This alternative history novel begins with a mouse trying desperately to follow an ambulance occupied by a VIP being transported into a laboratory/clinic. It’s Dec. 16, 1966… the day WALT DISNEY’s body supposedly was placed into cryonic suspension.
He faces a momentous decision: a contractual provision requires a review, every five years, to assess whether enough medical advances would be feasible for reanimation. Although absent for 50 years, he has not been forgotten, figuratively or literally.
This poses questions that each of us may have to answer in our own lives as we measure ourselves against the changes wrought by medical and scientific progress. Moreover, who might enjoy being the first person to be revived to a functioning life more than Walter Elias Disney?
This new science fiction and fantasy novel exposes both Disney and curmudgeon mentor, celebrated icon Samuel Clemens, AKA Mark Twain (notorious for his way of yarn spinning) to numerous time travel and enlightening experiences - some predetermined, others not so much - all to ensure a heightened awareness of the possible pitfalls or foibles experienced herein:
Disney and Clemens experience San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury twice, 20 years apart. They are seen by dismayed Mission Control at NASA, while on the moon. They listen to famed singer Joan Baez at Woodstock. They meet Steve Jobs at a garage sale. Twain realizes there is more than one Mark Twain on the Bonanza television set.
There is a run-in with an Olympic runner and encounter an obnoxious biker with his unruly chick. They have a run-in with a bank robber; visit a nightclub and an important tool is stolen. And of course, they visit both Disneyland and Disneyworld with hilarious and heartwarming outcomes. When they interact with modern audiovisual technology and kitchen appliances, anything can and does happen. They also experience the dismay of traumatic world-changing events and the pitfalls of not following dictates set forth prior to beginning the journey.
UFD is based in part on actual events that happened to specific people and places and incorporate technological advances since 1966. Their journeys are unique, the characters endearing, and the situations have numerous unintended consequences leaving behind a trail of effects… all the way to a President’s family.
To top it off, there is a naive new soul introduced, Eepia. Her mission is to keep the two from fracturing the timeline continuum during the ensuing time travel adventures. As an assigned mentor Twain is not too pleased.
The spirit of this science fiction adventure is simply to remind us to embrace and celebrate life in the present, contemplate and examine the powerful options available tomorrow and is an alternative history possible?
