About
COLD TIME
COLD TIME
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ISBN: 978-1481040396
What exactly did Carl Freund see in the Washington Metrorail station that day in 2016?
A stranger steps out of nowhere to save the life of a woman no one could possibly know was about to end, dropping a photograph that couldn't possibly exist.
So begins Freund's quest to determine who the woman is and how a startup research company struggling to make time travel a reality plays into the mystery of the event.
In Fred E. Doepke's first novel, he explores time travel to the future and past, providing a thought provoking, unique perspective on time travel and the very nature of time, itself.
Spanning 63 years - from 2016 to 2079 - Cold Time is a richly interwoven story of one man's quest to follow his lover into the future and another man's forced exile into the past. It is a story of a genius on the edge, a self-absorbed Director, a convict seeking revenge and two pairs of lovers.
All are searching for answers in the world of Cold Time, a world in which nothing happens without cause.
"Very clever time travel story that handles the technology and paradoxes in a plausible manner. It is also an engaging mystery and love story that plays out extremely well."
- Rex Lee Applegate, Goodreads
Excerpts
"The mummies," Jason continued, "aren't older. When they're unwrapped, they're almost exactly the same as when they were preserved. But they're five thousand years in the future. The problem is, they're dead."
- John Jason, Sr., discussing Egyptian mummification with Carl Freund.
"I was an only son, born in Schenectady, New York in 2030, I completed high school at age ten and received my bachelor's degree at age fourteen. At age eighteen I received my PhD degree in quantum physics from MIT, graduating at the top of my class. It took me two years to obtain my second doctorate - in quantum information theory."
- Dr. Geoff Chezney, responding to John Jason, Jr. during his pre-employment interview.
"If we can't travel to the past, we can certainly bring selected moments of the past to us, to this time, to this place. And make no mistake, Carl. As I said before, this is the past."
- John Jason, Jr., explaining the time dome experience to Carl Freund.
"He was cryoincarcerated in 2028. It was February 4th, a cold day in hell."
- Angel, clarifying the date for Wad and Ray during their effort to free Torvid from a federal cryoprison.
"We've noticed what appears to be a change in the lattice and we're not sure what it means. No one has enough experience with the theory to predict how quickly an influence in the past propagates to points in the future.
- Janet Strand, explaining to Angel why reality is no longer as they remember it.
"I thought you were dead. I tried to find you. Now here you are, showing up here, all these years later, looking no different than I remembered. Yes, I would certainly say you need to explain."
- Rachal, after seeing Carl Freund, physically unchanged, 32 years later.
"So, you're saying that CryoChronos owns my memories, and therefore owns my past. Is that right?"
- Janet Strand, trying to understand the implication of CryoChronos memory mining.
"...our labs determined without any doubt that the photograph is a genuine photograph of an actual event, but that the actual event captured in the photograph did not happen until after you picked it up."
- John Jason, Jr., reinforcing to Carl Freund the impossible circumstance of the photograph.
"They're coming to get you and lock you up. You're going to be doing cold time. You know it. Cold time."
- The voice in Chezney's head, during a particularly severe episode of schizophrenia.
A stranger steps out of nowhere to save the life of a woman no one could possibly know was about to end, dropping a photograph that couldn't possibly exist.
So begins Freund's quest to determine who the woman is and how a startup research company struggling to make time travel a reality plays into the mystery of the event.
In Fred E. Doepke's first novel, he explores time travel to the future and past, providing a thought provoking, unique perspective on time travel and the very nature of time, itself.
Spanning 63 years - from 2016 to 2079 - Cold Time is a richly interwoven story of one man's quest to follow his lover into the future and another man's forced exile into the past. It is a story of a genius on the edge, a self-absorbed Director, a convict seeking revenge and two pairs of lovers.
All are searching for answers in the world of Cold Time, a world in which nothing happens without cause.
"Very clever time travel story that handles the technology and paradoxes in a plausible manner. It is also an engaging mystery and love story that plays out extremely well."
- Rex Lee Applegate, Goodreads
Excerpts
"The mummies," Jason continued, "aren't older. When they're unwrapped, they're almost exactly the same as when they were preserved. But they're five thousand years in the future. The problem is, they're dead."
- John Jason, Sr., discussing Egyptian mummification with Carl Freund.
"I was an only son, born in Schenectady, New York in 2030, I completed high school at age ten and received my bachelor's degree at age fourteen. At age eighteen I received my PhD degree in quantum physics from MIT, graduating at the top of my class. It took me two years to obtain my second doctorate - in quantum information theory."
- Dr. Geoff Chezney, responding to John Jason, Jr. during his pre-employment interview.
"If we can't travel to the past, we can certainly bring selected moments of the past to us, to this time, to this place. And make no mistake, Carl. As I said before, this is the past."
- John Jason, Jr., explaining the time dome experience to Carl Freund.
"He was cryoincarcerated in 2028. It was February 4th, a cold day in hell."
- Angel, clarifying the date for Wad and Ray during their effort to free Torvid from a federal cryoprison.
"We've noticed what appears to be a change in the lattice and we're not sure what it means. No one has enough experience with the theory to predict how quickly an influence in the past propagates to points in the future.
- Janet Strand, explaining to Angel why reality is no longer as they remember it.
"I thought you were dead. I tried to find you. Now here you are, showing up here, all these years later, looking no different than I remembered. Yes, I would certainly say you need to explain."
- Rachal, after seeing Carl Freund, physically unchanged, 32 years later.
"So, you're saying that CryoChronos owns my memories, and therefore owns my past. Is that right?"
- Janet Strand, trying to understand the implication of CryoChronos memory mining.
"...our labs determined without any doubt that the photograph is a genuine photograph of an actual event, but that the actual event captured in the photograph did not happen until after you picked it up."
- John Jason, Jr., reinforcing to Carl Freund the impossible circumstance of the photograph.
"They're coming to get you and lock you up. You're going to be doing cold time. You know it. Cold time."
- The voice in Chezney's head, during a particularly severe episode of schizophrenia.
About the Writing of Cold Time
Gulfcrest Condominium, Panama City Beach
Because I enjoy writing and had been successful in publishing a few short stories back in my LSSC days, I decided to re-engage the craft several years prior to my retirement. I’ve always been a fan of science fiction, and since the 1960s have enjoyed the work of authors such as Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury. My particular interest is time travel and I’ve accumulated a modest collection of fiction and non-fiction books on the subject.
Time travel stories are, I think, particularly difficult to write. The story related in Cold Time takes place between 2016 and 2079. Because of the complex interaction of the characters over four distinct periods within this time span, and because I wanted to write something that was technologically plausible, the story was probably not so much "written" as it was "constructed." I spent considerable effort making sure the character timelines and references were accurate, the storyline did not have internal conflicts, and issues involving paradox were minimized.
I also researched what might be happening at selected dates in the future and incorporated those events and dates whenever doing so made sense. So, for example, the partial solar eclipse mentioned in chapter four will actually happen on the date and time indicated in the book. Since much of the action takes place in and around Washington, DC, I took care to ensure references to streets and buildings were accurate, particularly references to the Navy Yard Metrorail station.
The telling of the story is another matter. I decided not to relate the events in a serial manner, but rather describe the action in the four periods out of sequence to maintain interest. Sometimes I did this by skipping around on the timeline, and sometimes by using character recollection as a storytelling tool. Because of that, the reader will need to take careful note of the dates provided.
Cold Time took me four years to write. The story provides a different perspective on time, one that may cause the reader to think differently about the past. I've been repeatedly told the book read like a movie, with chapters easily visualized as individual scenes.
To my knowledge, the story of the dawn of time travel has never been told. Now it has.
Time travel stories are, I think, particularly difficult to write. The story related in Cold Time takes place between 2016 and 2079. Because of the complex interaction of the characters over four distinct periods within this time span, and because I wanted to write something that was technologically plausible, the story was probably not so much "written" as it was "constructed." I spent considerable effort making sure the character timelines and references were accurate, the storyline did not have internal conflicts, and issues involving paradox were minimized.
I also researched what might be happening at selected dates in the future and incorporated those events and dates whenever doing so made sense. So, for example, the partial solar eclipse mentioned in chapter four will actually happen on the date and time indicated in the book. Since much of the action takes place in and around Washington, DC, I took care to ensure references to streets and buildings were accurate, particularly references to the Navy Yard Metrorail station.
The telling of the story is another matter. I decided not to relate the events in a serial manner, but rather describe the action in the four periods out of sequence to maintain interest. Sometimes I did this by skipping around on the timeline, and sometimes by using character recollection as a storytelling tool. Because of that, the reader will need to take careful note of the dates provided.
Cold Time took me four years to write. The story provides a different perspective on time, one that may cause the reader to think differently about the past. I've been repeatedly told the book read like a movie, with chapters easily visualized as individual scenes.
To my knowledge, the story of the dawn of time travel has never been told. Now it has.