Tag: The Memory Painter

#TopTenTuesday XXI: A #SciFiMonth Top Ten : Bending Time and becoming a time traveller

Posted Tuesday, 8 November, 2022 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

#TopTenTuesday banner created by Jorie in Canva.

#TopTenTuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

There are moments I’ve curated lists rooted in the official topics of this meme as shared by the host whereas at other times, I’ve gone a bit rogue like other book bloggers wherein we curate our own topics to respond to during the weekly share of #TopTenTuesday. I’ve also re-spun this meme to participate in blog tours and/or featured events within the blogosphere which are as follows:

Visit my #TopTenTuesday archives

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Bending Time and becoming a time traveller
during the 10 years of #SciFiMonth or outside of it
| Hostess List

#SciFiMonth banner for 2022 created by Imryil and is used with permission.
Image Credit: SciFiMonth artwork is by the amazingly talented Simon Fetscher.

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A bit about why I love reading stories of Time Travel,
Time Shift & Time Bent narratives in Science Fiction
or across genres of interest where writers fuse
time into the backbone of their stories:

I originally tackled this topic during #SciFiMonth when I shared this post about why I love travelling through time and what it is about time travel narratives in all their incarnations which locks me into their vortexes as a reader. That was written during the first year of @SciFiMonth in [2013] and I have expanded on my JOY of this section of Speculative Literature in the ten years since I wrote it. This post will explore those stories I’ve discovered and those writers who have continued to give me wicked good reads whilst travelling through time and bending my bookish heart into evocative stories which celebrate and champion our pursuit of travelling outside of our own lifetimes through fictional encounters of time winders and benders.

As aside from reading time bending narratives, I’ve also hosted an array of guest features and posts by writers who write these stories as well. In case you wanted to hop through my archives to find out which stories and authors were featured – here is a quick guide:

  • Guest Post: A Suffragette in Time by Connie Lacy
  • Guest Post: The Angel of Time series by E. Graziani
  • Interview: The Sea Gate by Jane Johnson
  • Interview: Daughters of the Silk Road by Debbie Rix
  • Interview: The Particular Appeal of Gillian Pugsley by Susan Ornbratt
  • Interview: about the Reincarnionist series by MJ Rose
  • Guest Post: On Time Slips by Christina Courtenay
  • Interview: About writing “To Live Forever” by Andra Watkins

I read a considerable selection of Time Travelling & Time Bending stories – all of which were wickedly delightful and devoured:

Whilst I’ve also featured a few of them as well ahead of reading:

As much as there were a few which left me conflicted after reading them:

And, there was one story that felt like a slip in time but wasn’t a traditional time slip novel:

You might also take stock of the fact I happen to read a heap of time narratives within the context and construct of Historical Fiction moreso than I actually do in Science Fiction. Although I would lament that ALL time narratives are part of Science Fiction on some level because of the ways in which time affects and intervenes on behalf of the characters and their journeys within those stories. However, I do hope I can start to read and seek out more time bent, time shift and time travelling stories within the main sphere of Science Fiction a bit more moving forward as I do have the tendency to become smitten and charmed by the writers of Historical Fiction who are giving me wicked good time adventures!

Rainbow Digital Clip Art Washi Tape made by The Paper Pegasus. Purchased on Etsy by Jorie and used with permission.

#SciFiMonth 2022 Top Ten Prompt graphic created by Imyril and is used with permission.
Image Credit: SciFiMonth artwork is by the amazingly talented Simon Fetscher.

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Top tens for our tenth year

We loved having weekly Favourite Fives for Wyrd & Wonder’s fifth birthday, so it’s only right to go full Top Tens for SciFiMonth’s tenth! But what are those weekly topics?

  • Previously, On SciFiMonth: SFnal books / films / shows / games you enjoyed or were introduced to during SciFiMonth in the past
  • Turn Back Time: feature tales about time travel or shout about classic SF titles
  • To Boldly Go: contribute to RunalongWomble’s excellent #SmallPressBigStories initiative with a top ten focusing on stories published by independent and small presses
  • One Small Step: sure we love a sprawling space opera, but this week is for celebrating short stories, novellas and novelettes
  • Can’t Stop The Signal: SciFiMonth is all about the community – share your favourite SF blogs we should follow

as it was disclosed via Imyril @ There’s Always Room for One More

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As you can tell, I read an incredible amount of time bending stories as a book blogger & as a reader who appreciates seeing how writers elect to bend time within their story and world. It is an interesting concept and everyone has a different spin on enticing us into their time slip, time bent or time travelling narrative. Narrowing this list down to a Top Ten List was most difficult because some of the stories I’ve championed in the past I decided to let shine in the background this time round and chose instead to feature other stories I’ve discovered in more recent years that are equally ringing true to me as being top favourite reads in this particular genre of interest.

You’ll also notice a bit of a trend – whereas I am sure others who are participating in this post challenge might be focused more on Science Fiction time bending stories — I’ve taken a bit of a different route of exploration! Mostly because a LOT of my travels in time are through the Historical Fiction realms moreso than Science Fiction! I’ve chosen to link to other reviews in the top half of this post in case you wanted to see which stories I’ve read which also parlay into this subject of interest and perhaps expand your own TBR as well. I decided to include guest features in case you wanted to see which authors responded to my topics and/or of whom conversed with me on different subjects interlinked to their stories.

A very hard list to compile this week – not to mention the fact it was doubly hard with a severe migraine which pushed me offline and kept postponing this to be shared! It was one of those sledgehammer migraines which affects me for days and takes more days to recover from — even by Saturday (the 12th) as I was working on the edits for this and backposting it to Tuesday when I originally wanted to have it featured — my head was throbbing and driving me bonkers! Yet, it proved to be a distraction I needed, and I took several breaks to give my head a break from the computer in order to get this finalised.

I look forward to visiting with others who have responded to this prompt, and I hope they will spend a bit of time on this response as well and let me know if any of the stories I’m featuring might become #nextreads of their own!

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No. 1 | Christmas Once Again by Jina Bacarr : Historical Time Travel

→ selected quotations are from my review of this novel

There are moments in our readerly lives where we discover a story and a writer who change our perception of how a story can both be told and experienced. I learnt a lot about this novel ahead of reading it but when my library purchased it for me in [2019] it was truly the gift I needed as a reader because I knew I didn’t have the ability to purchase the novel myself at that time. I still haven’t had the chance to gather a copy of this novel for myself — something I both regret and realise just couldn’t have happened at the time of its original release. It is definitely a book I want to gather as soon as I can however since I’ve read it and had such a strong connection to it as a reader – the title of the novel has changed to Her Lost Love.

And, yes, I suppose that makes sense – both in title and in the fact, I had a feeling it was done for marketing reasons as sometimes holiday specific titles are overlooked by certain readers (or so I’ve been told, this doesn’t apply to me personally!) but for me, the original title is truly at the heart of the story and what pulled me into the realms of the story itself. Sometimes I wish stories can just remain as they were and be celebrated as they are rather than having to become re-packaged. It is my goal to find a copy of this novel in its original state and hopefully one day it will be on my personal library shelves.

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Posted Tuesday, 8 November, 2022 by jorielov in #SciFiMonth, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Sci-Fi November, Top Ten Tuesday

Blog Tour Spotlight | Celebrating the time bending realities within the creative tomes of Gwendolyn Womack (esp her latest release “The Time Collector”)

Posted Saturday, 4 May, 2019 by jorielov , , , , , 2 Comments

Stories in the Spotlight banner created by Jorie in Canva.

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Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! HFVBTs is one of the very first touring companies I started working with as a 1st Year Book Blogger – uniting my love and passion with Historical Fiction and the lovely sub-genres inside which I love devouring. It has been a wicked fantastical journey into the heart of the historic past, wherein I’ve been blessed truly by discovering new timescapes, new living realities of the persons who once lived (ie. Biographical Historical Fiction) inasmuch as itched my healthy appetite for Cosy Historical Mysteries! If there is a #HistRom out there it is generally a beloved favourite and I love soaking into a wicked wonderful work of Historical Fiction where you feel the beauty of the historic world, the depth of the characters and the joyfulness in which the historical novelists brought everything to light in such a lovingly diverse palette of portraiture of the eras we become time travellers through their stories.

I received a complimentary copy of “The Time Collector” direct from the author Gwendolyn Womack in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

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On why this story appealled to me:

In truth, the trifecta of ‘time’ narratives (ie. time shift, time slip and time travel) are three of my favourite ways in which genre can become bent towards the will of a novelists pen. It never fails to ensnare a wicked curiosity about what I shall find if I were to dip into a narrative set in a duality of focus between the past and the present whilst what motivates me to seek out these stories is the fact I love being a time traveller of History. There is a benefit to reading Historical Fiction – as the writers who are curating their worlds for us to read are the ones who are re-illuminating the past in such strong strokes of colours and lives to give us a building of the past in our imaginations which befits the real persons who once lived.

It is through this exploration of the human condition, of humanity’s progress and the journeys we venture forth into embracing through this portal of interest where we seek out the most hope for the future because we have a better foundational understanding of whence we’ve previously have travelled.

Although, I previously shared this sentiment about The Girl from Oto, my feelings on the subject are unaltered. I have a penchant for time narratives – everything from Susan Meissner’s A Fall of Marigolds to the previous releases by Ms Womack to the forementioned The Girl from Oto – and all the lovelies I’ve felt ruminatively enchanted by over the years (a fuller list is mentioned on my review on behalf of Ms Womack’s debut novel) – what I love most is how we can see how time can become bent, manipulated at times and either provide forgiveness, redemption or a second chance – when of course, the ways in which time was altered did not have a more cautionary reason against why such measures ought to be weighed carefully against the risk. There is something wondrously interesting about how these stories play out – how the writers have chosen to craft their tales and how we, as readers are being led through a needling of time.

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Blog Tour Spotlight | Celebrating the time bending realities within the creative tomes of Gwendolyn Womack (esp her latest release “The Time Collector”)The Time Collector (Spotlight)
by Gwendolyn Womack
Source: Author via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

Travel through time with the touch of a hand.

Roan West was born with an extraordinary gift: he can perceive the past of any object he touches. A highly skilled pyschometrist, he uses his talents to find and sell valuable antiques, but his quiet life in New Orleans is about to change. Stuart, a fellow pyschometrist and Roan’s close friend, has used his own abilities to unearth several out-of-place-artifacts or “ooparts”—like a ring that once belonged to the seventeenth-century mathematician and philosopher René Descartes, but was found buried in prehistoric bedrock.

The relics challenge recorded history, but soon after the discovery, Stuart disappears, making him one of several psychometrists who have recently died or vanished without a trace. When Roan comes across a viral video of a young woman who has discovered a priceless pocket watch just by “sensing” it, he knows he has to warn her—but will Melicent Tilpin listen? And can Roan find Stuart before it’s too late?

The quest for answers will lead Roan and Melicent around the world—before it brings them closer to each other and a startling truth—in the latest romantic thriller from Gwendolyn Womack, the bestselling, PRISM Award-winning author of The Memory Painter and The Fortune Teller.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller Suspense, Time Slip and/or Time Shift



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781250169235

Also by this author: The Memory Painter, The Fortune Teller

on 16th April, 2019

Format: Trade Paperback

Pages: 368

Published By: Picador (@PicadorUSA) via St. Martin’s Press
imprints of St. Martin’s Publishing Group,
which is now a part of MacMillian Publishers

The stories through time by Ms Womack:

The Memory Painter by Gwendolyn WomackThe Fortune Teller by Gwendolyn WomackThe Time Collector by Gwendolyn Womack

The Memory Painter (debut novel) | see also review

The Fortune Teller (sophomore release) | see also review

The Time Collector (third novel)

I have become blessed by the beauty of watching Ms Womack grow her style of time narratives throughout each of these releases – she truly has a gift!

Converse via: ##TheTimeCollector + #HistFic or #HistNov
as well as #TimeShift and #HistoricalFiction

Available Formats: Trade Paperback, Audiobook and Ebook

About Gwendolyn Womack

Gwendolyn Womack Photo Credit: Copyright JennKL Photography

Originally from Houston, Texas, Gwendolyn Womack began writing theater plays in college at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She went on to receive an MFA from California Institute of the Arts in Directing Theatre, Video & Cinema.

Currently she resides in Los Angeles with her husband and son where she can be found at the keyboard working on her next novel. The Memory Painter is her first novel.

Photo Credit: Copyright JennKL Photography

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Posted Saturday, 4 May, 2019 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Book Spotlight, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

Blog Book Tour | “The Memory Painter” by Gwendolyn Womack

Posted Tuesday, 12 July, 2016 by jorielov , , , , , 0 Comments

Ruminations & Impressions Book Review Banner created by Jorie in Canva.

Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! I received a complimentary copy of “The Memory Painter” direct from the publisher Picador in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

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Why I was wicked enthused to read ‘The Memory Painter’:

I still remember when I first learnt of The Time Travellers Wife – as I was still invested in being an active member of the Science Fiction Book Club (until the day arose where the quality of the hardback editions fell below everyone’s standards; early 2000s) when I happily collected my copy of the book amongst a few wicked awesome time travel, time shift or time slip stories which were being featured together! I have had a penchant for these theories of how to bend time to the will of a writer’s pen for most of my life – as I dearly love how you can subject a reader to the plausible realities of where time bends out of it’s continuum to a separate plane of thought, conscious and experience.

I never had the pleasure of reading the forementioned story before it became a bonefide feature film, which was of course, one of the few times I opted for the film over the book! My soul was crushed afterwards – I literally had trouble walking out of the theater as my emotional state was such to effectively render me wobbly on my feet! I love emotional stories, but this time round – I felt it was taken too far and evocatively affected me too deeply to even speak afterwards! I’ve been hesitatively curious about reading stories that might entertain a similar vein of emotional heartache yet at the same time, my imagination hungers for these stories where time is not as conclusive to it’s era nor of it’s living reality for those who lived within it’s scope.

Time is temporal and with that realisation comes the prospects of never quite understanding the full fabric of how time and our timescapes can be affected by the shifting parallels of how time is explored. This is truly why I wanted to read this particular story – to curl up inside another author’s vision of how time can be manipulated on one hand and how time is altered by those lives who walk outside of a traditional trajectory of a well-lived life. I also have been open to stories which deal with reincarnation ever since I first caught sight of The Reincarnation Library (which was a mail-order book club for hardback re-issues of classic stories that explored the theories behind it; as noted on a review by Nicole Evelina). Literature has the beautiful depth of scope to take us to new horizons and frontiers just past our peripheral understanding of life and how time runs concurrent to our own living histories.

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I’ve explored thought-provoking stories on Jorie Loves A Story under this vein of interest previously on my ruminative thoughts attached to the following stories:

Worlds of Ink and Shadow by Lena Coakley (see Review); The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo (see Review); A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner (see Review); The Last Gatekeeper by Katy Haye (see Review); Intangible (see Review) & Invincible (see Review) by C.A. Gray; To Live Forever: an Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis by Andra Watkins (see Review); Lemongrass Hope by Amy Impellizzeri (see Review); Antiphony by Chris Katsaropoulos (see Review); Moonflower by EDC Johnson (see Review); The Untied Kingdom by Kate Johnson (see Review); The Silent Touch of Shadows by Christina Courtenay (see Review); Romancing the Soul by Sarah Tranter (see Review); A Stitch in Time by Amanda James (see Review); Blue Spirit: A Tipsy Fairy Tale by E. Chris Garrison (see Review); The Particular Appeal of Gillian Pugsley by Susan Örnbratt (see Review); Wishful Thinking by Kami Wicoff (see Review); The Angel of Losses by Stephanie Feldman (see Review) and the partial review of The Skin Map by Stephen R. Lawhead!

I included a reading list for Magical Realism on my review of The Golem & the Jinni by Helene Wecker – which also proves the point how I continuously remain open to finding the story-tellers who are creating fiction that goes above and beyond the traditional threading of how a story can be told whilst visually capturing our imagination to jettison into a theory of how everything can be altered by perception!

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Notation on Cover Art: I was sent the trade paperback edition by Picador, where I must say, I was more impressed than the predominately ‘yellow’ jacket of the other edition!? The reason I am thankful for this version in my hands is because the colours are muted which elude to ‘yesteryear’ and the nod towards the clock with symbols etched into the background appearing as a watermark whilst cross-overlaid with the shadows of Bryan and Linz simply make sense to me! It has a weathered appearance you would expect of a time travel romance but also, the illusion of a greater mystery that lends the suspenseful nature of how the story is told through Womack’s narrative.

Blog Book Tour | “The Memory Painter” by Gwendolyn WomackThe Memory Painter
Subtitle: A novel of Love & Reincarnation

Two lovers who have travelled across time.

A team of scientists at the cutting edge of memory research.

A miracle drug that unlocks an ancient mystery.

At once a sweeping love story and a time-travelling adventure, Gwendolyn Womack’s luminous debut novel, The Memory Painter, is perfect for readers of The Time Traveler’s Wife, Life After Life and Winter’s Tale.

Bryan Pierce is an internationally famous artist, whose paintings have dazzled the world. But there’s a secret to Bryan’s success: Every canvas is inspired by an unusually vivid dream. Bryan believes these dreams are really recollections―possibly even flashback from another life―and he has always hoped that his art will lead him to an answer. And when he meets Linz Jacobs, a neurogenticist who recognizes a recurring childhood nightmare in one Bryan’s paintings, he is convinced she holds the key.

Their meeting triggers Bryan’s most powerful dream yet―visions of a team of scientists who, on the verge of discovering a cure for Alzheimer’s, died in a lab explosion decades ago. As his visions intensify, Bryan and Linz start to discern a pattern. But a deadly enemy watches their every move, and he will stop at nothing to ensure that the past stays buried.

The Memory Painter is at once a taut thriller and a deeply original love story that transcends time and space, spanning six continents and 10,000 years of history.


Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9780425277720

on 5th July, 2016

Finalist for the 2016 RWA Prism Awards for Best First Book & Best Time Travel/ Steampunk category.

Published By: Picador (@PicadorUSA) via St. Martin’s Press
imprints of St. Martin’s Publishing Group,
which is now a part of MacMillian Publishers

Available Formats: Hardback, Trade Paperback and Ebook

About Gwendolyn Womack

Gwendolyn Womack Photo Credit: Copyright JennKL Photography

Originally from Houston, Texas, Gwendolyn Womack began writing theater plays in college at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She went on to receive an MFA from California Institute of the Arts in Directing Theatre, Video & Cinema.

Currently she resides in Los Angeles with her husband and son where she can be found at the keyboard working on her next novel. The Memory Painter is her first novel.

Photo Credit: Copyright JennKL Photography

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • 2016 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
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Posted Tuesday, 12 July, 2016 by jorielov in 21st Century, Alzheimer's Disease, Ancient Civilisation, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Art, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Book Trailer, Bookish Films, Boston, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Dreams & Dreamscapes, Egypt, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Fly in the Ointment, Genre-bender, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Historical Romance, Magical Realism, Modern Day, Neurosciences | Neurogenetics, Parapsychological Gifts, Parapsychological Suspense, Passionate Researcher, Premonition-Precognitive Visions, Realistic Fiction, Reincarnation, Romantic Suspense, Science Fantasy, Star-Crossed Lovers, Time Travel, Time Travel Romance, Unrequited Eternal Love, Vulgarity in Literature, Writing Style & Voice