time travel, fictional book, Karen  S. Meyer, LDS adventure novel, clean reading

https://spark.adobe.com/video/tmpofHP8LKgGr

In this book, there are slight references to real places, real events, and real people, but this is for entertainment purposes only.  This is not to be taken as non-fiction but merely a book with suggestions about what might happen if we lost our free agency. 

          If you could go back in time to alter a genealogical line, keep one person from dying in a horrific tragedy in order to save millions from dying by what his or her descendant would invent in the future, would you? What would you sacrifice? Your integrity?   Marietta Hensley, is a Forensic Genealogist, and Scientist.  She has intelligence and has invented the time machine.  She has the funding by the University of California at Berkeley to go back and alter reality for the good of mankind.  However, what she discovers is that you may save one person from tragedy, only to lose other generations to another disaster.

          In the story,  the scientist quietly rationalizes her behavior and realizes at some cost, that she is playing God, determining the outcome of other people’s lives.  Her pride shows when, to fulfill her project, condones utilizing funds she acquired illicitly by creating a creative marketing program with the College.  This book is an exercise of what could happen if someone controlled your destiny other than your Heavenly Father.   We shouldn’t have the ability to make the decision to save or sacrifice one life for the good of many!  We should be glad to be rid of that burden.  One thing she discovers is that it’s no fun playing God all the time.  Find out what happens and how she and her partner Dr. Albert Penniman foil industrial espionage and escape the drama in A Matter of Time. 

          The location references mentioned are accurately portrayed but, in the story, they are for creative amusement.

The website onlinebookclub recently did a review and rated this book 5 stars

If you could go back in time to alter a genealogical line, keep one person from dying in a horrific tragedy in order to save millions from dying by what his or her descendant would invent in the future, would you?

 Marietta Hensley is a Forensic Genealogist and Scientist. She has intelligence. She has invented the time machine and has the funding by the University of California at Berkeley to go back and alter reality for the good of mankind. 

 However, what she discovers is that you may save one person from tragedy, only to lose other generations to another disaster. One thing she discovers is that it's no fun playing God all the time. Find out what happens and how she and her partner Dr. Albert Penniman foil industrial espionage and escape the drama in A Matter of Time, by Karen S. Meyer

ONLINEBOOKCLUB.ORG – REVIEW OF A MATTER OF TIME written By Goodness Richman, Jan 20, 2025
5 out of 5 stars

A Matter of Time by Karen S. Meyer follows Marietta Hensley, a forensic genealogist and scientist who developed a time machine in collaboration with her team at UC Berkeley. They masqueraded as a department in the university, but their program operates fifteen stories underground of the university. The time-travel program recruits agents from different times to carry out their purposes. One of the purposes entails saving key persons from death whose generation will positively affect mankind. Another entails inspiring key persons to venture into their dreams or lines of destiny and, in the end, inventing what would positively affect mankind. The core goal is to alter past events for the good of mankind. These agents are bound by some rules, the first of which is not divulging information about time travel.

Marietta attends certain missions along the storyline, from rescuing a rogue agent to inspiring a young boy who was at odds with his dad even in his dad’s sick bed, to making the last letter of the wife of a captain at the Titanic get to him, to saving a boy whose one of his grandsons will birth a girl who’ll help in the invention of an antibiotic. However, one of these alterations led to the birth of a terrorist whose actions claimed the lives of many. Albert, one of Marietta’s partners, discloses his indifference to partaking in the missions of the program to Marietta after this discovery, owing to the fact that such scenarios can’t be precisely avoided. Concurrently, industrial espionage is playing in the background; a hired spy gets into a spare time machine through a weak link, an individual in the program. Another organization wants possession of the time machine and is determined to get it.

I like many aspects of this book. It’s delightful reading about this concept of time travel. Personally, I’ve queried its possibility, and if at least it’s possible, I don’t think the expanse of the culminating effects is calculable. So, I’ve had my thoughts, and it’s very nice interfacing with a book about the concept. I appreciate the general description of events; it created a vivid, palpable environment to follow the storyline. I fell in love with the author’s description of the conversation tone in different “times.” Like the old English conversation tone, I could hear the tone just by reading it. Also, the setting, the dressing, and the behavior of the characters at each time were just so fitting; the entire scenery was delicately plotted, a pointer to the author’s knowledge of such.

The events discussed are also relevant events in history, pointing towards the author’s sharp knowledge of history to deliver the storyline, like the story in the Titanic, particularly about the wife who couldn’t give her husband, Captain Smith, the letter she wrote, and the ferry disaster, when an explosion on a Mississippi River ferry carrying many Northern prisoner-of-war veterans returning home the day after the Civil War was declared over. I appreciate the technological aspect of the narrative; it was very appealing to me. Aside from this, into the ethical aspect of the concept of time traveling. The book offers a sneak peek at what it might be like if such a reality existed. One is that free will (“free agency,” as the book calls it) will be eroded because its consequences are being influenced by men who have knowledge of these consequences. Another thing is that the world will be thrown off balance. In a bid to acquire the time-traveling machine, so many terrors causing global imbalance shall be unleashed. I didn’t notice many errors in this book, though I noticed a few. This suggests that the book was professionally edited.

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars for the reasons I mentioned above. I recommend this book to fans of science fiction, as well as readers who particularly enjoy reading about time travel and its ethical consequences.


A Matter of Time
Latest Review: A Matter of Time by Karen S Meyer
Massimo
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Joined: 24 Jul 2019, 06:37
Post by NetMassimo » 07 Feb 2025, 15:48

Stories about time travel can be intriguing and this is a case, as the author explores the consequences of time travel offering food for thought concerning the ethic and moral ramifications, including what would happen to free will. Thank you for your great review!
Ciao 🙂
Massimo
5 stars
The concept of time travel in this story sounds fascinating, especially with its ethical dilemmas and historical events. I like how the author blends the science fiction with real history, making the storyline vivid and intriguing. It’s a book I’d consider reading, especially with its attention to detail and thought-provoking exploration of free will and consequences.

Pearl Flourish
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Joined: 31 Dec 2024, 12:25
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Bookshelf Size: 10 » 20 Feb 2025, 10:11

5 Stars
The mix of time travel, history, and ethical dilemmas sounds fascinating. It really makes you think about whether altering the past for good is ever that simple.