Book 2 in the Physics, Lust and Greed Series
Science Fiction
Date Published: October 1, 2020
When time travelers fail test after test to significantly alter the past, most financial backers abandon the Global Research Consortium leaving veteran traveler Marta Hamilton to administer a vastly scaled-down project. She must protect the past from a greedy future, fend off political meddling, and foil a murder plot originating in a parallel universe. She presides over a conspiracy to hide the truth of her best friend’s death while coping with a confusing and discomforting romantic entanglement involving fellow traveler Marshall Grissom.
Marta, who has by professional necessity always distanced herself from emotional commitment, lapsed by allowing herself the luxury of friendship with Sheila Schuler and a night of wild sex with Marshall. Now, Sheila is probably dead, and—according to a genius physicists’ theory—Marshall soon will be. As she assumes her role as administrator of the time travel program, Marta must choose between the risks of loving someone, or the lonely safety of emotional solitude.
(No cats were harmed in the telling of this story.)
Interview with Mike Murphey
For those interested in exploring the subject or theme of your book, where should they start?
The subject of Wasting Time is time travel, and the theme is the evolution of relationships. For the time travel aspect, a basic familiarity with quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of special relativity might be useful. Not that the book is hard science fiction by any means. If you don’t care for the romance of physics, then the romance of relationships will carry you though. You can’t take physics too seriously if you are trying to be funny.
How did you become involved with the subject or theme of your book?
I’ve had a fascination with the concept of time travel since junior high school when I heard a teacher talk about the relativity of time. I was blown away by the thought that the faster you go, the slower time passes. That fostered the realization that time is not just a convenient tape measure for establishing when children should go to bed. Rather it’s a malleable, fourth dimensional object that could conceivable be manipulated to provide a path to the past or future. And that concept provides an almost limitless host of possibilities as a setting for stories.
What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?
My physics, lust and greed books are intended purely to entertain. I hope they contain some food for thought about the human condition, but, to quote Mark Twain’s preface from Huckleberry Finn: "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot." If a reader is entertained, I’m happy.
Anything you would like to say to your readers and fans?
Thank you from the bottom of my heart. All three of you.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
I enjoy bringing characters to life, sending them on their way, and seeing what trouble they will get into.
Can you tell us a little bit about your next books or what you have planned for the future?
I have two more Physics, Lust and Greed books in various stages of development. My first non-fiction book will, hopefully be out this summer. It tells the story of the Chad Mitchell Trio, and the 60’s folk music era. Its title is We never knew just what it was…the Story of the Chad Mitchell Trio.
How long have you been writing?
In one form or another, fifty years or so.
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Wasting Time … Book 2 in the Physics, Lust and Greed Series?
Marshall Grissom is an awkward and insecure man without guile or pretention who does his best to not be noticed. His relationship with Marta Hamilton, though, is helping to be more comfortable in his own skin. Marta Hamilton is a cynical spy who is “rough edges and hard bristles” who has avoided emotional entanglements. Her relationship with Marshall, though, is softening her—a condition she does not trust. Cecil is a 106-year-old man who was once the proprietor of Cecil’s Margin Service—a printing operation specializing in margins—who is now retired. He lives on a sailboat in the Caribbean and waxes cats.
If you could spend the day with one of the characters from Wasting Time who would it be? Please tell us why you chose this particular character, where you would go and what you would do.
A toss-up between Marta and Cecil. But I’ve known Cecil a long time, so I’d probably choose Marta, because she’s smart and dangerous and has a sense of adventure. We’d go sailing, where I hope she would introduce me to Dr. Dingus Doonaughty.
About the Author
Mike Murphey is a native of New Mexico and spent almost thirty years as an award-winning newspaper journalist in the Southwest and Pacific Northwest. Following his retirement, he enjoyed a seventeen-year partnership with the late Dave Henderson, all-star Major League outfielder. Their company produced the Oakland A’s and Seattle Mariners adult baseball Fantasy Camps. Wasting Time is his fourth novel. Mike loves fiction, cats, baseball and sailing. He splits his time between Spokane, Washington, and Phoenix, Arizona.
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