The Wrong Time: stories of time travel, parallel universes, alternative histories and other quirky anomalies

by Robby Charters

An Anthology, containing some flash fiction, a novella and three short stories, mostly science fiction about time travel, parallel universes, alternative histories and other quirky oddities of quantum The short * A filmmaker of the future, using a new untested medium, gets tangled up in his story in THE FILMMAKER AND THE SCEPTRE; * Relativity works in mysterious ways in THE LAST SHALL BE FIRST; * Geoffrey literally finds himself in the WRONG TRACK The In Wrong Time, Sean O'Riley walks home from work, stumbles through a vertical whirlpool, and finds he's married to an ex-girlfriend instead of his wife. The flash From a physics class of the what is a "flong"? in The Flong Files -- and more... Random Readers' "Well worth reading, wish there was more...Good description of habitat and alien animals." "...Thoroughly entertaining, retains interest, and had a great grasp on scientific theory. …" "...this was a nice quick read over lunch and I am looking forward to reading more from this guy!" "...prose that flows easily, making it a pleasant but quick read. I will look for more works by this author." "...straight forward good sci-fi with the focus on a scientific consequence... I'll look out for more by this writer."

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Time Travel

284 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 17, 2010

About the author

Hello. That photo you see there is of me and my son. It's actually a few years old. My son was about nine when I took that selfie but now, he's twenty, and is in Uni in Scotland, becoming smarter than me. I still like that photo, and I'll keep it until he tells me to take it down. And I probably look a bit older than that as well. Anyway, my wife and I live in N. Ireland. I write stories, draw pictures, design books, and work at a day job. In some of my books, there's a character named Boz, probably with the surname of O'Brian. If you happen to come across him, that's me making a cameo appearance. From Boz, you'll know that my roots are in Thailand, where I was born of an Irish dad and American mum. Though American, my mum was also born in Thailand. We're all missionaries. You'll read about that bit of history in The Eurasian. In Pepe, you'll find that I worked for a year in a homeless children's shelter similar to the one you'll read about there. I still think fondly of that place. The Zondon will tell you about the school I attended for two years that I think define my childhood in Bangkok, with other missionary kids. If you like how my covers look, and the interior design of my books, I can do yours as well - if you're a self published author. To find me, just Google "Robby Charters", or go to my website: www.RobbyCharters.co.uk.

Reviews

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Wrong Time is a thoroughly intriguing and enjoyable collection of short stories by Robby Charters, tied together with a ribbon of twisted time. A master of the art of not-telling, the author uses short phrases such as "the viewing public had been satisfied with 100 percent reality 3D" to link future and present, together with delightful comments from off-beat narrators, like "the last time I ordered ice cream at Baskin Robbins, I created thirty-one universes."

The collection ranges from scifi to Biblical flash fiction. Sharp-edged verse is juxtaposed with deep-thought questions of time, space, love and guilt. And great characters from childish to adult to simply confused take the stage.

There’s a pleasing sense of authenticity to the tales, with a willingness to engage the reader’s brain as well entertaining. I read with many smiles, occasional laughs, and great satisfaction. Highly recommended.

Disclosure: I was given a copy by the author and I offer my honest review.

[Christy Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an amusing read. Not high literature by any means, but certainly an entertaining escape into the exploration of time manipulation. The stories are clean and straight-forward, with some great descriptions and scene-setting. There is a good balance between setting the scene and explaining the science without being heavy-handed on either. There are some incorrect word choices, but for the most part, it read well and didn’t stop me too much. There was a bit more telling than I like rather than showing, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

[Allison Kohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't wait to read this book by Robby Charters. He is a very creative writer with a good sense of humor who writes interesting tales with easy flowing prose. His writing all has a moral - written from a Judeo-christian world view. this book promises me an interesting character study told as a science fiction. his poetry is clever and has a great message as do his short stories and flash fiction. I couldn't put it down till there was no more to read.

[Tassa DeSalada · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Filmmaker and the Scepter" is a cute story. At first it's hard to follow because the scenes change instantly, and the storylines switch back and forth without any warning. Eventually, they start blending together and you get the "aha!" moment. It's interesting and entertaining.

I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

[K.T. Munson · Rating 4 out of 5]

**The Filmmaker and the Sceptre only***

Overall

A fast paced and clever read. It is a bit jarring at times the way that the scenes change but that is easily fixed the end. I enjoyed the bending and cheekiness of the writing. It is too short to connect in with the charters but the plot is entertaining. There are some editing errors that could be fixed and the writing tightened, but it is minor. Very much a sci-fi meets fantasy read. 

Rating 

4 Stars

Jarring read that has a very clever ending. 

I received a copy in exchange of an honest review. More reviews at creatingworldswithwords.wordpress.com.

[Anna del C. Dye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for Readersfavorite.com
This is the most interesting tale of a man, Sean, who is transported to a parallel universe by chance. He meets people and goes to places he has never been before to find the way to his home world. And back to his wife Erin.
In some universes he is married to Mimi and he doesn’t like it, so he looks for the universe in which he was happy with Erin. It isn’t easy but after many tries he gets the hang of it. Sean travels to multiple universes and enjoys the freedom it gives him, thus he becomes a time traveler. In one universe he is a bestselling author, while in his real world he is not.
In his world, his marriage to Erin is tottering so he finds another universe with another Erin in it. Pretty soon he decides to play God and change the future in different universes and finds it very inspiring. “I only made another alternative universe. For goodness sake, they've got copies in every other universe. ” He would say to excuse himself.
His need to boast of the things he does is such the he starts to visit the universe where he is a bestselling author. He gives himself new book manuscripts that no one wants in his universe and collects some money from the author.
Sean also boasts of the things he has introduced or taken from the other universe while he visit his author self. Every visit he has changed something and created another alternative universe. Soon enough the author Sean gets tired of the reckless nature of his traveling self and conceive a plan to keep Sean on his home world.
This is a refreshing and engaging read. It will be liked by Sci-Fi and time travel aficionados alike. I recommend it to adults but many teens would like it also.

[Pauline Ross · Rating 1 out of 5]

[Edited...] This is what happens, folks, when you get a brand new Kindle and rush out to fill it up with all sorts of free stuff. Some of what you find is perfectly readable, and some of it is brilliant, and some of it is... well, not so much. It sounds fine - man finds himself in an alternate reality, married to someone different, tries to get back 'home'. And so on. But I couldn't get past the friend called Roary McGreggor. Really? And he got a train from London at Paddy's Station. Really? That's some alternate reality. And then he flew through the Bermuda Triangle in a heli-sphere and found himself in Neverland... And the writing wasn't stylish enough to make this readable. So no, not my cup of tea. An uncritical child might enjoy it. Possibly. One star for a DNF. ETA: OK, I finished it, and I get the point. Still didn't like it.

[Sanna Hines · Rating 5 out of 5]

This thought-provoking anthology explores sci-fi and fantasy concepts through poetry, flash fiction, short stories and novella. Expect dark thoughts and light, warmth and chills interlaced with humor.

My favorites are the longer pieces. "The Last Shall Be First" gives us a marooned child facing survival struggles equal to Rod's from Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky. In "Wrong Time," an experiment gone awry fractures a boy's identity and family. Only forgiveness can heal the rifts. "Wrong Track" pits two versions of the same man against each other in a competition spanning time and alternate realities. Wisdom saves one, while the lack of it dooms the other.

All good, and there's so much more. Kudos to the author for a readable, well-researched, original and inventive collection.

[Burt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really great little adventure. Would make a good Dr. Who episode.

[Robby Charters · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been expanded into an anthology, including three short stories and some flash fiction in addition to the original novella. The Novella has also been re-edited.