Hello all. I've just had my 10th book of the, Time Travel Adventures of the 1800 Club series, a Sci-Fi Time Travel novel and the following is what it's all about. If you think you might be interested, you can read the first chapter, free, at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
The 1800 Club was a haven created to serve people seeking a brief escape from the frantic pace of life in New York City during the 2000s. For a yearly fee, a club member could dress in the styles of clothing their ancestors wore in the 1800s, eat the same food prepared the way it was then and read periodicals containing news of that particular date in 1865. The 1800 Club had only one hard-and-fast rule: while inside clubrooms, each member must “not speak out of club time.” In other words, members were to speak only of items that existed and events that had occurred up to that date in 1865.
However, members were typically not privy to a powerful secret: The club had been started by people from the future. The only current-generation person knowing the secret was Bill Scott, 1800 Club's president. As briefed by the outgoing club president, Prescott Stevens, key people from the future routinely sent probes back in time to ensure certain historical figures performed exactly as the history books subsequently recorded. These, guardians-of-the-future discovered that, at times, historical figures strayed from the tasks, decisions and actions history had assigned to them.
In these cases, the future "Time Watchers" found it necessary to return to a past age and nudge historical figures back on track, but without the figures knowing their actions were being guided and influenced. However, in the decades after 2010, the Earth’s environment had been very effectively cleansed, and future-dwellers could not tolerate breathing the polluted air of the past. Breathing, for citizens of the future, was extremely laborious, overtaxing their cardiopulmonary systems. Consequently, they established The 1800 Club to attract potential time travelers, who would not be unduly inconvenienced by poor air and water quality, and could function well in a long-gone age.
As a regular member of the club, Bill Scott was eventually selected for a critical visit to the past. He briefly served as President Abraham Lincoln’s substitute, and completed his mission successfully. As a result, he was offered the club's presidency. Prescott Stevens retired to 1863, where he had originated, and Bill assumed responsibility for "fixing" unacceptable past disruptions as the Time Watchers discovered them. He also identified club members who might be called upon to assist him on missions that required specific knowledge and skills.
There are ten books and each have two chapters each that tackle a glitch in time identified by a time probe deployed by the "Time Watchers. In turn, Bill Scott, the 1800 Club president, is given specific missions to the past. Scott scrutinizes club members' bios and resumes to determine whom he might send back in time to nudge history back on track.
In the first chapter President Lincoln is unable to deliver the "Gettysburg Address," which could lead to Great Britain backing the Confederacy and altering the Civil War's outcome.
Some of the other books address:
* Teddy Roosevelt, who could be relegated to history as a rather lack-luster president, simply because he never meets Bat Masterson. In actuality, Roosevelt admired Masterson greatly, and the two passed many a night playing war games, which led Roosevelt to become a robust figure of history.
* The Wright brothers failing to invent the airplane, allowing Europe to take the lead in aeronautics. That would mean Germany wins World War I through their innovative use of airpower.
* The Hindenburg dirigible does NOT explode over Lakehurst, New Jersey, which actually allowed a number of passengers to escape and live full lives. Instead, the airship disappears over the North Sea, and the entire crew and passengers are lost. Among them were future doctors, artists and many Captains of Industry.
* Mark Twain dies in a steamboat explosion that destroys a major levee and floods New Orleans.
* Ronald Reagan is never born, because his great, great grandfather is pressed into the British Royal Navy, by a young seaman named Nelson, and dies before having children.
* America’s top ace of World War I, Eddie Rickenbacker, is killed in battle. His absence from the early days of aviation leads to Japan becoming the dominant global aerospace power in later years.
* Amelia Earhart completes her ill-fated Pacific flight. Ironically, her presence leads to Pearl Harbor being attacked prior to December 1941, when America is so totally unprepared for war that it ultimately loses the war and is occupied by Japan and Mexico.
* The Confederates early in the Civil War capture Ulysses S. Grant. Thus, he is not able to lead the U.S. to victory, the nation splits apart and Great Britain becomes the world's primary power broker.
