This is my first published novel and I am really excited! After countless manuscript revisions, and the great work of my editor and friend Liz Gwinn, The Shift is finally available for purchase.
Of course, as soon as it went live, I kept finding typos and formatting issues in the Amazon description, so I kept making changes and resubmitting for publication. And then, when I downloaded a sample on my device, I noticed the cover had smudges around the Earth images! Yes, I designed the cover myself, I will take all the kudos or derision. I corrected those and again submitted! Finally, I posted about the book on Facebook and noticed the preview cut out the top part of the title. Back to my trusty MS Paint!
Ok, onto the book itself, I think / hope it is more interesting than my self-publishing tribulations. Although the genre of alternate history is well represented in literature and movies, I believe I came up with a fresh take on the multiverse and interdimensional travel.
I came up with the idea for The Shift maybe three years ago. I was inspired in part by the movie Another Earth. It is a movie about choices and their ramifications, and not really about alternate history. But the premise is quite interesting. Two Earths sharing the solar system? Sounds like a great setup for many story lines! While the movie (which I recommend) is not concerned with the plausibility of the premise or physical realism, I tried to create a believable star system. I also tried to represent the physics of space flight in a realistic manner, albeit taking minor artistic license in a few spots. After all, this is also a science fiction novel! Cool spaceships are required!
A major what-if trope is Nazi Germany having won the Second World War. Would we be able to beat them again? What if they occupied their own planet in the same star system, and had focused on building their space capabilities to levels far beyond what was achieved in our timeline? How would people on our world react when they found out about this threat?
Well, you’ll have to read the book!