To my fellow readers:

Shelagh Mooberry's _Chronicles of an American Family, 1913-2259_ is aptly titled, I think, with the title's first half telling you the novel will have the pleasures of those big stories that cover many generations, the title's second half then altering your expectations in ways that match the book's other sorts of pleasures (including a marvelous robot, Oscar, who has a wit appropriate to a skilled lock-picker). Gabrielle, the novel's main character (mostly-patiently served by Oscar), has a beautiful dilemma: she lives in a post-apocalyptic world that is seemingly idyllic, with people living in village-sized communities that provide ... well, what do you want? I suppose it _is_ idyllic, if the point of life is the fulfillment of one's desires. Gabrielle does not seem at all troubled by that (rather, she's irked by being unable to get a certain man's attentions for some fun).
But then she finds the chronicles, and thus her family's past -- and here Ms. Mooberry? finest inventions appear, in the novel's many characters, and along with them comes Gabrielle's problem. Her forebears, with all their quirks and passions and foolishness, embody quite well the range of us pre-apocalyptic humans. And that is Gabrielle's study, the far from idyllic lives her relatives write about, a long-ago time she contemplates in the midst of a very pretty life, with very pretty people.
Shelagh Mooberry's _Chronicles of an American Family, 1913-2259_ will delight its readers for many different reasons (wonderful story, a cleverly-made future, compelling characters), but my delight is in the way Mooberry lights up my favorite darkness, the human mind and heart. It is a splendid debut for a deeply talented writer.

Richard Speakes

Celeste
CA, Lake (3/9/2004)

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This story of a society in twenty-third century America is presented with fully imagined details that make it absolutely believable. The Characters also seem thoroughly real. They are fleshed out, well differentiated and interesting. The narrator and protagonist, Gabrielle, has a great sense of humor and is very likeable. Her friend Franny is great fun! She, like Gabrielle, has considerable charm. Oscar, Gabrielle．s household computer, tends to lecture Gabrielle on matters of ethics and morality. He is inscrutable in many ways but I, at any rate, found him charming too.
This is a science fiction story, including as it does speculations on the future, a longevity serum, and quantum craziness, but the book also has a romance prominently threaded through it. And there is not only the stormy love story of Gabrielle and Charles but also the romance in the stories told by her ancestors.
With the exception of the horrifying plague years that occurred before Gabrielle・stime, the book is great fun, but it leaves the reader with some weighty questions and this makes the novel all the more intriguing. I highly recommend this book
CHRONICLES OF AN AMERICAN FAMILY 1913-2259 by Shelagh Pratt Mooberry is a science fiction romance. Not a common combination, I would guess, but here it works well. It・s Sc-fi because there is a physicist who insists that quantum mechanics must mean there are multiple universes and who goes on to prove he is right through the use of time travel technology, thereby forever changing people・s belief systems and views of their place in their universe. And there is also Artificial Intelligence. One of the main characters is a household Computer, Oscar, whose function is to make the life of the narrator, Gabrielle, go as smoothly as possible. Gabrielle suspects that Oscar has developed many attributes that are not normally associated with machines. He certainly does have a sense of humor, and he also tries his best to understand romance. Readers are left to decide for themselves if Oscar is a conscious being or if he is only reflecting Gabrielle・s view of herself and her world.
Notwithstanding quantum weirdness, and impressive artificial intelligence, Gabrielle・s world is oddly low tech because it depends on the technology of past times. Only in biology and biochemistry has it made any progress at all.
This science fiction romance is the story of a hedonistic future society but it celebrates friendship, as well as human aspirations and yearning for the spiritual. It is also a family saga, in which the voices of Gabrielle・s ancestors can still be heard. And, above all, this science fiction novel is also a romance. The love between Gabrielle and Charles is central to the story because it brings the beginning of change to their society, which, unacknowledged, had been heading toward self-destruction.
This is a great read for lovers of Science fiction, speculative fiction and romance.

Book review by Erica Castillo, San Mateo, CA

Note from the Author

Way back when I was trying to find an agent without any success, I began to fear there was something wrong with my story or my writing. So I sent it to InsideSessions which, at that time offered evaluations by professional editors for $79.00. My sample was evaluated by a Penguin editor, who saw the books a couple of times after that and gave me immensely useful advice that no further charge from InsideSessuins. Below is a string of relevant emails:

Dear Ms. Mooberry,

Below is your critique from a professional editor. The reason we are
emailing it to you is that the editor enjoyed your work and has requested a
copy of your entire manuscript.

If you would like to do this, please let us know and send it to this address
with attention:

Lori Dewolfe (Senior Vice President)
InsideSessions (Full Manuscript)
10 Universal City Plaza
Suite 2300, Bld 1440/23
Universal City, CA 91608

Best regards,

Chris Getto
InsideSessions Customer Support.
------------------------------------------------

Dear Ms. Mooberry,

Thank you for submitting CHRONICLES OF AN AMERICAN FAMILY:
1913-2351. I find your premise intriguing and your novel is certainly
imaginative. I am curious if you consider this a science fiction novel or a
romance. Perhaps it is both. It's hard for me to tell based solely on
these pages.

The premise of your story is well set-up and the descriptions of
this depopulated future world seem very believable. I like the details of
the house, of Gabrielle's work and social life, of Oscar and his gizmos. Of
course I don't really know where the plot is going but I'm guessing it has
something to do with what's in the old house and I'm prepared to believe it
will be interesting.

Your characters, not just Gabrielle but Franny and Charles and even
Oscar, are varied and appealing. You've given me just enough about them to
make me want to know them better and to see what happens to them as the plot
unravels.

I applaud your work here and certainly recommend you find an agent
who can represent this for you. Although I can't recommend a specific
agent, your local library will undoubtedly carry a copy of THE LITERARY
MARKETPLACE-the LMP-which is the publishing bible. In it you will find
names and addresses for publishers and agents. Often they list areas of
interest and expertise and this might help you select someone. Or you might
try submitting directly to a publisher. Is there an author you think writes
a similar kind of novel? Perhaps the editor of record for that writer will
be interested in your novel.

I'll look forward to finding your name on the bookstore shelves one
day. Good luck!

(From an InsideSessions e-mail , dated 9/5/2002: Your submission was critiqued by Nanscy Neiman. Ms Neiman is veteran of the
publishing world. In her 30-year publishing tenure, she's held a variety of
high level positions)

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A sci-fi genre-bender with prescient post-9/11 implications, April 29, 2004
Reviewer: Marion F. Houstoun from Washington, DC United States

A sci-fi genre-bender with prescient post-9/11 implications, April 29, 2004
Reviewer: Marion F. Houstoun from Washington, DC United States
Genres are sometime things. Sometimes they illuminate; at other times they obscure. A novel about the future falls, by definition, into the sci fi genre. But that term is a Procrustean bed for this novel. First, because its characters (and even Oscar, Gabrielle's household computer) are unusually fully developed, even over several generations. Secondly, because its underlying sociological -- and, especially, political -- themes and subtleties have nothing to do with the future, mythic or otherwise, but have much to do with contemporary life in this country. In addition, the worlds portrayed by science fiction generally fall unequivocally into utopias or dystopias. But the world portrayed in Mooberry's "Chronicles" fits both and therefore neither definition. Stereotypes are equally absent in its setting, which is unequivocally San Francisco, in all its myriad particularities, as it was and now is -- and will be?

Last but not least, though this novel must have been conceived and written long before 9/11, it is impossible, today, to read it without having 9/11 uneasily always at the back -- and sometimes in the front -- of one's mind. An eery amplification of the dark side of the author's story, which she could not have foreseen, but has somehow foretold.