I’ve seen several posts across the social media platforms of late that ask the question: if you could go back in time and change something, would you?

The question has followed me.

From a literary standpoint, time-travel inherently falls into the realm of science-fiction. But it may be the most widespread of the sci-fi sub-genres. There are countless examples of time-travel in general fiction –

*The Time Machine – HG Wells

*A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court – Mark Twain

*Slaugherhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut

*The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger

*11/22/63 – Stephen King

*Guns of the South – Harry Turtledove

These are just a few examples of time-travel that you may have come across in you literary travels. What this demonstrates is that people have long had a fascination with the past. Furthermore, almost everyone of us has something in the past that we would love to go back and change… or maybe we wonder about changing.

So that leads into the question I keep seeing, would you go back in time and change something if you could. That change could be something as simple as giving your younger self a piece of advice all the way up to drastically altering the past by telling Napoleon to avoid Waterloo.

I know everyone probably has a different answer, but it’s something most of us have dwelt on at some time in our life.

Having come across this before, I still don’t know what my answer would be. I did write a story entitled Memoirs of a Rifter that touches on the subject and in that the main characters face the same dilemma.

The whole space-time continuum is what throws me for a loop. There seem to be so many theories on what would actually happen if I were to travel back and alter my own past. And to be honest, I kind of like the present as it is. Despite my life’s hiccups, I don’t know that I could live without my family.

I don’t think I could jeopardize the possibility of their existence.

Now there is a real dilemma, would you chance time-travel to save the world if it meant your reality would cease to exist?

I know Terminator touches on this question and there must be countless others, but I think a tougher conundrum would be a mediocre world in which there was the possibility of catastrophe vs the potential for inter-dimensional destruction?

Any way about it, time-travel poses an interesting question and theme for stories. I suppose it’s a good thing we don’t have to face that problem in our reality. Or do we?

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Thanks for reading and deliberating with me. I’m still writing out here and slowly making progress. My interesting news is that the pre-publishing checklist has come in from Three Furies Press and I’m about to get started. Also, I’m officially on their website as a forthcoming author. Check out my author bio and keep posted for further updates.

As I forge ahead, keep on reading, and keep on flying the Black.