‘Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.’ Winston Churchill
The bulk of the Time Patrol books focus on one day in six different years. In this case, it’s 6 June.
The title mission is, of course, set in 1944. Since I have a background in Special Operations, I chose to use a special ops mission on the night before the day of days. Behind the beaches of Normandy, an OSS agent (who is actually a member of the Time Patrol) and the Resistance must destroy a bridge to insure the last ‘good war’ ends the way history records. The Shadow wants that bridge to stay intact. This could change what happens to the entire invasion. Mac’s mission is one of the most poignant in the Time Patrol series.
6 June 478 B.C.: Pythagoras is murdered in the entrance of the Oracle of Delphi’s cave. Who did it and why? How will this change history?
6 June 452.: In the great hall Heoret the very real Beowulf battles Grendel, proving reality is more dangerous than poetry. I love this mission for Roland because it introduces a different kind of monster that the Time Patrol has to fight after having already faced creatures such as the Kraken.
6 June 1843: At West Point, a middling cadet, small in stature, named Ulysses S. Grant is trying to survive and graduate. Someone wants to prevent that. Grant not graduating my alma mater would most definitely change our timeline!
6 June 1998.: A secret nuclear weapons depot in Pakistan, where the saber rattling of nuclear tests is getting ready to escalate into Armageddon; a war to end all wars. We actually do have special ops personnel with their eyes on the nuclear arsenal in a country that could go rogue. What happens if they have to act?
6 June pre-recorded history. And, strangest of all, thousands of years into pre-history, to the day Art is born. Moms mission to save the very first artist is one of the most unique missions for the Time Patrol. The Patrol has always been interested in art because if art from the past changes in the present we know something has gone wrong in the past. They are even headquarters underneath the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and check Cleopatra’s Needle behind it in Central Park every day.
If you’re looking for a strong dose of history in your science fiction thriller, give the Time Patrol books a whirl.
Nothing but good times ahead.
Unless the Shadow changes our timeline.
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