Since that time, authors and screenwriters have created countless different machines to send human beings and other objects through the corridors of time. They have reinvented Mr. Wells' wheel.
In the series, Mark Lane, a noted physicist, acts boldly when he learns his corporate partner wants to use his inventions for evil purposes. Using his time boxes, he takes his wife (Mary) and four children to 1865 and begins a thrilling and dangerous journey.
Like the Carsons in my third series, the Lanes are an interesting lot. Mary peddles cosmetics. Son Jordan is an Army captain. Laura and Jeremy, the middle children, are college students. Ashley is a seventh grader.
Individually and collectively, the Lanes find love, adventure, and purpose in 1865, 1893, 1927, 1941, and 1963. As they wander from coast to coast, they find everything they need except peace.
Silas Bain makes sure of that. The ruthless hit man, my first true villain, stalks the Lanes from the first book to the last in an attempt to retrieve the time boxes and return them to Robert Devereaux, a calculating billionaire who runs a Virginia corporation named Janus Enterprises.
Though I researched the books heavily, I completed the series in less than two years. I took advantage of COVID layoffs to finish the project months ahead of schedule. With a few spoilers, here is a look at the Time Box collection, which I consider my best five-book set.
THE LANE BETRAYAL (2020): I released The Lane Betrayal on February 29, 2020. Four weeks after returning from Virginia and Washington, D.C, the book's primary settings, I hit the publish button on Leap Day, a calendar comet that appears every four years.
I also ventured into the world of suspense. For the first time as an author, I wrote a bona fide thriller. I threw the Lanes and Silas Bain into the drama and turmoil of the final weeks of the American Civil War.
While in D.C., I visited Ford's Theatre, the setting for Chapter 65. It was a relatively small facility, a venue that had been remodeled in the 1960s. Even so, I could feel the history between its walls. I could see the Lincolns in the presidential booth and a festive audience watching the comedy Our American Cousin mere days after Robert E. Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox.
I loved writing a story set against this backdrop, but I loved developing my characters even more. In The Lane Betrayal, readers see Jordan begin a tender relationship with a pretty war widow and Laura, a nurse, befriend a legless soldier at a hospital. They also see Mary Lane as a tough-as-nails mama bear and Silas Bain a conflicted killer.
Crammed into just 12 weeks, The Lane Betrayal is my most compact story. [Let Time Fly, by comparison, unfolds over 29 months.] The Civil War book also features one of my favorite covers and one of the best audio narrations, thanks to veteran voice artist Todd Menesses.
Favorite Quote: In Chapter 78, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton considers how to deal with the meddling wife of a federal prisoner.
The secretary asked himself if he had the stomach to prosecute and possibly hang a woman for a capital offense. He wasn't sure. Though Mary Lane was probably as guilty as Mary Surratt, she was a far more sympathetic figure. She was the kind of woman who could play with the press and perhaps muddy an open-and-shut investigation.
THE FAIR (2020): In The Fair, I raised my game. I sent not only a hit man after the Lanes but also a serial killer. I added even more suspense to a novel set mostly in Chicago and Virginia City, Nevada, in 1893.
The Lanes make friends in The Fair. Laura finds a bestie in Irish illustrator Prudence O'Leary and Jeremy a girlfriend in frustrated socialite Ivy Trudeau. Out west, Jordan literally bumps into his future wife, a shy, beautiful librarian named Jessie Cole. Mark, Mary, and Ashley make their peace with an exciting era. For the first time, the fugitives from 2021 consider settling down.
Then Silas Bain and H.H. Holmes, a man who killed at least nine people in his Murder Castle, complicate things. Each reminds the Lanes that life in the nineteenth century can be as horrifying as it is pleasant.
I enjoyed writing The Fair. I liked drawing Prudence, Ivy, and Jessie and exploring the buildings, exhibits, and rides of the World's Columbian Exposition, arguably the greatest public spectacle in history.
As in The Lane Betrayal, the Lanes see a president speak. Several weeks after watching Abraham Lincoln deliver his storied second inaugural address, they watch Grover Cleveland open the Chicago World's Fair with a rousing speech. They witness history up close.
Favorite Quote: In Chapter 27, Jeremy Lane weighs the pros and cons of starting a relationship with the Rose DeWitt Bukater of Chicago.
Jeremy gazed at the critic in his glorified canoe and wondered once again where they were going. Though he wanted to spend every minute of every day with the sassy charmer, he questioned if he could. Ivy was not a girl he could date. She was an engaged woman who met him in secret once a week in a public place. She was a moth flying ever closer to a flame that could consume more than her reputation.
SEA SPRAY (2020): When I write a book, I try not only to tell a story but also to capture an age. I attempt to give readers a comprehensive feel for a time, a place, and an era. I aim to bring the past to life.
Like the Carsons in Indian Paintbrush, the Lanes hit the reset button in Sea Spray. They try to live a normal life in a not-so-normal time. They seek peace and happiness in a deceptively tranquil decade.
Sea Spray is also my "sisters" book. Laura and Ashley Lane, secondary characters in The Lane Betrayal and The Fair, take center stage in this one. Laura manages relationships with Ted Price, her charming neighbor, and Randy Taylor, her 2021 boyfriend and a man who tries to protect the Lanes from Robert Devereaux, Silas Bain, and harm as they traipse through the past. Ashley, now 14, forms an endearing friendship with Ted's sister, a bright, mischievous classmate named Maddie.
Though Sea Spray has its lighter moments, it is a somber novel that deals directly with death and grief. Two protagonists lose loved ones who literally die in their arms. Others cope with the aftermath.
Like Indian Paintbrush, another series bridge, Sea Spray ends on a sobering but hopeful note. With a twist that complicates the most important relationship in the series, it propels a family saga forward.
Favorite Quote: In Chapter 55, Mary Lane finds more than great music and great company at a July 25, 1927, concert in New York City.
Mary clapped with the others as Gershwin stood and bowed and further cemented his place as a music immortal. Then she glanced again at each member of her wonderful family and started to cry. She realized that she had finally reached the destination she had sought for more than a year. She was not just happy. She was home.
THE REFUGE (2021): In early 2021, I packed my bags. I mentally and physically prepared for my first trip to Hawaii, where I hoped to research the setting of the fourth series book. Unfortunately, the Aloha State, battling the COVID-19 pandemic, did not accommodate my plans.
In the book, the Lanes fight back. Tired of being hounded by Silas Bain, they seek both refuge and advantage when they travel from 1927 New York to 1941 Hawaii. While most of the family settles in the isolated village of Laie, Jordan scours Oahu for Bain, who — acting on Robert Devereaux’s orders — plans to alter the events of December 7 and delay America’s entry into World War II. The travelers try to save themselves and their country from two evil men from the future.
Each character grows. Mark and Mary befriend a Hawaiian family. Jordan and Jessie have a baby. Jeremy and Ashley start relationships. Laura wrestles with an unplanned pregnancy. Even Silas, the merciless killer, finds romance with a charming heiress. Back in the 2020s, Robert, Randy, and others try to manage events at Janus Enterprises. All act in big ways and small as an infamous date draws closer.
I grew as well. While researching The Refuge, I learned much about Oahu's geography, culture, cuisine, wildlife, place names, economy, and history, including the events before, during, and after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I completed a master class on an island.
Though I did not go to Hawaii in 2021, I did accomplish something as a traveler that year. I learned a lot about Baja California on a trip to Cabo San Lucas and applied much of what I learned in The Fountain, a book set partly in Mexico. I plan to visit Oahu this summer. With my wife, I will see places I could only imagine when I wrote my nineteenth novel.
Favorite Quote: While viewing ships at Pearl Harbor in Chapter 15, Silas Bain meets a stranger conducting his own surveillance mission.
Silas smiled as Tadashi Morimura, aka Takeo Yoshikawa, turned and walked away to points unknown. He did not fret over curtailed conversations or missed opportunities. He knew they would speak again. Unlike Takeo, an officer at the Japanese consulate, he knew that their relationship was just beginning. He would manipulate the diplomat, one of the most famous spies of World War II, for as long as he could.
CROWN CITY (2021): Unlike with Oahu in The Refuge, I did not have to rely on media to understand the principal setting in Crown City. I was able to visit the venue — Coronado, California — in person.
In Coronado, aka "Crown City," the Lanes make their last stand. They settle their business with Robert Devereaux, Silas Bain, and other enemies at Janus Enterprises.
They also establish roots. Jordan and Jessie get a place of their own. Laura has a baby and marries Randy. Jeremy weds Sarah Gustafson, his flame from The Refuge. Ashley shines as a freshman at Crown City High School.
In this novel, one of my favorites, I close loops, tie loose ends, and solve problems that began in The Lane Betrayal. I bring another family saga to a memorable conclusion. I do so against the lively backdrop of the Beach Boys' California and the presidency of John F. Kennedy.
As in The Refuge, the Lanes eye a future date with sadness and dread. Like they did with December 7, 1941, they make their peace with November 22, 1963. Even so, they don't roll over. They forge a new and productive path with their knowledge and tools as time travelers.
Favorite Quote: In Chapter 87, Craig Henderson, a Lane ally, tries to save his wife and ailing daughter from their troubled life in 2023.
A moment later, Craig pulled his family close, said a quick prayer, and brought his old life to a close. He reached down to touch the beta box, the oldest, simplest, and most reliable of the world's time machines. Then he closed the deal. He pressed a green button. He triggered a device and started a process. He took the first step in his journey to the future, a magical place where hope and cures and miracles awaited.
By the time I released Crown City in November 2021, I was burned out. I had written twenty novels and four exhausting five-book series and was ready for a serious change. Then my wife, Cheryl, an avid reader, suggested that I cut back: "Why don't you write trilogies instead?"
The next week, I dusted off my notes from Cabo San Lucas, read a few articles about Ponce de León's Fountain of Youth, and began plotting a very different kind of series. In the months to come, I would write not only about time travelers but also about old people who become young. I started down a new path. Next: The Second Chance series.
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