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Pale Blue Scratch
“I would disassemble this body and cast it onto the coronal burn of the sun if it means I get answers.” Thus proclaims the determined Elisabeth Reese, journalist, professor, and joke-cracking nun working in alternate history San Francisco. She has one to rebuild a failed time machine that caused a lethal explosion during its initial demonstration.
With her reluctant protege, a young budding scientist, she searches for the machine’s plans left behind by its exiled inventor. But her pursuit is disrupted, threatened by area conflict. A faction of the deadly Al Sayf al Ahmar–the Red Sword–has been rising to power. Lead by the hulking Crazed Herald, Maalik du Mahdi, the Red Sword heed a prophecy that will culminate in a battle between two “one-armed wild men.” Du Mahdi is believed to be the first of the pair, while his counterpart could be anyone…even a small, peculiar nun from across the bay.
All Elisabeth wants is to witness the impossibility of time travel, but first she must battle the odds and fulfill the present. Part steampunk and part mystery, Pale Blue Scratch explores the conflict between the senses and logic, and the lengths one may go to resolve it.
With her reluctant protege, a young budding scientist, she searches for the machine’s plans left behind by its exiled inventor. But her pursuit is disrupted, threatened by area conflict. A faction of the deadly Al Sayf al Ahmar–the Red Sword–has been rising to power. Lead by the hulking Crazed Herald, Maalik du Mahdi, the Red Sword heed a prophecy that will culminate in a battle between two “one-armed wild men.” Du Mahdi is believed to be the first of the pair, while his counterpart could be anyone…even a small, peculiar nun from across the bay.
All Elisabeth wants is to witness the impossibility of time travel, but first she must battle the odds and fulfill the present. Part steampunk and part mystery, Pale Blue Scratch explores the conflict between the senses and logic, and the lengths one may go to resolve it.
ebook
Published September 11, 2016
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About the author
Jay DiNitto
2 books22 followersJay DiNitto is a User Experience designer living in Pittsburgh. His first proper novel, released in February of 2016, is Pale Blue Scratch, a semi-steampunk mystery about a nun who makes bad jokes, a teenage scientist, and a time machine. He has also published a book of microfiction, Bored in the Breakroom. Like every writer, he enjoys resistance training and tattoos. Read his blog at https://jaydinitto.com.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 29, 2025
Full review can be found on: diaryofdifference.com/2018/06/18/pale...
I was lucky enough to be approached by Jay DiNitto himself, and he sent me a copy of his first novel - Pale Blue Scratch in exchange for an honest review. This is a book unlike anything else I have ever read, and it left me impressed. I dearly enjoyed it, and maybe you will too.
As mentioned above, this is a book unlike any other that I have read. It is a great mix of fiction / action / fast-paced scenes / philosophy / psychology and a little bit of time-travelling.
Even though we have two main characters - Elizabeth and Vincent, this book focused more on Elizabeth, for various reasons.
There were times when the scenes were slow, and somewhat a bit dull, but there were also times when there were fast-paced scenes that make me bite my nails. Though, as a whole, I found the story to not quite fit my taste. It felt like Elizabeth didn’t have a great or a strong enough reason to do this adventure.
Elizabeth’s character - now this is something quite amusing! I have never met a character like this - so twisted in a cute hippocrytical way. A nun with an adorable sense of humor, that goes around on a mission to make a time-travel machine, and happens to hurt people on her way… I loved her character in a very weird way (don’t judge!)
Now Vincent didn’t quite hit the mark. He seemed more of a plain character, like a little copy of someone else, somewhere, once upon a time. He gave the impression of a person that, unlike Elizabeth, didn’t quite knew where he belonged and what he’s doing. It felt like it didn’t bother him at all. And that’s alright. The moment when this started to hurt me was at the end - when he didn’t change a bit.
Even though a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to read much about time-travelling as I would want to, this book was quite amusing and it covered various random topics that I quite liked. I loved that variety when one moment you talk about religion, the other moment a great action scene happens, and then here we are again, discussing life philosophy.
All in all, to sum it all up - I greatly enjoyed this book! It was definitely unusual read, and unique in every single way. And if you love fiction / action / a bit of time-travelling / humor and philosophy, this might be easily your new favourite book!
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I was lucky enough to be approached by Jay DiNitto himself, and he sent me a copy of his first novel - Pale Blue Scratch in exchange for an honest review. This is a book unlike anything else I have ever read, and it left me impressed. I dearly enjoyed it, and maybe you will too.
As mentioned above, this is a book unlike any other that I have read. It is a great mix of fiction / action / fast-paced scenes / philosophy / psychology and a little bit of time-travelling.
Even though we have two main characters - Elizabeth and Vincent, this book focused more on Elizabeth, for various reasons.
There were times when the scenes were slow, and somewhat a bit dull, but there were also times when there were fast-paced scenes that make me bite my nails. Though, as a whole, I found the story to not quite fit my taste. It felt like Elizabeth didn’t have a great or a strong enough reason to do this adventure.
Elizabeth’s character - now this is something quite amusing! I have never met a character like this - so twisted in a cute hippocrytical way. A nun with an adorable sense of humor, that goes around on a mission to make a time-travel machine, and happens to hurt people on her way… I loved her character in a very weird way (don’t judge!)
Now Vincent didn’t quite hit the mark. He seemed more of a plain character, like a little copy of someone else, somewhere, once upon a time. He gave the impression of a person that, unlike Elizabeth, didn’t quite knew where he belonged and what he’s doing. It felt like it didn’t bother him at all. And that’s alright. The moment when this started to hurt me was at the end - when he didn’t change a bit.
Even though a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to read much about time-travelling as I would want to, this book was quite amusing and it covered various random topics that I quite liked. I loved that variety when one moment you talk about religion, the other moment a great action scene happens, and then here we are again, discussing life philosophy.
All in all, to sum it all up - I greatly enjoyed this book! It was definitely unusual read, and unique in every single way. And if you love fiction / action / a bit of time-travelling / humor and philosophy, this might be easily your new favourite book!
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram | Pinterest |
July 25, 2016
Thank you to the author for the free copy of this book. I liked the idea behind the story and tried on several occasions to engage with it. However, due to what I felt was an overcomplicated writing style, and the need to consult my dictionary on several occasions, the task of reading became laborious and I was unable to gel with the book as its flow was hindered. Sadly, it has been consigned to the realms of 'book never to be finished', by me, at any rate.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews