The Sagely Fox
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(Alien Artifact 2) A Pivot in Time by Douglas E. Richards Review
01/03/2021
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” —Albert Einstein”
“I’m more inclined to believe in God because of our insignificance next to nature, rather than because we’re so special.”
(Alien Artifact 2) A Pivot in Time by Douglas E. Richards
My thoughts on Review spoilers, and ratings may be relevant before you venture below --- the spoiler line ---. Click the [Back] button there to return here if you take a look. This Review 930± words
My Rating: 
Highly recommended 4.5 star science fiction/thriller/suspense novel. The story of an "alien artifact" discovered in the earlier novel (Alien Artifact 1) The Enigma Cube and the continuing adventures of the people involved in learning to understand this artifact that continue in this book.
Generally: --- the spoiler line ---
We start in media res (in the middle of a scene) with Otto Richter, also known as Jim Connolly, waking up, in chains, a prisoner. Fortunately for "Jim" he's fluent in several languages, so when Senator Marcus Dorso
starts asking him questions in Latin, he isn't entirely baffled.
No mistake, Jim is baffled and confused. Who wouldn't be after traveling 2000± years into the past from 1971, causing him to black out and luckily not die with his heart disease. An experiment only the great Otto Richter would dare with his near super intellect in his rather imaginative effort to reunite with his granddaughter, Kelly Connolly, who we also know from The Enigma Cube.
Meanwhile, back in 2027, The Chinese and their super advanced technology, along with their iron will, have not given up on obtaining the US "Enigma Cube". The Chinese have found another duplicate of the alien artifact. They intend on capturing the US copy, Kelly Connelly, and Justine Boyd who both appear to understand how it works, so they will have both known cubes and be the exclusive power in the world to wield such a powerful device.
My Notable Notes: Notes I took to remind me what was going on during any given time reading
- Ch 1-32 Otto goes back to Roman Times of Jesus in an attempt to reunite with his own family in a convoluted scheme that should land him in 2027 eventually.
- Meanwhile our protagonists Kelly and super soldier Justine
outsmart the Chinese to get the Chinese (Jordan) Cube by pretending to get captured & blackmailed into giving up its secrets. Once the cube is activated, they have a lock on it and Kelley can transport to the location loaded with tech to wipe out everything and take the cube the Chinese have obtained. Really quite an elaborate scheme and plot twist which Douglas deserves praise for. - Ch 32- Unk, Dozed through much of this part of the audiobook but probably picked up enough that listening to it again while doing chores tomorrow will be boring. Set the audiobook back to chapter 32.
- Ch 32 - 62. Continued to the end of Part 5, then thru Part 9. The new team put together to study the artifact by Justine and Kelly, after managing their elaborate scheme in Jordon now turn to rescuing Kelly's grandfather Otto Richter/Jim Connelly.
- Here we start another wide arc that embraces ancient Rome, and the Senator Marcus Dorso who has Jim Connelly in chains.
Likes and Dislikes:
Our author, Mr. Richards does something I admire in writers. He's courageous. While having little actually historical knowledge, without having read the encyclopedic
volumes of commentaries and studies of everything Christian, he tackles Jesus, of all people.
This wasn't a "like" or "dislike" particularly, I've just spent a great amount of time studying books on those topics that I'm confident Mr. Richards has never even heard of regarding religion, and the Christian religion in particular. So when "he started going there" I was skeptical at best. 1. That he would get any facts right, 2. That he wouldn't play politics one way or another with the topic.
To my delight, while I found this cringe worthy, he did a good job in keeping his science fiction time travel story in the era of Jesus relatively non-political and relatively free of any kind of preaching at all. Your mileage may vary.
It helps that at the end of his novels Mr. Richards spends a good amount of time sharing his writing process, including some of his thinking, and research. I like this about Mr. Richard's novels. More than once he has made his remarks and commentary as pleasant as his entertainment via the story he writes based on the things he discusses after the conclusion of the book
The Technical:
This is a remnant of my years of doing critiques of the writing, usually of unpublished or indie authors.
I have nothing to say here on Douglas E. Richards. He's become one of my favorite authors. I love knowing I can pick up one of his books and my inner critique monster stays asleep.
For those who write, want to write, or want to get help with writing fantastic fiction, I recommend Critters.org. Decades ago I spent a lot time and energy on Andrew Burt's Critters.org. It was there I learned hands on about the information I consumed from hundreds of Writer's Digest books that I had read about writing.
Conclusion
Our favorite characters from The Enigma Cube return in A Pivot in Time.
Including the Chinese antagonists who are no "walk in the park" as foes against our protagonists.
Having a little working knowledge of how advanced China has become in the last decade or two, I think Mr. Richards has a good handle of current affairs and writes a very exciting near future thriller.
He's also courageous in tackling time travel, the Roman Empire, Jesus, and John the Baptist et al. I admit this is the first book I've ever read where both Chinese leadership and ancient Roman leadership are antagonists in the same novel.
Read on: Dec 31, 2020 & Jan 1, 2021
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Links
Written by: Douglas E. Richards Official Website
📧 Email the author at douglaserichards1@gmail.com
Read by: Dan Bittner at Internet Movie Database
Ebook Published by Paragon Press, 2020: 9 Parts, 62 chapters 417 pages
Audible edition 196MB 13hr, 59min, 19sec
👨 Audible Executive Producers Jeff Golick & Mike Charzuk