Wizards of Science

by Carl Frederick

In the novel (hard SF despite its title), Paul, an American college physics major studying in England, and his friend Vicki, an English British history major, become caught up in a physics experiment gone spectacularly wrong. The island of England gets swapped into an alternate time line and is replaced with the England of the eleventh century. Action takes place in both an eleventh century England in a twenty first century world, and also in a twenty-first century England in an eleventh century world. Only Paul and Vicki, with the help of Wulf, a scientist from the twenty-second century, can set things right. The novel's title alludes to Wulf and his descendents, trapped in Anglo-Saxon Britain. Their advanced science and technology seems to be magic and they are thought to be wizards. Although not not specifically written as such, the novel might be considered YA as four of the five major characters are under twenty years old, two of them well under. A modified extract of an early part of the novel appeared as a novella in Analog Magazine under the title ' Greenwich Nasty Time'.

Genres: Science Fiction

281 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 22, 2011

About the author

I am NOT the author of a book on EST. That's by a different Carl Frederick.
(And anyway, how can anyone write a whole book about Eastern Standard Time?)

Reviews

[Sean Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

“He seems to be in charge,” said Vicki. “At least of those other wizard characters in a pentagram around the castle.”
“That's 'pentagon',” said Paul. “A pentagram is some kind of magic symbol.”

This was shorter than my typical science fiction fair,and so I perhaps didn't engage with it as fully as I could. The story is a very good one though, the idea of "a twenty-first century kingdom in an eleventh century world" utterly captivated me, so I just had to read it!

Of course the physics is a little beyond me, especially the calculations and talk of gravitational wave bursts and mass irregularities which mean little to a lay person. Still, I liked the fact that there was some science in there and one day, when I don a full beard and professorial hat I shall doubtless come back to this volume and try and decipher some of it.

As to the story and plot, I found the pace very good and speedy for a work of its length: some short books are over before they begin and others ramble to excess; Carl did this one just right, if you ask me. The characters are a little predictable and I felt that sometimes a character was pushed a little to add to the story (Leofwin and Alex's secret is a good example). Nonetheless, I enjoyed it quite a bit and I'm certainly glad I killed a rainy afternoon with it.

“You know,” Alex whispered. “Latin sounds really impressive when people shout in it. I think I'm starting to believe Julius Caesar now.”

It's also a great experience to communicate with the author directly (we exchanged a few Emails) and the letter to the reader at the back of the book was warm and heartfelt. I like his style and admire his accomplishments, so will be buying other works as they hit me.

Chalk one up for DRM Free content and awareness to produce in accessible formats for the blind, too: an author assuredly deserving of your support.

[Robert Lomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carl Frederick has the ability to ask disturbing questions and then to provide answers in the form of exciting stories. The premise of this book is that observers of quantum events can change the past by their choice of what to observe. The hero of the tale is Paul, a postgraduate physicist working for his Phd, who gets involved with a world changing experiment, intended to investigate the true nature of space-time, which strands him a thousand years in the past. There he meets Wulf, a scientist from his own future who has been inspired to travel back in time by a paper Paul has not yet written. But Wulf has become stranded in the wrong part of the past, where he has developed a theology of science which he teaches by rote to a monastery he founds in Anglo-Saxon Britain. His purpose is to set up a centre of knowledge which can teach Paul the additional theory needed to untangle the mess which his initial experiment has caused to the time-line of the human race.
The pace, excitement and disturbing plausibility of the story reminds me of Fred Hoyles "October the First is Too Late" and in my view Carl Frederick is a worthy successor to Hoyle in this genre of exciting science fiction based in strange ramifications of real theories.
Even if you don't care about the science the story is a real page-turner which makes you question the stability of Space-Time.

[Samuel Proulx · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel felt a lot like science fiction that might have been published in the 60's, after having first run in several parts in a magazine like Analog. I mean that in a good way. Today's preference for 15 book series, where each book is several hundred thousand words, often results in wordy and slow moving writing. Reading something that is tightly plotted, fast moving, and resolves everything at the end, is rather refreshing. I did find the pace a little alarming at some points, especially when one short chapter covers over 50 years, but I'm glad I stuck with it. The author knows what he's doing.

Some of those transitional scenes are, in my opinion, the best writing in the book. It seems obvious Carl Frederick started out writing short stories, and still enjoys doing it. However, even when writing longer passages, his writing still holds up quite well.

[Sheherazahde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, it was Ok. I'm a little disappointed. I had hoped for more wizardry in the 11th century. I was looking forward to an exploration of how 21st century technology would look in the 11th century. What problems they would face and how they would change history. But there is little of that.

Paul is an undergrad physics student. His adviser does an experiment accidentally sends Great Britain back in time a thousand years, to an alternative timeline. Paul is on a nearby island when the experiment takes place and doesn't get sent back, but when he tries to reverse the switch he and his girlfriend get sent back. So, they are reunited with their Great Britain.

Meanwhile in the middle of the 22nd century. Presumable a 22nd century where Great Britain suddenly disappeared and was replaced by 11th century Great Britain, a German physicist named Wulf Schroder decides he wants to join 21st century Great Britain in the 11th century. But he overshoots and comes out a hundred years earlier. Because of superior 22nd century health advancements he lives for the hundred years it takes for future Great Britain to show up. And spends that time teaching his children and grandchildren advanced physics but not doing much else.

Once Great Britain does show up Paul meets Wulf, through an amazing number of coincidences. And Wulf teaches Paul what he needs to know to reverse the switch.

There is some political intrigue and a bunch of stuff with teenaged boys. A disturbing amount of corporal punishment and medieval ideas about education from a 22nd century physics professor.

I was initially pleased that the author can write dialog and believable characters. The level of the basic writing quality is very good. I have encountered a few mistakes that a professional editor might have caught, but no text is ever free from errors so that is minor.

My first major concern is the total failure to include any kind of diversity. There is only one named female character, Vicki seems to be little more than a plot device to allow Paul to explain the experiment to us and to move Paul around where the author wants him. Wulf's wife, the mother of his children, is not named and lives and dies entirely in one paragraph, having produced the five children that were her sole purpose. Wulf's daughters are equally invisible. Is the author trying to alienate half the human population?

The author perpetuates the discredited "conflict theses" narrative that the Catholic church was anti-science. And is generally offensively anti-religion.
http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/20...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict...

First off there was no such thing as "science" or "scientists" at that time. (The word scientist was coined by Rev. William Whewell in 1834.) Latin scientia "knowledge, a knowing; expertness," isn't documented until the 12th century. Monasteries and monks were the repositories of learning throughout the middle ages. The church had no objection to the teaching of math and "natural philosophy". If Wulf had written an elementary math text he would have beaten Fibonacci to it by 200 years http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci (Fibonacci introduced Arabic numerals to Europe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_n...) He would have revolutionized Western mathematics with just basic algebra and pi. And the church would have had no complaints because math is not heresy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrivium He was a little early for the Crusades but he could have claimed to have traveled in the Holy Land. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades And maybe the Abbott would have appreciated learning about double entry book keeping. Math is amazingly easy in Arabic numerals. Can you imagine doing it in Roman numerals?

I have a real problem with Wulf's entire narrative. He walks up and asks to join the order right off without even considering just taking shelter in the monastery. He has enough money to stay as a paying guest. Then he gets married and has children just so he can teach them. There is no discussion of teaching his daughters, or of taking in any students who might be interested. In the hundred years he spends there he could have turned the Isle of Wight into a major center of learning. His daughters could have helped him just as much as his sons. This was the time of Hildegard of Bingen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegar... Convents were practically the only place for women who were interested in learning math and natural philosophy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_... They might even have had a copy of Aristotle's work on Physics which was the standard for centuries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_...

And then there is the issue of him beating his sons who didn't want to learn math. 1) It is much harder to teach math to people who really don't want to learn it. He could have attracted students who were interested. His daughters would have been very motivated to get out of the drudgery of manual labor and dying in childbirth. 2) He needed calligraphers to copy his physics texts. And he probably needed potters and metal smiths too, to make those staffs. He had some basic understanding of electronics and chemistry. The periodic table of elements, I hope. If you are working with electronics you need ceramics and metal. His basic understanding of germ theory would have been a big help too.

Neither Paul nor Wulf have any sense of money. Wulf should have been more careful with his gold and not just given away ingots without trying to get a deal. And Paul should have thought about how he was going to pay to get across the Solent. He is really in dire straits financially.

Why isn't there rioting in the streets? There should have been major problems when the Chunnel suddenly disappeared. Even if cars weren't chopped in half there should have been a pile up when a wall suddenly appeared across the tunnel. And accidents in tunnels are messy. And Vicki isn't the only person to be missing family who are out of the country. Parts of the military would have also been out of the country.

I have lots of problems with Gil Snyder. Why would a power hungry man willingly give up his newly won power to a monarch? And why is that monarch a King instead of a Queen (another sexist disappearing of a female character for no reason). Queen Elizabeth the 1st did just fine dealing with other monarchs. But I can't see the British people giving up democracy just because they went back in time. Not unless the elected government declares marshal law because of the emergency. Which they should have, but don't seem to have done. Everyone is acting as if nothing has happened.

Why did students give Paul dirty looks when he pilfered food for his trip. I used to do that in college. Mostly fruit. We paid for a full meal plan. He wasn't going to be there for lunch he was just taking the food he had paid for and wouldn't be able to get because he was going on a trip. It is against the rules but most students do it anyway.

But those last were just minor complaints.

It was on OK time travel story, just not the "Wizards of Science" I hoped it would be.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wizards of Science has an interesting premise--because of a quantum experiment, the island of Great Britain is swapped in time with Great Britain of the 11th century. Paul, a physics graduate student, and his friend Vicki work to make things right. While this definitely read like a Young Adult book to me, I felt the physics themes might be over the heads of younger people. It may be difficult for this book to find the right audience.