David Wingrove - The Empire of Time

It might be noted at the outset that this work is told, not in a direct and chronological fashion, but by great leaps forward and back through time. This is, Id argue, how it should be. It is, after all, a time travel novel. Oh, H G Wells might have done things differently in his day, leaving out those complications that seem to come with the territory, but I am quite certain that had he, like I, witnessed more than a century of development of this sub-genre, he might have told it in the same way, experiencing all that happens through Ottos eyes, through Ottos thoughts; sharing each moment as he experiences it, and, by that means, giving the reader the very feel of travelling in time.

Roads To Moscow was originally written, and was always intended to be, a singular work, though of considerable size. Throughout its six-year gestation, and through all the changes of mind and direction the work took, there was never any question in my mind that the story that began in Chapter 1, in the dark and distant depths of the ancient Prussian forest, should be the same story that culminates in Chapter 468, long years later and in the futuristic environment of Four-Oh.

And so it is presented. Only not in one book but three; those three books intimately connected laced together, if you like to form a seamless whole. Three books which, part through design and part through chance, came to chart the various stages of Ottos education; an education that in a very real sense, is the work. What Otto learns, scene by scene, chapter by chapter, reflects how we, as a species, must change. Or die.

Three books, then, each with its own distinctive feel, each charting a stage in the development of our hero, Otto, each taking us one stage further, and yet each embedded in the others, bound together event by event, until, at the end, we share some flicker of his understanding of the world.

And so my singular trilogy, my journey back and forth through Time, on roads familiar and yet strange. A brief flirtation with infinity. A worm, swallowing its tail. Or simply a lesson in how to become fully human. Here it is. Make of it what you will.

Adelbert Grand Master of the Guild in Asgard, 2747 (part-human bio-mechanisms).

Alekhin Russian time agent, acting as part of Nevskys entourage. A bodyguard.

Alpers student on Four-Oh.

Axel Chief of the Curonians.

Balk, Hermann thirteenth-century Hochmeister of the Teutonic order of St Marys Hospital in Jerusalem; in charge of the Northern Crusades in wildest Prussia.

Batu the Great Khan himself, leader of the Mongols in the 13th century.

Behr, Otto our narrator; a German Reisende or time traveller.

Bella one of the women at the platform in Four-Oh.

Bobrov Russian time agent and killer of at least a dozen German agents.

Brigitte one of the women at the platform in Four-Oh.

Burckel, Albrecht German time agent and sleeper in 2747 AD.

Chkalov, Joseph Maksymovich otherwise known as Yastryeb, the Hawk, and Grand Master of Time for the Russians.

Conrad Brother of the Northern Order (13th century).

Dankevich, Fedor Ivanovich Russian time agent. Otto has shot him at least twice, the last time fatally.

Diederich German ex-time agent and leading physicist from Four-Oh.

Dieter eldest of the students at Four-Oh.

Dietrich Master of the Northern Order, 13th century.

Ernst see Kollwitz.

Frederick the Great Prussian King, Frederick II, known more commonly as Old Fritz. Fighting against overwhelming odds, he helped Prussia survive the Seven Years War, where he was faced with the alliance of France, Austria and Russia.

Freisler German Reisende, or time agent; Hechts special henchman his Jagdhund or bloodhound, responsible for doing all the dirty work.

Friedrich, Caspar David assumed name of Reisende Seydlitz in 1836.

Funk, Walther President of the Reichsbank and Minister of Economics for the Nazis, in the 20th century.

Gehlen, Hans aka the Genewart. Architect of Four-Oh, scientific genius and inventor of time travel. Has existed for 200 years as a gaseous presence in the midst of the artificial intelligence known as Four-Oh. Twenty-eight years old in 2747.

Goebbels, Paul Joseph Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany, 20th century.

Gotz, Carl vonFlugeladjutant to Frederick the Great (18th century).

Gruber one of the eight Reisende carrying Seydlitzs DNA. In his early twenties and turned by the Russians.

Gudrun King Manfreds giant niece, twin to Fricka; also niece to Sygny and Tief. In 28th century.

Gunner German Reisende or time agent.

Hagen Manfreds arrogant giant sixth son; his third wife Gunnhildes son.

Haller student on Four-Oh.

Hecht The Pike; Meister of the Germans at Four-Oh.

Hecht, Albrecht Hechts older brother and keeper of the Archives back in time.

Heinrich Henny, Burckels friend, a revolutionary (Undrehungar).

Helge one of the women at the platform in Four-Oh.

Hermann of the Cherusci known to Rome as Arminius, 1st century AD.

Heusinger, KlausReisende, loyal to Four-Oh. Acts as Ottos secretary in Asgard in 2747.

Hiedler, Johann Georg itinerant miller and grandfather of Adolf Hitler.

Himmler, HeinrichReichsfhrer of the Schutzstaffel, or SS, and leading Nazi figure in 20th century Germany.

Hitler, Adolf Fhrer (leader) of National Socialist or Nazi party, in 20th century.

Horst assistant to Diedrich on Four-Oh.

Iaroslavich, Alexander see Nevsky.

Inge one of the women at the platform in Four-Oh.

Jodl armourer for Four-Oh. In his late sixties and an ex- Reisende or time agent.

Johannes Brother of the Northern Order, in 13th century Prussia.

Kabanov Russian time agent.

Kalugin, Grigori Russian time agent and brother of Ivan.

Kalugin, Ivan Russian time agent and elder brother of Grigori.

Karen one of the women at the platform in Four-Oh.

Katerina Ottos love. See also Razumovsky.

Kollwitz, Ernst a Reisende, or time agent. Ottos best friend and travelling companion; damaged in the Past.