A Moment in Time by Martin Dukes

 

Welcome to the tour for A Moment in Time by Martin Dukes! Today you'll not only get a peek inside with an excerpt but also how Martin Dukes would handle it should his book baby be accepted to be put onscreen. Follow the tour for even more!

Alex Trueman has just turned fifteen. He's a typical teenager, a bit spotty, a bit nerdy and he's not exactly popular at school, not being one of the 'cool' kids. His tendency to day-dream doesn't exactly help him to be cool. either! But being cool isn't as good as the talent Alex discovers he has - stopping time.

Yes that's right. Stopping time!

Well, for everyone except Alex, that is, who finds that whilst everyone else is caught in a moment in time, he is able to carry on as normal. Maybe not quite 'normal', after all, he's able to stop time, and whilst that's not exactly as good as a certain 'boy wizard', it's pretty close!

The only trouble is that reality for Alex isn't always what is seems, and being plunged into an alternative can be a bit tricky, not to mention the fact that he makes an enemy almost as soon as he arrives, which tends to cause a problem.

Will Alex Trueman, nerdy daydreamer, be able to return to reality or will he be stuck forever in his alternative? Is a moment in time enough for Alex to discover the superhero he needs is probably himself?

A Moment in Time is the debut novel of author Martin Dukes, and is the first in a series of Alex Trueman Chronicles, which take the reader, along with Alex, into a bedazzling world of time travel, alternative reality and flying sea creatures. His further adventures include the past, possibly the future and definitely a fight to save reality itself.

Read an excerpt:

“What on earth are you doing?” rang Alex’s mum’s voice from behind him, and then “Oh!” as she took in the scene of the accident. The two girls were led past Alex. He gaped. There was something so familiar about that girl, and as she passed their eyes met. There were tears in hers – anguish, shock – and then as she passed by a glimmer of recognition. Alex almost called out, but what was there to say? Then she was gone, her head turned away once more as the crowd swallowed her up. His mum was scolding him, grabbing at his arm, but Alex hardly heard. He remained frozen, watching until the two girls vanished inside the police station. Then he allowed himself to be drawn away back towards the High Street, letting his mum’s complaints wash over him.

“… out of your pocket money,” she was saying. “Great clumsy clot. And running off like that. What on earth did you think you were doing?”

A stranger appeared at Alex’s side, a young man with a struggling goatee beard and a kindly face. He wore an ill-fitting suit. Before Alex could react, the stranger had taken his hand and pressed something into it. Alex glanced down. It was a page torn from a jotter with a name and a telephone number scrawled upon it. Alex looked up.

“Come on,” called his mum impatiently from up ahead.

But the young man had gone. Alex glanced wildly up and down the street. He looked at the paper again. ‘Kelly’ was the name.

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If my book was made into a movie

My first reaction, upon being offered a contract declaring that Netflix was proposing to make a movie of my book, would be delight. How could it not be? In my mind’s eye, I see a period of fist-pumping and dancing around whatever room I was in at the time. I imagine there would be some embracing and hugging going on, too. Naturally, detail is everything here. Had the contract arrived in a letter, and I had opened this letter on a bus, I expect my response would the scaled back accordingly, for fear of giving the impression that I am a lunatic to the public at large. However, were I safely within the bosom of my own family, I imagine that jubilation would know no bounds, leading to a frantic round of messaging and phone-calling amongst friends and acquaintances.

However, I ask myself, would this intense period of celebration quite quickly give way to mature consideration of the circumstances? After all, if Netflix (or some other equivalent) are going to buy the right to dramatize my work for the screen, they are going to wish to impose their own creative vision on it, are they not? At this point, when this thought crosses my mind, a strange clamminess comes upon my hands and a prickle across the brow. I swallow hard. ‘A Moment in Time’ is my baby. I made it. Me. It’s all mine and the thought of other people, complete strangers, coming in and taking my baby away from me is one that fills me with disquiet. I mean, what if they change it so it’s barely recognisable to me? There are so many things to be scared of!

In the first place, when we read a book, there is a creative interplay between the author’s vision and our own. The author sees things in their own head: a view of a city street, an impassioned argument between two characters, for example, and they describe what they see in those words on the page. When we read those words we see within our own minds an approximation of the author’s vision, but crucially, we interpret it in ways that suit our own experience and make of it something that is deeply personal. Reading is as much a creative exercise as writing. It is not as though the writer provides us with a flat-pack wardrobe in a box, with the instructions for assembly. Rather, the writer provides us with materials and guidance, and we assemble from them something that is unique to ourselves.

This is why movies are often disappointing, to those who have first read the book on which it was based. A very obvious example is Jack Reacher, a movie interpretation of Lee Child’s book made in 2012, and starring Tom Cruise as the eponymous Jack. The problem here is that Jack Reacher is a giant of a man, 6’5” whilst the diminutive Tom is a mere 5’7”. I am a great admirer of Tom Cruise’s work, but he was never going to cut it as Jack Reacher. When we read about characters, we see, in our mind’s eye, a vision of those characters that movie-makers may contradict, although few examples are as clear-cut as the one I mention. Sometimes, things work out. Peter Jackson’s vision of the characters in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy was remarkably similar to my own, which is one reason why I enjoyed them so much.

With my own book, I have an unimprovably clear idea in my mind of what Alex Trueman looks like. I know this because I used my son, Jack, as a model, when taking photos and video to be used for the cover of the book and for the subsequent marketing. Would my Jack be prepared to reprise his role in Hollywood and project his persona onto the big screen, with all the attendant fame and celebrity? I rather suspect he would.

About the author:

I’ve always been a writer. It’s not a choice. It’s a compulsion, and I’ve been writing as long as I can remember. Lots of childish scribbles in notebooks, lots of rejection slips from publishers and agents testify to a craft long in the making. In addition, it has proved necessary to earn a living by other means whilst those vital skills mature. For thirty-eight years I taught Art and Graphic Design, thirty-seven of them in a wonderful independent girls’ school in Birmingham, UK. For much of the latter part of this career I was Head of Department, which gave me the opportunity to place my own stamp on Art education there, sharing with the pupils there my own love of Art and the History of Art. Over a decade I was able to lead annual visits to Florence, Venice and Rome (some of my favourite places on the planet) as destinations on my Renaissance Tour. These visits created memories that I shall cherish for the rest of my life.

I love history in general, reading history as much as I read fiction. I have a particular interest in the ancient world but I am also fascinated with medieval times and with European history in general. This interest informs my own writing to the extent that human relationships and motivations are a constant throughout the millennia, and there is scarcely a story that could be conceived of that has not already played itself out in some historical context. There is much to learn from observing and understanding such things, much that can be usefully applied to my own work.

Teaching tends to be a rather time-consuming activity. Since retiring, I have been able to devote much more of my time to writing, and being taken on by the brilliant Jane Murray of Provoco Publishing has meant that I am finally able to bring my work to the reading public’s attention. I like to think that my ideas are original and that they do not readily fall into existing tropes and categories.

I am not a particularly physical being. I was always terrible at sport and have rather poor physical coordination (as though my body were organised by a committee rather than a single guiding intelligence!). I tend to treat my body as a conveyance for my head, which is where I really dwell. My writing typically derives from dreams. There is a sweet spot between sleeping and waking which is where my ideas originate. I always develop my stories there. When I am writing it feels as though the content of my dreams becomes real through the agency of my fingers on the keyboard. I love the English language, the rich majesty of its vocabulary and its rhythmic possibilities. My arrival at this stage could hardly be describes as precocious. However, at the age of sixty-two, I feel that I have arrived at a place where I can create work of value that others may appreciate and enjoy.

https://provoco-publishing.com/martin-dukes

Twitter - @MartinDukes5

www.mdukes-wildestdreams.com

Martin Dukes will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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