Henry Melton

Debra Barr was barely out of bed when she found herself thrust into a pivotal role in the future of the human race.  Hey, she wanted to be more than just a small town girl, but this was ridiculous! Plucked out of her bedroom in small town Oquawka, Illinois to a future Earth destroyed and poisoned by a major asteroid impact, the future scientists explained how she could walk a few steps differently, and with YouTube, save the planet.  But everything they told her was wrong.  Instead of returning to her bedroom, she appeared two hundred years in the past, in the wilderness on the banks of the Mississippi River and it was up to her to discover the rules of time travel without killing herself or anyone else in the process.  Bouncing through time, only one thing was certain, anything she decided to do could mean life or death for her family and friends and the route she chose would likely cost her everything.  Unfortunately, the more she discovered, the more she suspected that everyone was lying to her.

Small Towns, Big Ideas is a series that appeals to ages 12 and up. Starting in the here and now, these tales follow the trials of high school aged heros that take that extra step into the fantastic when something unexpected drops into their lives. Many of the classic science fiction ideas like teleportation, alien contact and time travel are explored in a way totally accessible to many readers who “don’t read that kind of stuff” as well as being an exciting adventure for those who do.

Henry Melton, award winning author (2008 Darrell Award for Best Midsouth Novel, Emperor Dad and 2009 Eleanor Cameron Golden Duck Award for Lighter Than Air) is often on the road with his wife Mary Ann, a nature photographer. From the Redwood forests to Death Valley to the Great Lakes to Delaware swamps to the African bush, scenes out the windshield become locales for his tales. He is frequently captivated by the places he visits, and that has inspired this series of novels.  Henry’s short fiction has been published in many magazines and anthologies, most frequently in Analog.