In books, that is--where there can be no biological souvenirs, no discomfort (to me!), and none of that pesky disorientation. My first love, of course, is historical fiction, which is time travel in a sense, too. Through the story, I, as a reader, can experience another era, with all its challenges and joys. At the same time, however, I’m comfortably sitting in the late 20th century--there’s the convenience of modern plumbing and a decided lack of parasites and disease (at least at my house). Electrical light casts its glow on the page as I read, and I might even have a cup of coffee at hand. No medieval souls could boast such luxury!

The genre of time travel, however, takes this vicarious time traveling a step further. By thrusting a 20th-century character into that historical period--or alternatively, hauling that historical character into the challenges and joys of our own era--the anachronisms between the periods are abundantly clear.

What would that medieval person make of coffee? Electrical light? Flush toilets?

Enter Niall of Malloy in The Moonstone. Viviane and Niall are two such medieval persons, flung into the future, though they don’t know where they’ve ended up. They both come to different conclusions about what’s happened to them and, more importantly, they make different assessments where they are.

Viviane is a copyist and a bit of a dreamer who loves old stories--she’s certain she’s in the mystical realm of Avalon. She not only has no doubt that such a place exists, but magic is her best explanation for all the marvels she witnesses. She’s been whisked away from certain death, surely by dint of the magical moonstone talisman left to her by her father. Her moonstone is a token of her father’s love for her, and she doesn’t much care how it works. She’s not going to be executed in Avalon--as she was doomed to be in medieval Cantlecroft--and that’s good enough for her.

In direct contrast, pragmatic Niall is a man determined to get to the truth. He doesn’t believe in magic or Avalon, he doesn’t believe in anything he can’t hold in his two hands. A guard in Cantlecroft’s dungeon, he let Viviane wish on her moonstone only because he knew it would be harmless. He knew she wasn’t a witch--at least until she disappeared right before his eyes. Now, he’s a man determined to right a wrong, to bring Viviane back to face her fate, even while he tries to reconcile his certainty that there’s no such thing as witches with the “proof” that Viviane is one. He views his surroundings with suspicion and skepticism, at least until he figures out the truth.

In my first time travel The Last Highlander, Alasdair was convinced that he had been transported to the domain of Morgaine le Fee. In fact, he was sure that Morgan LaFayette--a graphic artist on vacation from Chicago and a bit of a klutz--was none other than the great sorceress herself. He was determined not to let her out of his sight, since she was his only chance back to “the normal world” (i.e. his home in 1314). He attributes the changes around him to Morgaine’s dark influence, the world of the fey being parallel and overlapping the world of men. In this tale, it’s Alasdair who believes in the supernatural--and Morgan who’s persuaded she’s falling in lust, then love, with a nut who may be a thief.

The second joy of writing time travel is the incongruity of the characters’ presence in the wrong time and place. In The Moonstone, the locals assume Viviane and Niall are historical reenactment buffs who are a little too serious about their hobby. Viviane, in comparison, attributes the “eccentricities” of the locals to the obvious fact that they are of the fey. Niall thinks they’re just foreigners with foreign ways. In The Last Highlander, Morgan first thinks Alasdair is a costumed interpretation guide at Edinburgh castle, while her sister doesn’t care where Alasdair came from--he’s hooked on Morgan, which is plenty good enough for matchmaking Justine.

The third fun thing about time travel is cause and effect--my fascination with this game probably comes from my interest in science fiction and fantasy. What happens when people aren’t where (or when) they are supposed to be? In what ways will the future change? What about the past? The travels of a single coin in The Moonstone brings all of this into the story, while the disappearance of Alasdair at a critical moment changes Scottish history in The Last Highlander. Setting things straight is, of course, a great part of Alasdair’s motivation to return home.

Finally, I just enjoy bringing these medieval knights to the present day. Niall and Alasdair--both men out of their respective times, both fixed on doing what’s right even if it doesn’t suit their own desires--stand apart from contemporary characters. Their selfless motivation looks very noble in straight historical fiction, though it gains an extra oomph in our own times, when compromise is often the only choice we have. It’s easy to see why the heroines love them so much--

They have all the comforts of the modern age, along with a knight in shining armor of their own!