Excerpt+Giveaway: Jane Austen Time Traveler by Rachel Dacus

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Featuring scifi Jane Austen Time Traveler by Rachel Dacus

cover of Jane Austen Time Traveler by Rachel Dacus

Lonely Regency romance writer travels to the future, meets her fans, dips into a pearly swimming pool, and falls for its owner. Can she ever go home again…

If Jane Austen’s novels had never ever existed, would we have rom-com movies and women’s fiction? But the young writer is discouraged by a publisher’s rejection and ready to give up writing. And an unwelcome marriage proposal she has rashly accepted spells her doom.

Someone must save history and Jane Austen! When a stranger calls and claims to be an interested publisher, a desperate Jane agrees to go with him to his office. That office turns out to be in the future. And it’s not an office, but a bookstore in southern California in 2024 where fans of Jane Austen gather every month to discuss her works.

Jane greets the Jane Austen Superfan Club, only to find that superfans can be super picky. Discouraged by their critiques, Jane wants different adventures. Even deadly, dangerous ones. And oh, yes! Romantic ones.

Her “publisher” had hoped to inspire Jane’s writing by showing her a book club devoted to her writing. But when she meets a tall, handsome superfan, Jane decides to chart her own course. She disappears with her new friend, and history may have to save itself …

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Excerpt from Jane Austen Time Traveler

As they settled, the lights dimmed. Jane was surprised to see the curtain rise on an enormous screen like the one on Will’s desk, but instead of dark, it was already lit up with words and images. What could be behind it? It was a most odd curtain for a play, and when would they draw it up? Perhaps the players would give their performances in front.

But the second curtain did not rise. Instead, it became a shadow-box, with brilliantly colored images such as the ones on Will’s tiny screen. Jane could hardly comprehend what was being portrayed. The music was loud, and the figures moved so quickly her mind could barely register the action.

A title scrolled across the screen:

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Based on the novel by Jane Austen.

Grasping Will’s arm, she gasped. “No! It cannot be.”

Jane watched the story—her own imagined story!—unfold. She hardly registered the characters and their lively expressions before the beautiful clothing and ballrooms distracted her. People spoke to one another with the strange familiarity of Will’s century, not the way people of her era conversed. It was all very confusing, but engaging. A play she had written but not written.

Then an oddly intimate scene at the end between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. She had never written such a scene—she would have blushed to write it.

About Rachel Dacus

RACHEL DACUS writes about history, love, family, and art — with a touch of magic. Rachel is the author of both prose and poetry. When she’s not writing or reading, she listens to music and walks through the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area, where she lives with her architect husband and a lively Silky Terrier. She blogs about books and the writing life.