Cummings lets Monroe in on a secret – Cummings works for a few select clients and is able to acquire almost anything … because he is able to travel in time.

Daniel Monroe spends his days walking around his neighborhood looking for the meaning of life in the faces of the people he meets. After an existential crisis, Monroe cashed out of his life of a corporate cog, leaving behind his nice apartment, cool friends and bright middle-management future. After four months of healing his damaged psyche, it was time to get back into the job market. His cashed out retirement account was running low and, of course, there was the pretty girl behind the counter at the neighborhood deli who didn’t have much interest in an unemployed layabout. 

As luck would have it, there is a job available at Serendipity Antiques, a shop that specializes in finding items no one else can. Its owner, Jaspar Cummings, is a little odd and he doesn’t seem that interested in running a business. The store is a mess where valuable items are tossed aside and forgotten. It isn’t long before Cummings lets Monroe in on a secret – Cummings works for a few select clients and is able to acquire almost anything because he is able to travel in time. And what’s more, he will soon give Monroe the device that makes it possible – a device that has been passed from one traveler to another for centuries. There is just one more job that needs to be done.

However, there is more to traveling in time than twisting a few dials.

We love time travel fiction. Is this more The Time Traveller’s Wife or Dr Who?
Dr Who.

So what specific genre would you class it as?
Speculative fiction; the reader isn’t going to get bogged down in space battles or hard-core science. It’s the kind of story that would fit well in an episode of “The Twilight Zone.”

Some readers might be put off by the whole time traveling thing and dismiss “Time in the World” as a genre book, but people who don’t normally read science fiction might be pleasantly surprised.

Tell us about your hero, Daniel.
One of the frustrating things I find in science fiction, especially as it’s presented on television, is that the hero is of the square-jawed, alpha type. Daniel Monroe is anything but the hero type — he’s forgetful and endearingly obtuse. He’s not stupid by any stretch, but he’s not always quick to catch on to the situations in which he finds himself.

Of course, Monroe has an infatuation with Felicia, a model-beautiful counter girl at a sandwich shop. Felicia is the type of girl who should be on the arm of a billionaire at opera and art show openings. She also has her own quirks, such as her habit in speaking in 1930s movie slang.

And then there’s the man who kickstarts the whole adventure, Jaspar Cummings –
– who prefers to be called JC. (And no, there is no allusion to that other famous JC.) Cummings owns and operates Serendipity Antiques and Collectibles. Obviously, he is successful at what he does because he owns a device that allows him to go back in time and pick up items.

JC, however, is an ageing idealist who has been unable to accomplish everything a man with a time device should be able to accomplish.

Let’s leave it there. Don’t give too much away.
Have you written any other books that we should read next?
Yes, my first novel is called “Blind Man’s Bluff.” It is the story of a young man trying to deal with the untimely death of his wife. It may sound a bit heavy, but actually is a fairly light read.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’ve been a journalist for nearly 20 years, and a parent for the past 16. I’m currently the editor of a community newspaper in New Mexico, where I write a weekly award-winning humor column.

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
www.sageofbarton.blogspot.com.

How can we follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook?
Follow me at www.facebook.com/rory.mcclannahan.

What’s next?
I’m working on a science fiction mystery entitled “Golden” and, of course, the follow up to “Time in the World” called “Time Stand Still.” Both books are planned for release in 2014.