Tetrastatum

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SUMMARY: What if the laws of physics as we understand them are incomplete, only half of the equations that explain reality? Mankind has been blinded by the light, searching for answers in the photonic (material) universe while the truths are concealed beyond the shutter speed of our biological cameras.

The BookViral Review: Strikingly original and audaciously ambitious Dr Richard and Tim Smith have delivered a science fiction geeks smorgasbord of a novel! Intellectually stimulating and exciting at the same time, Tetrastatum invalidates time travelling tropes and clichés to take us on a journey that challenges the meaning of reality and the untapped realms of the human psyche. High on drama, with a superb array of characters and timely relishes of humour, if it’s one aim was to awe us into submission and concede our insignificance on a cosmic scale then Dr Richard and Tim Smith have achieved this with ease. Exploring the metaphysics of time travel through space-time paradigm and the field of Psychothotonix this is hard science with a touch of the surreal and yet it always feels grounded in its own soberingly serious reality. Google the best time travel fiction and chances are you will be served a list of popular lightweight novels that fall sadly short of anything intellectually stimulating but Dr Richard and Tim Smith achieve an impressive balancing act that not only entertains but remains true to science at its core.

Science fiction at its best and accompanied by stunning ink illustrations by Krekeler, Tetrastatum is sure to be well received by readers with an interest in Quantum Theory and Philosophy Metaphysics and is recommended without reservation.

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/dr-richard/tetrastatum/

A debut sci-fi novel spins a tale about a government researcher sucked into an interdimensional quest regarding the nature of time and space.

Everyone thinks that Dr. Tim Smith’s job is winding up atomic clocks at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. In reality, he is assigned to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, where he leads the Quantum Teleportation Project, the goal of which is to “teleport matter across space-time at a speed exceeding that of light—contrary to” the basic tenets “of known physics!” His colleague there is Dr. Richard, an eccentric scientist who wears a red lab coat resembling Hugh Heffner’s smoking jacket and insists that the temperature always be kept at 69 degrees. Richard is also the pioneer of Psychothotonix, a complex theory involving the ways human perception shapes reality. Still reeling from the death of his wife and daughter in a car accident three years ago, Tim exists on the cusp of a breakdown: driving his car at night with the headlights turned off, sustaining himself on Scotch, and talking to the ghost of the banker who once owned his house. One morning, he decides to transport himself through space and time in order to save his family, though it doesn’t go quite according to plan. Tim wakes up in a sanatorium, where a hallucination of Richard continues to speak to him about the history of physics. Electroshock treatment zaps Tim to an alternate dimension, where he meets Ahura Mazda, the manager of a cosmic garden supply store. Mazda reveals that Tim Smith is actually a Time Smith and that his destiny is to protect the space-time continuum from the interference of humanity. Can Tim rise to the occasion, right the wrongs he’s done, and save his wife and daughter? First, he’ll have to convince everyone he isn’t insane.

Authors Dr. Richard and Smith (which are pen names) tell their cerebral story with a heady mix of dense theory and absurdist humor. Sometimes, particularly when Tim is narrating, they manage to translate the science into intriguing vernacular: “The brain fills in the blank spots….After working in this place for over four years, I can tell you with certainty there is a hell of a lot more out there that the brain is incapable of visually assimilating, yet exists.” But elsewhere, in-depth discussions of physics bring the plot to a frustrating halt. The characters are rendered with an appreciable dose of personality, though the authors tend to sexualize every woman to a cartoonish extent. Accompanied by impressive ink illustrations by Krekeler (Dry Spell, 2015, etc.) and 90 pages of appendices going into great scientific detail, this book should satisfy a particular sort of sci-fi reader who is deeply interested in quantum physics and related fields. More casual sci-fi fans, even those who like a good mind-bender, will likely find themselves in over their heads.

An imaginative but difficult tale that cares more about its underlying scientific theories than its plot.