Letters From Hell

Time Diving #1

by Craig Robertson

What if you could go back in time and change some of the regrets that haunted your past? Matt Dunsratty did just that. He found a way to erase his past mistakes. Matt was an average guy who was pissing and moaning his way toward retirement. He, like many people before him, often wished that things had gone differently for him. But, Matt buddy, be careful what you wish for!

Matt found out all too soon that the burden of being able to alter his past was much more than he had bargained for. It all began one dull summer vacation as an experiment in transcendental meditation. Through TM Matt chanced upon the ability to plant his adult thoughts in the head of his younger selves, thus altering their shared future. But innocent meddling paved the way for increasingly selfish choices. Little by little, the Matt that once was is slowly stripped away. What remained behind was a version less and less recognizable to his loved ones and to himself. The new Matt was also less and less acceptable to both.

When Matt rebooted a high school romance, his future families were blown up, shattered, and destroyed. Matt saved John Lennon from assassination to help his best friend. But Matt, in a fit of rage, reconsiders his rescue, even though the reversal will cancel the utopian future forged by the former Beatle. Matt learns that small changes can make all the difference in the world. Like King Midas before him, Matt comes to know that unlimited greed quickly leads to unending suffering. Can Matt save himself and his sanity?

Think The Midnight Library meets Slaughterhouse-5. Letters From Hell will keep you on the edge of your seat with its convoluted twists in time and in Mathew Dunsratty. You know that old saying, "No good deed will go unpunished?" Yeah, Matt's about to get a refresher course in that one. Darn.

Genres: Science Fiction

365 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 23, 2023

About the author

I claim three great accomplishments in my life: my family, my medical career, and my writing.  They are in, I am certain, their proper order.  My family, includes my perfect wife Karen, my wonderful children (adults now) Chris and Kim, my sweet grandson Jonathan. And now you! From family, I draw strength, love, and meaning.  What humbling gifts.  I am almost as proud of my incredible career as a physician (no, not that I'm incredible, it's that the journey was).  I'm an Internest and have worked in ER's, hospitals, clinics, homes, and most places between.  What a rush!  When I say it's an honor and a privilege to be a doctor, I truly mean it.  My writings, provide me a powerful creative outlet and so warms my soul directly.  In my wilder dreams, I hope my writing is of sufficient merit and so benefit you too in an impactful manner. 
Know me by what I love: Dickens, Orwell, and Bradbury; Milton, Donne, and Blake; Coltrane, Davis, and Desmond; Picasso, Michelangelo, and Renoir; Astronomy, Biology and Geology; Doctor Who, Star Trek (original TV), and Doctor Who (yeah, I love it that much); Avedon, Doisneau, and Arbus; burger and fries, coc au vin, and pizza-pizza-pizza.  Have I left anything important to me out?  Just one, the most important: God.  I'm an ex-Catholic wondering if churches are device of men and are necessary at all.  More importantly, I wish I spent more time seeing His wonder in the world (I'm not evangelizing, just passing along info; this is a bio, n'est pas?).  Oh, and this has never come up, but there used to be a series of magazine ads where sexy looking people were asked a series of questions about what they liked.  A standard query was: "What's your favorite word?"  So, this really stuck with me (I know, I need to get out more, don't I) and now I can tell someone, you, my favorite word.  Oneself!  I love it.  It means 'on your own' right, but it also refers to the elf you own!  Brilliant word.  Now, where'd I put that elf.......

Reviews

[Leo Goldin]

no more of this author

[Joseph D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story, love the concept!

I wasn't sure what I was going to feel about this, having invested so much of my time in the Ryan verse, but I have to say Craig, you've done it again. I can't wait for the next installment, and to see what happens to Matt, Shannon, Nick, lazlo and the rest. Can't wait to see how he manages to get himself out of his current situation. Excellent work my friend!

[David Gorenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done

I have been a Jon Ryan fan and other books by Robertson. This is quite a change though I can see the direction he is going. Not your average SF but interesting storyline. Look forward to the sequels.

[Billy Nix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keep Focused...

A great, thought provoking story. But, keep on your toes, more twists and turns than a Six Flags thrill ride. You will love it.

[John Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow

Very interesting process here! Who would have thought time traveling would or could have turned out so bad! Great read!

[Daniel Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting time travel book, instead of physically traveling in time the protagonist finds a way to send messages to his younger self with advice on how to do things. The issue I am having with the books is the fairly large plot hole.

spoilers: The protagonist sends himself letters to explain how his life is before the change and he tracks his life changes this way. The problem is that every single other thing changes. He cant remember even doing the "time diving" to change things so how on earth is the letter being kept out of the loop??

There is one or two other plot holes but that one is big enough to drive an entire semi fleet through. That being said its a entertaining and compelling story. I picked up book 2 immediately and will start it right now.

#timetravel