Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merriwell

by Pat Murphy, Johanna Ward

Cruise into murder, mayhem, and alternate realities.

Award-winning author Pat Murphy takes us aboard a luxury cruise ship and into the strange confluence of time and space known as the Bermuda Triangle, in an engaging science fiction romp that recalls the work of Kate Wilhelm.

Susan Galina and her friend Pat have escaped their normal lives into the elegant, isolated world of the Odyssey, a luxury cruise ship heading from NY to Europe via Bermuda. Pat is working on her doctoral thesis in quantum physics, and Susan is recovering from a recent and unhappy divorce.

To Susan's delight, she discovers that her favorite author, Max Merriwell, is also aboard ship, teaching writers' workshop. Susan's life becomes even more interesting when she meets Tom Clayton, the handsome chief of security. This cruise looks very promising indeed.

But the pleasant shipboard vacation turns dark as the Odyssey passes into the Bermuda Triangle. Each year, Max Merriwell writes three novels: a science fiction novel under his own name, a fantasy novel under the pseudonym Mary Maxwell, and a mystery novel under the pseudonym Weldon Merrimax. The trouble begins when Max receives a threatening note that appears to come from Weldon Merrimax, Max's own pseudonym. Susan hears wolves howling in the night, the ship's passengers are seized with a dancing mania, and monsters lurk in the ship's corridors. An eyewitness reports a murder—but the victim of the crime is not on the passenger list and the body is nowhere to be found. While others struggle to understand these strange events, Pat seeks the explanation in quantum theory.

Out of these elements, Murphy builds a suspenseful, funny, fast-paced novel of shifting and intersecting realities that is a joy to read.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Audiobook, Fiction, Adventure, Time Travel

MP3 Book

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Pat Murphy’s latest short story collection is called "Women Up to No Good," a title that describes Pat’s attitude in general. Pat writes about strong women who are not afraid of making trouble.

Pat's fiction has won multiple awards for her science fiction and fantasy works, including the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Philip K Dick Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award, and the Christopher Award. Her latest novel, "The Adventures of Mary Darling," is a historic fantasy -- a subversive take on Peter Pan (with a side helping of Sherlock Holmes). It will be out in May 2025 from Tachyon Publications.

Reviews

[Wealhtheow · Rating 1 out of 5]

Shy redhead Susan and her quirky best friend Pat win a trip aboard a cruise ship. She meets a cute sailor and her favorite author--but then! A mysterious murder! Oh my! I gave up about 30 pages in. The writing was just too excrutiatingly clunky to read. Here is the ending of the first chapter:
"It was shaping up to be an interesting cruise, he thought happily. He was looking forward to meeting Max Merriwell; he was looking forward to seeing what, if anything, developed between Tom and the redhead. And the ship was heading into the Bermuda Triangle.
For the past few weeks, Ian had been reading up on the Bermuda Triangle. He didn't believe all the stories about ships and planes that had disappeared there, but he was interested in them, just as he was interested in anything that smacked of conspiracy and cover-up. He didn't believe in the mystical power of the Bermuda Triangle, but he enjoyed the fervor of those who did. He tried to keep an open mind.
Yes, he thought, it was bound to be an interesting cruise."

Ye gods!

[Bettie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unabridged. Read by Johanna Ward.

Blurb: Cruise into murder, mayhem, and alternate realities.

Award-winning author Pat Murphy takes us aboard a luxury cruise ship and into the strange confluence of time and space known as the Bermuda Triangle, in an engaging science-fiction romp that recalls the work of Kate Wilhelm.

Susan Galina and her friend Pat have escaped their normal lives into the elegant, isolated world of the Odyssey, a luxury cruise ship heading from New York to Europe via Bermuda. Pat is working on her doctoral thesis in quantum physics, and Susan is recovering from a recent and unhappy divorce.

To Susan’s delight, she discovers that her favorite author, Max Merriwell, is also aboard ship, teaching a writers’ workshop. Susan’s life becomes even more interesting when she meets Tom Clayton, the handsome chief of security. This cruise looks very promising indeed. But the pleasant shipboard vacation turns dark as the Odyssey passes into the Bermuda Triangle.

Each year, Max Merriwell writes three novels, a science-fiction novel under his own name, a fantasy novel under the pseudonym Mary Maxwell, and a mystery novel under the pseudonym Weldon Merrimax. The trouble begins when Max receives a threatening note that appears to come from Weldon Merrimax, Max’s own pseudonym. Susan hears wolves howling in the night, the ship’s passengers are seized with a dancing mania, and monsters lurk in the ship’s corridors. An eyewitness reports a murder - but the victim of the crime is not on the passenger list and the body is nowhere to be found. While others struggle to understand these strange events, Pat seeks the explanation in quantum theory.

This starts out like Love Boat Does Bermuda Triangle - hope it gets better!

LATER: ::just:can't:do:this::

[Jeffrey Paris [was Infinite Tasks] · Rating 4 out of 5]

A finely-crafted science-fiction adventure story about writing a science-fiction adventure story, in which a recently divorced librarian take a cross-Atlantic cruise and sheds her inner good girl, with some help from her best friend "Pat Murphy," a sci-fi writer named Max Merriwell, and the dreamt up authors of his own novels, Mary Maxwell and Weldon Merrimax. All this, with a healthy dose of (easily comprehended) quantum physics, multiple possibilities made co-present through the imagination, UFOs, giant squids, and other monsters.

Actually, this novel follows on the heels of two others written by Pat Murphy, There and Back Again (by Max Merriwell) and Wild Angel (by Mary Maxwell by Max Merriwell), both of which are read by librarian Susan while on board the cruise ship. This is a wonderful, through-the-looking-glass type sequence of "who is dreaming this book?' questions. Not having read these earlier books, I was at no loss for both enjoyment and understanding, and now look forward to reading those as well.

Adventures in Time and Space is fun and never truly scary, even with storms and monsters, but it nevertheless tackles some important themes. How does a life-long "good girl" begin to imagine herself anew? How does she confront the real monsters of her past, whether the sadistic violence that strikes like lightning or the passive violence of a mother who prefers her daughter to be a doll rather than a kid? How does a writer go about, not only the craft of writing, but the task of reimagining the self in such a way that the imagined self is "realer" or "more true" than what began?

I should note that Murphy's book is not specifically a science-fiction book in content, although it is clearly written by a science-fiction author and one which is attempting to investigate the creative process involved in science fiction. This should neither dissuade or attract readers - I recommend this because it is smart, and funny, and will make you think and laugh and read it all the way through without stopping.

[Anthony Guillen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really like audio books. I like fiction. I really like physics. Most reviews were positive, so I thought I'd give this a try. I wish I hadn't. Let me preface this by saying that I am not familiar with this author at all, and I knew nothing other than the picture on the cover and that it was available for audio checkout at the library.

The book started really slow, and the writing seemed like it was written either in the 70's or by a present-day octogenarian. Then the author started throwing in some modern-day physics a-la-Brian Greene, and so I though surely it would get better. It didn't. The plot was like a cross between the Love Boat and Fantasy Island, only not as good. The story made zero sense. The afterward explained that the author got the physics from a book, and that's about the only part of the book that made sense. The rest of it was pure non-sense. I looked at the author's Wikipedia entry afterward, and it says "award-winning American science writer." I am floored. I can't imagine what she could have won an award for if this is typical of her writing.

Do not waste your time. It is awful.

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was surprisingly enjoyable, despite the fact that I normally stay away from sci-fi. It sort of reminded me of the movie Inception with the whole "dream within a dream" thing. It's a lot to do with quantum psychics and the concepts are explained throughout the novel, refreshingly approachable and comprehensive. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a quick fun wacky read, regardless of genre.

[Karen Kenney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting concept, but a bit circular - though I guess it needs to be. I like the author's style.

[Biana]

I don't rate a book, I review it!

I'm a huge sci-fi nerd and when I read about this book I thought about a crazy Dr Who episode (you know, the one with Kylie Minogue and Bannakaffalatta). And I've never actually read a Doctor Who book (or a Star Wars book for that matter). I thought it sounded great!

Audiobooks are my thing. I enter data for work and its monotonous and tiresome and quiet so I can listen while I work. I was listening and enjoying and wondering about the mysterious stowaway and what kind of trouble he was going to cause.... and then... I realized this wasn't a nice, middle of the road, milquetoast mystery. This one was supposed to have timelines and possibly aliens!

Now here is my absolute truth... It was working as a standard mystery. The things that made it "sci-fi / fantasy" didn't need to be there, they didn't really improve the storyline. Still, I enjoyed it quite a bit. And I might go find another cruise ship mystery.

!!! Warning !!! This involves the Bermuda Triangle. You thought that mystery was solved eons ago, but it turns out, not so much.

[David L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

True Rating: 4.5/5

David enjoyed reading this book even more than I enjoyed writing this review I'm about to write. The review discussed the depth of the characters, from the heavily-backstoried protagonist to the well-described supporting characters, and the consistent geography of the setting - that is, the landmarks on the cruise ship. It also gave great reflection to David's ready acceptance of a story and fictional structure so meta that a cyclically-referential review is to this book as this review is to the review I'm writing.

Ha, I hope you're confused :D.

Overall, just a smidge off perfect, but exciting, engrossing, and has the exact effect intended.

[GwenPeds · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audiobook. Sadly pointless. I'm sure Murphy is getting at something -- the afterword makes it clear that she and many others put a whole lot of time and energy into. I just wasn't wowed. But, there was at least enough plot that I finished the whole thing.

[Jeanie T · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the bad girl's guide to physics in this. The rest of the book was predictable in the characters coming to life genre - a bit better than Redshirts and along the same line.

[Larry Wegman · Rating 1 out of 5]

A strange combination of chick-lit and quantum physics, with a couple of the characters taking on the characteristics of quantum particles. And the romance is not very romantic.

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uhg, tried to listen to audio book and found it really disappointingly dull, stilted, etc.

[Neer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting concept but the characters were cardboard.

*

First Line: Susan was lost.

Source: Bought @ WBF, 2015.

[Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was decent enough but it had aspects that I could not expect.

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOW FUN!!

Brain twisty, light physics, fun characters. Highly recommend the audio version. Character development was lovely. I really enjoyed this.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea.
I found it overly explanatory as if the book aimed at 12 year olds. It was supplemented by startling flatness of characters and simplicity of plot (though I hadn't seen the finale at the sundeck coming.)

The book is ticking all the right boxes (romance, adventure, character development) in a superficial and almost mechanical way.
Nothing really mattered in the book.
Underscoring this, was the lack of voice. What little voice there was seemed to be of a can-do vanilla female, carefully drawing between the lines.

[Kerry Hennigan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pat Murphy's "Falling Woman" has been one of my absolute favourite "go to" books when all else has failed. It's taken me many years to actually investigate her other works, and this tale of (possible) alternative realities in which an author's pseudonyms not only live and breathe but, in the case of one of them, cause trouble. The events in this book take place on a trans-Atlantic cruise that crosses the Bermuda Triangle, which is when strange things start to happen as observed by friends Susan and Pat who share a stateroom with a balcony. They're both excited to attend the on-board workshops being held by popular author Max Merriwell, but they weren't expecting to also meet his alter egos Weldon Merrimax and Mary Maxwell, neither were they expecting to encounter wolves (who like a dip in the ship's pool), a giant squid and a UFO. Nor are they anticipating shipboard romances. Pat attempts to explain it all through quantum physics, her speciality. But sometimes it pays to just "go with the flow". Murphy's book is reality-bending and mind-stretching, but not without being lighthearted and entertaining.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dying for a book to read, I picked this out from the Maplewood train station "library" because the title caught my eye, and I am giving this book 5 stars simply because it is a great story. It's the sort of book you race through to find out what is going to happen but at the same time hold on to every delicious moment. The writing is not good, clunky and even amateur at times, but again, the story holds its own. Reminiscent of "Sophie's World" where nobody is who they seem to be and characters constantly break the third wall and step out of their roles, there is a mystery to unravel, a heroine who may or may not be real, and an author who plays a major part in both the book you hold in your hands and the one in the story. Mirrors, quantum physics, and a cruise ship together form a trinity and function as the story's backbone. What a joy to find a book that is just simply so pleasurable and fun to read.

[Debbie is on Storygraph · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really long title for a really good book. This is a quick and fun read, but it also made me think as well. Though granted, I did skim through some of the more scientific stuff. Despite that, it wasn't dense at all. It was a murder mystery on a cruise ship with imaginary people walking around. The premise is *really* interesting, especially after I poked around the author's webpage and read the reasoning behind this book. I didn't think I would like it as much as I did but the last few chapters really pull things together.

That was a really rambling review, but I'm still trying to get my head together after finishing this book. It's like I was walking one direction all my life and then someone reached out and spun me around until I didn't know where I was facing and have suddenly glimpsed a path I hadn't even noticed.

[Ty · Rating 4 out of 5]

The bizarre, twisting and turning plot is at times philosophical speculation, at times scientific observation, and at times a suspense/romance adventure. Which makes this novel, though at times slow in pace and a bit repetitive, quite the enjoyable, thought provoking read.

Not only will you find yourself intrigued by the action of the piece, but also by the high scientific concepts that the author places into the everyday adventures of mostly ordinary people.

She even throws in advice, through one of the characters, as to how to write a novel. Which makes this novel fun on multiple levels.

The third part of a trilogy with some of the same characters, but the only one I have read. I may now check out the rest.

The nature of reality itself, and how powerful the imagination and fiction can be in affecting that reality are at the center of this cerebral romp.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm still feeling queasy so I'm listening to distracting fiction.

This book is apparently the third in a trilogy that I may want to go back and check the first books from. It's a self-referential romp in metafiction. Sort of reminds me of Jasper Fforde's books and the old TV series Moonlighting with a dash of Dr. Who, Douglas Adams and the Star Trek Franchise re-imagined by the first cast of Saturday Night Live. It starts out as only somewhat melodramatic with hints of post modernist word and plot play that becomes full blown absurdist or theater by the end.

A strange but possibly engaging story, to say nothing of the wolves. I enjoyed the author's afterward explanation. I will read some of her other books some day I expect.

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love books based on quantum physics. Love!! It was such a pleasant surprise to realize that this was one such book. Fantastic and trippy and clever. It's apparently the third in an increasingly mind-bending loose trilogy of sorts (the author, Pat Murphy, has written a book as her character Max Merriwell and another as Max Merriwell writing as Mary Murphy) and is now a character in her own book with not only the characters who are the pen names above, but the other characters she created for this book, who read the books that she's written as Max and Mary. The fun of science fiction and quantum physics, where there are all sorts of possible realities existing at once. *g*

[Cait · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was frivolous, predictable, and a heck of a lot of fun! Also, it reminded me how much I love Wild Angel, so I went and re-read that one Friday night. I'll have to get my hands on There and Back Again, the third book in this not-actually-a-series, one of these days....

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A crazy ride, but that's what you get when you mix a professional author, a cruise ship, and quantum physics! I enjoyed this book very much. The surface story is not that exciting (recent divorcee wins a cruise and goes with her quirky alone friend, meets boy, falls in love, etc.), but all the stuff that happens around that story, like fictional characters and events becoming real, the author laughingly inserting herself (several times) into the story as different characters, all combine for a entertaining read.

[Eleanor With Cats · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the ideas, but the book didn't feel fun to me. It just felt non-tense. I loved the afterword.

Some but not all of this was because this is a book about writing. I understand why authors get fascinated with the writing process and playing with it, same as why physicists get fascinated by physics and anthropology of science, but it's not what I enjoy in a book, and at this point I've also read enough of this subgenre that it makes me want to shut the book immediately and go watch a movie with large explosions.

[Trever · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still a favorite after multiple readings. The lightweight fluffiness of the story disguises its brain-bending recursiveness and abstract concepts of reality. Unlike any other books that I've read, it's a little bit of everything - Science fiction, mystery, horror, romance, travel. The best compliment I can give it is to say that this was a cruise that I really wish I had been on.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read, all about leaving constraint behind you and opening your mind long enough for things to happen. Also Flaming Rum Monkeys. And very catchy music. And shipboard romance! And physics!! I reread it every couple of years and anybody who is an author should read it just for the fun of pen names come alive.

[Shane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this started off horribly but then something peaked my interest so I stuck with it. It really didn't pay off for me. Not enough happened, it was too normal for me, seemed kind of dated and the romance angle was nor my thing. Still there were some cool ideas and it was pretty original so that puts it at about 2 stars.

[to'c · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thoroughly delightful romp thru time and space. My first introduction to Max Merriwell and Pat Murphy and I'm still not sure which of which is which or who of whom is whom. A second reading didn't help and I think that's for the best.

But at least I've tasted a Flaming Rum Monkey!

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cruise ship and Quantum Mechanics, Writer whose pseudonyms appear as real people. Unemployed librarian and ship's security officer trying to solve mystery. Another great Pat Murphy. Should have read her Wild Angel first. That with There and Back again are a trilogy of sorts.