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Epic Fables #2

Piercing the Elastic Limit

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PIERCING the ELASTIC LIMIT, the second astounding EPIC FABLE from master storyteller HOWARD LORING, traces the determined actions of the mysterious but compelling ‘Old Man beyond the Portal,’ as he and his redheaded assistant pursue their secretive Mandate to rescue the imperiled planet’s future. A page turning quest spanning the ages, once more this elusive author employs the simple FABLE to reveal a vast and griping EPIC adventure through time and space, portraying with penetrating insight authentic lives of genuine historic figures including Aristocrat Julius Caesar, Writer Christopher Marlowe and Master Musician Robert Schumann, to name but a few. Filled with high intrigue and escalating excitement, this engaging EPIC FABLE surpasses the reader’s imagination yet again, transporting them into a formerly hidden and baffling realm of reality, all by PIERCING the ELASTIC LIMIT.

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Published March 5, 2013

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About the author

Howard Loring

6 books27 followers
Howard Loring is currently trapped within the elusive ELASTIC LIMIT of TIME

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5 stars
23 (76%)
4 stars
6 (20%)
3 stars
1 (3%)
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
Profile Image for Lance Greenfield.
Author 157 books246 followers
April 24, 2014
At first, I was wondering what was going on. This seemed like a series of disjointed stories. One was set in the present, whenever that is, and then back to the days of Julius Caesar, Queen Elizabeth I, and so on. There were some common themes, particularly a couple of the characters, and, knowing that this is a time travel book, it didn't take a lot to figure out that this pair had to be travellers.

One aspect of the writing which irritated me, but which was corrected later on in the book, were the continual scene changes without physical breaks in the text. This was most distracting. In the later parts of the book, a line is inserted between scene changes, which makes for much easier reading.

The writing is inventive and creative. I really enjoyed the concepts which underpinned the story, especially as all of the strands came together in the final chapters. You can only understand what I am saying by reading the book. The ending is delightful, but open-ended enough to lead into a natural sequel, which I have no hesitation in committing to read. Perhaps I'll also turn my eyes towards Howard's first book, Beyond the Elastic Limit too.

Highly recommended.
Profile Image for Amy.
737 reviews155 followers
July 24, 2014
I'm struggling a bit with how to review this book. The first book in the series had me deciding that I'd read anything this author might write. The second book in the series, however, left me a bit confused. The more I pondered, the more questions I realized that I had. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely enjoyed the book, but I guess that either the "secret" of the book wasn't revealed at all or I wasn't able to read between the lines well enough to figure it out. Loring does often write between the lines, so I'm afraid it might be the latter.

While reading the first book is not necessary to the understanding of the second book, it does provide a background for the story that I think provides depth to the reading of the second book. The span of the series is epic in nature, covering thousands of years. The reader will find that the time viewing device that exists during the time period of the first book is lost and then found again during the time period of the second book (and lost and found again). Some of the recurring themes in the series are the time viewing device, mention of "Primus" (the Primus of the 2nd book seems to have been named in homage to the Primus of the 1st book), and a subset of people who seem godlike in that they never age over time and that they seem to have a godlike level of knowledge and power in comparison to the people that they encounter.

This particular book has 4 main mysteries: the significance of a young boy who can create "angels", the explanation for hearing an enigmatic A5 note, the reason an unchanging red-headed woman appears to various prodigious individuals (including Julius Caesar, Christopher Marlowe, and Robert Schumann) to lead them to consult with a powerful entity, and the reason for the need of the prodigious individuals to "form the perfect question". Honestly, I finished the book without feeling that I had a full answer to any of the mysteries. The origin of the "angels", the origin of the A5 note, and the identity of the red-headed woman is somewhat explained. However, not to my satisfaction. So either I didn't read well enough between the lines or there will be an explanation in an upcoming continuation of the series. Since there was no mention at the end of the book of this series being continued, I'm left a bit wanting.

Is it always necessary to understand the mysteries of a book in order to enjoy it? No. I definitely enjoyed what I read. It's generally a well-written book (minus the lack of scene-change indicators in a few places at the beginning of the book and a couple of typos toward the end). Loring has a very distinctive voice and cadence to his writings that are quite pleasant. The scope of his works are vast and the ideas behind them are quite imaginative. As such, I will continue to greedily read anything this author writes. I especially hope to see a continuation of this series that gives more insight into the mysteries left unexplained in both this and the previous book. Additionally, I want to meet the original Primus as well as to find out the purpose of the time viewing device and why there's a mandate to never look forward in time. I would suggest readers to tackle both books in the series to get a more in-depth view of the history of Amrif Arret and Terra Firma according to Howard Loring (not his real name).

Now I need to spend some time trying to form the perfect question and figure out to which entity I'd like to pose it ...
Profile Image for Paul.
Author 1 book14 followers
August 4, 2015
The author calls his work Epic Fables, and in a sense that's true. He opens with brief, apparently standalone, stories that eventually reveal themselves to be connected in some greater tale in a meaningful way. In "Piercing the Elastic Limit" this all occurs quite naturally, as I found myself drawn along by artful writing and a fascinating story, starting with the Introductory chapter when I didn't have a clue. With imagination and knowledge of history, Howard Loring creates a previously unknown world. "Epic Fable" by any other name still equates to masterful storytelling.

I enjoyed the characters in this book, particularly the "guide," the redheaded woman with great green eyes and high cheekbones. She's smiling. When she appears, you know something is up. I admired Howard's skillful transitions of time, place, and even tone in his writing. All with purpose. And there will always be Time Travel technology in Epic Fables, written clearly and confidently as if the author has experienced similar travels himself. You can almost forget this is fiction. It is fiction, isn't it? Isn't it?
13 reviews
June 1, 2020
Amazing book...!
A fantastic novel by Howard Loring. Spanning through centuries and bringing great men back to life, it'll leave you wanting for more. An epic fable with a clear mission: to save the planet.
Book is really full of mystery and thrill..!
Great book for story lovers guys..! Must read..!
Profile Image for Tej.
37 reviews15 followers
October 11, 2012
There are two books in this series but according to the author, Howard Loring, each one is a stand alone. So I started with this one because its a recent release and hasnt yet got any reviews on the board at this time.

This is quite an ambitious novel covering 3 historical ages, another age of a mysterious dating, mighty strange "magical" happenings by harnessing energy from interesting sources and a warping of time travelling missions. Its very engaging, imaginative, well written and enjoyable...but with a caveat which I will come to later. As I normally do, I'll commence with the positives which makes up the bulk of my review.

Loring's narrative flow and prose is very smooth, there is a nice rhythm and beat to it, giving sufficient detail to character and background without ambiguity and overreach. The pacing is fluent but at the sacrifice of any rich detailing of the different eras tapestry, the focus is on the character journeys here. It starts with lengthy expositions in different eras switching between them at a leisurely pace, then as the story develops the narrative switches between these strands more rapidly giving a nice sense of urgency and intrigue. Its very well edited, in fact as its not easy to maintain a readers attention when there are several strands to conduct. At first it was a little confusing in the way dialogue was presented as I didn't feel it was clear-cut who was saying what until I kept reading on but that issue seemed to have dissipated further into the novel, either that, or I subconsciously adjusted to it.

One of the most delightful aspects of the novel is the way the author wraps an intriguing fictional texture around true historical events and figures without bending known facts. According to the author's appendix, much of what is written about these historical figures are authentic and only very minute liberties were taken to bend the truth here and there, humbly admitted by the author himself. I certainly dont mind that at all, by all means bend the truth more if it helps to serve a good story as that's what matters in the end. Needless to say, it appears to be very well researched. It certainly has been educational, its a credit to the novel that it enthused me to find out a more about these fascinating people on ahem...wiki.

Now the problem I have is this, I was far more attached to the real life historical characters than the actual time travelling protagonists. We are also introduced to new time travelling protagonists very late in the novel who end up being the main ones. These characters were not given much breathing space for development and crucially, did not give me any chance to invest in caring what happens to them. However, the characters of Julius Ceasar, a 15th century author, and associates to a maestro were nicely fleshed out in comparison and these were the characters I enjoyed far more than the fictional ones. All three were fascinating and in some cases endearing.

Then we come to the end of the book. Having enjoyed the mystery, intrigue, and its misty ambience thus far, I am afraid I was left very disappointed in its conclusion. Thus far, it has been an enjoyable 4 star time-train journey, sitting at the window watching the beautiful sceneries of different landscapes of time passing by when suddenly, the time-train approaches the end point, its travelling a bit too fast, the emergency brakes are applied and I'm thrust forward banging my head into the seat in front. This was how I felt in the novel's last act. While there are answers to much of the mysteries brought up prior, I didnt feel they were satisfying and quite frankly, I couldnt quite comprehend what it all meant and how it all fits together. Apart from being quite heavy in the "magic energy" arena, the last act seemed so rushed that I didnt feel any emotional connection with the characters involved, largely because of the lack of development with them. I honestly think, this should have been a longer book (274 pages), which is a little bizarre because normally such criticisms are the inverse. The complex structure in the novel's build up was ambitious in a delightful way but the confidence seem to dissipate at the end, going for short cuts. Perhaps a re-read may bring more clarification but I can only base my thoughts on first read and I am not a fan of books or films that demands re-reads/rewatch just to understand it, unless its entertaining enough to read or watch again, they would have to be exceptional works.

If you enjoy cerebral fiction and time travel, I wholeheartedly recommend this book with a caveat to fill in some blanks in the end and perhaps a reread might clarify some plot points. But that's where your prerogative would have to come in. It may well be a book you find en-richening (as I have) but far more forgiving on the fictional character development and its conclusion, than I have given.

I'll give this a 3.5/5. Its an enjoyably intriguing, well written, cerebral journey through time but you may need to wear your seatbelt approaching that last stop to prevent a head injury.
Profile Image for Carlos.
1 review
March 26, 2013
Phenomenal book! I loved it.
As Lance mentioned in his review, at first, the stories seem random and disjointed, telling the story of the characters through different points in time. There seems to be no way of connecting each of the timelines in the book. You figure out though that there are characters that are common and you start to connect. I felt the book got more and more interesting as I continued reading. The last third of the book is when everything made sense. The suspense didn't allow me to put the book down (that's rare for me). To me it was like the writer build up the book from the first page to reach the last third of the book.

Howard's writing style kept the book interesting, including many historic facts about the characters in between the story. This is one of the most creative books I've read.
Profile Image for Paul Wandason.
59 reviews6 followers
August 22, 2017
This novel is effectively a series of stories with a common thread and some common characters running through them. It's loaded with ideas to get the time travel enthusiast thinking!

The set up reminds me of the "Cloud Atlas" movie which spans across a number of time eras with different characters but who seem to follow a similar ‘template’ of existence (and acted by the same actors / actresses). This is achieved in the novel through common themes and characters – but crucially it’s the differences which are central to the plot, so keep an eye out!

We've already been introduced to the model of time and the technology behind it in "Beyond the Elastic Limit"; the time line is projected into the past within the bounds of the elastic limit. This is similar to the River of Time. The “time fistula” is a separate technology which opens up a window to view the past – like placing a rock in a river and seeing how the water flows differently around it.

Crucially, the future cannot be viewed, and viewing the past doesn’t modify the time line itself (which reminds of me the Deja Vu movie where Denzel Washington peers into the past through discreet time windows).

The crux is what happens when the observation window turns into a door.

I really like how Howard’s writing style encapsulates many epochs. For example, there’s a description of a peice of music which has just been written; in the future this would be considered to be great, but that was decades away from now and today it wasn’t recognised.

My only negative vibe from "Piercing the Elastic Limit" lies with the closing section where I became quite lost. Things seemed to be coming together but there was a lot of flitting about between different characters and I couldn’t make the connection. Given the quality of the writing beforehand it’s more than likely that this is my own failing...
Profile Image for A.R. Davis.
Author 12 books11 followers
August 17, 2014
This is a very nice time travel story. The introduction places the magic within a captivating setting of children playing among the branches of a large magnolia tree, a poetic and romantic image to start the tale. We then go with Caesar to visit an oracle, and next watch Christopher Marlowe demand to meet Satan. These two parts were exceptional, and the author’s voice was perfect. When we return to the present, however, the same style of phrase seemed odd to me. What I thought should have been normal, had a strange sound. The story as well, changes its presentation during the third adventure. Perhaps that was necessary, but I did not like it as much as Caesar and Marlowe. And then to the time travel. I personally prefer at least an attempt at making the time travel hard sci-fi, rather than pure fantasy. This story and its “elastic limit” chose an in between approach.
Despite its flaws, this book is worth the time. And, as the author says, “anyone outside his or her natural timeline ceases to age as a function of displacement.”
Profile Image for Frances Clark.
Author 3 books1 follower
March 2, 2013
In my opinion this book is by no means an easy read. There are so many characters, settings and scene changes to keep track of, it's a bit daunting for the less cerebral of us. On the whole it is well written with a language style to suit each historical setting and the author has gone to much trouble in researching his historical characters and facts. For the first nine chapters I was a little lost in history and confused searching for the plot but in chapter ten I finally discovered the Elastic Limit and it all began to come together. I would liked to have gotten to know the main protagonists in this novel better at an earlier stage and perhaps taken the journey through Piercing the Elastic Limit with them instead rather than through the historical perspective. Some interesting time travel concepts surface in the final chapters which made me glad I persevered and finished the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Dennis Carver.
7 reviews14 followers
May 31, 2023
"Piercing the Elastic Limit" by Howard Loring is a captivating literary masterpiece that pushes the boundaries of imagination and explores the depths of human resilience. From the very first page, I was enthralled by the unique storyline and the author's exceptional storytelling prowess.

Loring's writing style is eloquent, evocative, and beautifully descriptive, painting vivid imagery that transports readers to new dimensions. The characters are well-developed, with complex personalities that add depth and authenticity to the narrative. I found myself emotionally invested in their journeys, rooting for their triumphs and sharing their burdens.

The plot is intricately crafted, filled with unexpected twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat. It seamlessly combines elements of mystery, adventure, and introspection, making it a truly multi-faceted reading experience. Loring masterfully tackles thought-provoking themes of personal growth, the pursuit of dreams, and the power of human connections.

What sets "Piercing the Elastic Limit" apart is its ability to provoke contemplation about the boundaries we impose upon ourselves and the possibilities that exist when we dare to exceed them. It challenges readers to reflect on their own limitations and encourages them to embrace the unknown with courage and resilience.

In conclusion, "Piercing the Elastic Limit" is a remarkable achievement that deserves wide recognition. Howard Loring's exceptional storytelling and profound insights make this book a must-read for anyone seeking a thought-provoking and exhilarating literary experience. I eagerly anticipate future works from this talented author.
53 reviews1 follower
June 1, 2020
A fantastic novel once again by Howard Loring. Spanning through centuries and bringing great men back to life, it'll leave you wanting for more. An epic fable with a clear mission: to save the planet. The author makes sure to take the reader along with him as the characters come together to complete the mission.
Profile Image for Ishika.
35 reviews1 follower
June 1, 2020
The second of Howard Loring’s EPIC FABLES, Piercing the Elastic Limit is astoundingly well written book. It spans over centuries, talking about great people from different generations. Extremely helpful, well worded and scripted, this one is a must read, especially for higher knowledge and comprehensive learning.
90 reviews1 follower
June 1, 2020
Piercing the Elastic Limit - An Epic Fable by Howard Loring a master storyteller , traces the determined actions of the mysterious but compelling 'Old Man beyond the Portal, ' as he and his redheaded assistant pursue their secretive Mandate to rescue the imperiled planet's future. From the writer collection it an astounding Epic Fauble.
57 reviews1 follower
June 1, 2020
The writing of this story is very lucid and the it's a very thrilling novel written by Howard Loring. This book has a series of stories and four main mysteries, however the first one is my absolutely favourite one. I highly recommend this book to people who love mystery and thriller!
33 reviews
June 2, 2020
The writing of this story is amazing. The novel is a very thrilling written by Howard Loring. The book has a series of stories mysteries. I recommend this book to all the people who love mystery and thriller.
Profile Image for Melody.
4 reviews
May 7, 2013
I edited this novel. Part II is just as interesting as Part I, maybe even more. Truly a wild ride with OCD tendencies that are too fun.
June 1, 2020
What a novel!!! You'll should check this out . I lived this book so much
Highly recommend this to everyone of you. Pls read this you'll be so happy after reading such nice novel. Do check this out
14 reviews
June 1, 2020
This is a fantastic book by Howard Loring. Traveling in time and bringing back the brilliant minds. It is a thrilling novel and you will not be in boardom in any part.
18 reviews
June 1, 2020
Another amazing book of Howard Loring. The writer takes you on an amazing journey with him. An epic fable with a mission to save the planet. Must read.
14 reviews
June 1, 2020
Amazing book a fantastic novel by Howard Loring. Spanning through centuries and bringing great men back to life, it'll leave you wanting for you. Must read for sure
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