I tend to speculate a lot about the nature of things and what it all means. I suppose that is what makes me an impoverished writer and artist instead of a computer analyst who earns money. So this story, The Basingstoke Chronicles a time traveling story, caught my eye fast.

It is a sweet telling story about two bumbling adventure seekers who stumble upon a time machine. They find this machine after a body is found floating off the coast of Cuba. Basingstoke is a wealthy man, an archaeologist under-sea diver, along with his friend and diving partner Rodrigo Esteban Quintas. One is from frigid England, the other from humid Cuba. When they find that the body floating off Cuba has an outfit of strange design, woven with fibers that extinct nine thousand years ago, it is decided they must hire a boat and look for what could cause such a puzzle to float about the waters.

This leads them to find the time machine and after some intense discussion, it is decided the two of them would use the machine to travel. They come upon a island called Apterona and its people. The account covers their adventures in Apterona in the months that follow and a grand escape that is bound to happen in stories such as these.

This being an advance copy, I am curious to see if any tightening up of The Basingstoke Chronicles happens in the editing room. (I hope so.) Otherwise it is a fine story to spend time with.

Reviewed By: Nancy Louise
© Jan 2010