A Summer in Amber

by C. Litka

Thirty-six years before this particular summer, the sun sent the first of a long series of powerful solar storms earthwards. These storms wrought havoc on the world's electrical grid, fried it's computers, crashed the data clouds, and made radios, TVs, and cell phones useless. Over the course of a few weeks, the world found itself back in the 19th century. England survived the ensuing chaos and found a way to live under this newly restless sun. But it's a different England. A quieter, slower England with an eclectic mix of old and new – of steam trains and advanced ultra light electric vehicles, solar panels on the roof, grass growing in the crumbling motorways. Bicycles filling the streets dodging horse drawn drays. A national fibre optic grid delivers phone calls, TV and the info-net to every household, while jumble shops on High Street recycle the surplus consumer goods of the vanished 21st century world.

Alasandr Say, a newly minted Phd in nano-technology, returns to the Cavendish Lab in Cambridge for a year's post-doctoral research only to find plans have changed. Instead of his research work, he's to be sent to the highland estate of a wealthy patron to decipher what's left of the handwritten papers of an eccentric inventor, papers which may describe an invention lost in the chaos of the Storms. This device is thought to enable the efficient transmission of electricity without wires over great distances. Since the world is now unable to use long lines to transmit power, these handwritten, waterlogged, and mouse chewed pages hold the promise of rebuilding the lost 21st century. Fearing word reaching his commercial rivals, the wealthy patron wants the transcription done in absolute secrecy on his remote Scottish estate, and despite Say's objections, he finds himself in the highlands three days later.

A Summer in Amber tells the story of “Sandy” Say's summer in the Scottish highlands, where, 'beyond the pale' as Say describes it, he discovers a land of powerful storms and strange electrical phenomena linked to ancient legends. He faces deadly danger and finds a girl as fey as the highland glens, making for a summer he'll never forget. A Summer in Amber is an old fashioned, light hearted tale of mystery, adventure, and romance.

298 pages, ebook

First published April 23, 2015

About the author

I write romances. Romances in the old meaning of the word; that meaning being an adventure novel set in exotic locales, remote from everyday life. The fact that I set my stories in the future and in imaginary locales mean that they can be classified as science fiction, but what I really write are first person narratives that feature likable, modern characters, in lighthearted, realistic adventures, told with humor and a bit of that other type of romance as well.

In my teen years I read hundreds of science fiction books and since then many other types of novels; detective and mysteries, humor, adventure, military, sea stories, as well as light literary fiction, many of which were written in the first half of the last century. Having lived a perfectly ordinary and, thankfully, an uneventful life. these are the stories that have shaped the style and themes of my own stories,

I live in a small Wisconsin city. I’ve been married for as long as I can remember, with two grown children and a couple of grandchildren. Besides writing, I paint impressionist landscapes and ride my bike each day, outside when it’s warm and inside during long the Wisconsin winters with the bike on a stand next to a window.

Reviews

[Hy Tran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not quite steampunk, not quite science fiction. No zombies (thank goodness!). It's a sort-of-romance, and there's a bit of office/academic politics (where the politics are so nasty because the stakes are so small...)

Well written with engaging characters.

[Ann Thompson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful

This was the dullest book I have ever read. Even though it was set in the future the dialogue was so old fashioned it was unbelievable. The story line didn't go anywhere and the love story was also not of a future century and dull.

[Michael Flournoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A non-dystopian future. Society has had to shift but didn't collapse. No zombies. No ravaging bands of gun toting cut-throats. Just your basic sci-fi romance with bicycles, dirt roads, and trout streams. And a little electrical weirdness. I loved it.

[Bill Ramsell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting premise. Likeable characters. Slightly disappointing denouement. I will be looking for more books by this author.

[Heather Samsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this to be a very good read. A little romance and a some end of the world etc. Found it quite enjoyable!!

[Scott Sammons · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well done!

In this book Litka takes the reader down a wonderfully twisting path with a sweet romance, mild mystery, sci-fi fantasy, and fairy tale all rolled in one. There are somewhat rougher editing edges than in other Litka stories I've read. (all minor bowls loosened when bowels were intended etc.) Regardless of those minor rough edges the story, pacing, characters, etc are all extremely tight and well written.

I particularly wish to thank the author for introducing me to the fairytale Thomas the Rhymer. Despite believing myself to be rather well read, and fond of early English folk tales, Arthurian legends and the like, I had somehow missed the many stories of Thomas the Rhymer until this introduction. He used nice parallels without going as full bore as a lessor writer may have done.

[Audrey Driscoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is described by its author as a science fiction novel of adventure and romance. It's set in a world whose technology is a mixture of the 19th and 21st centuries as a result of solar storms and an unstable sun. People dress in antiquated outfits but carry devices called "watsons" that resemble smart phones. Transportation is by rail, bicycle, foot, and horse, with a few relic petrol-fueled cars and ultralight electric vehicles. Depopulation has resulted in empty countrysides, with houses repurposed as animal shelters. The world, especially in the highlands of Scotland where the story takes place, has been rewilded. This aspect of the novel is captivating and Romantic in the literary sense.
Sandy Say is an engaging character, as is his personal situation -- a physicist with a new PhD, hired by a humorless industrialist to do a top secret summer job in an enchanting locale. Sandy is carrying a torch for an ex-girlfriend, but gradually (very gradually) acquires a new torch for the daughter of the humorless industrialist. This relationship develops during a lot (and I mean a LOT) of scenes featuring fly-fishing and bicycle riding. One fishing/biking scene is succeeded by another, taking up at least half the book. I like slow-burn stories with an intriguing premise, but I have to say I found these repetitious scenes a bit trying.
But the intriguing premise -- an abandoned laboratory that may actually be a gate to the Otherworld, intense lightning storms, St. Elmo's fire, a scientific secret in a dead engineer's notes, and the possibility that said engineer had been transformed into some sort of electrically charged wizard. That was what kept me reading, long after the charming but lukewarm romance palled.
I found the use of tense to be somewhat unstable in spots, shifting from past to present and back again within a paragraph. I suspect the author's original idea may have been to write the novel in the form of a journal kept by Say, but then shifting to a past tense narrative and forgetting to adjust the parts that read like a journal.

[Eric Juneau · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pastoral regency romance. Takes place in an alternate 1900 where there's cell phones but no cars. A Ph.D. is assigned to a quaint country house to transcribe a mad scientist's papers. But more important, the tempestuous daughter of the town's leader is catching his eye. She's a good character, as is the main character's cantankerous boss. But other than that, a lot of them don't have distinguishable personalities.

The prose is influenced by Jasper Fforde's slipstream, but the science fiction elements have no bearing on what happens. Nothing moves the goalposts back. The main character always has his antagonist in the palm of his hand, so there's no tension. I liked the fantastical elements, I wished there could have been more of them. The romance is the best part, and thankfully that's the main part of the plot.

The biggest flaw is that all it does it explain what's happening. There's no chance for the reader to make his/her own interpretations on motivations or character flaws. It has that early 20th century habit of spelling out everything that's happening for the reader. Not in an amateur way -- the story sounds professional -- but it means there's no element of surprise when someone's backstory comes to the foreground or a twist results. And as a result, it's hard to get invested for what's going on.

[jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant

What an unusual, intelligent read! A clever mixture of science, suspense, adventure and romance. What a shame it ended. Highly recommended!