The Second Mission [Paperback]

L. D. Alford (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Xulon Press (August 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591607213
• ISBN-13: 978-1591607212
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,241,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The finest escape in literature is an escape into a real and inviting culture--so asserts L. D. Alford, a novelist who explores with originality those cultures and societies we think we already know. He builds tales that make ancient people and times real to us. His stories uniquely explore the connections between present events and history--he combines them with threads of reality that bring the past alive. L. D. Alford is familiar with technology and cultures--he earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Pacific Lutheran University, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University, and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Dayton, and is a graduate of Air War College and Air Command and Staff College. He is widely traveled and has spent long periods in Europe and Central America. L. D. Alford is an author who combines intimate scientific and cultural knowledge into fiction worlds that breathe reality.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Time Travel Adventure, October 4, 2003

By 

Lionel D. Alford "L. D. Alford" (Wichita, KS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Second Mission (Paperback)

The Second Mission reveals the unintentional journey of a modern man, Alan Fisher, into time. He is an accidental and unwilling participant in humankind's second greatest adventure. Sophia, the actual time agent, became his reluctant guide. She had trained ten years to become Sophia, a Greek woman of 399 B.C. The second mission was her mission, and she did not want to share it with anyone. Now she was responsible for her mission as well as the survival of the interloper, Alan. They were linked together for better or worse in the second most important mission of mankind. For one year of history, 400 to 399 B.C., in the city-state of Athens in the place now called Greece, neither Alan nor Sophia could return to their own times.

Alan discovered the purpose of the second mission was observation and verification-to record the words and death of Socrates. This was the second most important historical research to future generations. Although Sophia would share little information about the future with Alan, he discovered the purpose of the first mission, and that information changed his life forever.

Alan Fisher, marooned in time, turned into Sophia's greatest hope for success and, because of the first mission, Sophia became Alan's greatest hope of spiritual deliverance. The first mission changed Sophia's world, and the second mission would also change the future of mankind.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun Sci Fi that also teaches, October 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Second Mission (Hardcover)

Great book for introducing philosophy and ancient Greek culture to folks who would not normally read about such topics. Alford's storyline and plot twists keep the reader interested throughout. Excellent for students. Looking forward to his next book!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Christian tract, July 16, 2010

By 

J. Nelson "History Lover" (Belleview, FL, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Second Mission (Paperback)

The time travel concept of this book was good, although the writing was stiff (obviously the author's first novel with all the inherent shortcomings). The story was okay until it became obvious that this was written to advance a very Christian point of view. I don't mind a little religion, but this was preachy and too obvious. In parts it read like a tract that folks hand out when they are standing on your doorstep. And of course the author totally ignores the time travel paradox at the end -- if the inventor of time travel is removed by time travelers, how can time travel have been invented for them to do so? -- explaining it to have been God's will to have worked it all out. (I guess that's the ultimate deus ex machina!) Skip this one for a lot better works by Jack Finney and Jack McDevitt.