Future Proof

by David Atkinson

What would you do if you could go back in time and change your life? Which regrets and mistakes would you fix? What would your life look like now?

In Future Proof an experimental medical treatment goes wrong which allows Sam Harris to do exactly that. He starts by standing up to the kids who bullied him at school and then sets about trying to fix the mess he made of the rest of his life. However, as he discovers, changing his past doesn’t always guarantee a brighter future.

Buckle up for a bumpy fun filled ride of what if’s and second chances. Winner of the Page Turner Awards 2022 Genre Award, Future Proof is a romantic comedy/drama filled with love, tears and laughter with an accompanying original musical soundtrack.

Future Proof the book is accompanied by Future Proof the album and will be readily available on all the usual streaming platforms, Spotify, Apple Music, etc. from January 16th 2023. Each song has been specifically written to correspond to a key point in the book and I hope it will enhance the overall reading experience. The album is to be found either under the album name or by searching Memerine. If that all fails, then you can find all eight songs free to listen to, with some accompanying videos on the YouTube page of Collective Charm Records.

Genres: Science Fiction Fantasy, Adventure, Fiction, Time Travel, Ebooks, Speculative Fiction, Epic

316 pages, Paperback

First published January 16, 2023

About the author

David Atkinson is an Edinburgh based writer. His first Romantic Comedy Love Byte published by Buried River Press (Joffe Books) was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelist Association award. The follow up book SQUEEZED was well received as was The Second Live of Nathan Jones, published by One More Chapter an imprint of Harper Collins.

His latest novel Future Proof has been notching up 4 & 5* reviews. Future Proof has already won the Page Turner Genre award (December 2022) and promises to be something a little different.

To sign up for author updates, newsletters, special offers and some exciting news, or if you just to say hello or ask a question please drop a quick email to: collectivecharmbooks@gmail.co

Reviews

[MBenzz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good, extremely readable time travel story. It was easy to follow (for the most part) and didn't bog itself down with crazy over-explanations or medical/techno mumbo-jumbo.

Sam's many journeys through time to try and make a happy and peaceful life for himself and his family were quite the adventure and, at times, incredibly sad. I'm so glad I read this! It's one of the better books I've read this year!

[Chloe Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hi everyone
I love books; they provide a wonderful escape from reality, which I sometimes need. My book of the year is Future Proof by David Atkinson.

This is one of those books that catches you off guard - you don't expect it to grab you, but it does, it definitely does.

I'll try and avoid spoilers - The story starts with Sam Harris, aged 40, being evicted from his flat - he's grossly overweight, unemployed and probably depressed. A social worker gets him onto an experimental medical research programme, and he's given board and lodging in return for participating.

Then the fun begins - the medical injections they give him, which are supposed to fix faulty genes damaged throughout his life, actually propel him back into his past where the damage to the gene occurred. (none of the medical staff realise this of course).

From there, you won't be able to put the book down as the story weaves a brilliant path between Sam, his childhood sweetheart Luci, and a cast of secondary characters that are just brilliant. Yes, there are some time-travel elements, but the sci-fi is low-key with no big explanations around paradoxes and crazy changes to timelines and stuff. It's all very focused on Sam and Luci and the effect these changes have on their relationship as Sam goes back and forth from his past to his present.

What I particularly loved was the trips to the past were very brief, which means he doesn't have a chance to change that much, and it's the subtle alterations and the effect they have on him and Luci that are so addictive.

I have to say this is my book of the year and the best book with time travel in it that I have EVER read, and I've read most of them.

[T. E. Avery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time travel with a different spin.

I couldn't wait for the next chapter. This is a remarkable and exciting story that anyone who enjoys the thought of traveling back in time will especially appreciate.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for a time travel novel (unless it involves kilts) so when I saw this on Kindle Unlimited I was intrigued.

Sam Harris has probably reached the lowest point in his life. Over forty, overweight, being evicted from his grotty flat, single, unemployed. His social worker however has got him a place on a six week in-house experimental mental health treatment. During the treatment the doctors will attempt to reset his genome through drug therapy combined with the more traditional therapy therapy (for want of a better description). However, when Sam is given the injections they take him back in time to traumatic incidents from his past, looking at events from the point of view of a forty-year old man gives him better coping mechanisms/the tools to change things - so on his first 'journey' he stands up to three little boys who bullied and humiliated him, he was able to articulate the bullying to the head teacher and point out the fallacy in one father's argument when he attempted to claim it wasn't bullying but a game/accident. When Sam awakes only three hours have elapsed in the present, but he is miraculously seven stone lighter. No one else sees any difference in Sam's appearance, his actions in the past have changed the future.

Each treatment addresses a different event from Sam's past, a trauma, or a deep regret and the treatment allows him to fix his mistakes, confront the bully, invest in tech stocks, etc.

This has elements of the film The Butterfly Effect, it also sort of reminded me of the film About Time - probably now I think about it, because both involve time travelling within the individual's own lifetime rather than back to Victorian times or the Dark Ages.

Anyway, it was different, and funny, and clever, and a love story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

[Lora B Weems · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting take on time travel

I began reading this book because I'd read all of the Middle Falls books that Shawn Inmon has written so far. Future Proof was highly recommended by folks for whom I have a lot of respect.

It's well-written. I didn't listen to the music that the author recommended; so I may or may not have missed out.

Do try this book, though; in my opinion, you will be glad you did.

[Rick Hyland · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lack of variation in the character decsription (90% of the women seem to be beautiful), but there's also a really enjoyable exploration of the butterfly effect, so if you like a good time travel yarn, give this a whirl.

[dalton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting, fun story from up north.

Time travel stories are my favourite genre, and this one didn't disappoint. It went about things in a very unique way, which is very refreshing. I also loved the fact that it was written by a Brit with lots of modern references. Just made it feel more cosy for me.

[Tony]

It must be very difficult finding the time, energy, dedication and talent to create something as marvellous as a book.

It must therefore be completely devastating to read that someone has trashed it and called it dreadful, giving it no stars.

So I won’t.

So it goes.

[Thom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wish fulfillment that didn't agree with me

This story is more wish fulfilment than time travel. It is directly comparable to Keith Pearson's The '86 Fix or Ken Grimwood's Replay, where the main characters change their lives. In those books, a moral perspective is a strong consideration. Future Proof's main character Sam thinks about this a little towards the end of the story, but mostly prioritizes his own situation over anyone else.

Descriptions of early trauma and Sam's tough life are uncomfortable to read. Luci goes from a childhood acquaintance to a friend to a wife over the various "lives", but the chemistry is lacking. Contrast this with King's 11/22/63 or Sakurazaka's All You Need Is Kill (aka Edge of Tomorrow), where the authors deliver that chemistry in their writing.

I listened to the audiobook version, and reader Alex Lee did a great job bringing the characters to life. Author David Atkinson also contributed songs in the story, Luci's way of sharing her feelings with Sam. I didn't like the individual songs, but props to the author for the idea. Guessing those were just poetry or lyrics in other versions of the book?

Let's talk about a rating. In goodreads parlance, this book was somwhere between "ok" (2) and "good" (3) for me. I'd be inclined to round up for the audiobook, but...

A word about other reviews for this book. I've read more than 1700 books since joining goodreads, reviewing most, and have read plenty of reviews of other books. Most of the reviews for this book had a curious style that I rarely see - a bold line at the top of the review, followed by plain text. I copied that style for this review, but don't plan to continue it.

The majority of these one bold sentence reviews (102 of 134) were five stars. While surveying these 5 star reviews, I noticed that average ratings of these reviewers was usually greater than 4.5. The lowest rating of these one bold sentence reviews was 3 stars, and there were only 4 of them. There are certainly other reviews that don't fit this style, and these vary over all 5 of the goodreads star ratings - but this portion is in the minority.

[Layla · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 60%

I'm very very bored

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story started out well and the premise is an interesting thought experiment. But like some of the other readers I was fairly bored by about the half way mark. I did finish it, but my response at the end was “meh”.

Any plausible foundation of the time travel idea was basically absent. Two injections of unknown substance and bam, you’re a time traveller. No one knows why or how.

Aside from that, this book definitely needs an editor. There were SO many mistakes in the writing—glaring, obvious ones that weren’t typos but rather discontinuities in the sentences themselves (subject/object mismatches, etc).

Oh, and basically every woman in the story is giggling constantly. Someone should do a count of how many times the phrase “she giggled” shows up.

Like I said before… “meh”.

[Fancy]

dnf. found the MC unsympathetic.

[Tobias SB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Idk what kind of ending I expected but the one I got was a little boring. Doesn’t take away from the other 95% which were beautiful

[Lily Trombly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overall

A unique take on time travel. Very sad at times, but overall a good read. Would recommend if you like the genre

[kathleen r. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have rated it 3 stars, but I down-rated to two for the simple reason that it's a flat, non-relatable tale. Is it magic? Hocus-pocus? Plant energy that synthesizes time? How does that work?
There's just no explanation of any sort of science. It's a rather dull MC who finds time for nothing in his life but self pity, fast and junk food and staring at TV. (Rather like millions of citizens now existing in RL).
But how did any of this happen in the first place? How did his returning to his 4th grade self affect his 40 year old self? What pulled the mysterious cord that made all of this just take place, so that the loser becomes the winner, the bankrupt becomes the millionaire, the obese slob becomes the gym bunny....nah. Not buying any of it.
If the MC had been at all likeable, it might have worked better, IMO.
I've been a practicing mental health professional for 40 years, and this is the first time I have ever heard of "Epigenetic Protein Compounds" that originate in the sultry waters and island dominions of the South Seas. It's an intriguing concept, but not likely to ever be a realization in clinical practice.

I didn't dislike the story, it was ambitiously oxymoronic; but I probably would have enjoyed it more if there's been a shred of science, at least a theory, involved. So, as a work of fiction, I would have to say it's really a stretch of imagination and therefore, has a limited market and reader attraction draw.
Now. Format. Good lord, was there a format? I noted several other reviewers remarked the same, that it might have been AI or kindle programmed, but in some sense, even the electronic world of printing fiction has to have some human input. This desperately needs an editor and a program analyst to make it less confusing. It could also benefit from a strong input by a skilled copywriter, as some of the text is just run on and stunningly stupid.

It is filled, over-burdened with grammar, tense, verb/subject issues, and I thought it would have helped if the author troubled himself to do a final review and proof, rather than trust a literacy tutorial to do the work for him. It's a lazy way to get something that just isn't readable into the mass market of e-publishing.
Sadly, the errors take a huge amount of pleasure away from the overall complexity of the text. I was kept busy correcting the grammar and syntax, rather than trying to keep a confusing and at times, senseless narrative together.
For me, that means this is merely 2 stars, and I really don't recommend it. Unless you're very bored.

[Austin R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started out really enjoying the book. But upon finishing I was less than satisfied. It was a cute book, and having the hindsight of what kind of story it was trying to tell I can appreciate it for what it is. But I really wanted it to go somewhere more challenging. It has interesting ideas, but it ends before it can explore them in anyway I found meaningful. Could be a me-issue. I just felt the mechanics in the story weren’t explored in a way that challenged the characters or the audience. I didn’t feel there was any real growth. Ultimately this book had ideas that do a good job of getting my mind to wander about its themes, but the presentation of them within the context of this story felt underdeveloped and too safe/naive. It feels like one long shallow shower-thought put to paper.

**spoilers until the end **

I was annoyed the story just became the main character repeatedly retroactively fixing his life, never having to actually apply anything he learns (if he learned anything at all). If you can go back in time and fix the glaringly obvious mistakes you made, it’s really boring and doesn’t really show any growth for the character. He never had to learn how to be a better person, or deal with anything in the present tense. It’s not noticeable that he changes much about himself since the beginning other than fixing individual moments. In the moments he returns to fix things, it’s not challenging for him to do so. Since he knew how poorly things go, it is obvious what he needs to do/say to fix things.

The only thing I could say he might have was not taking his wife for granted. And obviously he learned to not take his wife for granted in the end but 1) who wouldn’t after having them die and 2) he always seemed like he did in the first place, save for the one timeline where he cheated on her. He never actively took her for granted during the story, just mentions a couple moments where he did, but those versions of him were so detached from the character’s present point of view.

This got more rant-y than I anticipated, but as I’m writing this I might knock another star off my score.

Also, the accompanying album feels very silly. The tone of the songs don’t really feel like they match with the portions of the book they correspond to. Maybe that’s just me.

[Peggy Phillips · Rating 1 out of 5]

***SPOILERS**
Initially the book drew me in with Sam Harris and what living with severe depression looks like. His rock bottom is about as rock bottom as you can get and I couldn't help but quickly become vested in wanting more for him, something to help him at least begin to feel better. But that interest ended fairly quickly.

I found Sam's first trip back in time to be fascinating. Looking at his young world through the eyes of a grown man. Wouldn't it be wonderful to go back to those times when we were at our weakest, and the most fearful, and change the path of our future simply by feeling empowered? He did just that and the way he spoke to his teacher and principal, that was funny stuff. And that was about it when it came to anything being humorous.

I began losing interest in the story at about 1/4 of the way through. It just seemed to become a bit tedious and definitely predictable. I did mention spoilers so you've been warned....Sam ultimately gets the life that he wanted. He gets the beautiful wife and family, the nice, loose ends tied up perfectly, happy ending. But I don't care for this outcome. Again, it was just so darned predictable and I never felt Sam had to work for, or earn, the gift of change that he was given. He even ends up well off because (unsurprisingly) he made investments in companies that he knew in the future would do well.

And finally, I do not have a scientific background, and did read in the acknowledgements why the author cut back on the scientific details but, I think too many details were skimmed over and made the procedure seem even less plausible.

Overall I was disappointed and bored with this book.

[Steve822]

First off, I really enjoyed the story, it had me hooked and turning (well, pressing) the pages. The mechanics of the time travel eluded me, but it's a time travel story, so it doesn't need to make factual sense.

It's only after reading it, in that pondering time when the story sinks in, that I realised I didn't like the main character. I couldn't figure out why all these intelligent, attractive women (they were all stunningly good looking) were attracted to such a man, especially the amber eyed Luci. He just seemed colourless and self-centred.
They had lots of sex, not written in a graphic way, but very often and all through their relationship at a drop of a hat. This and the description of his daughter cuddling a toy cat to "her ample bosom" almost bordered on what I thought was male fantasy fiction. I'll stand corrected if female readers disagree.
His lack of apparent remorse (or any guilt that Dr. Janice or Janis must have felt knowing the victims) regarding the 100's killed in the typhoon he knew would happen, just didn't sit well. But it was alright since he bunged them some money for the disaster fund.
He just seemed selfish (after all, the only reason he warned Dr Janice was so she wouldn't die and he would be denied the home brew). A bit close to the bone was the note to future self that his children shouldn't into Ariana Grande , thus, they wouldn't get involved in the Manchester bombing. He didn't think of trying to stop it and save other fathers the heartache of losing a child. Like I said, I know it's fiction, but I didn't like Sam.
The author mentioned a sequel, I don't know if he has done one, but please don't. Just leave it. The book stands well by itself. There is a law of diminishing returns.

[Ashwin Dongre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. Having been reading Shawn Inmon's Middle Falls series, I have been getting saturated with the pattern of the stories. I have been spotting few patterns in the series which I felt could be easily remedied and should be too. Future Proof takes care of one of them quite nicely. In MF I have been saying that the protagonists take way too long to change, they make changes in their characters, and other things in personalities between multiple lives. However, in real life they dont take so much time. It often happens in less than a decade in most of the cases, and I'm talking big, life-altering changes. Such as becoming athiest, fall out of love, learn new skills to change the line of profession, get over big disputes, even between families. None of those happens in a single life in MF books, they take at least one life per change with a gap of at least 25 years. This book handles it properly.
I don't know why so many reviews said that this book is funny or character is funny. It wasn't and he wasn't. What's more, the voice artist made him sound sad, depressed most of the time.
That brings me to the narration. Why a female voice for a male protagonist's story. That's where they went wrong. Don't get me wrong, not being sexist here. And she is very talented. Did good voice modulations for different characters and good expressions. But she fails to bring out Sam's character so well. She does bring out Lucy nicely! Loved that character.
Anyways, I may reread this in future. I'd recommend this to time travel story fans.

[Abigail Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Future Proof by David Atkinson:

I loved this book; I truly did. It was one of those moments when I finished it that I was almost weeping. Then, when I moved on to my next book, by an incredibly famous author (I won’t name them as I don’t do that), I was comparing it to Future Proof, and it just isn’t anywhere near as good, despite having over 12k great reviews.

I won’t spoil this for anyone, but seriously, you’d have to be incredibly fussy not to love this book. The time travel mechanism is brilliant, I’ve never read anything like this before, an ingenious idea and not overdone, just enough to make it fascinating. The characters are a joy, Sam & Luci are just so well-suited and the secondary female characters just pull it all together in a satisfying way. You feel like you know them, and they became my friends over the course of the story. (That does sound like I need to get out more, but it's true.)

A book filled with love and laughter, with a few pages of heartbreak and comedy to keep you on your toes. A wonderful twist near the end had me second-guessing myself for the resolution, and the ending was perfect.

You don’t need to like time-travel books to love this; you simply need to love great writing and brilliant characters. And yes it's romantic....

[Mike Cheng · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of my favorite sayings is “In hell you meet the person you could have been.” This short work of fiction is about a man who is given several mulligans by going back in time to correct past issues to improve his life, thereby making it “future proof”. Sam Harris is, in nearly every aspect of his life, an ostensible failure: no friends or family; bankrupt with massive debt; unkept and overweight; and suicidal. Through his social worker Sam is placed into a novel epigenetic treatment program which is supposed to repair his emotional trauma. What happens instead is that his 40 year old mind (with all the knowledge, intelligence, and emotional awareness) is sent back in time (elementary school, high school, a young college graduate, etc.) to relive and correct key moments of his past self. Great premise, and probably something most of us daydream / fantasize about. (Chuck Klosterman says as much in his short essay “Out of Time”.) However and imo, the story quickly becomes one-dimensional by making the entire plot center around Sam’s lost love Luci, and his do-overs to save and win her back (somewhat akin to the Tom Cruise / Emily Blunt movie, Edge of Tomorrow).

[Paul Chadwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good read, better than expected

When I started reading this book, I wasn't sure that I'd like it or even finish reading it. But having always been a fan of time travel, I decided to plug on and continue reading. I was soon rewarded with an interesting story, and I never regretted the time spent. In the next to last iteration of Sam's story, I grew disappointed, as despite his multiple efforts, his life had turned out for the worse. But that was just a setup for his final chance to correct all that had gone wrong. And it made the end result much better.

Much of the science fiction I read is written in an arc that continues across multiple books, which means there's often another book I can read and continue to enjoy without having to learn new characters and situations. But it's also good to read a single book which comes to a happy conclusion, and this is an excellent example of the latter. I highly recommend this book!

[David Strover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Future Proof is a novel based on what a lot of us old duffers think whilst were are in our downtime, I wonder what I would do if I could go back to when I was young and would I change the way I behaved?

Here David Atkinson does this and makes an interesting, fun and intriguing novel about this simple concept. His characters are interesting, none without flaws, but not 'gits' either and because of this you can invest and throughout I wanted the protagonist to succeed. You'll have to read this fine book if you want to find out how the story based on 'what if? Idle pondering' turns out.

Well-written, believable characters, placed into a nutty and unbelievable situation, this is the type of story you can get very, very wrong, I am pleased to say for me, David Atkinson didn't.

You can see this is the type of story that some TV exec will latch onto, or even a filmmaker and utterly ruin. Watch this space.

[Jodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great concept, that of being able to travel back into the past and have a redo on incidents that made an impact on your life. What would I change? How would it affect my life today? I actually believe that the experiences of my past, either negative or positive, contribute to make me the person I am today. If I could change my past... That's what makes this such a great book. You can see a broken man and through his eyes the things that contributed to his brokeness. But each time he changes something there is a change in his present self as well. Future Proof follows Sam as he tries to remedy things that adversely affected him in the past. It's at times sad, and frustrating, and exhilerating when Sam fixes something that went awry. At times I found myself rooting for Sam to finally get it right, while cursing him for screwing up again only to have to go back and try to fix the new problem. It's a conundrum. Past affecting present, and vice versa. A great read.

[Mitch Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not to put too fine a point on this, but I am left virtually speechless.

As a preamble, I've always considered myself a "cheap date." Having said that though, that description is probably 180○ off from my feelings after reading this very interesting book. This has been an all-nighter. The characters in this story are going to resonate with me in my head for quite a while.

Who's to say none of this is possible? Or, to put it another way - impossible? I prefer to take the leap of faith. This is a well written story of a man who is initially described as a "loser." What a bit of misdirection! I was hooked after the first few pages. It completely immersed me in the storyline.

I don't know if the word "comedy" applies. However, it is well worth the investment in time it takes to digest this story.

[Slago Twintigamour · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wild ride to an unexpected destination!
Disclaimer: I’ve been such a fan of David Atkinson’s work ever since reading the opening chapter of Love Byte and being reduced to tears.
Future Proof (how does he come up with these titles?) doesn’t disappoint. Sam, who seems to have made every mistake possible (in modern day suburban Britain, anyway), has our sympathy from the start and drags us along through all the twists and turns of his life – a journey facilitated by the unexpected side-effects of an experimental medical treatment intended to repair his broken DNA.
No spoilers, but repairing your life is no easier than fixing your DNA. It’s a wild ride, drawn with humour, warmth and compassion. Thoroughly recommended.

[Paul Eastley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow... What an awesome book. One of the best I've read in possibly years. It had me from the start and wouldn't let go. The premise being that "Sam Harris" has medical treatment that when administered takes him back in time, this being unbeknown to the medical team who are treating him for something entirely different. Now let's say that when he's in a state of unconsciousness, (Or is he) he tries to fix the mistakes he's made in the past. Once you arrive at that point in the book, I doubt you'll be able to put it down. There are some very funny bits within this story, but I'd never say it was a comedy. Maybe a love story, but nothing like a love story you've read before. This is time travel at its best.

[Melanie Bartlett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gripping read

I enjoyed this story and the main character who seemed to have the worst luck in the world!

Sam’s starts off as an overweight victim of continuous bad luck looked after by a social worker and then manages to change his circumstances with an experimental treatment.

It was interesting to read about the points in his life that caused him to make bad choices. Not everyone gets a chance to redo the past like Sam.

I enjoyed the idea of time travel. It was quite complicated and I found myself wondering how the writer could keep track of all the changes. There were some points where I thought there might be some paradox but it was a page turner so I didn’t really mind.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

When reading I've learnt to accept a premise and read on. So, I accepted the premise or core idea of this book and built on it, as the story evolved.

It seemed an original and interesting idea, being able to go back in your life and fix the things that went wrong or didn't work well. Rather like the film, About Time though more complex here in David Atkinson's novel.

We tend to forget, in reading something, all the author's background work and how they will have spent time constructing the narrative and timelines (several in this book) of their characters.

Anyway, 4-stars from me and I am tempted to give it 5-stars. I'll ponder that and come back later. A really original and slightly complicated storyline but I hung on and read it all! Good stuff!!! Very good stuff indeed!!!!!

[David C. Neal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where to begin... Or maybe I have already begun

This was such an amazing story that it robbed me of several hours of sleep when I kept saying "Just one more chapter!". The story itself, not to mention the creation of such realistic and well written characters deserves more than five stars. Mr. Atkinson's has created, in this story, a peek inside the world of a man who battled time, and fate, multiple times in order to hold onto the life and loves that held his world together. I admit to feeling a lot of different emotions while enjoying this book (yes, even a tear or three). I'm looking forward to returning to Sam's world soon. In the meantime, here are a few more stars to go along with the first five.....⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐