To explain, but very briefly, the thought process behind this post.
I have an idea (it's waaay down the list) for a serial about time travel. The serial doesn't deal with the MC's adventures with time travel, it deals with his adventures of not time traveling (stay with me here)...
If you've seen Primer, then you may know that Shane Carruth (the writer/director) said in an interview "...prototypes almost never include neon lights and chrome. I wanted to see a story play out that was more in line with the way real innovation takes place than I had seen on film before."
I wanted to take that one step further and not have it be accidentally by two guys in a garage (with all due respect to Mr. Carruth and his excellent movie). Once you have it, how do you protect the secret of it's existence, safeguard the equipment, and most importantly what protocols are in place for not screwing the entire universe (or getting screwed by the universe). Very important, but pretty mundane details. With the right emphasis I think that could be interesting.
Which led to trying to think of any stories that didn't deal with 'This Is The Most Important Thing Ever' - which, I get it, is what what creates the urgency, which creates... you know where this goes.
The only book that I've read that's even close, that I could think of, was Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams, which if you've read the book (or recognize the author's name), it only plays with mundanities for comedic effect (and the mystery of course turns out to be 'The Most Important Thing Ever' - also, coincidental to this post, time travel is involved).
Since I am looking to beef up my reading list anyway, I thought I'd come on here and see if anyone had any suggestions for books that do handle what would otherwise be a very mundane story in an interesting way. Hope that clears up any confusion and thank you.
