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It is time for our next monthly book giveaway. Our featured book this month is Piercing the Elastic Limit by Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Author and time travel group member Howard Loring. Our question for this month's drawing is this:

In "Piercing the Elastic Limit," the time travelers interact with real historical figures. If you could travel back in time, which historical figure would you most want to meet and why?"

Note: The author is offering the winner a choice between a signed paperback or an ebook edition of this book.

Anyone who posts an answer to the above question will be entered in our drawing. The winner will be selected at random and will be announced on October 9. So that means you have just one week to post your comments for a chance to win this book. Once the winner is announced, the author will contact that person to arrange for delivery of their free book.

I will invite Howard to post some additional info about his book. And please feel free to ask him any questions you might have. Also remember that the winner of this giveaway is encouraged to write an honest and thoughtful review of the book once they have a chance to read it. Good luck all, and "may the odds be ever in your favor."

Thanks John, I'm excited to have my second EPIC FABLE be this month's giveaway & will await with interest any reviews that appear thereby.

Also a reminder that for those with a Kindle, the book is a Free download through this Wed, the 3rd of Oct & if you have a Kindle app, I think you can download it to your computer or phone, etc. as well:

I've already received great feedback for the true history involved in this book & the most effusive has been from those that don't read historical fiction as a rule, and are, in fact, generally bored by such.

This was not my original intent, so it’s very gratifying, to say the least.

Beyond that, this book is my 2nd tale of the elusive Elastic Limit & although it’s not a sequel, there are many parallel constructs that the two novels share.

The term is used in both books (as the jargon & hardware are the same) & it has a specific technical meaning within the plot, but Elastic Limit is also a metaphor for the human imagination.

Being a Fable, it’s simply told & easy to read, but as an Epic it covers broader, universal human concepts & I think this is a unique way to tell a meaningful story, especially if the plot is exciting & interesting & bizarrely so.

I think others will agree.

I have a fan page on Facebook & also a webpage that has more information on what I’m trying to do with my books, just hit my picture to get my links, thanks.

While I’ll be more than happy to answer any questions, the best ones will come only after some members have read it, or at least reviews of it, so for now I’ll leave it at this, but

Thanks again.

This may seem like a strange answer for someone who is a fantasy lover, but I'm also a Jane Austen lover and I would love to sit in her drawing room and have tea with her and discuss her life. Is she as witty in her coversation as she is in her books? Does/Has she ever loved anyone? (present -day fiction points to one love) I think of so many people that hugely impacted our history, but I think Jane Austen had a huge impact on our literature. Including many fantasy writers, ex. one of my favorites - Ellen Kushner.

Candace, being about real peoples lives, there are several love stories going on in my new book.

I think Jane would like it, as well.

I'd love to spend a couple of weeks with Leonardo da Vinci and try to get into his mind, how his days were, how he managed his time to accomplish so much. I'd just like to see him work and learn his thought process.

I would have to vote for Albert Einstein because he was a mystical scientist and I find that combination so intriguing. Also, he's from not too long ago, so I feel this thoughts are more likely to be relevant to my life than someone born 200+ years ago.

Tesla would be a good choice, many of his ideas have brought us progress but not all of his ideas are understood.

I just downloaded your book, Howard.

As a big Beatles fan, I'd like to meet John Lennon and thank him for the music and all the other things he gave us. Maybe I could also warn him about a certain "fan" lurking around the Dakota....

P.S. I can't resist noting that this giveaway ends on John's birthday.

Beethoven. I would love to have sat in his study and watched him perform. Some of his best sonatas were composed after he had lost his hearing. It's awesome enough to hear his work on my stereo, but to see it live...

I think I would most like to meet the Apostle John. I think I'd be afraid of meeting Jesus himself, but the "beloved disciple" would be an interesting one to have a discussion with (especially after he writes his Apocalypse during his exile in Patmos - that'd be great to get the meaning straight from the horse's mouth).

I would love to spend some time with Archimedes, arguably the greatest mathematician, scientist and inventor of all time.

He is said to have studied at the great library of Alexandria. He invented the Archimedes Screw, and two weapons to defend against the Roman invasion of Syracuse: a massive catapult and a mirror which could set fire to the Roman ships. He calculated the exact value of pi.

As an avid reader with a mathematical and scientific background, who better to meet on my time travels than the great Archimedes?

If I could only spend just a few minutes with him, it would be that infamous eureka moment. One of the most magical and legendary events of scientific history!

Finally, if anyone down the years could have invented a time machine, it would have been Archimedes.

Space wrote: "Beethoven. I would love to have sat in his study and watched him perform. Some of his best sonatas were composed after he had lost his hearing. It's awesome enough to hear his work on my stereo, bu..."

I share Beethoven's birthday (but not the year!), and have always loved all of his music, so I would come with you to meet the great composer if I had not already have chosen somebody I would like to meet even more.

If I could travel back in time and meet any historical figure? It boggles the imagination.

Being a Christian, I'll rule out Yeshua (Jesus), as I'll be meeting him soon enough ;-); but that still leaves so many.

Socrates? Da Vinci? Shakespeare? Dr. Franklin? There are so many great personage in history that I would love to have known personally.

I guess that since this is a limited question, it would, in the end, have to be Adolf Hitler while with his family when he was still a young man. Genius is a gift, and all of the other names I mentioned would leave me in awe, but meeting them would probably not reveal much to me, but an opportunity to meet Hitler and those around him in the environment that shaped him?

I have truly long at times to simply be able to begin to gain even a glimpse into what causes a child with aspirations of being an artist to become one of the most powerful, despotic, and evil men in human history. It is an opportunity I could not pass up.

Thanks! ~Tim

These answers are great & thought provoking.

Two people have mentioned Beethoven, and characters in my book discuss him & his music in detail.

Tesla & Einstein were all about energy & that topic is also heavily covered.

Paul & Jesus aren’t in the book, but the Devil is.

And Lance, I agree that Archimedes was the greatest mathematician who ever lived but sorry, he didn’t calculate the exact value of pi, quite the contrary in that he demonstrated it had, in fact, no exact value, an astonishing thing to learn.

I can’t wait to see whom other Time Travel lovers pick, so keep em coming, thanks.

What a spread, from Da Vinci to to the Pythons, sweet.

And most would like to meet Hitler so they could eliminate him, so it's quite an interesting choice by Tim to instead observe him as a youth.

Again, I'm impressed by these answers.

Howard wrote: "And Lance, I agree that Archimedes was the greatest mathematician who ever lived but sorry, he didn’t calculate the exact value of pi, quite the contrary in that he demonstrated it had, in fact, no exact value, an astonishing thing to learn. ..."

You are correct to correct me, Howard, but may I claim artistic license in this case?

In a short piece about why I would like to meet this great man, isn't it better to say that "he calculated the exact value of pi," than to say that "he came up with an iterative numerical method of approximating the value of pi to whatever precision and accuracy one desires?"

The key word, as you imply, is "approximating." You are right to say that he also proved that whatever level of precision you achieve, there is no exact value of pi.

But the eureka moment is the one that I really want to witness. I want to know if it is true that he ran home naked from the baths after he displaced the water. How wonderful is that? The first recorded streaker!

Lance, you may in fact claim artistic license & I see now that I need to defer to you when it comes to mathematical terminology.

And whether or not the bath story is true, realizing the difference between volume & weight was another brilliant achievement, although I doubt the King's goldsmith would think so.

Indeed! Was he executed for his crime?

I'd like to meet my Great-Grandfather and find out what caused him to move to America from Sweden. He walked out from the Artic circle at the age of 12 and worked his way to America - where he homesteaded in Oregon.

Lance, I believe he was but I'd have to go back to know for sure.

K55f, youch, did he make his trip alone?

When you go, take your snowshoes.

I would have to say Nellie McClung as I admire what she did for women's rights in Canada, in a time when women were not legally considered persons. Although I do not agree with all her political views, she was a pioneer in women's rights in Canada.

Oh Canada, I've been there many times & once walked the seabed at low tide in the Bay of Fundy, talk about going Beyond the Elastic Limit.

Great lobsters, too, yum.

I admire many historical figures, particularly in the sciences field but my reason to meet them wont really be of any use apart from geeking out and asking for their autograph. So i would want to meet someone of historical interest who could do with some glimmer of hope that their life meant something.

So i would like to meet Anne Frank and just tell her diary will be her legacy. I cant change history but at least she might, just might at the end of her days, recall a mad stranger who seem to know about her secret diary.

Please dont count my entry, John, as i already have his book and currently reading it which is quite enjoyable so far.

Don't sell yourself short Tej; you may change history yet, we all may.

That's what the book is all about.

I thought I would add my two cents worth (even though I am also excluding myself from the drawing). I have always been fascinated with the history of the wild west, so I would probably want to meet Jesse James, Billy the Kid or Buffalo Bill Cody.

John, many would say that Cody was the bigger outlaw, although he never had a reward on his head.

Obviously, he's also one of my favorites.

I am actually toying with the idea of writing my first novel with Cody as the central character. Unfortunately, there is no time travel involved. So I won't be able to promote it within this group.

Great idea John, but dealing with his early life, his glory days, or the final period when he reconciled with his wife and daughter?

He was much more than a showman, to be sure.

Get on it; I’d enjoy.

I think I would like to meet Theodore Roosevelt. My wife worked at Sagamore Hill in the summers when she was younger and I learned some things about the man so it would be nice to actually meet him.

Glynn, an excellent choice, he was a statesman and a true genius.

He's my favorite President & I've a picture of him hanging in my study.

He read more books than can be believed, often in German or Latin & wrote a few, also.

Last day of the Free Kindle download of my newest Epic Fable, ‘Piercing the Elastic Limit.'

Great response so far, thanks everybody:

Oh goodness, I'll have to have a really good think before I answer.

*thinks*

Okay, have had a really good think and still can't think of one particular historical figure I'd like to meet.

However, I would like to go back and meet any historical figure who seemed to just vanish (Amelia Earhart, Agatha Christie - who disappeared for several days, etc) and find out where they went to.

Gayle, this happens more than you know & often they're simply in another Timeframe.

Just read my books to see how this works.

John wrote: "I am actually toying with the idea of writing my first novel with Cody as the central character. Unfortunately, there is no time travel involved. So I won't be able to promote it within this group."

Stop toying with the idea, John, and write it! You can still tell us all about it, once you finished it, perhaps in the "not quite time travel thread" or maybe even in announcement thread, look you're the respected Mod, so I dont think a very slight abuse of your power will offend or hurt us :)

Tej, I agree.

Authors who are Time Travel enthusiasts but write in other genres should have a thread here to point us to the pertinent info, what's wrong with that?

And I want that book on Cody.

Thanks for all who were able to get a free Kindel copy of the book & I hope the Time Travel Group members were well represented in the last five days.

That was my hope at least & I'll still send a signed copy to this month's winner, if desired.

Forgot to add, only for those interested, I'm currently reading the book for audio download & I've posted the 1st track, the Introduction, on Youtube.

No graphics yet, I'm working on that.

What a hoot, because the title starts with 'Piercing,' it comes up amid infected ears & such:



I'm holding off on the individual chapters until are are completed but the Intro will give you the basic idea.

All of the posts so far have been great, many thanks.

I would like to go back and meet Benjamin Franklin and talk to him about the future country that he had such a large hand in creating. I hope he has clothes on.

Debbie, yes an American icon.

Aside from the obvious reasons, his unfinished autobiography set the standard for memoirs & was the first US created literature taken seriously in Europe, but far & away here's my favorite Franklin book:

I would like to meet Jesus, despite Jamie and Tim's excellent thoughts. I'd just like to see people reacting to him.

I'd also be quite curious to meet Nefertiti or Akhenaten. Tut would be a bonus. Or Moses and see which pharoah he was involved in. I'm guessing you can see a pattern.

Jo wrote: "I would like to meet Jesus, despite Jamie and Tim's excellent thoughts. I'd just like to see people reacting to him.

I'd also be quite curious to meet Nefertiti or Akhenaten. Tut would be a bonu..."

Jo - I recommend to you: Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

I've been corresponding through GR messages with Howard, and we have been having a lot of fun discussing people whom we would like to meet on our time travels. I now have a good list, but feel that I shouldn't reveal it until this particular conversation thread is complete.

But I can safely say that Archimedes will remain on top of my list, no matter how many interesting historic characters are added to it.

This was a great question, and everybody has their own opinions. Perhaps it merits its own thread within Time Travel?

Lance, just start one (it's easy) & see what you get.

Jo, there were many eyewitness accounts of Jesus, as the Gospels state that he, on several occasions, talked to thousands.

I'd imagine these people did what most people today would do after they see an interesting person-they talked about what they saw.

Most were illiterate, of course, but a lot of these accounts were later written down & used a lot in early church communities.

To get a handle on them, the Canon (the New Testament) was later codified for the masses, which incorporated many of these earlier elements.

Jo, just checked out your profile & see you like Tudor history.

There's lots of that in this latest Epic Fable.

Just a few days left till the drawing & while rereading the posts I've realized that I failed to address Carlos' post mentioning da Vinci, sorry, my bad.

As an artist myself, di Vinci has always been a great influence, a staggering intellect & ubiquitous genius.

My I suggest Carlos set his Time Machine to 1504-05 Tuscany, for then he would also meet Michelangelo, as both had commisions to paint (side by side) murals in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.

Many have compared the two, but it's undeniable that di Vinci had more class.

He always wore beautifully made clothes, for example & took great care in his personal grooming.

On the other hand, Michaelangelo, in the early days, at least, wore little more than rags that he often puked on after a night of heavy drinking.

Both were lefthanded, by by the by.

Good luck to all in the drawing.

Who knows what the Future holds?

Okay, dim the lights and here we go....

The winner of the October book giveaway is....

Carlos!!!!!

Congratulations. I will notify the author so he can make arrangements with you to send your free copy of "Piercing the Elastic Limit."

Thank you to everyone who participated in this month's giveaway. Our next giveaway will start on Nov. 1 and will feature The Valkyrie Project by Nels Wadycki.

John, many thanks for all your help & to the members that took part.

I've posted to Carlos & will get back to him as soon as he lets me know his particulars.

I had a good response to the Kindle thing & hope a lot of members have one & so could take advantage, my wish anyway.

The offerings were all interesting & thought provoking & I hope everyone will eventually enjoy both of my Epic Fables of the elusive Elastic Limit.

Thanks again.

Lance Greenfield wrote: "But the eureka moment is the one that I really want to witness...."

Actually, the moment of Archimedes' life I'd have wanted to witness would have been the moment of his death.

He was working on a math problem, writing it in the sand, when an invading soldier came to arrest him. He waved off the solider, telling him he was busy. The soldier, instead of capturing him alive, ran him through with his sword.

I want to know: what math problem was *that* important?!?

Historically speaking, at the onset math & then written language was judged by the masses as a magical thing, knowledge contained in nothing more than squiggles in the sand.

How could such a thing be, execpt by magic?

The insight of Pythagoras, for example, was controlled by a cult started in his name, a followling that strickly held these mystical secrets to the members & this lasted for hundreds of years.

Math was the 2nd science, by the by.

Astronomy was the 1st.

They know this because first you had to see the stars & only after did you have a need to count them.

Jamie wrote: "Lance Greenfield wrote: "But the eureka moment is the one that I really want to witness...."

Actually, the moment of Archimedes' life I'd have wanted to witness would have been the moment of his d..."

I am with you on that one Jamie. I so want to be there right now! Erm, I mean right then, of course!