Time Binge: A Five-Year Retrospective

Somehow, it’s been just over five years since I published my first book. In what might be evidence of narcissism, I went back and did a thorough re-read. Here’s what I learned.

1. I still like my jokes.
2. The Prologue was totally unnecessary, and Chapter 1 was more like a prologue. It wasn’t clear that Brooks and Smith were the main characters, because I wasn’t setting out to write their series at the time, just a wacky time travel adventure.
3. There’s a weird amount of foreshadowing for future books. It almost makes me feel like I know what I’m doing. Except, as I noted above, I didn’t write this book intending to write a series. Hmm.
4. I really didn’t use enough dialogue tags. That’s something I’ve seen in reviews, and it’s something I’ve gotten better at in other books.
5. I’m bad at math. Even though I kept a spreadsheet, a few references to character ages or periods of time were off. Luckily, no one seems to care about math.
6. Sometimes the prose gets too far up its own ass trying to be clever. What were you trying to prove, former self? Oooh, you have an M.A. in English. Bully for you.
7. Way too many chapters end on dialogue. Hate that now.
8. My narrator used to be nicer. I know I’ve included jokes about the narrator becoming increasingly unhinged with each volume, but it’s more evident than I thought. Will I ever reveal who the narrator is? No, but I will tell you that in my mind they sound like Ron Howard.

Anyway, one of the benefits of self-publishing is being able to upload a new version whenever you damn well feel like. So I’ve tweaked and republished Time Binge with some updates:

• Performed a Prologue switcheroo. Now Chapter 1 starts with the detectives, since it’s their series.
• Added more dialogue tags.
• Fixed some math.
• Trimmed some annoying prose.
• Changed several uses of “Agent Brooks” and “Agent Smith” in the prose to just their last names, for consistency with the rest of the series.
• Some font stuff that no one will notice or care about.
• Added a joke or sensory detail here and there. It’s my book. I can do what I want.

It’s still the same story, and I haven’t removed anything of substance, so there’s no reason to get a new copy. If you have a digital edition, it should update itself (you’ll know if the front matter says “Revised Edition, 2022”). If you have an old paperback and would like an updated PDF just for fun, use the contact form and I’ll send you one. I won’t ask for proof. Steal from me. I don’t care. Just leave a nice review afterward.