And Finally, it’s Time to Review Time Addicts: Everything is Up For Grabs
So what, exactly, do I mean by ‘everything is up for grabs’? Because as the timelines get ever more confusing, what isn’t on the table?
So, the trilogy of terms came to me after I had been writing the first book for a few weeks. But it snapped it all into sharp focus with these terms. With this, the final book in the trilogy, it seems as if everything is unraveling for Josie and co.
But in a society where you can change time on a whim, how could anything ever be permanent? Also, just as importantly, are there any anchors in life?
With this, the final book in the sub-trilogy, the anchors feel as loose and ephemeral as a sack of feathers. But the bad guys, of course, offer a way to again achieve stability and equilibrium.
If she wants to go that route.
Background
Josie thinks she has seen the most drastic of the timeline changes already. But now they are getting focused, and the bad guys, calling themselves the Yester Gang, are tired of playing around. Now, their focus is no longer split and they are going after nothing short of all-out genocide of the Obolonk race.
Plot
As the Yester Gang focuses more, Josie receives more mysterious messages which seem to be telling her that she has to act—but how?
The support beams in her life are being kicked out from under her, and Josie has no idea who she can trust. Maybe the best answer is, no one.
Characters
So, the characters are Josie James, Dalton Farouk, Keisha Darnell, Bobby Brodie, Tad Lewis, Cyndi Mendez, Dr. Carmen D’Angelo, and Tommy 2000. Plus there’s also Josie’s family, who flit in and out of the storyline.
Bad guy characters include Marty Quinlan and also his two nonbinary employees/lovers – Velvet Monroe and Daisy Dukes. Also, Elston Young and Corwin Zachary.
Memorable Quotes from Time Addicts: Everything is Up For Grabs {Josie is talking to her Wingbot. The time change? All the time zones have been changed}
She waved her left hand over her right wrist and a display came up, also in midair. Into it, she said, “Time. Date. Temperature.”
Downstairs, with background noise of gentle wingbeats, came the answer from her Wingbot, 42753, “December the fourth, twenty-five twenty-seven. The time is six AM Eastern-Atlantic time. The temperature is one point sixty-six seven degrees Celsius.”
“Wait, what?”
“It is December the fourth…”
Josie scrunched up her face. Something felt off. “No, not that, Wing. The other part.”
“The temperature?” asked the Wingbot. There was a slight sound of small mechanical feet landing on the kitchen counter.
“No, wait a second.” She rubbed her forehead. Regular early morning nausea—for more than a decade of her life—made morning coffee a nice idea in theory but a terrible one in practice. Fully waking up would have to wait until she got to work, which was on another continent. “The time, Wing.”
“Six oh three.”
“You didn’t say that before.” Absently, she pulled a blue towel from the rack and started to dry her auburn hair.
“Well, the time has changed.”
Josie fought to not become angry with the small, semi-sapient robot, that was only doing its job. “I get that part. You mentioned the time zone?”
“Oh, do you like that? I recently received new instructions from Central Programming, to include a time zone whenever time is requested. If it is bothersome, I can remove it from that subroutine.”
“No, that’s fine.” Albeit weird.
Rating for Everything is Up For Grabs
The story has a K+ rating.
Upshot
I think I ended this middle trilogy well. But I know that the third book didn’t really get cooking until maybe Chapter 21 or so. Also, it’s over 167,000 words long! But at the time of writing this blog post, I had not yet started to edit it. The second book is short and the first is kind of in the middle. I would rather not append the first 20 or so chapters to the end of the second book and call it a day.
Rather, I need to edit this beast with a chainsaw.
Wish me luck.
When everything is up for grabs, do timelines have any meaning at all? #amwriting
Want More About The Time Addicts Trilogy?
If this article resonates with you, then check out my other articles about this sub-trilogy that’s all about time travel and how it can go more than a little bit, shall we say, ca ca.