Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Now & Again” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Now & Again

E.A. Fournier (Goodreads Author)

4.02 · Rating details · 42 ratings · 15 reviews

When a day begins with burying your wife in an Ohio graveyard, most people would agree that it can’t get much worse, but for Kendall McCaslin and his son, Josh, it can. On their way back from the cemetery they’re caught in a chain-reaction traffic crash on the freeway and both killed. Surprisingly, they don’t stay dead.

The fatal crash propels father and son into a series ...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, 283 pages

Published January 16th 2013 by CreateSpace

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Now & Again, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about Now & Again

Lists with This Book

Parallel Universes

212 books — 186 voters

Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books with Strong Female Characters

1,051 books — 1,012 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 4.02 ·

Rating details

· 42 ratings · 15 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Now & Again

Oct 18, 2013 Rose rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

I was listening to the radio yesterday and a woman was talking about authors from different countries. She said something that I found interesting and true. When most authors write a book, it is a book. If it gets made into a movie later then that's great, but first and foremost it was written to be a book. In America, when an author writes a book, a lot of times it is written to be both a book and a movie. This seems to be the case in Now & Again. Of course I looked up the author and sure enoug ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 02, 2014 Bill Ward rated it really liked it

I enjoyed this adventure, which is based around the concept of multiple parallel universes and a father and son who find themselves jumping between the different universes.
I have little understanding of physics but enjoy science fiction adventures and found the technical explanations in the book believable enough, although for all I know they may be completely preposterous! I never really understood why the two main characters were the only people able to jump between timelines but I just went ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 08, 2013 Anna Rodney rated it really liked it · review of another edition

First Impressions

There's something about the cover art that strikes me as unprofessional, but I don't know what it is, and the impression dies away the more I look at it. Maybe it's just very much like something I might make myself.

I'm British, trained in a culture that discourages the blowing of ones own trumpet. So the final paragraph of the blurb, which tells me that this is a piece of serious literature with well drawn characters and a claim to scientific legitimacy, actually only makes me t ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Oct 29, 2013 Brian O'Hare rated it it was amazing

This review is from: Now & Again (Kindle Edition)
Now and Again by E.A. Fournier

There is much within the broad spectrum of writing that constitutes Science Fiction that leaves me cold. I confess, however, to a frisson of anticipation when I come across movies or books that deal with time travel or parallel universes. When I learned that E.A. Fournier's new novel was about multi-verses, I had to download it, fighting a nagging fear that the author could well waste this opportunity.

I need not have This review is from: Now & Again (Kindle Edition)
Now and Again by E.A. Fournier

There is much within the broad spectrum of writing that constitutes Science Fiction that leaves me cold. I confess, however, to a frisson of anticipation when I come across movies or books that deal with time travel or parallel universes. When I learned that E.A. Fournier's new novel was about multi-verses, I had to download it, fighting a nagging fear that the author could well waste this opportunity.

I need not have worried. Fournier has done some serious research and is possessed of a deep understanding of the science and implications of quantum physics that give a tantalising glimpse into the real-life possibilities of parallel universes and, more importantly, he can write about them in a way that allows the reader to race on, confident that he has understood what he has read without loosing contact with the story. This is a gift indeed!

Given these skills, I was amazed to read in the author's end-note that this is his first novel. The writing is mature, effortless, confident, fast-paced and extremely competent with none of the hesitancies or flaws one would normally associate with a first-timer. Of course, Fournier also has a background in screenplay writing for TV and cinema so his skilled handling of the writing should not come as any great surprise. His future as a writer is assured.

I loved this book's basic concept. Inevitably it involves a huge complex area, dealing with hundreds of machines and screens that follow dozens of time-lines and multiverses, filled with multitudinous high tech images. Yet Fournier is able not only to visualise in detail what he imagines but is highly skilled in sharing those images with the reader. Most impressive! There is more than enough science and pseudo-science here to satisfy the most ardent of sci-fi fans.

But it takes more than that to make a good story. Also required is an exciting plot, thrilling suspense, good characterisation and that indefinable magic that keeps the reader glued to the pages. Fournier provides this in spades. It was clever of him to posit that specific individuals would have very different characteristics in different time line. That was a nice touch. But for me, some of the best characters are the villains and I particularly detested the arrogant Vandermark whose masquerade of clinical detachment is nothing more than a pathological lack of empathy.

Now and Again is great story that drags the reader from page to page without let-up. As the story approached its climax, the action intensifies and the chapters head at breakneck speed into the denouement. In fact, I was reading so fast at this point that I began to feel some concern that the inners workings of my Kindle reader would not be able to cope with the speed with which I was turning the pages.

I loved this book and I can thoroughly recommend it. It deserves every one of the 5 stars I awarded it. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 03, 2020 Douglas Smith rated it it was amazing

This was a gripping novel. The science fiction aspect was very well thought out and many of the literary elements served to coax the mind in to the immersion of the concepts presented with great mastery.

The climax coaxed some tears from my sentimental eyes, mission accomplished.

flag Like · see review

Sep 18, 2013 Pearson Moore rated it liked it

Title: Now and Again
Author: E. A. Fournier
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 282 pages
Reviewer: Pearson Moore
Rating: 3 stars

Summary
A father and son with rare abilities are forced to take sides in a battle for the continuity of worlds.

Review
I enjoyed this novel for the many connections it made to the Multiple Worlds Hypothesis of Dr. Hugh Everett. I was less enthralled with the implausible mechanisms Fournier used to transport his characters to those worlds and control events in them.

The concept of m ...more

flag Like · see review

Jun 20, 2013 Brendan rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2013, adventure-thriller, fiction, scifi

E.A. Fournier's novel begins with the story of a bereaved father and son who have just lost the mother in their family, but quickly becomes a science-fiction action-adventure story involving quantum computers, multiverse theory, and nanotechnology. I hesitate to offer more in the way of plot description because I'd hate to spoil the inventive story. A few thoughts:

- Fournier's work brims with descriptions that provide solid, strong visuals without getting too verbose. The action is clear and we E.A. Fournier's novel begins with the story of a bereaved father and son who have just lost the mother in their family, but quickly becomes a science-fiction action-adventure story involving quantum computers, multiverse theory, and nanotechnology. I hesitate to offer more in the way of plot description because I'd hate to spoil the inventive story. A few thoughts:

- Fournier's work brims with descriptions that provide solid, strong visuals without getting too verbose. The action is clear and well-described, and the novel's pace is quick.
- The science-fiction concepts emerge with just the right amount of science hand-waving to allow the story to continue, but without spending so much time on the fiddly bits that we get bored or suspicious. Like a good SF action film, we believe the tech because Fournier doesn't lean too hard on it. At the same time, this means the threat that emerges in the second half of the novel isn't really explained very well. It's a big bad, but we don't know where it came from or why it's there.
- Josh and Kendall are admirable characters, with clear motivations and strong personalities. Many of the other characters don't get the room to breathe that they should -- the novel's biggest flaw is that its action doesn't allow the room to flesh out the minor characters thoroughly enough.
- This also means that the villains seethe with a melodramatic villainy like a Clive Cussler novel. The most complicated minor character is the lead scientist Everett. Fournier makes clever use of the multiverse idea to develop different aspects of the character in different timelines. It's a clever solution to the limited space he's able to give the character.
- One of my favorite ideas (Minor spoiler ahead) is the notion that if we figured out a way to look at other multiverse threads, we would make the most of it by copying all their technological inventions. Our technology would move forward at the fastest rate.

Overall, Now & Again is an enjoyable read, a solid action adventure story with a low-key SF angle. Worth your time, particularly for fans of techno thrillers. Now & Again is available from Amazon as a Kindle book or a paperback POD book. At present it looks like the book is unavailable in other eBook forms, so if you value buying the book in a non-DRM form, you may have to order the paper copy.

*Full disclosure: I received this book for free as a review copy, and I am friends with one of the author's sons. ...more

flag Like · see review

Jul 01, 2013 Scott Spotson rated it it was amazing

This is a very multi-layered, complex physics-based story that is superbly told.

You know what? I kept trying to understand how the two heroes (and their pursuers) could move through multiple timelines, and trying to figure out what were the dangers of messing up various timelines. Sometimes, in certain chapters, I wasn't sure which timeline it was supposed to be. I just about gave up trying to understand it. And, by the end, it didn't matter, because this story is so good.

The author sometimes ov This is a very multi-layered, complex physics-based story that is superbly told.

You know what? I kept trying to understand how the two heroes (and their pursuers) could move through multiple timelines, and trying to figure out what were the dangers of messing up various timelines. Sometimes, in certain chapters, I wasn't sure which timeline it was supposed to be. I just about gave up trying to understand it. And, by the end, it didn't matter, because this story is so good.

The author sometimes overloads this story with unnecessarily complex theories, and has way too many characters to keep track of, but it's like speed-walking through the Louvre. There's a feast, huge abundance of imagination right before the eyes, and you can't comprehend it all. But, boy what fun it is! You're always glad that you toured the Louvre! In that sense, it's like a Dan Brown adventure - quick, hard to know what's happening, and even more complicated, but a lot of fun and pure guilty pleasure.

How cool is it to have a long-dead brilliant physicist, Hugh Everett III, and use his name as an unwitting hero, and give him a big role in the story? It's like a new movie starring the ramifications of the theory of relativity through science fiction chaos as experienced by two ordinary characters, and making Albert Einstein an important advisory, yet participating character in the story! We've had Abraham Lincoln star in a couple of recent Hollywood movies, why not Albert Einstein next?

Plus, that smooth-talking and self-aware computer.... shades of HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey! But this time, it's a female - and it's complicated.

This could easily be a movie. Forget Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio, there's a story that's even more exciting! Makes sense that the author is a script writer for movies and television. It clearly shows!

Again, it seems the plot is so complicated, but the vast imagination just laid bare, with new permutations added chapter by chapter, makes this a smorgasbord. I think I'll have to read the book again two or three more times!

I liked the way the author chopped up certain chapters with very quick scenes, shifting from one to another in rapid succession. Very similar to clips in a fast-paced television show or action movie.

Bravo Mr. Fournier! Can you do another book? ...more

flag Like · see review

Sep 29, 2013 Samuel King rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Father and son Kendall and Josh McCaslin are having a really bad day. The day starts with a funeral for their wife/mother, and it only gets worse as E.A. Fournier's "Now & Again" quickly becomes a thought provoking page turner. Kendall and Josh, it seems, have a special ability that puts them at odds with a sinister mega corporation.

Fournier's novel is based on the work of Hugh Everett, one of the first theoretical physicists to propose that the strange world of quantum physics suggests the exis ...more

flag Like · see review

Apr 14, 2013 Erin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

An exciting book about traveling through parallel universes. Kendall McCaslin just buried his wife. On the highway after the funeral, there is a multi-vehicle crash, and just as Kendall and his son, Josh, are about to be killed, they are back in the truck again, right before the accident. As they finally, after many attempts try to make it out of the accident alive, they question what just happened? Why when they were just about to die, did they end up back on the road again? When Kendall and Jo ...more

flag Like · see review

Sep 13, 2013 J.D. Tew rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Now & Again is complex in a wonderful way. I loved indulging in the intense engagements, confusion, and discovery. There were moments were the author tip-toed a timeline that nearly lost me, but I was far too enthralled to let go.

The premise in this novel is solid and fulfilling, the characters relationships are intense and real, because their development was delivered and secure. I'm a huge fan of complexity and intensity. My one true mission when searching for new titles, is to find the unique ...more

flag Like · see review

Mar 27, 2013 Alwaysabs rated it really liked it · review of another edition

What a pleasant surprise! The ways in which this author weaves the story, made me a believer in the possibility of the many worlds theory. I'm not one to enjoy suspending my imagination very far in literature, unless it is backed up by research (or it is a Tolkien/C.S.Lewis story); but this author really did his homework. He effortlessly interlaces a world we all know -one grounded in neighborhoods, interstates and bridges that feel instantly familiar - with countless additional timelines and a ...more

flag Like · see review

May 21, 2013 Sean Randall rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

"A new world every time a squirrel loses a nut?"

I utterly enjoyed this book, and will be eagerly awaiting any further work by Fournier. It put parallelism into an easy-to-read and fun context, and although it doesn't linger on the science, the action is really quite fun and the pace and style very good.

I particularly liked the incongruence of Everett vis-a-vis Kendall and Josh. The way they play against each other is very neat, and opens the more technical aspects of the story out to everybody. ...more

flag Like · see review

Apr 13, 2013 Crystal rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Kendall and Josh (father and son duo) are leaving their wife/mother's funeral when the unexpected happens. They are involved in a nasty car accident that appears to take their lives. Great power seems to be at work because they do not die. Instead, they find themselves back in their car, driving along the same stretch of road like nothing ever happened. Again and again they experience the same car wreck, each time allowing them the opportunity to get it right. When they do it is not without grea ...more

flag Like · see review

Jul 20, 2013 Armando rated it liked it · review of another edition

Entertaining. I did not care that much for the characters, but the premise was interesting enough to get me through the book. Good start, drags in the middle and picks up again at the end.

flag Like · see review

Carol Ann rated it did not like it
Jun 04, 2013

Wendy Hennessey rated it it was amazing
Apr 09, 2013

Makenzie Dolnick rated it really liked it
Jun 26, 2014

Rebecca Supinger rated it it was amazing
Mar 31, 2013

Cynthia Quinn rated it it was amazing
Apr 04, 2020

Crystal rated it really liked it
Apr 13, 2013

Parham Doustdar rated it it was amazing
May 20, 2013

Roxanne Franzen rated it really liked it
Jan 25, 2018

Rhona Minton rated it really liked it
Jun 25, 2013

Travis rated it it was ok
Nov 11, 2014

Jo rated it really liked it
Dec 08, 2018

Darren Holmes rated it really liked it
Oct 10, 2017

Roy Wano rated it it was amazing
Mar 16, 2013

Dorothy J rated it really liked it
Mar 26, 2019

Janet rated it it was amazing
Mar 09, 2013

« previous 1 2 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend It | Stats | Recent Status Updates

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

About E.A. Fournier

E.A. Fournier

28 followers

Originally from South Minneapolis, Gene Fournier earned a BA in Philosophy & Literature from St. Louis University followed by a Masters in Film from USC. Gene is a member of the Writers Guild of America west (WGA) and worked as a screenwriter and editor in Hollywood, but sadly, he never got that big break.

Seeking a return to his roots after twelve years in California, he accepted a Director of Me ...more