October 5, 2006 - SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - Finial Publishing announces the publication of A LOOP IN TIME, first of the new POLIS series of science fiction/fantasy books.
The Seattle publisher comments, "We are excited by this book for melding many contemporary themes into an entertaining but highly-relevant read."
There are science fiction elements like time travel and charming magical items. There is an imaginary world where characters have supernatural powers. But the divisive and protracted Tunnel Wars involving both the ageless Ringgolds and the mortal Saplings inevitably evokes issues that are very familiar.
A central figure in the story is Ericca Ludwig. But this is not the typical "girl" story. Ericca is not a girl concerned with dating and designer labels. She is preoccupied with regaining her father, Branch Archer, who was lost in the Tunnel Wars. On top of that, she hangs out with some real geeks, two long-deceased thinkers named Albert and Leonardo who exist as talking bobble heads in her baby blanket.
Ericca Ludwig is really the antithesis of the typical young-adult or chick-lit character. Naomi Wolf comments on disturbing trends in popular teen literature on Oprah. Ericca's nemesis is Tory Skye, the fashionable daughter of a property tycoon who sashays around Manhattan in the company of her pet Pomeranian and delineates the gulf between the fortunate and the less-fortunate. As Ericca, her blanket, and her friends pursue clues to locate Branch, they experience an enchanting and madcap adventure, stumbling upon ancient Egyptian and Scythian art, an unlikely Web romance, and a hidden wing in the New York library. But ultimately, in the circumstances of Branch's death, the choices that distinguish the lucky from the unlucky are poignantly illustrated.
The author comments,"I love that Ericca and her friends inhabit a world where earth goddesses are taken seriously, and that they are engaged with the community and its issues; rather than personifying the cynical, effortless, frothy existence glamorized in much of the contemporary fiction geared to young women."
Fans of Tolkien will note similarities between the Ringgolds and the immortal Elves of the Ring series. Rowena Wright, a Tolkien fan, acknowledges this influence but also points to John Pinsent's book GREEK MYTHOLOGY, especially an excerpt describing the Five Ages of Man from Greek myth. John Pinsent writes:
...The first race...was of gold...They lived like gods, without labour and pain. They did not suffer from old age, but died as if falling asleep...The fifth..is the race of iron...because mens' hearts were hard as iron...[and] never by day cease from toil and woe, nor by night from being worn.
Archaeologists now reveal ancient gold art from the time of the Mycenaeans predating the Greeks. The Mycenaeans are associated with the ancient Minoans of Crete, whose art is stylistically likened to the abstract and swirling designs of the Celts and Scythians. These were the cultures of the original earth goddesses.
But art and myth are more than just color in a pretty cocoon. Rowena Wright notes a comment from C.S. Lewis from 1947. C.S. Lewis, an associate of Tolkien, and the author of the Narnia series, also wrote THE ABOLITION OF MAN wherein he comments, "Man's conquest of Nature turns out, in the moment of its consummation, to be Nature's conquest of Man." Even today we wonder about his work: eco-feminism, Christian allegory, or pretty children's fantasy?
Advance publicity for A LOOP IN TIME includes a review in the October 2006 VOYA.
Find A LOOP IN TIME on Powells.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Alibris.com, Amazon.com and other retailers. The book is also available through wholesalers including Ingram, Baker & Taylor, YBP, and BWI Books. Publicity events are planned for the upcoming months. Ebook and audio format versions of the book are also planned.
A LOOP IN TIME is the first of the POLIS series of contemporary fantasy books. Adult Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Mythopoeic Fantasy, Science Fiction ISBN-13 978-1-933791-07-4, 1-933791-07-1 Paperback; ISBN-13: 978-1-933791-08-1, 1-933791-08-X Hardcover, 291 pages. Library of Congress Card Number: 2006017919. CIP data available.
Order A LOOP IN TIME from:
Elliottbaybook.com
Amazon.com
Barnesandnoble.com
Target.com
Blackwell.com
Waterstones.com
In ebook format at
Mobipocket.com
Amazon.com Kindle edition
Diesel-ebooks.com
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