by Joe Haldeman
First published 2007
Matt Fuller measures quantum forces in his MIT lab when his calibration device does something impossible. It becomes a time machine. The grad school dropout works as a research assistant, stuck in a dead end position. His girlfriend has abandoned him for someone else. Matt faces a choice that could change everything or destroy him completely. The machine offers escape from his failing life. Matt decides to test it himself. He steps into the unknown, leaving behind his mundane existence at the university. But time travel brings consequences he never anticipated. Each jump forward reveals new dangers and possibilities. Matt discovers that running from problems creates bigger ones. The machine that promised freedom might trap him forever. His journey through time becomes a search for meaning and connection. Matt learns that changing when you are doesn't change who you are. The quantum forces he once measured now control his fate. He must find a way back to his own time and his own life, or lose both forever.
Genres: science-fiction, adventure, time-travel, academic
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, second-chance
Setting: MIT
Period: contemporary
278 pages · Hardcover · Ace