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The Tower Quail
What would you do if you could see the future? Would you use this power for good? Could you handle the responsibility or would the strain break you? Tabitha Fowler, a teenager growing up in rural Alabama, has to face up to these questions after she is transported through time and space in a "time bounce". Tabitha discovers that her brother, Jeff, is leaving home to join the military and runs away from home and finds herself at the foot of an abandoned tower. The huge, metal structure, called the Tower Quail by locals, contains a power Tabitha's special physical characteristics unlock.
Tabitha swoons at the base of the tower and awakes at the top with no knowledge of how she got there. When she awakes, the tower is roused from its sleep and creates a field of energy which shrouds Tabitha and sends her hurtling toward the ground, bounces her through time and space, and reveals elements of her past and future that haunt her thereafter. Tabitha awakes the next day and makes her way home. Her parents, shocked and relieved at her return, tell her that she has been gone for over a month. She soon discovers her new, prophetic abilities and is plagued by them to the point of madness. Tabitha struggles with good and evil and her own life as she works out why she was given such a gift and curse. In the end, will she discover her purpose and find her voice?
Tabitha swoons at the base of the tower and awakes at the top with no knowledge of how she got there. When she awakes, the tower is roused from its sleep and creates a field of energy which shrouds Tabitha and sends her hurtling toward the ground, bounces her through time and space, and reveals elements of her past and future that haunt her thereafter. Tabitha awakes the next day and makes her way home. Her parents, shocked and relieved at her return, tell her that she has been gone for over a month. She soon discovers her new, prophetic abilities and is plagued by them to the point of madness. Tabitha struggles with good and evil and her own life as she works out why she was given such a gift and curse. In the end, will she discover her purpose and find her voice?
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
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May 8, 2014
The Tower Quail, by Joshua A. Sipper, is, from one perspective, a simple, straightforward novel. The first chapter sets up the heart of the book, introducing Tabitha Fowler, the protagonist, and letting the reader know something strange happened to her in the past. From there it goes to her past, a girl growing up in rural Alabama, and the first half of the book reads more like an autobiography than a science fiction. The Tower Quail, an abandoned tower, perhaps set up for cell phone transmission or some similar purpose is mentioned, but hardly seems relevant. At this point the reader might start to wonder how The Tower Quail could be considered a science fiction novel. Is all the material about Tabitha’s early life relevant to the story?
Yes, it is, because it helps the reader understand her behavior and mental process after she somehow reaches the top of the tower without knowing how she did, falls unharmed to the bottom of the tower, and in the process loses a month of her existence, 33 missing days no one can explain. Whatever happened to her, it causes her to start seeing events from her past and her future.
A gift? Maybe, but if so a strange one, one Tabitha doesn’t initially want. She has no control over what she sees, and the visions are so vague she can’t tell exactly what they mean or when what she foresees will take place.
A curse? Perhaps, but her prophetic ability allows her to aid other people in a number of cases, and in one situation saves her life.
Was what happened at The Tower Quail a random event caused by purely physical forces? Was a supernatural force involved? Was what happened good, evil, or a neutral fluke? Is Tabitha the tool of some mysterious power, or nothing but a person who was in the right (or wrong) place at the right (or wrong) time?
Any author will, with or without intending to, put his own beliefs and biases into a novel. This is as true in The Tower Quail as in any novel, and Sipper’s beliefs are expressed in the conclusions Tabitha eventually draws. However, Sipper is careful in how he does this. The conclusions are those of his protagonist, not carved in stone. The reader is free to draw his or her own conclusions, which may be very different from Tabitha’s. Are the questions The Tower Quail poses actually answered in the end? Tabitha thinks so. The reader may not. Reality is complicated. The complications in The Tower Quail are subtle, but they exist. One reality can’t be questioned. Something given, gift or curse, no matter how it is given, can be taken away.
While Sipper’s The Tower Quail is marketed as a science fiction, and I can’t disagree with the designation, it could as easily be considered a fantasy or a story of the supernatural. However you consider it, Joshua Sipper’s The Tower Quail is a good read.
Yes, it is, because it helps the reader understand her behavior and mental process after she somehow reaches the top of the tower without knowing how she did, falls unharmed to the bottom of the tower, and in the process loses a month of her existence, 33 missing days no one can explain. Whatever happened to her, it causes her to start seeing events from her past and her future.
A gift? Maybe, but if so a strange one, one Tabitha doesn’t initially want. She has no control over what she sees, and the visions are so vague she can’t tell exactly what they mean or when what she foresees will take place.
A curse? Perhaps, but her prophetic ability allows her to aid other people in a number of cases, and in one situation saves her life.
Was what happened at The Tower Quail a random event caused by purely physical forces? Was a supernatural force involved? Was what happened good, evil, or a neutral fluke? Is Tabitha the tool of some mysterious power, or nothing but a person who was in the right (or wrong) place at the right (or wrong) time?
Any author will, with or without intending to, put his own beliefs and biases into a novel. This is as true in The Tower Quail as in any novel, and Sipper’s beliefs are expressed in the conclusions Tabitha eventually draws. However, Sipper is careful in how he does this. The conclusions are those of his protagonist, not carved in stone. The reader is free to draw his or her own conclusions, which may be very different from Tabitha’s. Are the questions The Tower Quail poses actually answered in the end? Tabitha thinks so. The reader may not. Reality is complicated. The complications in The Tower Quail are subtle, but they exist. One reality can’t be questioned. Something given, gift or curse, no matter how it is given, can be taken away.
While Sipper’s The Tower Quail is marketed as a science fiction, and I can’t disagree with the designation, it could as easily be considered a fantasy or a story of the supernatural. However you consider it, Joshua Sipper’s The Tower Quail is a good read.
Displaying 1 of 1 review