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263. What is Time-Travel Romance? | Every Hour Until Then with Gabrielle Meyer

Some heroines need no machines or solar slingshots to awaken in a romantic past and discover true love or deeper truths about the Lord.
Fantastical Truth on May 20, 2025 · Reply

Kathryn needs no magical stone, slingshots around the sun, or fantastic phone box. She can time travel quite naturally, falling asleep in Victorian London only to wake up in the World War II era. Now she’s caught up in a quest to save her sister from Jack the Ripper and choose only one timeline by her 25th birthday. Every Hour Until Then author Gabrielle Meyer joins us to explore: What is time travel romance, and why do readers love it?

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Mission update

Gabrielle Meyer, 2025Introducing guest Gabrielle Meyer

Gabrielle Meyer, author of the Timeless time-travel romance series, lives on the banks of the Upper Mississippi River with her husband and four children. As an employee of the Minnesota Historical Society, she fell in love with the rich history of her state and enjoys writing historical and contemporary novels inspired by real people, places, and events. The river is a constant source of inspiration for Gabrielle, and if you look closely, you will find a river in each of her stories. When Gabrielle is not writing, you might find her homeschooling her children, cheering them on at sporting and theatrical events, or hosting a gathering at her home with family and friends.

1. Flashback to favorite time-hopping heroes

  • Stephen: My first ones were kids time-traveling back to Bible days.
  • Superbook (the original) had a supernatural book that just did that.
  • Later on, Adventures in Odyssey’s Imagination Station did similar.
  • Yet that was more like virtual reality, or TNG’s holodeck technology.
  • Famously, the Doctor of British television travelled in space and time.
  • But another line of stories, shows women journeying into history.
  • These stories emphasize fish-out-of-water and romances in the past.
    • Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, jumping from 1945 to 1743
    • The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, 1970s to 1990s
    • Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson, 1975 to 1896

2. Presenting the new Every Hour Until Then

  • Rather than going back to stay, Kathryn switches between two eras.
  • Not just about romance! She’s got a famous murder mystery to solve.
  • Kathryn must save her sister from being Jack the Ripper’s last victim.
  • Finally, she must choose which era of history to live in permanently.
  • The story also goes deeper into challenges of God’s sovereignty.
  • Here’s a clip from our Lorehaven review for Every Hour Until Then:

As Kathryn unfolds the mystery of Jack the Ripper, she struggles to make sense of how God could let her know this history without having the chance to change it. Among doubts, prayer, and her mother’s example, Kathryn wrestles with God’s sovereignty. Meyer skillfully portrays the confusions and questions of faithful Christians when we can’t make sense of God’s plans in our darkest hours.

3. The future of the Timeless series

  • Book 6 is called Through Each Tomorrow, with time-crossing siblings.
  • More about that story, plus any other ideas in this genre or others.

Com station

Top question for listeners

  • If you could time-cross to any era of history, where would you go?

Angela remarked on ep. 258 about restoring Disney:

I would like to submit that “The Bad Batch” was actually a surprisingly good thing to come out of Star Wars lately. I know everyone is raving about Andor, but The Bad Batch was my personal favorite among the latest Star Wars projects.

Next on Fantastical Truth

Books will last after Jesus’s return. That’s clear from Revelation 20:12, which refers to human life record books used for judging the dead. What then about other kinds of books, especially fantastical novels? Will amazing stories made by Christians, including those we explore at Lorehaven, last forever? Can we enjoy new stories? And what about great stories created by nonbelievers?

In the Fantastical Truth podcast from Lorehaven, hosts E. Stephen Burnett and Zackary Russell explore fantastical stories for God's glory.

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