Praise

"Palma has steeped himself in the Victorian period and brings it marvelously to life...A rich bounty for readers to enjoy...lush, compulsively readable...Sequels are welcome. Full Text" --The Boston Globe
"After 611 pages, I was awestruck. All these plots, all these mysteries, all this lovely writing! By Jove, he's got it! Full Text" --Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Palma writes with such shrewdness and glee that I enjoyed “The Map of Time” more than any time-travel novel since Connie Willis’s “To Say Nothing of the Dog." Full Text" --The Washington Post
"Strange and wonderful as well as magical and smart, the author has done more than written a wonderful novel, he’s concocted a supernatural tour de force. Time travel, tragic love, murder and mystery all combine in what is nothing short of a surprising, satisfying and mesmerizing read. Read Blog" --Recommendations & Reviews (Blog)
"'Intellectual thriller' is not an oxymoron in this case. Eccentric, informed. Time travel, H.G. Wells, Jack the Ripper, robots, romance, changing history, destroying classic literature. Spot on narration. Good clean fun. Full Text" --Tulsa World
"Palmas writes with panache and good humor, and he’s cooked up a crackerjack story. Full text" --The Seattle Times
"Felix J. Palma has authored a novel that is sublime in all its aspects. Acerbic wit, intellectual commentary, mind boggling twists and turns, combined with unique characters makes for an enchanting, satisfying and deeply mesmerizing novel. http://tinyurl.com/3wvpel4" --The Chronicles of an Enamored Soul (Blog)
"Palma is also a master of ingenious plotting, and his tale takes in far more than a simple game of cat and mouse: Even the most careful reader won’t foresee some of the twists here, and there are plenty of them." --Kirkus Reviews
"Lyrical storytelling and a rich attention to detail make this prize-winning novel by an acclaimed Spanish author an enthralling read. It is a wonderful blend of genres (sf, steampunk, mystery, romance, historical fantasy) and will appeal to fans of historical fiction as well as fantasy." --Library Journal (Starred Review)
"Palma makes his U.S. debut with the brilliant first in a trilogy, an intriguing thriller that explores the ramifications of time travel in three intersecting narratives." --Publishers Weekly, (Starred Review)
"“Lyrical storytelling and a rich attention to detail make this prize-winning novel an enthralling read." --Library Journal (Starred Review)
"Readers who embark on the journey...will be richly rewarded." --Booklist (Starred Review)
"The Map of Time is a singularly inventive, luscious story with a core of pure, unsettling weirdness. With unnerving grace and disturbing fantasy, it effortlessly straddles that impossible line between being decidedly familiar, and yet absolutely new." --Cherie Priest, author of Boneshaker
"Strange and wonderful. Magical and smart. Félix J. Palma has done more than written a wonderful novel, he’s concocted a supernatural tour de force. Time travel, tragic love, murder and mystery all combine in what is nothing short of a surprising, satisfying and mesmerizing read." --M.J. Rose, International Bestseller
"The Map of Time recalls the science fiction of Wells and Verne, and then turns the early masters on their heads. A brilliant and breathtaking trip through metafictional time." --Scott Westerfield, author of Leviathan

Additional Reading

The Map of Time

The Map of Time

A piece of white cord, approximately five feet above the floor, was stretched from wall to wall like a master rope. The ends of the green and blue colored strings hanging from the white cord were tacked to the sidewalls. Each string, including the master rope, was festooned with newspaper clippings. At one end of the white cord, Wells noticed a photograph shimmering faintly. Surprisingly it was in color and showed a splendid stone and glass building towering beneath a clear blue sky. This must be the Library of Truth. At the other end of the cord hung a cutting announcing the discontinuation of the Restoration Project and the passing of a law prohibiting any change in the past.

The Map of Time
Andrew Harrington

Andrew Harrington

Andrew Harrington is a wealthy young man devastated by the murder of his beloved Marie Kelley. He has turned into an automaton, a gloomy creature who lives out of habit, without hope. When given a chance to travel back through time to save Marie, what will be awakened within him?

Andrew Harrington
Charles Winslow

Charles Winslow

Charles Winslow, Andrew’s cousin, is the type of person who leaves little time for worrying about the outside world. Proud, indolent, and unimaginably wealthy, Charles is accustomed to getting his own way – even when it means bending the rules of time. His only concern is for the welfare of his cousin.

Charles Winslow
Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper led a reign of terror over the Whitechapel district of London in late 1888, slaying prostitutes from the area. Luckily for London, he was caught after murdering Marie Kelley on November 7, 1888, and his identity was exposed as Bryan Reese, a sailor. Why does Marcus Rhys want to change this outcome by going back in time?

Jack the Ripper
Marie Kelley

Marie Kelley

Marie Kelley is a beautiful prostitute in the dangerous Whitechapel district of London. When Andrew falls deeply in love with her, she begins to see a way out of the life she’s been forced into. Mere hours before Andrew can change her life, however, she is brutally murdered by Jack the Ripper. Can Andrew’s love transcend time to change her fate?

Marie Kelley
Claire Haggerty

Claire Haggerty

Claire Haggerty is bored of her own time. She would have gladly been born into another era if that meant she did not have to take piano lessons, wear insufferably tight dresses, choose a husband from among an assortment of willing suitors, or carry round one of those silly little parasols she always ends up leaving in the most unexpected places. A trip to the year 2000 gives her the opportunity to escape her dreary 19th-century life...but can she make Captain Derek Shackleton fall in love with her?

Claire Haggerty
H.G. Wells

H.G. Wells

H.G. Wells is an author who recently published a novel, The Time Machine, to massive public acclaim. Considered the father of time travel by his fellow Londoners, he has brought the future to 19th century England and paved the way for operations like Murray’s Time Travel. Besides himself and his wife, Jane, only one other person in the world knows about the time machine hidden in his attic...or so he thinks.

Learn more about H.G. Wells:

H.G. Wells
Bram Stoker
Solomon, King of the Automatons

Solomon, King of the Automatons

The perfect 21st century automaton, Solomon was so life-like that he eventually came to life, crowned himself king of the automatons, and began against war with humans that would leave the world in ruins. It is his epic battle with Captain Derek Shackleton that Murray’s Time Travel showcases.

Solomon, King of the Automatons
The Time Machine

The Time Machine

At first sight, the machine capable of breaking down the barriers confining man to the present looked like some sort of sophisticated sleigh. However, the rectangular wooden pedestal to which it was fixed suggested that it was not designed to travel easily through space: it would need to be dragged along, something that would be difficult owing to its size. The apparatus was surrounded by a waist-high brass rail, a flimsy barrier that had to be stepped over to gain access to the sturdy seat in the middle. The seat vaguely resembled a barber’s chair, to which had been attached two exquisitely carved wooden arms and was upholstered in rather lurid red velvet. In front of it, support by two elegant bars made of brass, was a medium sized dial, the control panel with three monitors showing the day, the month, and the year. A delicate glass lever protruded from a wheel to the right of the dial. The machine seemed to have no other handles, and Andrew deduced that the whole thing worked by pulling on this single lever. Behind the seat was something resembling a distilling mechanism. This had a shaft sticking out of it which supported a huge round disc that was covered in strange symbols and looked as if it might spin round. Apparently designed to protect the machine, it was bigger than a Spartan shield and was undoubtedly the most spectacular thing about the whole contraption. Finally a little plaque screwed into the control panel read “Made by H.G. Wells”

*Time Machine image courtesy of The Time Machine Project

The Time Machine
Gilliam Murray

Gilliam Murray

Gilliam Murray is a strapping fellow with the enigmatic look of a person who holds a great many aces up his sleeve, which he has every intention of using at the first opportunity. As a young man, he spent many months with the Reed People in Africa, eventually discovering their secret for opening a portal into the fourth dimension.  He was able to capture one of these portals and bring it back to London, where he operates a tour service to the year 2000. 

 

Gilliam Murray
Melvyn Frost

Melvyn Frost

Melvyn Frost is a renegade time traveler, intent on stealing and republishing The Invisible Man, Dracula and The Turn of the Screw under his own name, and murdering the real authors. His presence in the 19th century brings Marcus Rhys into the lives of H. G. Wells, Bram Stoker, and Henry James, and forces each author to make a decision that will affect the future...and possibly the past.

Melvyn Frost
The Time Mapper/Marcus Rhys

The Time Mapper/Marcus Rhys

Marcus Rhys is, in a manner of speaking, a librarian. A representative of the Library of Truth, Marcus travels through time to correct unlawful tampering with the past, and bring the anomalies into line with the true history of the world. One wonders, however, whether a time mapper can be trusted...

The Time Mapper/Marcus Rhys
The Elephant Man / Joseph Carey Merrick
Captain Derek Shackleton

Captain Derek Shackleton

Captain Derek Shackleton, brave, strong, handsome, and powerful, has been defending the world of Man since his youth, when Solomon attempted to assassinate him. While we know from the multiple expeditions by Murray’s Time Travel that he succeeds in defeating the King of the Automatons and regaining dominion over the earth, do we really know what kind of man Captain Derek Shackleton is – and what kind of world he will create?

Captain Derek Shackleton
Henry James