Time Rep

Time Rep #1

by Peter Ward

Imagine you’ve just been told you’re the most insignificant person who’s ever lived.
A nobody.
Somebody less important to the world than certain types of mushroom.
Not very nice, is it?
That’s exactly what happens to Geoffrey Stamp after a man from the year 3050 asks him to become a “Time Rep” – a tour guide for the 21st Century, meeting people from the future who travel back through time for their vacations.
You see, Time Reps need to be insignificant. Otherwise, when you go back in time and interfere with their destiny, the space-time continuum has a bit of a fit.
And we wouldn’t want that.
But when Geoffrey uncovers a conspiracy to change the course of history, he is sent on a mind-bending adventure through time and space involving an imaginary lake, a talking seagull, dinosaurs, aliens, the Great Fire of London, and the discovery that he might not be as insignificant as people thought…

Genres: Science Fiction, Time Travel, Fiction, Adventure, Young Adult, Fantasy

226 pages, ebook

First published September 18, 2010

About the author

Peter Ward was born in London in 1980 and studied English Literature at the University of Southampton before entering a career in retail that made no use of any of his qualifications whatsoever.

He lives with his wife Lucy, a three-legged cat called Sabrina, and a large spider that refuses to leave the kitchen that he has decided to call Dennis.

Peter has not hit the big time when it comes to writing, and as such does it in his spare time around a full time job that actually pays the bills. Currently he works as the Head of Corporate Partnerships at the Natural History Museum in London.

He is the author of the Time Rep Trilogy, The Electric Detective, and Note to Self.

Reviews

[Irifev · Rating 2 out of 5]

Auf Seite 160 abgebrochen. Ich mag ja eigentlich humorvolle Phantastik (z.B. von Pratchett, Fforde) sehr. Bei dem Buch habe ich allerdings das Gefühl, dass jeder Anflug von Logik über den Haufen geworfen wird, nur um einen mittelprächtigen Witz zu machen. Auf Dauer macht das so einfach keinen Spaß.

[BookitoCat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

(full review coming soon)

It was a really good book with a nice flow. The way it was written was magical even though a little bit confusing. The plot was a little bit confusing at some point but the end was worth it.

I love a good time travelling story! I highly recommend it!

[T. Blake · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great concept. Delivery of the book felt a bit dull to me. I ended up making it about halfway and flipping to the last few pages that confirmed my suspicions of the ending.

[angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first book from BookSirens and amazingly, I enjoyed it.😍

What really interests me about this book is the notion of people from the future treating time travel like a normal holiday trip. It is very unique and also Geoff being chosen as a Time Rep because he is insignificant is very funny.😁

I love the world created by the author. I really do love books with time travel on it. Also this book is jam packed with exciting and planetary level kind of wars.

I also love the characters especially Geoff, our main character. This is science fiction but also has a bit of fantasy in it.

Recommended for fans of science fiction.👍❤

***Thank you for the author: Peter Ward, for making this available for review via BookSirens***

[B.J. Sikes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it in two hours. Couldn't put it down. I laughed so much.

[Karen Siddall · Rating 5 out of 5]

When out of work paperboy and slacker, Geoffrey Stamp, is hired as a holiday rep for a tour company, he expected exotic locations. What he got was the time of his life … literally.

When Geoffrey Stamp lost his job as a paper boy (the only job he’s ever held), one of the customers on his route offered him a place to stay and that’s where he’s been ever since – playing computer games and just vegging out. The roommate, Tim, never got all up in his business, never seemed to get too worked up over the cleaning up or Geoff’s failure to pay rent in the past two years, his lack of ambition or personal hygiene. Geoff had the total slacker life, and he was content to let time go by, occasionally wishing he had the nerve to ask out Zoë the mail carrier, but for the most part, just chillin’ on the couch in Tim’s front room.

One day, Tim talked Geoff into applying for a job he’d seen advertised in the newspaper as a “holiday rep” for a tour company, and Geoff’s ideal life took a decided left turn. Hired on the spot, Geoff finds out that the holidays he would be arranging were for tourists from the future who were time-traveling to visit the twenty-first century, and the reason that Geoff, with no prior experience or desire to accept the job, was snapped up is because his existence, in the grand scheme of life and the future, was totally insignificant. Apparently, Geoff’s existence was so insignificant that having him take on the job and interacting with people from the future would not impact and change the future in any way.

Well, except for that one seagull at the end of time that ends up looking right instead of left …

I was absolutely charmed by the book, Time Rep, by Peter Ward. It is reminiscent of the Douglas Adams Hitchhiker’s Guide series, but updated. The lead character, Geoffrey Stamp, is the epitome of a modern-day slacker but, eventually, we discover there are hidden depths. His inner dialogues are continuous and funny, and helped to reveal his growth from slacker to capable hero material. Roommate Tim, who turns out to be a recruiter for Time Tour, Inc., the time-travel travel company, is a wonderful straight man throughout. I found myself rooting for both his safety and his sanity.

Along with the “smack-in-the-face-you’re-totally-insignificant” storyline, the major plot of the book involves someone in the tour company working to change the past so an alien race hiding in plain sight on Earth can destroy the human race. There are a number of suitable candidates in the company to choose from which makes for a good mystery as our heroes struggle to stop the traitor. (I so didn’t want for it to be Tim!)

I really enjoyed the depiction of London and life in the future, and the concept of the time-travel tour company with Time Reps (tour guides from the actual period being visited.) There was quite a bit of silliness with that.

The book was entertaining from start to finish (and I was delighted to see that it is the first book in a trilogy!) I literally laughed out loud over dialogue. The book is fast-paced and the action is constant. There are unexpected “left turns” all along the way to the final page. And Ward’s handling of the problems of the past changing the future was fun. I look forward to reading more.

I highly recommend this book to readers that enjoy humorous SciFi/Fantasy, tales of time travel, and the aforementioned Hitchhiker’s Guide. I stayed up reading this way later than advisable; it was that entertaining.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.

[Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not really sure why BookSirens offered this book as an advanced reading copy as it was published roughly seven years ago. Nonetheless, I adored this book. We have a main character that literally has nothing going for him, and he finds himself in the middle of a time travel adventure. I laughed a lot while I was reading this, and the writing was very well done. Now I'm going to need to get my hands on part two.

[Tommy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not having any read anything by this author I was pleasantly surprised. The seemed to be a little weak and disconnected at the beginning but it all made sense as it progressed and grew in scale. Geoff really grew on me and the fact that his video game skills became a factor in the teams success was a fun twist. I will be trying another Time Rep.

[Sean Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually really enjoyed the humour here. A little cheesy in spots, but that just added to the slightly naughty feeling of reading something a little immature and silly. But a pleasant way to spend a few hours curled up on the sofa feeling sorry for myself with a bug.

[Susan McReynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read! I especially enjoyed the humor. I laughed out loud quite a few times. I'm a time-travel nut, so this was right up my alley. Thanks, Peter.

[Paula Ptomey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting look at the use of time travel as a family vacations in the future. Of course if you are going to travel to other times, you want someone from that time who will give you the best bang for your buck! Look no further than your Time Rep!

This story follows Geoff who has been recruited to be a time rep as he has absolutely no impact on history. And he is very important as he is the newest rep for the 21st Century, which has never been open before for time vacations. However someone wants Geoff dead.

I loved this story. The characters were well developed and believable. You felt yourself propelled along with the story.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Elyse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Geoffrey Stamp is completely insignificant. No job, no real friends, and nothing remarkable about him. It is for this precise reason he is chosen to be a Time Rep. In the future, time traveling to the past to witness events and see the sights is a popular vacation. Geoff is chosen to be a tour guide for the 21st century. But Geoff isn’t insignificant, and the fate of humanity depends on him.

This book was everything you expect it to be-a cliché unimportant character is suddenly the key to saving the world. That being said, it is an interesting take on the classic alien invasion plot. It was a good, quick read, and overall enjoyable. Some parts felt a little flat at times, but the time travel guides and vacation idea was cool.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Cate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this time travel adventure. The concept was a new one to me, with time travel reps in various times, chosen because they had lives that didn't matter to to timeline. Ouch! That would be hard to hear! It's funny, but also creative and exciting. The main character, Geoff, was hard to like at first, but he has a wonderful growth arc through the book. I plan to read the other books in the series.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

You've run across guys like Geoffrey Stamp before—and forgotten them just about as quickly. No job (and no interest in acquiring one); no social life (and... ditto); few if any polished skills apart from the abilities to play video games almost nonstop and to come up with the ever-more-creative sleeping positions necessitated by his slovenly personal habits. Geoffrey Stamp is utterly insignificant. A waste of space. Calling him a nonentity gives his nullity too much credit—Stamp is a yawning, human-shaped void, whose disappearance from the face of the Earth would not cause even the slightest ripple in human history.

Which, of course, makes Geoff the perfect native guide to 21st-century London for a bunch of time-traveling tourists from the 31st Century. Even if he somehow manages to screw things up (and how likely is that, given his spotless personal history?), Stamp's effect on the timeline will be absolutely nil. The computer—"a massive neutronium-encased lattice of artificial micro-black holes" (as explained on p.64)—guarantees it. Nothing. Can. Go. Worwngggg...

And so hilarity, or at least sustained amusement, duly ensues.

Don't come waltzing in here expecting another Douglas Adams or even a Tom Holt, though—keep your expectations a little lower than that and you'll be fine. Oh, there are some similarities to everyone's favorite Hitchhiker—like Arthur Dent, for example, Geoffrey Stamp has a name that telegraphs his unimportance, although I don't think Adams considered his protagonist's insignificance to be an actual selling point. And, while Stamp has no yellow bulldozers to contend with at the start of his journey, he does very quickly find himself beyond his depth and far away from his unkempt London abode. Absurdities, reversals and paradoxes multiply, and the utter (and retroactive) dissolution of the entire Universe is only one of the possible outcomes.

In other words, Time Rep is quite a funny novel in its own right. It didn't take very long to grab me—

{Geoff's 27th birthday} just passed without incident, like the first two hours of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
—p.8

—and once it grabbed me, Peter Ward's first funny foray into full-length fiction managed to hold my interest all the way through.

Which is, y'know, a pretty good show, really.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time Rep
By Peter Ward

Summery courtesy of goodreads.com
Imagine you’ve just been told you’re the most insignificant person who’s ever lived.

A nobody.

Somebody less important to the world than certain types of mushroom.

Not very nice, is it?

That’s exactly what happens to Geoffrey Stamp after a man from the year 3050 asks him to become a “Time Rep” – a tour guide for the 21st Century, meeting people from the future who travel back through time for their vacations.

You see, Time Reps need to be insignificant. Otherwise, when you go back in time and interfere with their destiny, the space-time continuum has a bit of a fit.

And we wouldn’t want that.

But when Geoffrey uncovers a conspiracy to change the course of history, he is sent on a mind-bending adventure through time and space involving an imaginary lake, a talking seagull, dinosaurs, aliens, the Great Fire of London, and the discovery that he might not be as insignificant as people thought…

Review

Peter Ward's writing is compelling, he has a talent for world building that was intricately crafted it was paced well and the humor was dry - very reminiscent of Douglas Adam's A hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. His characters were well developed and fascinating.

Geoffrey Stamp the stories main protagonist is shocked and abit disconcerted, when he's told that he's totally insignificant and historically unimportant, making him the perfect tour guide for time traveling tourists.

Peter Ward had me laughing hysterically throughout this book, Geoffrey's reactions to being told he was historically insignificant was brilliantly written and captivated me, I couldn't read this book fast enough - it was just so absorbing.

His job is to show you the sites, the cities, and explain the local customs. But when Geoffrey uncovers a conspiracy to change the course of time his insignificant life, suddenly becomes a lot more important than people thought and he might just be the most important person in the world.

Peter Ward is definitely an author to watch fans of Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett will definitely enjoy
Wards writing style.
4 Stars
I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley.com in exchange for my honest review.

[Martine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an electronic copy of this book from BookSirens in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5

This book honestly hurt my head a lot lol. There was a lot to keep track of, and it got confusing at times, as every book with time travel heavily involved tends to. All the same, I enjoyed this reading experience thoroughly. The voice was quirky, and I found myself smiling in appreciation for the humor quite often. Considering the target age for this book (middle-grade bordering on YA?), I found that to be a surprising bonus to the read.

Time Rep had a similar vibe to it, at least in the first half, as the House by the Cerulean Sea, a book a LOVED for many reasons, the vibe included. Since Time Rep often had that same whimsical, zany vibe, it got major props from me.

That being said, at times, I had to go back and reread something to try and wrap my head around it. I'm not sure if the time travel aspects are a little too complicated for younger readers, but I feel like they definitely could be. On the other hand, having a kid sit there and think through what their reading can also be a definite pro for the reading experience, depending on a person's perspective.

I think this would be an especially fun read for parents and kids together to go through, and it could lead to many conversations about how everyone is important in their own way, as well as opening a dialogue about STEM.

If you want the fun and heart-warming feel of some books, but the sci-fi or speculative fiction of others, this is the perfect read for you!

[Danielle Forrest · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a geek and a Douglass Adams fan, you're probably going to love this book. Every notation I made in the book was some short hand of me laughing. I made comments about laughing so hard I was in tears or laughing so hard I was wheezing. The book is almost non-stop laughs.

Oddly, other than that, I'm not entirely sure what to say. The book was absurd to the extreme, making me think of at times how odd and laughable situations could get sometimes with Doctor Who, but mainly, this guy must have been a Douglass Adams fan. There was even a point where I made a notation about Hitchhiker's Guide when someone was trying to tell himself not to panic.

There were editing mistakes throughout the book, as I've come to expect with Indie/Self-pubbed novels, but they were easily overlooked. The book was perfectly formatted, which is always nice.

As a final note, I guess of caution after reading some of the other reviews, I'd like to point out quite forcefully that this is first and foremost comedy. It's like watching Senseless, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, or Dude, Where's my Car? You have to be in the right mentality for it, I think, and if you go into it with any sort of serious ideas, you might not enjoy it. Go into it expecting nothing more than to laugh, and I think you'll have a blast. Of course, you might get some odds looks from people… especially if you're at a party...

Format: Kindle
Source: Author

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A generous 3 stars if I am honest. Clearly the author is a Douglas Adams fan as the humour is right out the Hitchhikers book of funny asides. It would have been 2 stars but I actually lol'd at times. A good take on the time-travel theme but let down by basic writing errors. Eg: 'I think we need to go to the pub', 'The pub?', 'Yes, I've got a document to show you', 'A document?', 'Yes, I think it will give us a lead', 'A lead?'. And so on. Is it just a ploy to fill pages? If you can put these niggles aside it's not a bad humour/time-travel romp.

[Sefa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zaman yolculuğu konusunda zayıf bir kitap daha.3ncü sınıf bir aksiyon filmi havasında. Zaman öldürmek için belki okunabilir.

[Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining story of a genuine slob who finds his complete uselessness makes him actually valuable to someone. Of course it's all more complicated than that, and the climax shows him employing abilities he'd never thought of as worthwhile at all.

The time travel element is relatively lightly touched on, though the idea of mobs of time tourists jostling to watch major historical events is amusing. The plot develops in unexpected ways, including one very effective shock which kicks off the final phase of the story.

It's well-constructed, though there were a few issues for me with the editing. The book is set in England, with the focus on an English nerd hero, but the language switches strangely between British and American forms of English - for example, the same thing is referred to as a 'lift' and an 'elevator' within a page. At times this did throw me out of the story a little, and is one of the reasons for the four stars. It also felt a little 'slight', and it wasn't always easy to care enough about the central character, who seems to have gone through life in a fog of unquestioning laziness. However, it was often very good fun and I'd recommend it to someone who enjoys time-travel humour with a twist.

I received an advance review copy for free, via booksirens.com, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Ymar Solamo · Rating 3 out of 5]

fundamentally flawed this book requires a reader with a substantial ability to suspend disbelief. you can't just read this book thinking time travel is cool. you need to read it thinking that time travel is cool and i don't care if ward makes little to no effort making it at all rational or logical. i came close to this edge; there were far too many times reading this that i just had to put it down because ward was playing it far too free with the time travel. i only stuck around through it because ward did drop some funny bits in it, but it wasn't like it was consistently hilarious like pratchett or adams. it was just funny enough to keep me going. i suppose i could accuse ward of being lazy with the jokes, but i'd rather just say ward was being remarkably efficient. time rep was only funny enough to keep me turning the pages to the next funny bit that seemed always just around the corner. geoff as a character doesn't quite match the comedic heights of arthur dent or moist von lipwig, but there's much room to grow. i'll try to catch the next one, but if i don't i won't feel like a missed out or anything.

[Liesbeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntary.

The story begins like any other day, nothing much really. Until Geoffrey Stamp, who is playing on his computer all day, get's invited to apply for a job as a holiday rep. He finds out after he got the job, that he only get's it because he is insignificant and won't change history. After an attempted attack on him it all unravels that it has to do with the an alien attack in the past. Will they be able to stop the alien attack on Earth again when it changed course?

Nothing is what it seems, the story has everything, humor, adventure and a mind bending/altering conspiracy and so many surprising plot twists. I definitely want to read the other stories.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

To my mere 21st century mind, this book was brilliant! It gives hope to even to most insignificant feeling of us in an action packed story. You really have to feel for Geoff as he gets thrust into a world that he knows nothing about and just as probably would love to remain that way. It explores time travel in a way that respects what the merest flap of butterfly wings or the turn of a seagull's head might cause/mean and does it in such a funny way. In fact the humourous way that this book was written is what drew me in at first and didn't let me escape until I had devoured the last written word in less than 2 days. (Life got in the way too) I'm planning on investigating what else the author has got for me in his repertoire ASAP!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Time Rep’ by Peter Ward's Time Rep is a funny science fiction book that adds in crazy time travel.

Geoffrey Stamp is less than an ordinary man. He spends his time living an unexciting life, playing video games and being unemployed. He learns that his roommate has been observing him to recruit him as a time rep for future time travelers who want to visit the London he lives in in the 21st century. Along the way, he learns about a future invasion of Earth by aliens and a plot to help those aliens overturn the outcome of a major war. Perhaps Geoffrey’s video game prowess will come in handy after all.

I found it humorous until it just wore on me. The story is clever and the characters are quirky, I just was done with it all before the story had ended.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly entertaining time travel paradoxes romp with more than a nod to Douglas Adams. Perhaps Peter Ward should have been approached for the official sequel to the last Adams' Hitchhiker novel. It would have been nowhere near as disappointing as Eoin Colfer's poor attempt. Getting back to Time Rep, Geoffrey Stamp is the hero that Arthur Dent never was. For an apparent nonentity he does quite well.

Ray Smillie

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story would have been so much better with some serious grammatical editing.

I was enjoying the humour and the pace, up until Geoff finds himself being watched in 1666 by one man (note: one, single man). This man, who then decides to run away, is then referred to in a plural pronoun e.g. which way did 'they' run? It was very off-putting, and totally spoiled the remainder of the story, especially as this grammatical discordance kept happening.

[___caro___ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the concept but the writing style wasn't for me. It could have been an exciting book but after some time I could not force myself to read it in depth and with full concentration. But I think other people might like it more than I did because I just miss something to enjoy the book entirely.

[Billycongo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad book, but not one I'll be continuing with. You can see the influence of Douglas Adams, but many of the jokes are very lame. The idea is to find people who are nobodies to act as tourist guides for time travelers because what they do cannot effect the timeline. Of course that doesn't account for the actual time travelers and what they could do.

[Kitap_Kurdu35 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eğlenceliydi. :)

[michael boron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time in a bottle

An interesting plot taking a zero to a hero in a saga that spans the history and the future of the Earth as it was and will be