Out of Time

James reads by his open bedroom window at night. Other lives and other worlds beckon. One of these worlds is conjured by old Mr. Woodford, a physicist who looks more like an accountant and who constructs a strange black box. One day, when James slips into the laboratory, he makes a dreadful discovery and learns to master a great power. Who is the little boy in Mexico who scratches pictures of aeroplanes in the dust? How will the girl caught in a wartime bomb blast be reunited with her parents? And why does James sit alone in his island of silence? This novel poses a new question on every page and draws us into an ever-widening series of mysteries, into magical, dangerous worldsin and out of time.

John Marsden is the most successful author of teen fiction in Australia. The author of more than 30 award-winning novels, the extraordinary Tomorrow series has sold form than five million copies worldwide and has been translated into seventeen languages. Meanwhile John has continued to achieve international success with his groundbreaking books for young people. In 2000 The Third Day, The Frost won the Buxtehude Bulle, a German award, which is among the world's most coveted prizes for young people's books.
Tomorrow, When the War Began was chosen in Sweden as the book most likely to inspire teenagers to read and over 100,000 copies have been printed for free distribution to young Swedes.
In 1998 Burning For Revenge was named the Australian Booksellers' Book of the Year, Tomorrow, When the War Began won the Bilby Award for Older Readers, The Dead of the Night won the Secondary Division of the ACT COOL awards and The Night is for Hunting was shortlisted for two Aurealis Awards. In 1999 The Dead of the Night ,The Third Day, the Frost and The Night is for Hunting were shortlisted for the Victorian YABBA awards, Tomorrow, When the War Began won the CYBER award, and The Night is for Hunting was shortlisted for the Australian Booksellers' Book of the Year. In 2000 three of John's books, including The Other Side of Dawn , were shortlisted for the YABBA awards, The Dead of the Night won the CYBER award, and The Night is for Hunting was shortlisted for the ACT COOL awards and won the WAYBRA award for Older Readers; the third year in a row that John has won this award.
John lists his favorite food as chocolate, his favorite color as yellow, his favorite writers as William Shakespeare, Margo Lanagan and Dave Eggers. His dislikes include high school math, most reviewers and lumpy custard.