Brian Curry

I usually shy away from the science-fiction genre. Take me away to other fictional planets with inhabitants that have more heads or hands than I do and I sort of lose interest or admittedly get very confused.

But if you make this fantasy plot somewhat closer to reality, you pique my curiosity; I know that’s sort of an oxymoron, but keep the characters with human characteristics and the storyline with a semblance to what could happen, and I’m hooked.

It took me only one chapter in to get hooked on former Medford resident and Pat-Med graduate Gary Nilsen’s newest sci-fi thriller, “Flashback.” Time travel is the backbone of the plot, but how that affects and colors some very real places, people and world events was a very good lure for this reader.

The opening scenario involves a ship violently tossed in a storm in the Red Sea in the year 480 and a very out-of-place seafarer who will lose something on that ship that will come back to haunt him in the present.

They say authors should “write what you know,” but how can Nilsen write with such authority about ancient shipwrecks and their contents? Well, a quick scan of the author’s biography reveals that Nilsen, in the 1990s, found himself doing research for the Institute for Marine Archaeology, including excavation of an ancient shipwreck in the Red Sea. That’s only part of his resume, but it certainly shows his bona-fides.

When an archeologist in a current day dive to that very ancient shipwreck finds something that belongs to that out-of-place (and time) seafarer, something just does not click. In her quest to find out who this person is, she finds herself getting tangled in a very dangerous plot to rewrite history and change events from the World War II past.

Without divulging the plot, let me just say that both in the past and the current tense, there are plenty of twists and turns, backstabbing, and acts of goodness. Name dropping can be found in everything, from world leaders of the time (some integral to the plot) to current Long Island airports (Gabreski in West Hampton).

Nilsen’s time machine remains vague and I’m okay with that. Better for the sequel and yes, I’m already hoping for that.

In the young adult fantasy genre, Nilsen is also the author of two in his “Tales of Alfheim” series. Ten years ago, he wrote “Alfheim” and returns with “Alfheim Resurrection” this year. These are much more traditional YA fiction as both share mystical lands with an elf population. I reviewed the first one and found it an engaging and suspenseful fantasy.

You can pick up all of Gary Nilsen’s titles at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes. You can visit his website at Garynilsen.com (https://garynilsenauthor.com/)

Brian Curry is a frequent Long Island Advance contributor and a three-time winner of the New York State Press Association “Column of the Year”. You can contact him at currypointofview@yahoo.com