Henry Brown’s Paradox hexalogy presents up-front as a time-travel adventure. Normally those don’t thrill me, owing to the poor way in which most writers treat the possibility of meaningful time-travel: i.e., time-travel in which the traveler can actually change the era he visits. Brown does it right, producing an epic tale of multiple temporal continua separated from one another by cleavage events that divert history from its previous course. Moreover, he presents us with vivid characters, both Marquee level and Supporting Cast, enmeshed in a war of powerful conspiracies over the control of inter-continuum travel technology and its capacity to create new timestreams.

     But Paradox isn’t just a thrill ride. Brown has things to say: about history as we know it, about the ideological and mental pathologies loose among us today, and in the underappreciated art of acquiring and living with sound values.

     I know, I know: “If you want to send a message, call Western Union.” (Samuel Goldwyn) Still, Paradox is entertaining from first to last. I consumed all six volumes in a little more than four calendar days. It’s not all action and timestream-hopping. There’s a lot of human interest, especially in young protagonist Peter / Ike’s interactions with women. His desires and emotions lead him astray more than once, especially when he’s confronted with that unequaled source of hydropower, a woman’s tears.

     Beware: This series will make you question almost everything you’ve ever known about history. But history is often merely a fable agreed upon among credentialed chroniclers. Brown provides enough checkable references for the reader to investigate his characters’ claims. I recommend making use of them… and asking yourself, at each departure from the “official version” of events, “Why do I believe otherwise? Was it because I could see the facts plainly, or was it because I’d been taught to trust the testimony of some ‘authority?’”

     Highly recommended.