Excuse me? Aren’t atoms really tiny?”

“Yep. But there’s empty space in them. Hawhoa takes the two hydrogen atoms and the one oxygen atom in regular water, and it crushes everything together slightly.”

“How slightly are we talking about?”

“Smaller than bacterial flagella. To use the technical term, teeny weeny. “

“Technical, heh. Why is that done in the first place? “

“The very slight increase in density makes it possible to use fewer water molecules to accomplish whatever you want to do, like wash your socks.”

“Wait, so this is a form of recycling?”

“More like cutting waste, but yeah. It makes it possible for more people to live in one space or another.”

“So, the future is crowded?”

“Yep. And Hawhoa is a bit more viscous than regular water. Don’t want you to try to take a shower and think it’s just clear jelly coming out of the showerhead.”

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Takeaways

I really love some of the inventions that I came up with to move this story along, including multiphasic glyphs, Hawhoa (pronounced hey-whoa), and the Sapient Timeline Theory. Oh, and Carter Bando’s Rules of Time Travel. There are also a transportation disc (I also call it a temporal disk), a utility disk, and an information disc.

The transportation disc is fitted with a semi-living organism that helps to direct time travel. In a way, it ends up giving more depth to the time travel technology which I showcase in Time Addicts. Since Sharon is from a lot later than Josie (I may change that), it makes sense that the tech would change.

I like Sharon a lot and this is a great story to use as a springboard to maybe an entire series about her. We’ll see.

But the Obolonk universe is a mighty big tent. It would be a shame to waste it.

Review – A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults

In the quest to write the ultimate ‘fish out of water’ story, I wrote A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults.

I wrote this story during second quarter 2024.

Background

I love the idea of someone just kind of being tossed into an odd situation not of their own making. Because that is precisely what happens to both Flora and Thomas.

Plot of A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults

When Flora Levy receives her inheritance, it’s just a stack of books. But one of them is Fairy Tales for the Skeptical Adult.

And when she starts to read the book out loud, a sudden crash alerts her to the fact that this has somehow summoned a character from the book.

Can a modern woman and a character from a book fix problems in two very separate worlds?

Characters

The human characters include Flora Levy, Florence Levy (her great-grandmother), Prince Thomas, King Richard, Queen Catherine, and Constance Selene. Animal characters include Auburn, Robert, Brownie, Quicksilver, and Swift.

Much like a lot of other fantasy tales, the animals talk. And to make them a bit like I suppose the Disney version of Cinderella, the animals even help out. Therefore, you see Auburn (a red fox) arranging Flora’s hair for a banquet. Robert the mouse is a scribe and does calligraphy.

In fact, the animals are considerably more trustworthy than a lot of the humans turn out to be. #spoileralert

Memorable Quotes

Flora cautiously crept toward the source of the crash. It was the next room—the Victorian house had a lot of small rooms—a place where she grew plants, both flowers and some vegetables.

She turned the corner in the small hallway and came face to face with the source of the crash. It was a man of perhaps forty, wearing breeches, stockings, brogans, and a brocaded cloak over a cambric shirt.

The two of them stared at each other for a few moments, open-mouthed. The intruder was… different.

You make no sense. Finally, she found her voice and, absurdly, brandished the thermos. “Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my house?”

“I, I,” he began, in an upper class British accent, “I’m the man of your dreams.”

Say what? “Buddy, you have no idea what is in my dreams.”

“I, I still am. It is I, your, your dream.”

“I’m not interested in some reject from a Renfest. And how the hell did you get into my house in the first place?”

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Takeaways for A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults

I am not so thrilled with how I ended this one. It just kind of runs out of gas. But apart from that, I believe it works pretty well. Flora starts out a little like Sandra Bullock at the start of The Net. That is, she’s essentially alone.

I do like that this is one of the things that changes about her. But it’s not necessarily what a reader would expect.

Review – A Show for the Galaxy

A Show for the Galaxy takes place now or in the near future. When aliens challenge us, we expect a fight with soldiers, bombs, and guns.

But that’s not what the aliens have in mind at all.

I wrote this story during second quarter 2021. This was a year when I was writing every day, even when it wasn’t November.

Background

The Earth has two choices. Either participate in an interstellar arts competition, or lose an opportunity to join a huge intergalactic alliance. While it would not necessarily mean the end of the world, self-destruction would be inevitable without interstellar friendship.

Essentially, the fate of the world is going to be decided just like American Idol.

Plot

When the story opens, Charlotte (the narrator) describes the stakes and the production. A number of actors and behind the scenes people are chosen to represent the Earth in stagecraft.

There are other arts to represent the Earth, like sculpture and weaving. But the story is only concerned with treading the boards.

When the troupe is cut off from the grid, the cast falls into despair. They have no scripts! But then Charlotte pulls out her secret weapon—a small volume of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, which she always carries around for luck.

Charlotte has gravitas. She was already a retiree when the alien challengers chose her. And so, she ends up in a director-type role. But it’s also because she has the script.

Characters

The characters start with narrator Charlotte, who is playing Portia. The man playing Brutus is Chase Marquis, who was born Chuck McKay. Charlotte refers to him as ‘an afternoon snack of a man’. He’s young enough to be her son.

And, of course, there are the other people in the production and those who work behind the scenes. Plus, there are people who represent other arts on our planet. But Charlotte never names them.

There’s also President Menosky, although we only see him at the very end.

Memorable Quotes

All the others are far younger than I am. And—horrors!—we were cut off from the grid.

With no way to access scripts, my fellow thespians started to panic. That is, until I pulled out my secret weapon.

See, it was a gift from when I first started out. My acting teacher gave it to me. Now I realize she was probably hitting on me. But no mind. I kept it because I’ve always loved this play. And now, it’s the only game in town.

I’ve got a paper book. It’s Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. And thank God we can create an entire production around this little, humble book.

I was in several productions, and I’ve always played Portia, so of course I am playing her again. My Brutus is an afternoon snack of a man—Chase Marquis. Or, as he was born, Chuck McKay.

I’ve taken on a kind of director role; and thank God they all listen to me. We’ll put on the best and greatest production of Julius Caesar in the history of whatever.

Or we’ll die trying.

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Takeaways for A Show for the Galaxy

I originally start to write Charlotte as almost a cougar. But then I decided she would drop anything frivolous and just concentrate on helping the troupe save the planet.

This story isn’t even 1500 words long, yet I feel it accomplishes its objective handily. I really should query this one!