Paul Levinson's astonishing new Sf novel is a surprise and a delight: In the year 2042, Sierra, a young graduate student in Classics is shown a new dialog of Socrates, recently discovered, in which a time traveler tries to argue that Socrates might escape death by travel to the future! Thomas, the elderly scholar who has shown her the document, disappears, and Sierra immediately begins to track down the provenance of the manuscript, with the help of her classical scholar boyfriend, Max.
The trail leads her to a time machine in a gentlemen's club in London and in New York, and into the past -- and to a time traveler from her future, posing as Heron of Alexandria in 150 AD. Complications, mysteries, travels, and time loops proliferate as Sierra tries to discern who is planning to save the greatest philosopher in human history, or to do so herself. And she finds that time travel raises more questions than it answers.
After a little time-travel to ancient Greece, a graduate student ends up in the middle of several complex plots that span two centuries. This scholarly science fiction poses the question of what might have happened if Socrates hadn't actually swallowed the poisonous hemlock--but Socrates himself isn't cooperating in finding the answer to that question. Mark Shanahan gives a spirited narration. He has a light touch with the extensive dialogue and a deft facility in creating a range of characters of various ages and nationalities. Shanahan maintains a strong pace and draws out the suspense and drama of the plot. J.E.M. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
Paul Levinson writes science fiction, sf/mystery and popular and scholarly non-fiction. The Silk Code won the Locus award for Best First Novel of 1999. His novel The Consciousness Plague won the 2003 Mary Shelley Award for outstanding Fictional Work. Paul, who has published more than 25 science fiction stories, is the Chair of the Communications and Media Studies Department at Fordham University.
