Impossible Times

Mark Lawrence

Set in January 1986, this gripping tale follows fifteen-year-old mathematical prodigy Nick Hayes, whose life is upended by a devastating diagnosis just as reality begins to echo the fantasy world of his Dungeons & Dragons campaign. With a mysterious, knife-wielding stranger pursuing him and impossible events unfolding around him, Nick must solve a baffling mystery and protect someone he cares about before time runs out. Blending coming-of-age drama, friendship, tabletop fantasy, and mind-bending science fiction, the story explores mortality, courage, and the fragile boundary between imagination and reality. Tense, atmospheric, and emotionally powerful, it delivers a richly drawn portrait of 1980s London in a fast-paced, compact novel.

Mark Lawrence

Sixteen-year-old Nick Hayes is a gifted young scientist whose work on manipulating time draws him into a crisis far beyond the laboratory. As he and his friends continue their weekly Dungeons & Dragons campaign, Nick finds himself confronting two diverging timelines—and two possible futures that may each demand an impossible choice. With reality beginning to fracture around him, he must navigate questions of fate, friendship, sacrifice, and the dangerous consequences of trying to change time. Blending high-concept science fiction with coming-of-age adventure and playful fantasy elements, the novel delivers a thoughtful, fast-moving story about the limits of genius and the price of a second chance.

Mark Lawrence

Mathematical genius Nick Hayes has unlocked the secret of time travel, but his achievement offers no escape from the consequences of fate. Ailing and caught between a deadly illness in the present and a brutal future that seems inescapable, Nick must confront the accidents, choices, and repeated possibilities that have shaped his life. As he searches for a way to alter his predetermined destiny, the story explores free will, identity, mortality, and the cost of trying to outwit time. Combining intellectual ambition with emotional urgency, this thought-provoking science-fiction tale follows one man’s struggle to determine whether the future can truly be changed.