Gregory R. Simpson's Blog

One of the other prominent location in Quantum Time is Scotland! Here are some of my pictures from Scotland, as well as a picture of my cousin's Scottish Highland Cattle. Come along with Jack and Sarah in their new adventure, Quantum Time! The Scottish Highlands Edinburgh My cousin's Scottish Highland Cattle.

I'm really enjoying the narration of my game by @jwalrus over on intfiction.org. Here are the photos that he's uncovered so far. I'll add more photos to this post as they come up in the "Let's Play" adventure.

If you'd like to follow along as @jwalrus plays, here's a link: 
https://intfiction.org/t/lets-play-quotient-the-game-by-gregory-simpson/75735/19

Enjoy the photos, and check back for more as they come up in the game.

Greg Cincinnati Museum Center The Rotunda inside the Cincinnati Museum Center The caldera at Nogorongoro Crater. The rock church St. Georges.

Two U.S. locations featured in Quantum Time are The Hotel Del Coronado (The Del) and Key West. The legendary Del has been a resort enjoyed by celebrities and the powerful, as well as beach-loving tourists, since it was built in 1888. It is one of the largest wooden buildings in the US and its white wooden structure shows off its classic, timeless design. It is located on Coronado Island, across San Diego Bay from downtown San Diego.

Key West, only ninety miles from Cuba, was known for its laid-back island vibe with Jimmy Buffett music, Ernest Hemingway ramblings, and beautiful sunsets. Tourists come from around the world to sample the Caribbean cuisine and enjoy the easygoing island vibes of the Conch Republic. However, it wasn’t only an island paradise. The US Navy put a base has at the same time Key West was settled in the 1820s. In 1917, the Key West Naval Air Station was born.  If you read Quantum Time, you'll hear a little about what Key West is like in 2049.

Of course, then there are the roosters... 

Enjoy! 
Greg

One place I haven't been that Jack and Sarah went to in Quantum Time is northern Sweden. In the mountains of Sarek National Park in Sweden, icy cliffs soar over the horizon like something out of the animated film character Elsa’s nightmares. Sarek is the oldest national park in Europe. It was established in 1909 and is known for having six of Sweden’s peaks over two thousand meters. A climber’s paradise. Just outside the park is Áhkká. This massif includes twelve individual peaks and ten glaciers. The highest peak features a vertical drop of almost a mile to a lake in the valley below.  

My inspiration for this location was actually Jungfraujoch in Switzerland. It is a stunning view, near where more than one James Bond scene was filmed. See my photo below. Although I never made it to Sarek National Park, I did make it to Jungfraujock, and I did visit a Chocolate Factory in Oslo, Sweden,  another key location in Quantum Time.

In Quantum Time, Jack and Sarah also end up in Israel, both in Jerusalem and at Masada. Masada is an imposing site, a rocky plateau, with thirteen-hundred-foot cliffs to the East, and three-hundred-foot cliffs to the West. It made an outstanding fortification for a palace. The ruins of King Herod’s palaces stretch across three different terraces of the sprawling plateau. A hundred years after King Herod built his palaces here, a group of Jews took refuge from the Romans at the top of Masada. Here are some of my pictures to help set the scene for the chapter called, The Promise.

Enjoy! 
​Greg

Appropriately named, "The Badlands" and their rust-colored hue play a key role in Quantum Time. The colors are not that different than those at Uluru. The Badlands is the home of Jolene Temper in the novel.

The Badlands are not far from Mount Rushmore, another featured location. The Hall of Records at Mount Rushmore is a real location. You can read more about this fascinating place here: 
​https://www.nps.gov/moru/learn/historyculture/hall-of-records.htm

One of the more interesting places Quantum Time takes you is down under! From Botany Bay to the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Uluru, the adventure traverses the continent.

Uluru, or Ayers Rock, is an anomaly. After you fly across the arid red center of the Northern Territory, there it is. The giant sandstone monolith looks like it fell from space and landed in the middle of the desert. It is twenty-four meters taller than the Eiffel Tower and goes at least two and a half kilometers underground. Some say it might extend as deep as six kilometers. Its brilliant red hues, caused by a high amount of surface iron oxidation, are amplified by the setting sun. Tourists stand in the desert with netting hanging down from their hats to protect their faces from the biting desert flies. They drink a champagne toast as the sunset splashes across the rock and reflects the rays with a red grandeur. 

Back at the coast, the Bondi lifeguards watch over the swimmers. The beach makes a graceful arch and is home to the the famous Bondi Iceberg saltwater pool, where the crashing waves created a melody capable of soothing even the most frenzied of nerves.

The Harbour Bridge in Sydney provides a perfect vantage point to view the stunning Sydney Opera House. I've attached some of my personal photos of the locations!

Join the adventure and read Quantum Time!

Greg

One of the trademarks of my novels are real world locations, most of which I have been to before. For the next few weeks I'll be highlighting some interesting sites from Quantum Time. This week, I'd like to start with something more personal instead of exotic. In Quantum Time, we visit Cincinnati. Cincinnati has been my home for the last 24 years! We're going to look at two key places in Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Museum Center, and Skyline Chili! Both have a feature in the book.

IThe Cincinnati Museum Center is an extravagant art déco passenger train station built between 1929 and 1933 and has carvings of the Greek God Mercury on each side of its immense arched facade. It was the inspiration of the Hall of Justice in the DC comic universe! In addition, its dramatic ceiling over the rotunda lobby is awe-inspiring. The gold and orange rings above the Winold Reiss glass tile mosaics are stunning. The half dome entrance is one hundred and six feet tall and one hundred and eighty feet wide, the second largest in the world, behind only the Sydney Opera House. Pictures of both the exterior and interior are included below.

The second location I'm highlighting this week is Skyline Chili! Skyline is a staple in Cincinnati. Known as "Cincinnati Chili" it is a unique dish, The “three-way” is a well-loved, unusual concoction of spaghetti noodles with a layer of secretly spiced chili, topped by a mountainous pile of finely shredded cheddar cheese. 4 and 5 way editions are available with the addition of onions or beans or both. The cheese coney is another classic, featuring a mini hotdog with their secret chili sauce and more of that finely cheddar cheese. Mustard and onions are optional. No pictures of Skyline, you'll just need to experience it for yourself. 

​Next time we'll look at Oxford University, the location of Cassie's lab, the Continuum. 

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Google's NotebookLLM created a 12 minute podcast about the new book.... here's the first three minutes... Are you ready to read Quantum Time yet? Click to cover image to go to Amazon to purchase the book today.

Jack and Sarah are back! The Kindle Pre-sale has already started. The paperback pre-sale starts Monday! Join the adventure as Jack and Sarah and the gang set out to save the world again! Click the cover to go to Amazon and get your copy now!