On February 23rd, 2021, my third novel, “A Law of Constants,” hits the shelves at Amazon.Com and I am SUPER EXCITED! This book is one of my most ambitious stories and I have poured a lot of time and brain power into the concept — I am very happy with the final product and I know that you are absolutely going to love it. Again, “A Law of Constants” will be available on February 23rd, EXCLUSIVELY through Amazon.Com.
If I can be brutally honest, I love telling people that I am a writer, and I have a book coming out. The first question, a vast majority of the time, is “what’s the book about?” That opens the floodgates for a torrent of geekery that most people don’t realize is possible. When researching the topics for “A Law of Constants,” I have been in rabbit holes of science and conspiracy theories — which should go hand in hand, if you think about it — and it is the treasure trove of topics that my eight year old self would have pissed himself to know existed.
So, what is “A Law of Constants” about? In a way, time travel. Not really time travel, but traveling through different universes — because there is more than one, allegedly — and how the Redeemer’s obsessive pursuit of a self-righteous cause puts the entirety of everything that exists into danger. Everything that you and I know about how the natural world works is called into question. Coke cans aren’t red for everyone, sharks aren’t the deadliest predators in the oceans in some universes, and it’s already too late in others. Derek Foster is the senior investigation’s agent at the Langdon Agency — a private organization that even the government leans on when it comes to getting answers to questions science can’t explain — and he has been tasked with stopping the Redeemer before everything ends. Derek, his partner Raquel Ortiz (from “Days of the Phoenix”), and a woman who has been dead a very long time must find the most brilliant mind across any universe before it’s too late. On February 23rd, 2021, it’s not a race against time, it’s a race to save it.
Sounds amazing, right? For this week’s blog, and to get you excited about buying your copy on February 23rd, I wanted to share the story about how I discovered this incredibly fascinating subject.
[DISCLAIMER]: The events of this story are absolutely true, to the best of my recollection. Some details may be different per other accounts of the same events.
Black Moshannon, Pennsylvania – 2012 (Approximately).
Divergence A, Outcome 1
Before I was a wordsmith with purpose, I was the guitarist and vocalist for a band. Every Friday night, we’d come together to play music and have a good time. Friday night would often turn into very, very early Saturday mornings. Now, I’m a very vibrant personality, and I wanted that to show when I played. Even though it was practice, I wanted to practice the way I played — so I’d sweat, swear, and exhaust myself. When it was time to leave, I’d throw myself in the car and my ex-wife would drive me home.
The drive from where we practiced, to where we lived in Pine Grove Mills, was about an hour. A long drive in the middle of the night, with your behemoth husband snoring like a chorus of wildebeest mating calls in the passenger seat, so my ex-wife would listen to the radio. Even though we aren’t married any more, I don’t believe that she ever intentionally set out to torment my attempts to sleep, but her favorite radio show was concentrated nightmare fuel. The show was called “Coast to Coast A.M., with George Noory.” George would facilitate conversations on things like haunted houses, demonic possession, alien abductions — you know, the stuff that makes someone dream about winning the world series</sarcasm>. I’d try to block it out, but the louder I’d snore, the louder my ex-wife would turn up the radio.
As a boy, I was obsessed with movies like Terminator, Back to the Future, Timecop, etc. One of my favorite books as a youth was an abridged version of “the Time Machine” by H.G. Wells. As an adult, especially one who is asleep, loose allusions to time travel will catch my ear quickly. As I’m sleep-listening to “Coast to Coast A.M.,” I hear the magic words: time traveler. I sat up like I’d been shot in my sleep and I turned up the radio.
The caller, and Mr. Noory, were discussing the John Titor story and how old he would have been that year. That name, John Titor, has haunted me ever since. The name, each time it was repeated by the host and the caller, would cement into my notice and my awareness. On the radio, as I lived and breathed, someone was saying that time travel was within the realm of possibilities. That radio show could have been completely fictionalized — it’s not — and the fact that someone was saying all this craziness I loved made me feel like a kid again. As an adult, it’s easy to get the child-like enthusiasm for the little things beaten out of you. I had that nerd-fire again, I was excited.
That excitement didn’t last long. In the middle of that phone call on “Coast to Coast A.M.,” the call clicked, the caller was lost, and as George Noory was trying to get the caller back …a completely different voice came on the line. The voice was deadpan and humorless. All it said was “Hello?” and then the call ended. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck, my blood had become a most effective refrigerant. The sound, the very vibration of that voice, unsettled my stomach and turned my spine to gelatin. It was hollow and sinister.
Obviously, I didn’t sleep after that. My eyes were open in the dark, revolving around the window illuminated by the street lights outside. That hollow, sinister voice echoed through my head. Now, I’m not one to indulge conspiracy theories. I really believe there is a rational explanation for just about everything. Even Area Fifty-One, at this point, I think is just a rumor that the government lets live because it is taking focus away from the secrets they need to hide the most. What weight could the name “John Titor” have had that someone had to shut down the conversation?
Let’s compound that a little further. The next day, I went looking for information on John Titor and Coast to Coast A.M. getting the call cut. It turns out, it wasn’t the first time that Coast to Coast A.M. had been knocked off the air in the middle of an important call. The founding host, Art Bell, had been on the phone with a man who claimed to work at Area Fifty-One, and that what we think of as aliens are actually interdimensional beings. Boom. Calls go down, Art Bell’s transmitter is fried. That leads me to believe that “big brother” does monitor Coast to Coast A.M. and has the ability to infiltrate their broadcasts. What did I hear?
That night was the introduction to a lot of concepts for me, a lot of them went into the writing of “A Law of Constants”. Next week, I’m going to tell you about John Titor and how my research led to coming up with the concept for the book.
Until your next trip across the Millerverse!
A.P. Miller 