Running Backward

by Jeremy Williams

Julian Wilson, a brilliant, African-American high school senior successfully constructs the world's first time travel device a few years after his father's death in order to see him alive again, but his younger brother, Darius, a fitness meathead and self-proclaimed ladies' man, has other plans for Julian's invention after he finds out what his nerdy sibling has been up to.At the demands of Darius, the two brothers travel farther into the past for fun and exploration, but they get more than they bargained for when they come face to face with famous black pioneers whom they've only read about in their textbooks, and after saving Rudy, a slave from the nineteenth century, by bringing him back to the present with them.Although the brothers are cautious about not changing the past, mistakes are made, history is altered, and the present is shifted in ways that even Julian's remarkable mind can't fathom, but does Julian's invention place him in a position of cosmic duty and moral responsibility? Darius seems to think so, steering the two brothers on a journey to right many wrongs, one in particular that could forever change America as we know it…

386 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 15, 2020

About the author

Jeremy Williams is an American author. Growing up as a child, he was challenged with a speech impediment, a stutter that made it difficult for him to express himself through his speaking. Born with a creative mind, he needed an outlet. As an alternative to speaking, he subconsciously focused on proper spelling and grammar, stating, "If I couldn't say it properly, my mind figured I'd better learn how to *write* it properly." He still struggles with a light stutter today, but doesn't allow it to negatively affect him.
Starting in his early twenties, Williams gained an interest in writing science fiction after taking screenwriting and film courses at Valencia College. His professors and mentors led him to not only write what he was into, but to also incorporate what he knew about real life into his fictional stories. Growing up in the black community, he became accustomed to the culture of his mother's side of his family, his father absent from his life. Williams is biracial, his mother an African-American woman, and his father a Caucasian man.
The "Running Backward" book series came as an idea to Williams after he took an African-American Humanities college course, learning of many black pioneers' lives (some of whom he was familiar, and others he'd never heard of) that profoundly impressed him. Williams is often asked why most of what he writes about is urban culture, though this subject isn't the only topic in which he's limited to writing; his response is always: "Representation matters."
Williams has also written many short stories of which will be featured in a compilation series he is set to publish in the near future. He currently resides in his hometown of Orlando, Florida.