About the Empire of Time Series

At least a dozen novels already populate the six time sectors of John Argo's vast, sprawling future history series Empire of Time.

Inspired by Cordwainer Smith, Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, and other great writers, author John Argo has been writing books and short stories for this future history over fifty years, since the days when he and other young SF authors of his generation were thrilled by the remarkable future histories that were boldly constructed in the mid-20th Century, and are still being admired today.

Some of the works in this series may not follow in a strict sequence, but all were written with a consciousness of the great future history that is now coalescing from John Argo at Clocktower Books. These novels and stories all hang together in a panoramic framework stretching across light years of space and eons of time.

Even more excitingly, the author is planning a set of future history novels (Jornade, Chronicles of Metrado, TBD) to really composit this enormous mosaic into a huge, coherent tapestry. The series has a beginning, middle, and end that will become satisfyingly evident when all the pieces are in place.

The Empire of Time series is broadly divided into the following six sectors relative to our frame of reference in the 21st Century. For a fuller chronology, and much for information being constantly posted by the author, see the websites www.clocktowerbooks.com and www.empireoftime.com.

Down Time Sector: great spans of story time prior to the Holocene Epoch (begins 10,000 years ago). As yet largely undeveloped (Aug 2014), this sector becomes critically important to the entire saga—but then, so is every other sector. Stay tuned as the story line develops further.

Holo Time Sector: Our own geological epoch, which the author predicates to last from 10,000 years ago to about 3000 CE, for a total span of about 13,000 years. Doom Spore takes place in the early 21st Century. In the final centuries of the Holo Time Sector, Earth is conquered by an alien race called the Faraos, who arrive by means of the Temporale (an invisible world in time itself, outside and parallel to our own world). The Temporale was built by a Long Ago Alien Race (LAAR) now lost and forgotten, whose motives are as obscure as their genius was awesome. The Temporale is a self-replicating transit world connected by so-called Time Trains, a simplified description of the intricate network of travel modes that eventually replace brute space travel with a semi-intelligent entity that governs all life in the Temporale, and continues to spawn new segments that pinch unthinkable distances into overnight journeys.

Side Time Sector: Think of these stories as taking place in indeterminate time and space, possibly parallel to ours, not necessarily in synch, but definitely connected to our time line and fate. The Empire of Time series takes place in one cosmos (our own) but in a framework of infinitely many universes amid eternal time and endless space. Look for the everyday amid touches of strangeness. This Shoal of Space was probably the world's first true e-book published online for download in digital format--proprietary (not public domain) and a full length novel. It was published in weekly serial chapters starting in 1996.

Mid Time Sector: Picks up where the Holo Time Sector leaves off, about 3000 CE. Consists of two periods. The first (c3000-c4000 CE) is an age of stability following the overthrow of the hated Faraos. Under the beneficent rule of the Holy Mother (see Mars the Divine by John Argo), humans live in relative peace and prosperity for a thousand years. Using telepathic methods, the time traveling monks and military priestesses of HM Sacred Service journey back in time to make little tweaks. In this process, they encounter mysterious and dangerous human agents from a city far upstream, the City of En or COEN (one of its many names). Following a terrible Time War in the distant future, the fabric of space-time is torn and the city is visibly disintegrating as bits of it pass into nothingness through the Cosmopause bordering on the attenuation of time and the beginning of a sea of pure gravity particles (godots) in which infinitely many universes like our own are constantly being born, live, and disintegrate according to laws described by, among others, the time traveling monk Metrado whose chronicles will complete the Empire of Time saga in coming years. The second millennium of human peace will lead to disaster. We learn that Earth is not the original home of our kind, and we begin to understand connections to the Temporale going back a million years or more. After a millennium of hubris and ruthlessness, the human empire spanning much of the Milky Way is destroyed by a coalition of hostile alien races, who are often as cruel as their former human overlords. The fall of the capital, Mercury Free Port City (Cosmopolis) occurs about 5000 CE.

Up Time Sector: For some two thousand years, to 7000 CE, the human race endures an age known as the Inversion of Man (Humankind). Everywhere in the galaxy, humans are either hunted and killed, or used as slaves and pets. The worst cruelties of all are those perpetrated by humans on other humans during the past age--among them, brain boxes or human beings whose brains are disconnected from their bodies and used as wetware machines while still conscious. One of these, the Archcommander Kkixx, actually serves as a leader of the Armies of Revanchismo toward the end of the Inversion about 7000 CE. After a series of bitter and violent wars, humankind regains its freedom and the new age of Renaissance is known as ManTime. This is perhaps the most enlightened and glorious of all human ages, during which humans get along with their alien, alienoid, humansch, humanoid, and various other shades of cohabitants in a universe filled with worlds and life. Over the long term, this paradise time cannot last. After millennia and eons, primordial forces rise again to cast strange currents upon the rivers of time and fate. We encounter the One Million A.D. stories (beginning with Robinson Crusoe 1,000,000 A.D.) and their connection to events in Holo Time as well as the distant past during Earth's Pleistocene ice ages. This sets the stage for an eventual Time War that destroys part of the universe and leaves the City of En (COEN) fighting for its life (and the life of the human race near the end of this-universe time). Rival agents of COEN travel back in time via the Temporale and Time Trains to tweak the past. It is a dangerous game, because if they do too much, they may further destroy the time-space continuum or even spawn new, fractured universes (in response to contradictions). If they do too little, they risk losing precious time as the city travels helplessly through the all-devouring Cosmopause. Traveling back in time (and encountering the Metrado monks of HM Sacred Service) are rival agents, especially the major agencies TransEnt (Transportation Entity) and PosEnt (Postal Entity), who often battle each other rather than their enemies, and endanger the future. Other agents include those of TaxEnt (the Imperial Taxation Entity) and the Society for Historical Observation (SHO; you may have an office in your neighborhood and time, and not know it).

Final Time: The conclusion of this sprawling saga, planned but as yet unwritten, will wrap up mysteries dating from millions of years ago into the remote, achingly alien and yet so familiar seeming future. Much of the underlying foundation of the Empire of Time series will become clear in the final writings of John Argo and his collaborators including the time traveler Metrado (a confidant of Nostradamus, whose real name is Nostrademus for reasons that will be revealed soon and startle the world). Metrado will relate the spinal backbone of the series, covering events from the beginning to the end of time. Metrado ('as told to' John Argo) will tell of the mysteries of such adepts of HM Sacred Service as Leonardo da Vinci and the archaic Aegean author Homer. Many secrets hidden in plain sight for centuries, to which the most brilliant researchers have been amazingly blind, will be revealed in the Empire of Time series. These include the stunning revelations connected with the ancient Sator Arepo enigma, whose meaning has finally been unveiled in all of its unexpected power and glory. As a cover writer once titled a Cordwainer Smith anthology, in truth: You Will Never Be The Same Again once you have made the epic journey with Metrado, John Argo, and the legion of other adepts and travelers. This has been a very brief summary of an unimaginably vast panorama. Look for more information on the Internet, under the appropriate covers and locations, including www.empireoftime.com and of course the ur-digital publisher, www.clocktowerbooks.com. And yes, even the origin of Clocktower Books will eventually be revealed in a marvelous city of clock towers called by many names--Sargasso, Atlantis, Amreika, Raritania, and more--in a parallel slipstream of times and spaces. You will drive on dark roads without way signs, haunted by the familiar that is at once utterly lonely and alien enough to make your human skin crawl while luring you with its gorgeous seductions. The entire ocean of stories and poetry will all make sense at some point. Until then, read and enjoy these discrete novels that seem disparate and disconnected, but offer glimpses into a limitless, bottomless, endless vista without beginning or end. Check the Internet for information that may appear (or disappear) at odd times and places as part of the ongoing enigma to which Avram, Homer, Dante, Leonardo, and Metrado dedicated their lives in great secrecy. Now you can be part of the hidden, if you are strong enough, and if you dare.

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