This week, we're pleased to welcome author P.L PARKER with her three-part historical time-travel series, the Riley’s Journey Trilogy: Riley’s Journey, Into the Savage Dawn and Beyond Tomorrow. One lucky winner will receive the novels in the series, format to be determined by the author. Here's the blurb about the series.
The research project was only supposed to be for an "extended period." No one said anything about forever! Sent back 40,000 years to the ends of the last great Ice Age, the time travelers embark on a journey of survival and discovery. The brutal and cannibalistic Cro-Magnons discover the small band and attack. Forced to flee from their high mountain encampment, the tribe heads into the dawn, towards the Pacific Ocean and their dream of ultimately reaching North America. Survival of the fittest - that is the law of primordial earth.
**Q&A
with P.L. Parker**
What inspired
you to write time travel novels?
I’ve always been a fan of time travel. One of my favorite old movies was The Time Machine with Rod Taylor and
Yvette Mimieux. My preference is the
older version as opposed to the newer one.
I grew up imagining myself stepping through a portal (consciously or
accidentally) and ending up somewhere vastly different from the world today!
How did the idea
for the Riley’s Journey Trilogy originate?
Ancient history, not the ancient
history of the Romans or Greeks, but the less “civilized” groups—the Tartars of
Russian Steppes, the Celts, the Vikings, etc., is a favorite subject of mine and
nothing catches my attention more than some small bit of unusual historical
data unearthed and brought to life.
After a particularly engrossing
chapter of the Discovery Channel about the discovery of the Oetzi, the frozen
mummified body in the Alps , http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/08/22/oetzi-iceman.html,
the idea for my time travel trilogy came into being. I was captivated by the trials and
tribulations this ancient man must have endured before his eventual death. Why was he in that place, frozen for all
time?
The
Iceman was shot with an arrow--the head of which remained lodged in his
shoulder -- that fatally severed his left subclavian artery. He also suffered a
traumatic cerebral lesion, the consequence of a trauma from a blow or a fall
onto the rocks.
What would modern
man require to survive 40,000 years ago?
My creative juices
flowed. How would modern man measure up
under the same circumstances? Would he
fare better? Worse? Without
modern conveniences, would he even survive?
My personal opinion was…perhaps. But
it would have to be individuals skilled in living off the land, comfortable
with crafting and using ancient weaponry, and the daring to go forth and
multiply. A lone person might survive
(Nathan in Riley’s Journey, Geena in Into the Savage Dawn), but without human
society, would he or she have the will to continue? Okay, so perhaps a band of time travelers,
each with skills essential to begin life in a prehistoric setting would be a
better fit under the circumstances.
Why did you pick
the time period you did for the Trilogy?
In the beginning, I
contemplated the trilogy taking place at about the same time period as the Oetzi
mummy. Ultimately, I went back even
farther, to 40,000 years ago during the last great Ice Age when Cro-Magnon and
Neanderthals both inhabited the earth.
What about
location, why did you select the location that you did?
I needed to set up the location where the time
travelers would ultimately end. Early
man is thought to have migrated from Africa
and spread out. See, for example, The
Real Eve, Modern Man’s Journey Out of Africa
by Stephen Oppenheimer. Research into
the nearby land masses led me to decide on an area of the Far East, in what
would eventually be the southern areas of China Id.
Early humans were
hunter/gatherers. What animals existed
in that time and place and which were predators and which were prey? In Riley’s
Journey, the antagonists were the aggressive Cro-Magnon and their influx
into the primitive Neanderthals’ territory.
In the sequel to Riley’s Journey,
Into the Savage Dawn, the antagonists
are still the Cro-Magnon but with the added twist of a giant cave bear who
stalks Geena and Seth (hero and heroine) after they involuntarily intrude on
his territory. In the third of the
trilogy, Beyond Tomorrow, once again
the antagonists are the savage Cro-Magnon who kidnap Rachel, much to the
half-breed Hawk’s dismay.
What fascinates
you about this time period?
Research into
primordial Earth is fascinating. Cave
bears, saber-toothed cats and giant sloths were just a few of the many
creatures who have suffered from the effects of evolution along with the giant megaloceros (elk), the wooly mammoths and the wooly
rhinoceros.
Are any more
books planned in this series?
Not at the moment, but
you can never tell! I’ve had a lot of
requests for the series to continue and I’ve played around with a few ideas for
another book. We shall see.
For more information, the following sites are good reading for all ages:
About the Author
Learn more about P.L. Parker:
Romantic Adventure at its Best
