First among thirds

Just prior to Christmas, I wrote a short story following same storyline as the Lisa, Jody, and Holly trilogy. For reasons I can't now bring to mind, I wrote it in third person, past tense. All the other books have been in first person, Lisa, then Jody, then Holly, and then there's Saskia Chandler. Amazingly, I found it quite difficult. It makes an interesting change, and hopefully for an interesting story. As to whether I'll do a full novel like that I don't know. The next short story will probably be from the point of view of Louisa, the Angel's Girl Friday. Now all I need is a plot.....
Ian B 

Time travel and all that

Can people travel in time - apart from moving into the future second by second I mean. If people from the future are standing among us now, we certainly don't know about it - at least at the moment. Be that as it may, that doesn't stop authors writing about it as if it does actually exist - and that includes me.
But what would happen if you went back in time, a few minutes or a few years? There's the old paradox of what would happen if you killed your grandparents before you were born. Many writers have played around with this concept over the years. Theoretically (the whole thing is theoretical at this point) you would cease to exist, never having been born. But if you'd never been born, how could you go back in time to do anything. See the paradox?
What I decided when I made the Saskias able to move in time was that past events are fixed, they can't be changed, you can't bump off grandad because you didn't, and if you were there at that time, it was because you'd always been there.
That would seem to make any story including time travel a bit - well - boring. But what if you had to go back in time to make an event happen as reported by history happen properly, the way it was supposed to. And what if it only happened that way because you were there and made it so? The trick comes in the fact that the girls from 2012 or whatever can't be told what they have to do in 1757 or whatever to make the event 'correct', so to speak - and what if they have just enough lee-way in the way they do whatever is required to get it wrong ....
Naturally, you'll need to read the books to see if they get it right - or is it Whoops Apocalypse?
Ian B

The Magic date number

Today's date is generating a bit of interest. The 12-12-12 thing appears to fascinate people. There is much talk about how we'll never see that particular line-up again in our lifetimes. That's true - as far as it goes. For the majority of us it IS true, but consider; if you have a child under the age of 12 months or so (and a couple of people I know actually have), then if they live to be 101, they will see the 12-12-12 again in 2112. Considering the increase in life-span over the last hundred years, that last is a distinct possibility.
Of course, for the Saskias, the 12-12-12 thing will happen many times. To find out why that is, you'll have to read the books.
IB