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Fixing Your Stars
Artist Jonathan Fraser adores his wife of 36 years, but is helpless as multiple sclerosis relentlessly steals away the woman she was. When a blow to the head imbues him with god-like understanding of space and time, Jon has no doubt what to do build a time machine, travel back forty years, and prevent Kate from getting sick in the first place. He believes his motives are pure. He knows his plan is foolproof. What could possible go wrong? When he accidentally drags a young, by-the-book government agent with him into the past, the answer is—just about everything! Part scifi, part romance, part buddy travel story, Fixing Your Stars is a thrilling quest through time in the name of love.
Kindle Edition
Published July 20, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 25, 2021
Jonathan Fraser used to be a pretty ordinary guy. On July 4, 2020, he was at a family gathering, playing badminton by the lake, when he conked his head. But instead of getting a concussion, Jon became a master of space and time.
His wife, Kate, had struggled with multiple sclerosis for decades, ever since the eighties. Everyone has impossible dreams at times, when they would do anything to be able to turn back the clock to fix some unfixable problem. In Jon’s case, he’d do anything to keep Kate from getting MS.
But after the incident by the lake, instead of the migraines he’d dealt with for years, he now saw numbers everywhere. Vectors of possibility shot from everything, even cats and trees. Seeking to understand what was happening to him, Jon began studying higher calculus and physics, which turned out to be a diverting activity for a few days, until the Boston library ran out of more math for him to study.
Then he put his newfound math skills to a more noble pursuit—he was going to build a no-kidding time machine and stop his wife from getting MS.
But like all good intentions, this one has more than its fair share of problems associated with it. Building a time machine—that was relatively easy. Dealing with the ramifications—now, that was an entirely different story…
Fixing Your Stars deals with the classic time-travel dilemma: what if by trying to fix the past, I cost myself my future? Overall, the book was well-written in a line-edit sense, although I could have done without the frequent f word usage. I’m no prude, but too many instances robs the word of what little power it still has.
The pacing was good—I read the book to the end fairly quickly, and I got annoyed whenever I had to set it down. Two of the characters—Jon and Saisha—were three dimensional and well-developed, the others less so.
I generally dislike time travel tales because they seem to be restricted to the classic theme, but this one had a surprise waiting at the end, one not part-and-parcel with every other time travel story. If you enjoy this kind of yarn, Fixing Your Stars will likely be an enjoyable read.
His wife, Kate, had struggled with multiple sclerosis for decades, ever since the eighties. Everyone has impossible dreams at times, when they would do anything to be able to turn back the clock to fix some unfixable problem. In Jon’s case, he’d do anything to keep Kate from getting MS.
But after the incident by the lake, instead of the migraines he’d dealt with for years, he now saw numbers everywhere. Vectors of possibility shot from everything, even cats and trees. Seeking to understand what was happening to him, Jon began studying higher calculus and physics, which turned out to be a diverting activity for a few days, until the Boston library ran out of more math for him to study.
Then he put his newfound math skills to a more noble pursuit—he was going to build a no-kidding time machine and stop his wife from getting MS.
But like all good intentions, this one has more than its fair share of problems associated with it. Building a time machine—that was relatively easy. Dealing with the ramifications—now, that was an entirely different story…
Fixing Your Stars deals with the classic time-travel dilemma: what if by trying to fix the past, I cost myself my future? Overall, the book was well-written in a line-edit sense, although I could have done without the frequent f word usage. I’m no prude, but too many instances robs the word of what little power it still has.
The pacing was good—I read the book to the end fairly quickly, and I got annoyed whenever I had to set it down. Two of the characters—Jon and Saisha—were three dimensional and well-developed, the others less so.
I generally dislike time travel tales because they seem to be restricted to the classic theme, but this one had a surprise waiting at the end, one not part-and-parcel with every other time travel story. If you enjoy this kind of yarn, Fixing Your Stars will likely be an enjoyable read.
September 2, 2021
This time travel story features an uncommon main character — a sixty-year-old — Jonathan Swan Fraser. Jon travels back in time to try to prevent his wife — the love of his life — from falling victim to a devastating illness. With an unexpected companion on his journey, he encounters many twists and turns as he struggles towards this goal. The well-done blend of sci-fi, buddy travel, a bit of romance, and some poignancy made this book hard to put down.
This book started out with quite the surprise (8?!) which really had me wondering, and then hooked me right in. Jon is an interesting character, with very real doubts and concerns about his planned time-travels, even before he arrives in the past and unforeseen events look like they’ll derail his plans.
Not just an adventure across time, the story also explores some weighty topics including how far someone will go to achieve their ends; how people might be different from what we expect, given different circumstances; and the morality of changing events that have already happened. Jon finds himself caught up in several unintended consequences, even when he thought he had anticipated all that would happen.
I really liked that the story addressed a consideration and complication that time-travel stories sometimes gloss over: the fact that “everything in the universe is moving and never returning to the same spot”. I also enjoyed the lighter moments in the story: “…he confided only in the cat”, and the whole scene around A Midsummer Night’s Dream, to name a couple.
This enjoyable and entertaining sci-fi buddy travel adventure — with several thought-provoking elements — is well worth reading.
(Prospective readers should be aware that there’s a fair amount of cussing, especially f-bombs, and there’s a bit that gets rather steamy.)
This book started out with quite the surprise (8?!) which really had me wondering, and then hooked me right in. Jon is an interesting character, with very real doubts and concerns about his planned time-travels, even before he arrives in the past and unforeseen events look like they’ll derail his plans.
Not just an adventure across time, the story also explores some weighty topics including how far someone will go to achieve their ends; how people might be different from what we expect, given different circumstances; and the morality of changing events that have already happened. Jon finds himself caught up in several unintended consequences, even when he thought he had anticipated all that would happen.
I really liked that the story addressed a consideration and complication that time-travel stories sometimes gloss over: the fact that “everything in the universe is moving and never returning to the same spot”. I also enjoyed the lighter moments in the story: “…he confided only in the cat”, and the whole scene around A Midsummer Night’s Dream, to name a couple.
This enjoyable and entertaining sci-fi buddy travel adventure — with several thought-provoking elements — is well worth reading.
(Prospective readers should be aware that there’s a fair amount of cussing, especially f-bombs, and there’s a bit that gets rather steamy.)
August 7, 2021
I beta read for Steven back in early 2019. Due to… a certain global pandemic… he’s only just now (self)publishing his second novel Fixing Your Stars. Time travel is dear to my heart, even though how it’s treated is often uneven (for examples of really good as well as really bad, see the Terminator franchise). While I have a few very minor quibbles, on the whole I really like how Steven handled things. I enjoyed the idea of someone getting a knock on the noggin and suddenly becoming a math savant. And I’m totally sympathetic to wanting to go back in time to fix a loved partner’s chronic disease.
I found the notion of No Such Agency investigating/following him around very plausible, though always felt the agent knew more than she apparently did. And, I’ll admit, I was so focused on nefarious time cops/bandits I was totally unprepared for a rather mundane (but no less dangerous) ordinary world interaction. I also liked the ending, a change from the usual for these sorts of things.
While being a fan of time travel may help avoiding consternation with paradoxes, I don’t think you have to be such a fan to enjoy his story. I recommend it to all readers.
I found the notion of No Such Agency investigating/following him around very plausible, though always felt the agent knew more than she apparently did. And, I’ll admit, I was so focused on nefarious time cops/bandits I was totally unprepared for a rather mundane (but no less dangerous) ordinary world interaction. I also liked the ending, a change from the usual for these sorts of things.
While being a fan of time travel may help avoiding consternation with paradoxes, I don’t think you have to be such a fan to enjoy his story. I recommend it to all readers.
October 12, 2021
This didn’t grip me at first, but I’m glad I kept going.
I liked the idea of the mathematical visualisations of the main character – kind of like the ceiling chessboard in The Queens’ Gambit – but it’s hard to pull off this kind of magic reality without some literary flourish/paintwork that I just didn’t find in the writing initially.
However as I got further in, I was really engaged by the quality of the dialogue in particular. There’s some great and witty exchanges in there, and the government agent character really comes to life through this mechanism. I really felt all the characters were distinct well-drawn people by the end of the book, and I also thought the plot elements came together quite nicely at the end.
I had a few minor quibbles with how the main character’s wife behaved in the past, compared to in the present, but then that’s half the fun of this kind of speculative fiction.
I ended up really enjoying this book.
I liked the idea of the mathematical visualisations of the main character – kind of like the ceiling chessboard in The Queens’ Gambit – but it’s hard to pull off this kind of magic reality without some literary flourish/paintwork that I just didn’t find in the writing initially.
However as I got further in, I was really engaged by the quality of the dialogue in particular. There’s some great and witty exchanges in there, and the government agent character really comes to life through this mechanism. I really felt all the characters were distinct well-drawn people by the end of the book, and I also thought the plot elements came together quite nicely at the end.
I had a few minor quibbles with how the main character’s wife behaved in the past, compared to in the present, but then that’s half the fun of this kind of speculative fiction.
I ended up really enjoying this book.
September 2, 2021
Here is an excellent example of how seemingly inconsequential actions can profoundly affect the fabric of our existence. An intriguing novel from the mind of Steven A.Simpson which highlights artist Jonathan Fraser. Jonathan is an accidental genius who develops a time machine for the sole purpose of traveling 40 years to his past life. It is a carefully planned act of love to find a way to spare his future wife from the ravages of Multiple Sclerosis: Simple right? It's a good read cover to cover; full of unexpected twists.
December 15, 2025
Super read for older readers!
August 13, 2021
Of course, I think it’s FANTASTIC! It has romance, thrills, a hero who is way out of his depth.
December 22, 2021
I enjoyed the beginning an ending of Fixing Your Stars, but found the middle section (the meat of the time traveling narrative) a little difficult to get through. The prose is decent, and the characters as well but the story is hampered by its plot; we don't travel far enough back in time for the period to be interesting and most of the plot conflict derives from the characters making poor, or superficially poor choices and this made it difficult to like any of the main characters we spend time with.
I also felt that the time travel portion of the narrative was underserved. It's present and our main characters travel back in time but that's about it until the end where the conflicting timelines reconcile, which is mostly narrative wrap up.
The author does a better job integrating the primary narrative catalyst of Jonathan's advanced mathematical abilities and how they affect his perception of the world; it allows for some nice visuals and some neat usages and problems throughout the narrative.
I also felt that the time travel portion of the narrative was underserved. It's present and our main characters travel back in time but that's about it until the end where the conflicting timelines reconcile, which is mostly narrative wrap up.
The author does a better job integrating the primary narrative catalyst of Jonathan's advanced mathematical abilities and how they affect his perception of the world; it allows for some nice visuals and some neat usages and problems throughout the narrative.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews