{"id":2448,"date":"2015-06-22T08:32:16","date_gmt":"2015-06-22T15:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/?p=2448"},"modified":"2015-06-29T08:34:59","modified_gmt":"2015-06-29T15:34:59","slug":"cricket-and-biscuits-out-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/2015\/06\/22\/2448\/","title":{"rendered":"CRICKET and BISCUITS – OUT NOW!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CricketBiscuits\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cI have a question for you sir, is time travel possible?\u201d\u00a0<\/i><\/div>\n
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These were the memorable, often-quoted words from the romantic time travel movie,\u00a0Somewhere in Time<\/i>. They have prompted conversation, observations, essays, entire weekends devoted to the idea (yes, there are\u00a0Somewhere in Time<\/i>\u00a0weekends, people!) and for me, they were the inspiration behind my new book,\u00a0Cricket and Biscuits<\/a>, one of five stories in the new Amber PAX\u2122 Reeling Through the Years Collection.<\/div>\n
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When I signed up for this particular PAX I was so excited. I love time travel as a subject and have obsessed on it since I saw the movie\u00a0Brigadoon<\/i>\u00a0as a kid. I loved that dancer Gene Kelly magically goes back in time to a Scottish town that only appears once every hundred years for a single day. I fretted as I watched it. How would Gene find the town again and the woman he\u2019d fallen in love with if he returned to his daily life?<\/div>\n
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Even as a young girl I was a dreamer, a romantic, and I always wanted a happy ending. As time went on and I saw more time travel movies, some of them were scary and had a devastating impact. Remember the amazing\u00a0Time After Time<\/i>, in which H.G. Wells (who wrote the definitive time travel novel,\u00a0The Time Machine<\/i>, follows Jack the Ripper to modern-day New York City?<\/div>\n
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Jack was played by one of my favorite actors, the truly great David Warner, and in one scene Wells tries to convince him to return to the past asking if he realizes he\u2019s out of time in the big apple. Jack scoffs at the suggestion, indicating the violence he sees all over the TV in his hotel room. \u201cWe don’t belong here? On the contrary, Herbert. I belong here completely and utterly. I\u2019m home.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Chilling stuff.<\/div>\n
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Midnight in Paris<\/i>\u00a0restored my faith in the utter romance of the genre. I\u00a0loved<\/i>\u00a0that movie. Though I enjoyed the equally romantic\u00a0Leopold and Kate<\/i>, it was missing something for me. With\u00a0Midnight in Paris<\/i>, Woody Allen tapped into everything I cherish about the idea of time travel. Who among us wouldn\u2019t love the chance to go back and visit with someone they love?<\/div>\n
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For me, I\u2019d love to go back and see my mum though I don\u2019t recall a time she wasn\u2019t sick in bed, riddled with cancer. I wouldn\u2019t want to see her suffering again because it still hurts my heart, but I\u2019d give anything to hug her and kiss her and just be with her. I never got the chance as a child. She was so ill and never wanted me or my brothers to see her the way she was. She died in a Sydney hospital when I was six. I never got to say goodbye to her.<\/div>\n
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I\u2019ve visited the subject of time travel in some of my books, including\u00a0Out of Time<\/a>,\u00a0Balthazar Starblitz<\/a>\u00a0and some of\u00a0Phantom Lover<\/a>,\u00a0Waikiki Wizard<\/i>,\u00a0Children of the Rainbow<\/a>, and\u00a0Waikiki Vampire<\/a>\u00a0stories.<\/div>\n
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I have always wondered, and asked many friends, \u201cIf you could travel back in time, would you?\u201d<\/div>\n
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What if you can\u2019t change the past?<\/div>\n
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What, however, if you could?<\/i><\/div>\n
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I am so in love with the idea of going back that I took inspiration from the lovely, hauntingSomewhere in Time<\/i>, playing the soundtrack constantly as I wrote\u00a0Cricket and Biscuits<\/a>. I have always loved the idea that love outshines and outlasts everything. Even death. I am reminded often as I write, of a wonderful line from Brigadoon when the old man tells Gene Kelly,<\/div>\n
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\u201cI told ye, if you love someone deeply enough, anything is possible … even miracles.\u201d<\/div>\n
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I hope you check out\u00a0Cricket and Biscuits<\/a>\u00a0and the other fine offerings in this collection of heartfelt stories. Don\u2019t forget to leave a comment for the chance to win all five!<\/div>\n
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Cricket and Biscuits by A.J. Llewellyn:\u00a0http:\/\/www.amberquill.com\/store\/p\/2207-Cricket-And-Biscuits.aspx<\/a><\/div>\n
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Dance choreographer Michael Makris has the chance to go back in time to find his recently deceased husband, John. Encountering his lost love is magical and romantic, but Michael soon bounces back to the last place he wants to be\u2014the present.<\/i><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/div>\n
Clementime, the gifted witch who sent him back to the moment he first met his husband, tells Michael that John wants him to move forward, without him. Clementime also cryptically reports that John said, \u201cLife isn\u2019t all cricket and biscuits.\u201d<\/i><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/div>\n
But can Michael give up the love of his life, or will he find a way to go back and fight for it?<\/i><\/div>\n
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Genres: Gay, Contemporary \/ Time Travel \/ Paranormal \/ The Arts \/ Mystery<\/div>\n
Heat Level: 3<\/div>\n
Length: Novella (25k words)<\/div>\n
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Excerpt:<\/div>\n
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…\u201cMichael, are you sure you want to do this?\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u201cYes,\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019m very sure.\u201d Six weeks I\u2019d waited, and the stress and tension had almost killed me. I\u2019d only discussed my plan with one person, my best friend, Howie. He was the one who\u2019d told me about the witch in the first place.<\/div>\n
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My hands were still shaking, so I slid them beneath my thighs, sitting on them atop Clementime\u2019s red velvet sofa. That thing was not as comfy as it looked. I tried not to stare at her bric-a-brac, or wonder about cooties on the sofa. Her place looked so normal outside. Like every other small beach cottage on Superba Avenue in Venice. Inside, it resembled the kind of jumble sale I\u2019d seen on desperate people\u2019s front lawns. The unmistakable stench of eau-de-cat-piss invaded the cramped space, but I saw no kitties in sight. In a gloomy corner over her left shoulder, I spotted a tree-shaped plant stand and felt a shiver of alarm. All the plants were dead.<\/div>\n
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Don\u2019t look at them. Don\u2019t think about it. You can\u2019t back out now.<\/i><\/div>\n
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\u201cI know you\u2019re the one who can help me,\u201d I said, as her lovely, almond-shaped green eyes seemed to bore into my soul. Howie said she had a massive ego, and I\u2019d been stroking it ever since I first made contact with her.<\/div>\n
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Howie had a friend who\u2019d been to Clementime and had experienced her promises of time travel. She had wanted to connect with her mom who\u2019d died and was very happy with the results, according to Howie.<\/div>\n
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Clementime said nothing for a moment. I still couldn\u2019t get over the whimsical aspect to her name and wondered if she\u2019d changed it from \u201cClementine<\/i>\u201d to \u201cClementime<\/i>,\u201d but she always got mad when I asked too many questions. I held my breath, worried that she was going to send me away. After all, she\u2019d been difficult to get hold of, and even harder to pin down to an appointment. She\u2019d asked me to think about it, pointing out certain dangers in going back in time.<\/div>\n
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\u201cYou might not cope with what you find out,\u201d she\u2019d said on the phone. \u201cOnce you go into the past, I can\u2019t bring you back to the present, unless you and I happen to connect and we repeat the process.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u201cIs that likely?\u201d I asked. \u201cThat I run into you in another place and time?\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u201cOh, yes.\u201d She\u2019d sort of chuckled. \u201cYou and I have danced together before, Michael.\u201d<\/div>\n
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I had no idea what that meant, exactly. I knew I wasn\u2019t much of a dancer in this life. I suspected she wasn\u2019t referring to actual dancing, but didn\u2019t care. I wanted to be with the man I loved. Going on without him was no longer an option.<\/div>\n
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My soul was in torment. \u201cI don\u2019t care where I am in time, as long as I\u2019m with him.\u201d I fidgeted on the sofa, recalling our earlier chat. Having accepted me as a client, Clementime spent an awful lot of time trying to dissuade me from taking the plunge. I kept thinking about the movie\u00a0Kate and Leopold<\/i>. I got goose bumps every time I thought about the moment Leopold told Kate\u2019s brother, \u201cI am the man who loves your sister.\u201d<\/div>\n
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John loved me like that. He really did. If\u00a0he<\/i>\u00a0had survived me and could have found a way to go back in time so we could begin again, he would. I was sure of that. But since he was gone and I was here, and I could do it, I went for it.<\/div>\n
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\u201cOh,\u201d Clementime had said when I told her what I wanted. \u201cGoing back in time is easy peasy for me, when the other person is alive. It\u2019s a little trickier when they\u2019re dead…\u201d<\/div>\n
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*_*_*<\/center>
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Cricket and Biscuits<\/a>\u00a0by A.J. Llewellyn is now available at Amber Allure.<\/p>\n

To see\/purchase\u00a0the entire pax collection<\/a>\u00a0click here!<\/div>\n

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  \u201cI have a question for you sir, is time travel possible?\u201d\u00a0 These were the memorable, often-quoted words from the romantic time travel movie,\u00a0Somewhere in Time. They have prompted conversation, observations, essays, entire weekends devoted to the idea (yes, there are\u00a0Somewhere in Time\u00a0weekends, people!) and for me, they were the inspiration behind my new book,\u00a0Cricket […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latestnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2450,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448\/revisions\/2450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}