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Novikov Windows: A Time Travel Novel
In the year 1996, David Singh, a time traveller from the future, coaxes a group of experts to the desolate farmstead of Blackwell's Rest in remote Australia. He achieves this by showing each recruit an object which convinces them beyond doubt to follow him.
Their mission is to construct a time machine using advanced wormhole-generating and quantum computing technology sent to them from the future. However, as the group begin their task, they learn a grim truth.
Events of the past and future are unalterable. Free will is an illusion. Travelling back in time with knowledge of one's own future, yet not being able to change anything, can pose an immeasurable psychological burden. This is a Novikov Window, the scenario of being trapped within an unalterable sequence of events, like a passive actor living in a play scripted by fate.
To avoid Novikov Windows, knowledge about the future is closely guarded, breeding suspicion and manipulation amongst the team. Some refuse to accept their lack of control and attempt to alter history. What begins as a thrilling scientific adventure takes a dark turn as the group is faced with increasingly difficult and unethical missions.
Torn apart by their moral and ideological differences, the community frays and each individual struggles to find a sense of purpose and redemption. How can they find hope in the face of impossible decisions, in a universe where there are no choices?
About the author:
I write adult hard science fiction that provides a keen insight into the psychology of its characters, relies upon real science as well as thoroughly researched extrapolation of current technological trends – all while not compromising on being action-packed.
I trained as a scientist before becoming a medical doctor. I've had a lifelong love affair with science and have always been an avid reader of science fiction. I live with my family and three cats in sunny Australia.
Their mission is to construct a time machine using advanced wormhole-generating and quantum computing technology sent to them from the future. However, as the group begin their task, they learn a grim truth.
Events of the past and future are unalterable. Free will is an illusion. Travelling back in time with knowledge of one's own future, yet not being able to change anything, can pose an immeasurable psychological burden. This is a Novikov Window, the scenario of being trapped within an unalterable sequence of events, like a passive actor living in a play scripted by fate.
To avoid Novikov Windows, knowledge about the future is closely guarded, breeding suspicion and manipulation amongst the team. Some refuse to accept their lack of control and attempt to alter history. What begins as a thrilling scientific adventure takes a dark turn as the group is faced with increasingly difficult and unethical missions.
Torn apart by their moral and ideological differences, the community frays and each individual struggles to find a sense of purpose and redemption. How can they find hope in the face of impossible decisions, in a universe where there are no choices?
About the author:
I write adult hard science fiction that provides a keen insight into the psychology of its characters, relies upon real science as well as thoroughly researched extrapolation of current technological trends – all while not compromising on being action-packed.
I trained as a scientist before becoming a medical doctor. I've had a lifelong love affair with science and have always been an avid reader of science fiction. I live with my family and three cats in sunny Australia.
490 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 29, 2023
About the author
Chris Cosmain
5 books20 followersMy work provides a keen insight into the psychology of its characters, relies upon real science as well as thoroughly researched extrapolation of current technological trends – all while not compromising on being action-packed.
I write adult psychological hard science fiction.
In broad terms, psychological fiction is often strongly character-driven, propelled by a depiction of the characters’ inner world, mental state and even mental health. Characters are frequently flawed, or have inner conflicts which can drive a story, impacting upon the plot.
Psychological science fiction offers an infinite palette of unique and often surreal settings which challenge protagonists in interesting ways. It not only posits powerful “what if?” questions around technological, social or political trends, it allows characters to be placed in quite unusual settings, such as the surreal situations which can arise from time travel. This genre explores how those bizarre situations might impact on the psyche of the characters and ultimately explores the question of what it means to be human.
Hard science fiction is characterised by its devotion to scientific accuracy, logic and cause and effect. While many hard science fiction stories avail themselves of the odd “scientific MacGuffin” to enable certain technologies (like time travel), they strive for attention to technical detail and integrity around the laws of physics.
I trained as a scientist before becoming a medical doctor. I've had a lifelong love affair with science and have always been an avid reader of science fiction. As a scientist, I have always been drawn to the accuracy of hard science fiction and its considered, realistic extrapolation of current trends. As a doctor working in mental health, I am drawn to diversity, complex characters, and flawed protagonists. Above all, I am curious about exploring the impact of extraordinary circumstances on the mental state of ordinary people.
I live with my family in sunny Australia.
I write adult psychological hard science fiction.
In broad terms, psychological fiction is often strongly character-driven, propelled by a depiction of the characters’ inner world, mental state and even mental health. Characters are frequently flawed, or have inner conflicts which can drive a story, impacting upon the plot.
Psychological science fiction offers an infinite palette of unique and often surreal settings which challenge protagonists in interesting ways. It not only posits powerful “what if?” questions around technological, social or political trends, it allows characters to be placed in quite unusual settings, such as the surreal situations which can arise from time travel. This genre explores how those bizarre situations might impact on the psyche of the characters and ultimately explores the question of what it means to be human.
Hard science fiction is characterised by its devotion to scientific accuracy, logic and cause and effect. While many hard science fiction stories avail themselves of the odd “scientific MacGuffin” to enable certain technologies (like time travel), they strive for attention to technical detail and integrity around the laws of physics.
I trained as a scientist before becoming a medical doctor. I've had a lifelong love affair with science and have always been an avid reader of science fiction. As a scientist, I have always been drawn to the accuracy of hard science fiction and its considered, realistic extrapolation of current trends. As a doctor working in mental health, I am drawn to diversity, complex characters, and flawed protagonists. Above all, I am curious about exploring the impact of extraordinary circumstances on the mental state of ordinary people.
I live with my family in sunny Australia.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 26, 2023
I'm going to here review a a very recently published, nearly 500-page time travel novel -- Chris Cosmain's Novikov Windows: A Time Travel Novel (that's the sub-title) -- I've just read, in two days. That should give you an idea of how compelling I think this novel is.
Because of that, I'm not going to give you any big spoilers in this review. If you haven't yet read this novel, and doubt or would like further elaboration on any of the points I make below, my best advice is: read the novel. (You can get the Kindle edition for a buck -- it's on sale -- over here.)
Now as to the narrative. It has a 19th-century flavor. In fact, important parts of the story take place back then. But more than that, its style and pace feel as if it could have been written by H. G. Wells. And it combines that ambience with all the mod-cons: 3-D printing, DNA and junk DNA, computers, and rockets all play a role.
I've said many times that I can't enjoy or take seriously any time-travel tale which ignores the paradoxes that time travel engenders, and gives the intellect (or at least mine) so much to deal with. The one that comes up most often is the so-called grandfather paradox -- if I go back in time and accidentally kill my grandfather, before he sleeps with my grandmother, I wouldn't exist, so how have I gone back in time in the first place? (By the way, that's not only so-called, but called in a way that's unnecessarily violent and sexist -- I can trigger the paradox by going back in time and obstructing either set of my grandparents from ever meeting. The obstruction doesn't have to be death, and I don't need to divert one of my grandfathers, it could be one of my grandmothers.) But Cosmain has a daring way of positing why this paradox would never arise.
Another favorite time-travel paradox is what I think of as the "where did it come from" paradox. A man, somewhat older than me, who looks very familiar, knocks at my door with a package. He advises me to open the package then walks away. The package contains explicit instructions on how to build a time machine. The instructions say it will take me ten years to build it, and after I build it, I need to travel ten years back in time and give myself the package. So ... where did the package and its instructions come from in the first place? That kind of paradox plays a crucial role in Novikov Windows.
Here are ten more specific elements I especially enjoyed in this novel (the enumeration reflects not where they appear in the story, but just the order I felt like putting them in): [this review continues at https://paullevinson.blogspot.com/202... ]
Because of that, I'm not going to give you any big spoilers in this review. If you haven't yet read this novel, and doubt or would like further elaboration on any of the points I make below, my best advice is: read the novel. (You can get the Kindle edition for a buck -- it's on sale -- over here.)
Now as to the narrative. It has a 19th-century flavor. In fact, important parts of the story take place back then. But more than that, its style and pace feel as if it could have been written by H. G. Wells. And it combines that ambience with all the mod-cons: 3-D printing, DNA and junk DNA, computers, and rockets all play a role.
I've said many times that I can't enjoy or take seriously any time-travel tale which ignores the paradoxes that time travel engenders, and gives the intellect (or at least mine) so much to deal with. The one that comes up most often is the so-called grandfather paradox -- if I go back in time and accidentally kill my grandfather, before he sleeps with my grandmother, I wouldn't exist, so how have I gone back in time in the first place? (By the way, that's not only so-called, but called in a way that's unnecessarily violent and sexist -- I can trigger the paradox by going back in time and obstructing either set of my grandparents from ever meeting. The obstruction doesn't have to be death, and I don't need to divert one of my grandfathers, it could be one of my grandmothers.) But Cosmain has a daring way of positing why this paradox would never arise.
Another favorite time-travel paradox is what I think of as the "where did it come from" paradox. A man, somewhat older than me, who looks very familiar, knocks at my door with a package. He advises me to open the package then walks away. The package contains explicit instructions on how to build a time machine. The instructions say it will take me ten years to build it, and after I build it, I need to travel ten years back in time and give myself the package. So ... where did the package and its instructions come from in the first place? That kind of paradox plays a crucial role in Novikov Windows.
Here are ten more specific elements I especially enjoyed in this novel (the enumeration reflects not where they appear in the story, but just the order I felt like putting them in): [this review continues at https://paullevinson.blogspot.com/202... ]
September 22, 2023
Started as 4 stars and gradually went down
Started well. I like time travel stories and how to deal with paradox but this book kept heaping paradox upon paradox while getting caught up on the minutiae of the characters lives. You know the movies from 60s and 70s where the plot requires the character to go somewhere and the movie spends many minutes driving, pulling up to the house, getting out and walking to the door, ringing the bell etc. Then by the 80s it was enough to park and walk to the door and now we just cut to the door opening and our guy entering the house. Well this book spends too much time preparing breakfast and having bbqs. Let's move the Action along. By the middle of the book I was fatigued and started skipping chapters and then finally just skipped to the end. No paradoxes were resolved, no joy in finishing this interminable story.
The writer is good, he makes you care about the characters and their emotions but the book could have been half as long and the time loops less loopy. All thru the book the past and future were set and immutable yet they weren't. The time machine was only built because the future got the plans from the past and sent back the parts. Mush! My brain was Mush trying to follow the logic of closed time-like loops. People were their own Father and so on. Not an enjoyable read, though it started well.
Started well. I like time travel stories and how to deal with paradox but this book kept heaping paradox upon paradox while getting caught up on the minutiae of the characters lives. You know the movies from 60s and 70s where the plot requires the character to go somewhere and the movie spends many minutes driving, pulling up to the house, getting out and walking to the door, ringing the bell etc. Then by the 80s it was enough to park and walk to the door and now we just cut to the door opening and our guy entering the house. Well this book spends too much time preparing breakfast and having bbqs. Let's move the Action along. By the middle of the book I was fatigued and started skipping chapters and then finally just skipped to the end. No paradoxes were resolved, no joy in finishing this interminable story.
The writer is good, he makes you care about the characters and their emotions but the book could have been half as long and the time loops less loopy. All thru the book the past and future were set and immutable yet they weren't. The time machine was only built because the future got the plans from the past and sent back the parts. Mush! My brain was Mush trying to follow the logic of closed time-like loops. People were their own Father and so on. Not an enjoyable read, though it started well.
August 16, 2024
One of the best, or simply the best, time travel books I have ever read. It stretches in an attempt to lay a scientific underpinning to time travel methodology and technology, and certainly qualifies as hard scifi. Common time travel issues like direction of travel through time, restraints on influence on past events and even if we have free will were key to the story. No spoilers though, the details are better left to the story.
The effects of time travel on the characters themselves was a major theme of the story. Given the plot complexity I appreciated the author's simple writing style, and especially liked the pace of character introductions. Although there were quite a few characters in the book, the introductions never became a burden to keep up with, and as a result I felt like I knew them better than if introductions were all crammed in a short space. I cared for almost all of characters by the end of the book.
The effects of time travel on the characters themselves was a major theme of the story. Given the plot complexity I appreciated the author's simple writing style, and especially liked the pace of character introductions. Although there were quite a few characters in the book, the introductions never became a burden to keep up with, and as a result I felt like I knew them better than if introductions were all crammed in a short space. I cared for almost all of characters by the end of the book.
November 8, 2024
I liked parts of it, but felt there was a large plot hole.
The basis of the book is that there is only a single, pre-determined, time line, which means the past is fixed, with no free will or ability to change past events. However, a major part of the book is also devoted to a person going back in time to kill a historical figure, and others trying to stop him...but if the past is fixed, the fact that they know about the historical figure in the future means that any trip back to kill that figure would be doomed to fail, so there us no need to worry about stopping the would be killer. The others in the future would just say "what an idiot" and move on, knowing the deterministic timeline would prevent any change to the life of the historical figure.
The basis of the book is that there is only a single, pre-determined, time line, which means the past is fixed, with no free will or ability to change past events. However, a major part of the book is also devoted to a person going back in time to kill a historical figure, and others trying to stop him...but if the past is fixed, the fact that they know about the historical figure in the future means that any trip back to kill that figure would be doomed to fail, so there us no need to worry about stopping the would be killer. The others in the future would just say "what an idiot" and move on, knowing the deterministic timeline would prevent any change to the life of the historical figure.
October 2, 2024
review of Novikov Windows by Chris Cosmain
This is a very interesting time travel book. It’s not your normal time travel novel. In this story people can’t just travel easily like most other novels of time travel. And you can only travel to the past and then it’s very limited at that. Very interesting cast of characters along with what is considered right or wrong dealing with past and not interfering with famous people from the past. All I can say is you have to read this book and decide for yourself what if.
This is a very interesting time travel book. It’s not your normal time travel novel. In this story people can’t just travel easily like most other novels of time travel. And you can only travel to the past and then it’s very limited at that. Very interesting cast of characters along with what is considered right or wrong dealing with past and not interfering with famous people from the past. All I can say is you have to read this book and decide for yourself what if.
December 22, 2023
A brilliant read. Packed with twists and turns - this book will keep you engaged the entire time. The story unravels itself in an intriguing fashion. The time travel paradoxes will leave you thinking for hours. The characters are rich and varied. The writing is phenomenal and metaphors and very clever. There is even that touch of romance for variety.
There are plot twists that I did not anticipate whilst reading, but are so obvious in hindsight! Very clever!
There are plot twists that I did not anticipate whilst reading, but are so obvious in hindsight! Very clever!
February 22, 2025
Paradox upon paradox upon paradox. I found the premise of time travel to be handled rather uniquely. In a rather oblique way, the book reminded me of one of my favourite stories, The Mezzanine. Where the latter takes left and right turns via copious footnotes (narrative asides, really) the ways in which this story headed in unexpectedly new directions kept me in my toes. This was my first venture back into sci-fi in a long time and I quite enjoyed the diversion.
September 20, 2023
Complex, fascinating near-future time travel epic
Completely absorbing. Complex plot, intricately woven. Memorable characters. Would make a good movie. While I disagree with the author's worldview, I enjoyed this novel and recommend it.
Completely absorbing. Complex plot, intricately woven. Memorable characters. Would make a good movie. While I disagree with the author's worldview, I enjoyed this novel and recommend it.
September 22, 2023
Quite a good book actually. I love the whole time travel theme. I skipped over the sex scenes because I don't think that they are necessary. Only one person cussed, so I ignored her for the most part. I do have questions, though. For starters, who exactly is Aaron Carter?
September 10, 2025
Very clever take on the time travel trope. Scientists are recruited to an Australian farm that hides their work on time travel technology. People are sent into low Earth orbit to connect with black holes.
Ingenious idea dragged on at the end in order to resolve all the loose ends.
Ingenious idea dragged on at the end in order to resolve all the loose ends.
October 20, 2023
Well written with an intricate evolving puzzle to the end! Fast pace and kept me reading!
January 11, 2025
Oh my, what an amazing read and experience. This book should be a series on television.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews