The Plot to Save Socrates

Paul Levinsons astonishing new SF novel is a surprise and a delight: In the year 2042, Sierra, a young graduate student in Classics, is shown a new dialogue of Socrates, recently discovered, in which a time traveler tries to argue that Socrates might escape death by travel to the future! Thomas, the elderly scholar who showed her the document, disappears, and Sierra immediately begins to track down the provenance of the manuscript with the help of her classical scholar boyfriend, Max. The trail leads her to time machines in gentlemens clubs in London and in New York, and into the pastand to a time traveler from her future, posing as Heron of Alexandria in 150 ad. Complications, mysteries, travels, and time loops proliferate as Sierra tries to discern who is planning to save the greatest philosopher in human history. Fascinating historical characters, from Alcibiades (of the honeyed thighs) to Thomas Appleton, the great nineteenth-century American publisher, to Socrates himself appear. With surprises in every chapter, Paul Levinson has outdone himself in The Plot to Save Socrates.

A past president of the Science Fiction Writers of America, a Hugo and Nebula Award nominee for his short fiction, and the author of several distinguished scholarly works in the field of media studies, Paul Levinson has already demonstrated a unique perspective on the future in such novels as The Silk Code, Borrowed Tides, and The Consciousness Plague. Now, in his wisest, most important novel yet, he reminds us that the future is always shaped by the present.

Paul Levinson lives in White Plains, New York.

"Paul Levinson has outdone himself: The Plot to Save Socrates is a philosophically rich gem full of big ideas and wonderful time-travel tricks. Science-fiction fans will, of course, love it, but this cracking-good yarn should have lots of out-of-genre appeal, too."
--Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Hominids and Mindscan

“Paul Levinson's The Plot to Save Socrates ties complicated knots in time while always keeping its plot moving at a sprightly pace and occasionally finding time to raise a cheer or two for democracy, the necessity of critical thought and the virtue of perseverance in the cause of progress. It proves that excellent entertainment can and ought to be intellectually respectable--a glorious example to us all.�
--Brian Stableford

“This is a dazzling performance, simultaneously propounds and explodes the issue of time paradox. . . .History as science fiction; science fiction as history.� --Barry N. Malzberg