The Story Behind the Story: Traveller - Inceptio by Rob Shackleford + recipie for Beor

Science Fiction meets Historical Fiction

The Story Behind the Story: Traveller - Inceptio
by Rob Shackleford

Traveller Inceptio is a mix of science fiction and historical fiction that examines how members of 21st Century Western society could survive the world of the 11th Century.

I was inspired one day when I sat on a beach imagining how the location would have looked 100, then 200, then 1000 years in the past. Fortunately, I lived close to the beautiful beaches of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia and the exercise of imagining the location before resorts, powerlines, and phone towers brought to mind a very different world.

The next step in the tale was to imagine how modern humans would survive ‘back then’. Then – how was this leap of imagination possible?

Traveller Inceptio (Latin for Beginning) examines what could happen if such an accidental discovery was not hidden from public view. How would a device that takes one back a thousand years be used? Where would one go? In a world where historians are not like Indiana Jones, who would be sent?

I took every effort to thoroughly research any role the military might play, the consequences of inevitable bureaucratic and political interference, and the world of the Saxons in 11th Century England. England was chosen because of the interests of the nations involved in the research that developed the device, called the Transporter, and the attempt to access a place that might be safest for the Travellers, the title of the researchers involved.

Traveller Inceptio examines the interactions of the Travellers with local Saxons and their efforts to integrate into the village of a people of the great forest. This was the time of the Viking invasions, an unsettled time of conflict.

Through it all, I tried to make the Saxons human and examine how they would interact with a highly trained soldier from the 21st Century. How would we look to a Saxon of the 11th Century?

Think how we would look, especially when we think:
· Teeth
· Flawless skin free from the endless weather
· Soft hands
· Nice, soft hair

People of the 21st Century look very different to the people of 1000 years ago.

This is a drink from the 11th century

How to make Giolgrave Monks Beor 

• Gather grain and soak until it starts to germinate
• Roughly grind
• Add flavouring – this could be crabapples, pears, elder flowers, or honey
• Soak, simmer for an hour or two, and leave
• Strain out the mash and leave to ferment
• Strain again and drink within a day
• Refer to https://regia.org/research/life/brewing.htm

Note: The author takes no responsibility for any errant brewing results.

Traveller - Inceptio

by Rob Shackleford
February 27, 2017
1011 pages
Publisher: Austin Macauley
If you were sent a thousand years into the past, would you survive?

With the accidental development of the Transporter, university researchers determine that the device sends any subject one thousand years into the past.

Or is it to a possible past?

The enigmatic Transporter soon becomes known as a Time Machine, but with limitations.

An audacious research project is devised to use the Transporter to investigate Medieval Saxon England, when an international team of crack Special Services soldiers undergo intensive training for their role as historical researchers.

The elite researchers, called Travellers, are to be sent into what is a very dangerous period in England's turbulent past.

From the beaches of Australia to the forests of Saxon England, Traveller - Inceptio reveals how Travellers soon learn that they need more than combat skills and modern technology to survive the trials of early 11th Century life.

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About the Author:
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Hi, my name is Rob Shackleford.

I live in Australia at the beach area of the Gold Coast. We are lucky here, for sunny, empty beaches still beckon.

My background is in media, tourism, and time as a college teacher.

Besides travel, I love to experience nature, scuba dive, play the djembe, look at the stars, and play in the surf.