Ancient Fire

Danger Boy #1

by Mark London Williams

The year is 2019 and a secret government agency is forcing Eli's dad to continue with his time-travel experiments, even though Eli's mom has just disappeared in one. Now Eli has a ridiculous new code name — and a gravely important mission.

In this first episode in the exciting Danger Boy series, a lab accident sends Eli sprawling through the Fifth Dimension, where he hooks up with the amiable Clyne, an evolved dinosaur from an alternate Earth who just wants to finish his homework. Clyne's timeship lands them in ancient Alexandria, Egypt, just as a great fire rages through the city, and the girl scientist Thea is fleeing an angry mob who thinks she's a witch. As if that's not enough, in the present-day world, a deadly pox is on the loose, and bizarre things are starting to happen to the fabric of time itself.

Genres: Time Travel, Fiction, Adventure, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Middle Grade, Fantasy

232 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

About the author

I'm a journalist and author based in L.A., covering the film and TV bizzes, and writing books for younger readers on the march, between article deadlines.

Or is it that I write articles while on deadlines for a book!?

I'm the author of the "Danger Boy" time travel series, a contributor to several anthologies, and the "words" half of last years words-and-pictures "Two Trickster Tango," with that great Doug Potter art!

Currently, I'm the writer of the "Max Random" series from Trifecta Publishing -- a boy, a girl, and a go-kart try to make it out of L.A. when the Nano-Z's arrive.

That book is out now, with the follow-up a-bornin' as we speak. Shh -- don't my tell any of my journalism editors I'm working on the book!

Reviews

[Amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first Danger Boy book in the series got me hooked right away. I found them (or my mom found them) at the Mount Vernon library when I was about 14 years old. The foil hardback covers instantly intrigued me so I made sure to check out the second book just in case I wanted it that week.

Ancient Fire brings our time traveling heroes Eli, Thea and Thea and Clyne together for the first time. The historical set is the burning of the library of Alexandria, a moment in history abhorred by book lovers everywhere. It deals with the real life reactions of youth and adults to fantastically situations. It is a one of a kind children's time travel adventure novel. The read level makes it suitable for beginning chapter book readers and the plot makes it suitable for all ages. It makes you laugh and is a real page turner. My youngest sister read it and loved it just as much as I did!



Eli loses his mother in an explosion and his father swears to never research time travel again. Eli and his father flee across the country to dodge the government department which was funding the research. Eli learns more about the accident that cost him his mother only to have the "DARPA" agents show up a few months later. This leads to Eli getting "untangled in time".

Switch perspectives and you have Clyne, a Saurian or humaniod dinosaur from another dimension. For his culminating school project, Clyne has to travel to an alternate dimension and write a report. He is the funny sidekick character who doesn't let his role as sidekick keep him from doing big things.

In comes Thea, daughter of the head librarian of Alexandria. Thea and her mother get into all kinds of trouble with the local newly empowered religious populous because they have knowledge of science which far exceeds any male scientist. They are condemned, but in come Clyne and Eli. Then the adventure really begins.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

i met the author at a bookclub a few months ago, he was wearing an Oakland Oaks(? May have been one of the SF PCL teams) baseball cap. i'm the sports guy at the local History Center and we got to talking which led to Dimaggio and "By the way i've written some time travel kids books that take place in the Bay Area, would you like a copy?" Yes. Yes. Yes. Told him i'm also a sometime bookseller specializing in children's books and local history.
He sent the first two to me - just found out there's more! - and i love them.
Already posted the review for the second book, this mentions it as well.
First about the title, these were written years before Haiden Deegan was born, Danger Boy isn't cribbed from him. Second, he was/is published by Candlewick, Ten Speed and Tricycle presses, you might name publishers their equal but none better.
The timeline is a little confusing, they were written in 2000/2001 and take place in the future 2018/2019 and also the past. Most of the present day settings are in SF and near Jack London State Park.
Your typical genius Mom, Dad and jr. high son. Mom and Dad discovered how to move in the time stream, Mom disappears into it and the feds show up drooling at the thought of a new weapon. Dad won't help the feds until he's forced to. Son accidentally gets into the time stream, joins a teenage dinosaur bumped into our timeline (in none of the alternate time streams they've looked at the comet which killed off our dinosaurs, actually hit earth. The dinosaur is awed by an intelligent mammal. the boy accidentally in the time stream bumps time traveling dinosaur into our time stream which end up with them at the library of Alexandra where a girl of similar age to them and her mother have figured out how to work time. The feds of 2000 years ago are more intent on burning than harnessing the invention. That's the set up.
Its plays out wonderfully, there is tension not because You're a Girl or You're Weirdly Evolved Rodents or You're a Lizard in a Spaceship. The tension is from all three having the same agenda - get home, but its three different whens and wheres. The conversations and friendships and confusions are genuine.
Now i need boos three, four and five.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Danger Boy series so if you like there are more books. This book made me think about time travel and what happens if you intervene with history.

[Micah Laureano · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t really like this book. It got kind of boring in the middle.

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not discriminate against what books I read. If you're into time travel, history and 11-12 year old books, check these out

[Dakota Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was really good it had a lot for the plot and character development really getting to know these characters. I wish they would have done some more development on some characters other then boom the disappeared or they didn't make it. I also have a little beef with the tech in the book yes it was written in 2001 and is supposed to be in 2019 but 19 years isn't that advanced and very unlikely that our society would develop tech that would allow us to time travel or translate foreign languages. I do applaud it for its action and semi adventure, I will say I wish there was more adventure with his time traveling abilities other then go to a place come back plot stuff go back then more plot stuff. It would be nice if he could fight some stuff or go on cool adventures in this new world or whatever This book was gripping and enticing and a good book at the end of the day even if there are a few things that I might not like.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of Eli Sands who has a physicist father in the reader's future. While it is part of current physics - thanks Einstein - that space and time are connected to one another, future physics is messing around with altering both under the auspices of DARPA.

Long story short, Eli interrupts his father's experiment and is sent back in time to Alexandria during the time of the burning of the great library thereof. Along the way he meets an Egyptian girl and a member from an alternate Earth timeline, one in which the asteroid that ended the dinosaurs did not actually hit Earth.

The story is told from the three perspectives: Eli the youngin', the Egyptian girl, and the saurian {what we can call a humanoid dinosaur}. All three are upper elementary to middle school in age. Due to being told from this perspective, there is a lot of exposition that is not available. None of these children are privy to the complex machinations of the Egyptian nor Eli's time's US's politics and so cannot explain how the disjointed events they witness are connected with a broader picture. It is a bit like asking a mouse inside a maze to explain how its corridor connects to a larger design. The clever reader, however, can read between the lines and put the fragments together to see a very complete picture that tells of a fantastically complex universe. I hope to read more in the future.

I recommended this book to a 3rd grader who I happen to babysit for on occasion. Given the types of books that she reads, I think she'll get a real kick out of this one.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was illustrate by Mark London Williams. The tittle of this book is Danger Boy Ancient Fire Episode 1.This book is mainly about a boy who's try to find his mother. He have a weird nickname the name is Danger boy. For some reason all the people call him the bizarre name.And this book the narrator tell us the in the year 2019 was a secret government and Eli that's the name of Danger Boy his father experiment the past and the time. At this time Eli Mother disappeared. Eli was felt bad and he ability that he have he demonstrate that travel through the time for find his mother. And when he go to the future and then narrator describe that and the future was a planet was call Orange Earth and right here he found a intelligent dinosaur . Eli was a little boy that talk to much but was a good boy, that try to very hard to find his mother.

[Matt Mazenauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taking a look at the synopsis, you might expect this book to make less sense than it does. Yes, there is a time travelling dinosaur involved, so it is a weird story, but it's very well put together. There's a lot more focus on the inventive ways the near future world of Elias works and the drama involving Elias's family takes the forefront. Though a lot of the story takes place in Alexandria, this thread is pretty underdeveloped and seems almost thrown in to introduce Thea. Clyne's story (he's the dino) is clearly being saved for another book. All together it's pretty rapid fire from one item to the next and you feel a little jerked around, but the plot does make sense and is very entertaining. The next book onvolved Nazis vs Merlin, so you know I'm going to read it.

[Gerold Whittaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eli's dad is a scientist and he is experimenting with time travel for a government agency. In an accident at the lab, Eli's mother disappears without a trace. Eli's dad tries to get away from the agency but they track him down forcing him to continue the experiments. Eli accidently gets involved with one of the experiments and finds himself travelling through time to Alexandria, Egypt.

After travelling back & forth several times - the only person to do so successfully - Eli has the distinct impression that the goverment agency - and those who work there - are not what they profess to be....

An unusual writing style was kind of quirky but it just worked making the whole story an enjoyable experience.

I will certainly be on the lookout for episode 2 of this series.

[Chak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Danger Boy #1 is a fast-paced time travel adventure for age 8-11 or so . The book is written in the present tense first person, which is an awkward read (IMHO), makes everything immediate and urgent (with no subtext to speak of and no benefit of analysis, omniscient or otherwise) but the narrator is young, so you're getting the story as he presumably sees it. There are attempts to educate the reader with some history about the great library of Alexandria, but I doubt most children would notice it as such.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eli is a time traveler...kind of. He wants to be a normal kid again, but a secret government agancy is forcing him to go back in time to Alexandria, Egypt, when it is burning. The nest thing he knows, he's in a spaceship with an intelligent dinosaur from an alternate reality and a girl scientist from Alexandria itself.

[Pierce Minor · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author was able to transport me to these various places, so that was great! And his ability to keep the narrator's voice young and fresh was perfect. I will say, I didn't always like the subject matter, but the ride was fun enough to keep me engaged. I'm interested to see where the next book goes.

[Jailynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost did not read these because of the corny name but my 14 year old son and I really liked them, very fun. I liked the episode 2 one the best since we go to S.F. often. We are ready for number 5 to come out.

[Ryan Burt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story line was a little choppy. I kind of liked the whole idea of it all but it struggled bringing it all together.

[Mr. Pe Mr. Pe]

this book is great i recommend this to everyone

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is little enough sci-fi/adventure for teens; this one is a fun, light read. H.I.V.E. (Higher Institute of Villanous Education) is similar and a bit better.

[Jessie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked it in the beginning but after a while it got boring.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was amazing. I wonder what it`s like to travel through time. It is a story about Eli Sands who has to travel through time to save his mom. He makes 2 new friends Clyne and Thea.

[Ubalstecha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little clumsy at first, this book got better as it went along. I will check out the second one to see if this new author's work improves.

[Indigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the whole, I really enjoyed this first book in the series. I did mark it down one star, as the ending was incredibly abrupt. Too abrupt, IMO.

[Reader Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining. "Danger Boy" isn't really the best name. Eli is a very real character who gets caught up in time travel; danger is expected when traveling through time.

[Aidan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is finished and Cline is still stuck on earth, so there will likely be a second book in the series.

[Kaden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little confusing, have to get far in the book to tell what is going on.

[Maegan · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was boring and dragged on, not to mention the cover lame.... but that's for another day...

[Jailen]

This book is called danger boy.Theres this one kid who lives with his dad they time travel. They call him danger boy he makes a lot of danger he causes a lot of problems. He lost his mom in a explosion were his parents first met at there job. He likes to play barnstormer games and collect cards. He is stuck with scientists in coats who follows him around and watches him. He moves to california with his dad and they live in a old bar. They try to find his mom and they dont.

[Paige Burgueno · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the year 2019, 12-year-old Eli Sands, code name: Danger Boy by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), happens to become part of his father's experiment, he travels through time. DARPA forced his father to continue his time-travel experiments despite the fact that Eli's mother, Margarite, was in one of the experiments before, she disappeared in an explosion of time which is why Sandusky, his father, stopped using WOMPERs (Wide Orbital Massless ParticlE Reversers). Going back in time, Eli needs to learn about a deadly disease, search along for his mom, and make sure to stay alive along the way of his major mission. Also with the help of new friends through time, a cerebral dinosaur named Clyne from an alternate Earth and from ancient Egypt, Thea, a girl scientist. The most interesting thing about this book to me was the technology because of the time it took place, in the future the technology is different from our own, I myself happen to be way too attached to it. I liked this book because of the idea of time-travel in general, and the idea of an alternate Earth reality. One part that I liked was about all the alternate Earths moving along crosscurrents of the Fifth Dimension, Clyne describes our Earth as 'Earth Orange' because you can taste colors, that color happened to be an orange. When Clyne described our Earth, he described it as being a bit similar to his planet, "The actual colors of this Earth, by the way, are similar to the blues, greens, browns, and yellows of our own planet. But I'm calling it Earth Orange because I want to, and because I get to. As far as I know, I discovered it. It's not mentioned in any of our texts or histories or on our maps. Do I get extra credit for that?" I thought that this part was humorous because it's relatable, he calls it Earth Orange because he wants to, considering that it was discovered by him and not seen in any of their sources, it's like something I would do if I found something that wasn't said in any of the given sources and ask if it could be extra credit. I really look forward to reading more of the books in this series.