Why does Tommy's mobile work in Eloise's world of 1599?

Added: 18th May 2009

The explanation which I give below is exceedingly speculative with respect to the physics but not utterly outrageous.

I am sure that you know that cell phones are effectively radios whose signal is picked up at some nearby station. This station then enters your call into the telephone network where it will connect with the person you want to talk to. My apologies if you are aware of this perfectly well already!

Now it is obvious that there are no stations or telephone networks in 1599 and therefore Tommy's cell phone could not work. However, in book three, The Fairest Star, there is a very small digression in which there is some speculation about whether Tommy has gone into the past or into a parallel universe. You may be familiar with Everett's parallel Universe theory, elaborated by cosmologists since the first proposition in the 1957. I had the idea that if, as in the standard theory of parallel Universes, Universes grow apart, could they not also grow by chance together? If they came within quantum fluctuations of one another, they could then behave in superposition. Thus one could be in two different Universes at once, where these two different Universes could be very similar, but one might be retarded in time with respect to the other.

Hence equipment available in Tommy's Universe could be available to signals generated in Eloise's Universe because the Universes are in superposition and each has the properties of the other. Therefore radio signals generated in Eloise's Universe could be picked up in Tommy's. This phenomenon would fade with time.

Since I do not seek in the books to give any false air of authenticity by using explanations based on what is contrary to all experience and very probably incorrect as science, I do not discuss this point in the books or dwell on it at all. The books are not really science fiction of course. The time transport is really just a vehicle for creating the story which I wanted to write. I hope that this and the (pseudo)-science in the preceding paragraph is acceptable as an explanation.

A Competition

Added: 12th January 2009

I have a friend who plays the viola and I play the piano. We have been learning the Cesar Franck viola sonata – which I may say is a right devil for the piano, but that’s another story. This work is one of the great works of romantic music of the nineteenth century. Anyone who loves to wallow in wonderful romantic lingering phrases – like me - would love it! At all events, I want you to tell me what is the first note in the right hand of the piano part of the last movement. By the way, many of you may think that you have never heard of this piece (or even the composer himself) – but if you try to listen to the opening of the last movement, then you will very likely recognise the tune. It’s used a lot on public broadcasting in the US, I believe. Now, the first person who tells me the right answer will get a free copy of book 3 of Friends and Enemies, the Fairest Star. Answers via e-mail on my website, www.davidfield.co.uk, please!

Research into Multiple Sclerosis

Added: 15th December 2008

Some of you may have noticed a note on the US Amazon site that I give a proportion of the profits on the Friends and Enemies series to the fight against multiple sclerosis. The reason for my special interest in multiple sclerosis is that my father was a neurologist and was for many years a leading researcher in the field. Towards the end of his career he set up a medical trust, the Naomi Bramson Trust (named after his mother) whose aim is to support research into this debilitating and widespread disease. The Naomi Bramson trust is a registered charity in the UK. I have for many years been a member of the board of the Naomi Bramson Trust. We presently support some very exciting work carried out at the University of Oxford.

The new book: the Fairest Star

Added: 2nd December 2008

What is this book about, the last in the trilogy? It is about young people in love in a tough environment, describing the story of their adventures, their successes and failures. The relationship of Tommy and Eloise develops hand in hand with the unfolding conflicts and challenges which face them in the fanatical days of France of 1599. The story explores the authoritarian power which men and women possessed in those times and the nature of the people who wielded it. Readers will see modern conflicts mirrored in this historical setting and the contrasts and similarities to the religious and cultural conflicts which we endure today. These strands are carried along on a narrative which I hope should keep you turning the pages till the bittersweet end. The three books are intended for a young adult audience with strong cross-over to the adult reader. It is, to coin a word, adulteen literature. I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Subscribe

Added: 2nd December 2008

Even if you have not read the two earlier books, Friends and Enemies and Beings in a Dream, you can safely dip into chapter 1 of the third book, The Fairest Star, without spoiling the story. All you need to do is to hit ‘Subscribe’. You will be asked to give your e-mail address. The pages which you may then access will give you the flavour of the books and their style and tell if you if these adventures are something for you, your family and your friends and their children to explore. Your e-mail address will of course not be revealed to anyone else and if you wish to unsubscribe this is readily done. We will use your address to keep you up-to-date on news of the series. You will also obtain access, in due course, to additional passages not in the published books.

Places to buy the books

Added: 2nd December 2008

The easiest way to buy the books from anywhere in the world is through Amazon. If you are in the UK, then Tescos, WH Smiths, the Book Depository and Waterstones can also provide the books through on-line purchase. Your local bookshop can take orders but you should order now to be sure of getting the books in time for Christmas. Bookshops seem to be rather slow! The first two books of the trilogy can be obtained within a few days from Amazon but the third is just coming out and may require a little longer. Please take with a pinch of salt any notices describing delivery that you see at first on the UK and US Amazon sites: these notices tend to refer to just after publication before they have bought stock. There should be no trouble in getting all 3 books before Christmas if you order in the next couple of weeks or so, unless of course you live in the Turks and Caicos Islands or Tristan da Cunha.

If you have any questions about the books, then please send me an .