Alice Goetz is a simple acquisitions editor for a publisher, with a not-so-simple Temporal Control Chip implanted into her brain. Paul Osmund's debut book is more important to the future than anyone in his timeline can imagine. Alice is responsible for making sure everything happens the way it's supposed to.
Alice thinks she has finally succeeded in finding the line that will lead to an acceptable future, but something unexpected begins to happen. Paul falls in love with her. In every single timeline she encounters.
The future depends on Alice finding the right timeline for Paul to pursue, but anyone working towards a better future is not allowed to fall in love with their subjects. Alice knows she has to follow the path that leads to an acceptable future, but she'll lose Paul forever.
Genre: FICTION / Romance / Science FictionThis book is part of a series. When other books in the series come out they will likely boost the sales of this one.
Paul Osmund stepped into Alissandra Goetz’s office for the first time.
Again.
Alice tried to remember how many first times it was now. All she could recall was the fact that she’d lost track... at fifteen thousand.
She put on a practiced smile. He returned her smile with a slightly less-angry frown than normal. That was a big step. Maybe things would go well this time.
“Hi, Miss Goetz. I'm Paul Osmund. We had an appointment.”
Alice reached over the desk and shook his hand then started to quote the words that were popping into her head, like lines on a readerboard. “I was very impressed with your novel, Paul, uh.” She glanced up. “May I call you Paul?”
The analysts told her their reasoning for this question. He liked to be called Paul, but he liked to be asked. He got offended if she just presumed to call him by his first name.
“Of course. Should I call you Alissandra?”
“Alice. Please.” Alice looked back down at her copy of his book. “This...Raynes character. He’s so intense, so deep.”
Paul’s smile widened. He modeled Raynes after himself, the analysts blabbered in her head. She wanted to roll her eyes and say shut up, I know that, but she sweetened her smile instead.
“Thank you,” Paul said.
Alice went on complementing Paul on his brilliant book. She hardly paid attention to what she was saying anymore. All she had to do was quote the analysts. Some days she wondered why she was even there at all.
She’d tried to solve the problem on her own when this all got started, but Paul kept turning her down. After a while the analysts had offered their help. Somewhere along the way it had gone from them helping her, to them simply calling all the shots.
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French
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Already translated.
Translated by Elise Schvartz
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Nicole Turcios
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