One aspect of science fiction that has always intrigued me was time travel. There are a lot of books out there dealing with the subject however, most leave me cold, and don't get me started on TV and motion picture treatment of the subject. Currently I have two stories on Fiction Press dealing with the subject. In both cases, people from the present travel back to the old west. One uses the spacecraft of an alien who has crash landed on earth, the other uses a machine a physics professor has built.
With the alien craft the characters are able to travel to multiple locations, but the one the professor built only travels to one location but two time periods, this is the story I'm currently working on. Originally, the story's protagonist travels to 1876 Deadwood, builds a small town and stays. From time to time, he, along with others return to the present (2015) as well as returning to the past. In the story, the years pass, and when they return to the present for say a week or so when they return to the past, only two or three days have passed. Although the machine was originally set for 1876, it automatically adjusts for the passage of time so they are currently in 1878. A long time ago I read a story about a time machine (not the H.G. Wells story) that performed in the same manner. The story has always stuck with me and it has always seemed to me that's the way one of these machines should operate. I'd like to hear from others who have tackled this subject and read your thoughts.
With the alien craft the characters are able to travel to multiple locations, but the one the professor built only travels to one location but two time periods, this is the story I'm currently working on. Originally, the story's protagonist travels to 1876 Deadwood, builds a small town and stays. From time to time, he, along with others return to the present (2015) as well as returning to the past. In the story, the years pass, and when they return to the present for say a week or so when they return to the past, only two or three days have passed. Although the machine was originally set for 1876, it automatically adjusts for the passage of time so they are currently in 1878. A long time ago I read a story about a time machine (not the H.G. Wells story) that performed in the same manner. The story has always stuck with me and it has always seemed to me that's the way one of these machines should operate. I'd like to hear from others who have tackled this subject and read your thoughts.