The Time Engine

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Swords, sorcery, and time travel are a strange and dangerous mix in The Time Engine, the fourth hilarious adventure in Sean McMullen's Moonsworld series, featuring characters from Voidfarer.

Wayfarer Inspector Danolarian saw his world's future and did not approve. After that incident, and having once met his future self, the inspector considered himself as knowledgeable as he ever wanted to be on the subject of time travel. What he did not know was that he would be abducted into the future and wind up on the run with a constable who had shape-shifted into a cat. He would also find himself marooned in the ancient past, where he would have to recover his time engine—the device that is his only way to get back home—from five thousand naked, psychopathic horsemen.

And when the time engine is finally recovered, a faulty repair plunges him another three million years back in time, to a world of strange, beautiful people living idyllic lives in splendid castles. But things are not always as they seem. After being attacked, he learns from his unlikely rescuer that his travels might not have simply been a series of misadventures through time and space. A furious Danolarian returns to his own time, planning revenge against the time engine's true builders.…

Reviews

“A very enjoyable tale of swords and sorcery, dragons and derring-do, with plenty of unexpected angles.… Inspector Danolarian narrates with a combination of gaucherie and self-confidence that the reader, along with nearly every woman he meets, should find endearing.” —RT Book Reviews on The Time Engine

“Engaging…in such a boisterously populous imaginary milieu the narrative possibilities are endless.… Like L. Sprague de Camp in his prime, Sean McMullen is an exotic adventurer of authentic, if wayward, genius.” —Locus on The Time Engine

“A brilliantly inventive, marvelously plotted sea-faring fantasy that both mocks and surpasses genre expectations. … Exciting, suspenseful, vividly believable, and great, clever fun.” – Kirkus Reviews on Voyage of the Shadow Moon, starred review

“A marvelously unpredictable and intricate story, full of swashbuckling intrigue and adventure on a grand scale.” – Publishers Weekly on Voyage of the Shadow Moon

About the Author

Sean McMullen is one of the leading Australian SF authors to emerge during the 1990s, having won more than a dozen national awards in his homeland. In addition, he has sold many short stories to magazines such as Analog, Interzone, and Fantasy & Science Fiction, and was co-author of Strange Constellations, a History of Australian SF. He established himself in the American market with the publication of the Greatwinter trilogy (comprised of Souls in the Great Machine, The Miocene Arrow, and Eyes of the Calculor). His fiction has been translated into Polish, French, and Japanese. The settings for Sean's work range from the Roman Empire, through Medieval Europe, to cities of the distant future.

He has bachelor's and master's degrees from Melbourne University, and post-graduate diplomas in computer science, information science and business management. He is currently doing a PhD in Medieval Fantasy Literature at Melbourne University, where he is also the deputy instructor at the campus karate club, and a member of the fencing club. Before he began writing, Sean spent several years in student reviews and theatre, and was lead singer in three rock and folk bands. After singing in several early music groups and choirs, he spent two years in the Victorian State Opera before he began writing.

He lives in Melbourne with his wife Trish and daughter Catherine.

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Book Details

Imprint: Tor Books

Genre: Fantasy

ISBN: 9780765330635

Page Count: 304

On Sale:

July 17, 2012

Books By Sean Mcmullen