Link Detonator is the story of one man’s survival in a world he never knew existed. A world that thrives outside of the boundaries of time where science and magic are one in the same and time travel has nothing to do with a machine. The burly man caught the dairy as Marion scooted it across the table and hurled it into the fire. The book exploded on contact, causing a loud pop and a large puff of smoke to shoot up the chimney. "Now, I want you to clam up and listen to me very carefully. If you do not look promising to me afterward, I will be forced to end your travels right here. Am I understood?" Marion nodded his head. "About a hundred years ago, a man named Joseph Almena found the first noted portal. Feeling brave enough to enter, he found himself in another time dimension." "I think I’ve studied him before." "Shush!" he commanded, pounding the table with his fist once more. "It’s true that he is in the history books as the inventor of a time machine that did not work. What the books don’t tell you is that he discovered an open portal that lead him into a dimension that gave him a great power. A power that would change what the world’s true idea of time travel had been. No machines, no potions, nothing man made! Almena decided to share his find with two of his most trusted companions, Lawrence Withow and Steven Talbot. Both of them had worked with him on the time machine and both desired the ability to travel through time just as much as he did." Gavin took a deep breath, held it, and then exhaled. Grabbing his mug, he chugged what was left and slammed it on the table. Marion jumped slightly in his chair, causing the brawny man to grin. Gavin let out a huge belch and then continued speaking. "Almena tutored these gentlemen in the ways he believed time travel should go, observation only, take nothing and leave nothing. Both Withow and Talbot learned quickly, causing Almena to divide the power in two and upon his death give each companion a half. Withow took his inheritance and traveled the portals of time, quietly educating a few apprentices along the way. Talbot traveled the portals constantly, stopping only to reside with the residents of several dimensions for a couple of months at a time. On one stop to ancient China during a raid by the Huns, Talbot was severely injured by an arrow that had lost its mark. Making it back to the portal that would bring him home, he returned to his dimension and recovered physically. The mental strain, however, overwhelmed him. He desired nothing more than to travel through time, but feared the harm that could and eventually would seek him again. Cutting himself off from his companion, Talbot devised a way to link the power to a chosen individual. The link caused the individual to become the portal, detonating at its closing and reassembling on opening. The holder of the power could direct the traveler to and from any dimension he wished. Thus, the birth of the link detonator." "My fate."     Excerpt “Dr. Withow found out that each detonation causes an interruption in the natural power of things. That interruption causes what’s kind of like a power surge. Somehow, Talbot’s found a way to harness that power. With every detonation, he becomes more potent.”

Professional Reviews
Mary E. Rose's
Mary E. Rose's Sci-Fi Thriller "Link Detonator," begins where every good story should, with action. Marion Pallor, a historian is caught up in a time warp and lands in the middle of a prehistoric cave dwelling. The inhabitants, a Neanderthal clan occupying the cave, quickly take notice and a confrontation ensues with the leader of the clan known as the "brave one." He is taken captive and remains for the night but this temporary reprieve does not last for long. During the night Marion flashes back to his first meeting with the child Xavier Peek who is somehow a conduit connected to the historian's present and past circumstances. Desperate to get off his roller-coaster rides of transitional time dimensions, Marion struggles for answers hoping to get back to the life he knew.

His fiancée Angela Fenton, a blue eyed blonde anthropologist, mysteriously disappears on a research trip to Africa. Ms. Fenton was working on her cultural anthropology dissertation, studying the Ibibio tribe known for their practice of witchcraft. Her disappearance haunts Marion Pallor and breaks his heart, as he recalls her last words:

"I'll be back before you know it," she whispered in his ear as she hugged him long and hard.

The following morning the leader of the clan brutally attacks one of the women and Marion, outraged, confronts him. A desperate battle ensues. Just when we think our hero is about to be mortally wounded in combat, he activates a portal through time that transports him to the ancient land of Mesopotamia where the king of Babylon rules. He befriends a slave girl name Aya and her master Dagon who agrees to provide refuge in the land where the law of Hammurabi reigns supreme. His only saving grace is that they believe him to be the Sumero-Babylonian god of war, "Ninurta". Thus ends the first chapter of this most remarkable tale. The successive chapters take the reader through a series of times and places as Marion struggles to get back to his own time and solve the riddle of the child Xavier and the mysterious disappearance of his beloved Angela.

There is something for everybody in this edge-of-your seat action packed Sci-Fi thriller. Mary Rose's debut novel delivers what it promises. I have no doubt this will be the first of many fine works to come from her pen. If you like history, if you like Sci-Fi, if you like a powerful story that opens up a window of knowledge in a uniquely imaginative way, then you will love Mary E. Roses "Link Detonator." I did. I recommend this book without reservation.


Robert Anthony Montesino
Editor
Speculative Fiction Centre


BookPleasures.com--John Walsh
Time travel is a reality. The secret has been discovered by two scientists who are struggling to deal with its implications and with controlling who has access to the portals that have been opened. Of course, anyone who travels into the past and meddles with it risks creating paradoxes which could suddenly cancel the existence of who knows how many people and events. Consequently, when one of the scientists starts to behave oddly, perhaps dictatorially, then guards must be posted at strategic points in the past to prevent potentially disastrous interventions. Throughout history, therefore, a kind of secret war has been taking place between those who would change the past and those seeking to prevent them. Complicating this background is the link detonator, a person who has somehow fallen under the control of another person who can force him or her to explode into nothingness and reconstitute in some completely different time and location. Pity the poor link detonator, therefore, obliged to be blasted across time and space at the whim of an unknown puppetmaster. Such a person is Marion Pallor who, despite the name is actually male, an assistant history professor who is mourning the mysterious loss of his fiancée while also suffering the regular disorientation of the aforementioned blasting. Gradually, Marion finds allies in the faction of the good scientist and struggles to regain control of his life while fighting for the integrity of time itself.

This is an interesting and exciting premise for a novel. The characterization and the rather episodic nature of the plot suggest that the model is one of those television series which deals with this kind of modern fantasy. It puts me in mind of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Jake 2.0 or some other series in which the action provides in some senses a background context to the development of a regular set of characters and their various relationships. There is nothing wrong with television in its place, of course, although it is a poor substitute for the depth of emotion, thought and investigation of the human nature that can be conducted within the format of a novel. From the back cover, it appears that the author has previously completed a few short stories and that this is her first novel. I would be interested to see how she is able to develop her writing skills in the future so that characterization becomes more interesting and the plot development less formulaic. I would also suggest she work with a competent editor to eliminate some of the occasional slips – if characters are to have a ‘British accent’ then at least listen to how some British people speak.


Article 1815
Created 12-14-2005
Modified 12-14-2005
Author ngoldman

Reader Reviews for "Link Detonator"

Reviewed by Nickolaus Pacione	9/30/2005
Congrats on getting this out there. I am planning to add this one to my Sci-Fi collection, that is starting slowly but it will eventually get to be the size of my horror collection.
Reviewed by Rosemarie Skaine	5/11/2005
Interesting read. R
Reviewed by m j hollingshead	5/4/2005
enjoyed the excerpt
Reviewed by Robert Montesino	5/4/2005
Congratulations on this new release Mary! Looking forward to getting a copy for adding to my collection of sci-fi!

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