TYLER R. TICHELAAR has a Ph.D. in Literature from Western Michigan University and Bachelor and Master’s Degrees in English from Northern Michigan University. He is the owner of Marquette Fiction, his own publishing company; Superior Book Productions, a professional editing, proofreading, book layout, and website design and maintenance service; and the former president of the U.P. Publishers and Authors Association. He is also considered a local expert on Marquette history and is proud to be a seventh-generation Marquette resident.
Tyler began writing his first novel at age sixteen in 1987. In 2006, he published his first novel, Iron Pioneers: The Marquette Trilogy, Book One. Fifteen more books have followed. In 2008, Tyler won first place in the historical fiction category in the Reader Views Literary Awards for his novel Narrow Lives (2008). He has since sponsored that contest, offering the Tyler R. Tichelaar Award for Historical Fiction. In 2011, Tyler was awarded the Marquette County Outstanding Writer Award, and the same year, he received the Barb Kelly Award for Historical Preservation for his efforts to promote Marquette history. Tyler also writes on such diverse topics as nineteenth-century Gothic fiction and historical fantasies about King Arthur. Tyler remains engrossed in writing about Marquette and Upper Michigan as microcosms for the greater American story.
“One of the best things about this novel is how time and history change all of us, even if we never travel through time. Each of Tichelaar’s characters changes in some way. Neill reflects on all this near the end of the novel, before he is even sure if he will ever see his own time again.
Neill understood now that knowing more about the dates when his ancestors were born or where they came from or even their parents’ names were not the things that really mattered. What mattered was what he had inherited from them—and not the titles or castles, like the dream of being royal or connected famous people—but how he had inherited personality traits, beliefs, hopes, dreams, and mannerisms—those were his true inheritance that had make him part of a family chain—and God willing, someday he would help to continue it. (pg. 379)
The complexities and problems of time travel continue to be explored by the author and his characters in what becomes a book most readers will not want to put down and will ponder long afterward. Book clubs will have an almost endless list of what-ifs and ethical situations to discuss. For those who have never read a time travel novel before, start with Odin’s Eye—it will make you think! — Deborah K. Frontiera, U.P. Book Review
Read the complete review at U.P. Book Review.
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