Meridian - A Novel in TimeBook I in the Meridian Trilogy, By John SchettlerForeword Magazine’s Silver Medal Winner for Science Fiction Book of the Year! (2002) The novel also achieved a score of 9.5/10 in the Annual Reader’s Digest Book of the Year competition.Summary:History Turns At The Whim Of Little Things…The great turning points of history are known to us all and easily come to mind… D-Day, the first landing on the moon, the fall of the Berlin Wall and 9-11 are just a few moments in contemporary history that might be thought of as critical turning points that had profound effects on all the events that followed them. The truth, however, is that they had nothing at all to do with how the future turned out! The real culprits are tiny moments of insignificance, buried in the meridian of time—the cows that kick the oil lamps of history, and set whole cities ablaze.John Schettler’s Meridian is a fascinating tale about a team of researchers who are trying to find those dangling, errant threads of history that become the real instigators of significant change—the “Pushpoints” that will set the great chains of events in motion to define future time.Meridian tells the story of a terrorist plot that will lead to the downfall of all Western civilization. The research team is desperately searching for that single moment in the weave of time that can reverse the disaster before it is too late. It’s a job that could rightfully take years to complete, but they have just six hours.In a masterfully plotted adventure into history, author John Schettler introduces us to four project team members in chapter one. Paul Dorland is the chief physicist in development of “the Arch” a device that is capable of “teaching” an artificially created singularity how to open the gateways of time and permit travel into the past.Professor Robert Nordhausen, aided by a mysterious visitor, leads the history research effort, and Kelly Ramer is the mathematical genius at the helm of a network of computers responsible for processing the complex algorithms and calculations required to navigate the waters of time. Like the great discoverers in history, the ocean of time is bisected with a series of meridians and nexus points where hidden causes exert enormous influence on the course of future events. The consequences of tampering are very real, which is where the fourth member of the project team comes in. Maeve Lindford is head of Outcomes and Consequences, and she serves as a critical anchor and counterpoint to the other three team members as they plan the mission that will decide the fate of the West.These four believable and interesting characters are drawn largely through well written dialogue as they meet on the eve of the first crucial trial run for their time travel project. But hold on! The author has a real surprise in store for you right from the beginning. One of the team members is late, and he staggers in with the news that will set the plot rolling forward with twists and turns that are wholly compelling and handled with the skill and craftsmanship of a master story teller—for what is a story without a well managed plot?It is here that Meridian really shines. By the time you finish the first three chapters you will be strapped in your seat and ready to take the ride through the whole trilogy. Without giving anything away, the author delivers a convincing story, with an intriguing premise: that something as simple as a broken rifle strap, or a careless stumble in the desert could wreak havoc on all the eons of time yet to unfold.Meridian…An intelligent, compelling, fast paced story that is impossible to put down!
