The Futile Flight of John Arthur Benn

John Arthur Benn is a reluctant time‑traveler who learns the hard way that falling asleep while moving backward through history is a fatal mistake. One moment he’s watching the roaring twenties dissolve into the genteel nineties, the next he’s skimming the decks of a Mississippi riverboat and even glimpsing the age of John Paul Jones. His journey flings him past famous namesakes—from a colonial Redman to Ben Jonson and the mythic King Arthur—each flash a bewildering slice of humanity’s past.

The reverse current finally drags him into a primeval forest where the trees no longer shrink and the air smells of ancient moss. Here, a wild boar forces him to climb a massive branch and spend a night under a canopy of unfathomable age. As his temporal drift slows, Benn is left to confront the stark reality of a world far removed from the modern century he left behind, questioning whether his impossible voyage can ever truly be halted.