What would you change? ‘Time and Time Again’ by Ben Elton
I have often fantasised about time travel. The idea of returning to the past is so intriguing: to be able to see, hear and experience this world as it was before my own time is an incredibly attractive thought. I would of course, go with a travel kit containing three essential items: a way of returning instantly to my own time; an extra large packet of paracetamol; and at least two full courses of antibiotics. There are things about the modern era I would not sacrifice even for the thrill of travelling through time.
Ben Elton’s time-travel novel allowed me to indulge this fantasy for while. An enjoyable read which, while mostly light in tone, deals with some darker themes as well. It also poses very thought-provoking questions, summarised on the book’s front cover:
If you had one chance to change history…
Where would you go?
What would you do?
Who would you kill?Hugh Stanton, the novel’s protagonist, has been tasked with exactly this: to return to June 1914 and carry out two actions that will prevent the outbreak of World War I. In doing so, the mission’s designers believe he will also prevent many of the other human-created catastrophes of the twentieth century which followed the Great War, including the Second World War.
Sounds simple, right? Perhaps not ‘easy’ but surely, preventing the consequences of the first World War (such as the rise of fascism in a weakened Germany) will mean the world would not propelled onto the second one?
Hugh is a skilled operative, ex-military, educated, with compassion but ruthless when required…There are some hiccups but he does succeed…
…and that’s when the totally unforseen consequences of fiddling with time and past events roar to life.
The novel is a mix of speculative fiction, thriller, and historical fiction, …peopled by some ‘real life’ historical figures and events, all with intriguing twists.
It left me with an impulse to rewatch some Star Trek episodes – you know, the ones where they go on about ‘time-space continuum’ and the ‘Prime Directive’?
I also had a feeling that no matter which bit of time we might choose to adjust if we could, it’s humans that we really can’t change – and that given our natures, humans will continue to create catastrophes for ourselves, no matter what.
I can’t say much more about the plot without giving spoilers. I will say that if you know a bit of modern history and like books that ask ‘What if?’ you’ll enjoy Time and Time Again.
It was published in 2014 by Penguin Random House.
Chilling ‘What if?’: ‘Inheritance’ by Genevieve Gannon
If you could reduce or eliminate the chance that your unborn child might suffer or die from a genetic illness or rampant variants of a virus that has already swept through the world, would you do it? What if you could ensure that your future son or daughter was born with gifts such as enhanced lung capacity, stronger bones, or a beautiful singing voice?
These are questions at the heart of Australian author Genevieve Gannon’s novel Inheritance. It’s strapline: The perfect child is now possible, makes pretty clear the kind of future world its characters inhabit.
Though, it’s not that far into the future. The novel opens in 2027, which at the time of its publication was just three short years away.
Emily and her husband Dougal are deciding whether to use a new gene editing service alongside more traditional IVF to help conceive a child. Now legal, the service offers to help the couple avoid some of the health-related pitfalls in their own families. But how far should they go in designing a baby?
There is a second, interwoven narrative set decades later, in a world where gene modification is no longer regarded as benign or desirable.
Adelaide is a political staffer in the office of a Parliamentarian whom she admires and respects, someone who is against the discriminatory rules that have been introduced in recent years, that put ‘modified’ people into a second-class of citizens.
But Adelaide has a secret that she is determined not to expose, one that involves a plan she and her husband have put into action, but that results in the clock ticking…will the result be disaster or joy for the couple?
Inheritance reads a bit like a thriller, with a tight timeline, conflicting political and social divisions, and adventures that require all the courage that Emily and Adelaide can muster.
As I read this story, though, I was mindful of how applicable its themes are today: particularly technology that develops faster than any social and administrative systems and laws that should guide it. A glaring example the world faces right now is, of course, AI. How do humans manage this powerful tool to best serve everyone, not just the few who seek to gain money or power from its use?
It’s also a reflection on the demands and complications of modern life and relationships; if we forgive those who make mistakes and under what circumstances; if we forgive ourselves for our own mistakes.
Inheritance is a gripping read that, despite its near-future setting, grapples with perplexing and troubling issues that seem all-too-real in today’s world.
It was published in 2024 by Pantera Press.
Chilling glimpse into a possible future: ‘The Mother Fault’ by Kate Mildenhall
Mim is on the run. Her husband Ben is missing from his workplace, a gold mining project on an Indonesian island. The Department assigns a ‘liaison team’ to the family and they take the passports of Mim and her two young children, Essie and Sam. The Department, she has come to realise, is not a benevolent body but the principal instrument of a controlling, all-powerful oppressive government. Mim is right to be afraid.
So she takes the kids, goes offline and flees – first back to her family home, then to the place of her childhood seaside holidays. With high school sweetheart Nick, she and the kids embark on a long drive north; then out to sea on Nick’s boat to Indonesia, hoping to find her husband Ben. All the while trying to avoid detection by The Department. Oh, and to be a good mother to her kids.
The Mother Fault is set in the very near future, in an Australia where Government tentacles reach everywhere, assisted by technology that feels very familiar (think Siri or Google Home), but includes microchipping babies at birth so that they are literally never ‘off line’.
Mim’s dash towards freedom and her husband invites new dangers and risk for herself and everyone she loves. At the novel’s heart is Mim’s struggle to know if she’s doing the right thing by her family. Is she careful enough, protective enough, loving enough? An age-old anxiety, this one; surely recognisable to most mothers. As is its corresponding struggle: to return to a sense of self, of personhood, amidst the layers of responsibility and distractions that come with busy modern lives.
She shouldn’t leave them out there on their own, but see if she fucking cares. Little shits, not listening, making fun.
The Mother Fa
‘Mum!’ A shriek from outside and her legs don’t even hesitate, already making deals with fate. Sorry sorry sorry stuck in her throat as she races out through the gate, sees them both out of the water and a long trickle of watery blood down Sammy’s shin, a small rupture of flesh near the knee.
‘It got caught on the brick climbing out,’ Essie says, glaring at her. ‘You shouldn’t have left us alone.’
…and it doesn’t even hurt, her daughter’s admonishment, because it’s just the way it is.
She’ll never get it right.
ult, ch 13 (Audiobook version)At the opening of the novel is a quote from The Great Hack (Netflix, 2019):
But no one bothered to read the terms and conditions.
Professor David Carroll, The Great HackThe Mother Fault certainly got me thinking about all the trade-offs we make for the conveniences and luxuries of our modern lives: connectivity, streaming services, personal entertainment devices, labour saving technologies. How often do we stop to consider what is lost amongst the gains?
Because the novel is set in an Australia that is so familiar to our own current-day one, the dangers Mim experiences feel very real and entirely believable. There is a dramatic climax in which Mim is forced to face some very unpleasant realities and make an excruciating choice in order to keep her kids safe.
The Mother Fault is gripping speculative fiction with the added bonus of Mildenhall’s beautiful prose. I listened to the Audible version narrated by Claudia Karvan whose flawless performance added greatly to my enjoyment of the novel.
The Mother Fault was published by Simon & Schuster, 2020.#AussieAuthor20
#Aww2020
