While exploring a shipwreck, I found myself confronted with a single, unsettling thought: what if I found something that couldn’t possibly be here? That moment, suspended between curiosity and disbelief, became the spark for everything that followed.

I have always been drawn to the tension points of history, especially the fragile days at the end of World War II. Those were not calm transitions into peace. They were volatile negotiations, quiet power struggles, and decisions made behind closed doors that shaped decades to come. It became impossible not to wonder how differently events might have unfolded if even one influential figure had been removed from the equation.

That curiosity led to the central premise of the novel. Not just time travel for spectacle, but time manipulation with consequences. If someone had the ability to step into the past, who would control that power? Would it be used to protect, to dominate, or to profit? History shows us that technology and ambition often move faster than restraint.

At the same time, I wanted the story to be grounded in realism. The archaeological thread emerged from a fascination with anomalous objects out of place, evidence that does not align with accepted timelines. Science confronting the impossible creates natural tension. A discovery beneath the sea becomes more than an artifact; it becomes a challenge to everything we assume about cause and effect. In writing Flashback, I focused on the human dimension. The technology may be speculative, but the motivations are not. Fear, loyalty, pride, and power are constants in every era. Change one decision, and the ripple may extend far beyond its origin. History may seem permanent, but it rests on moments that were once uncertain. That uncertainty is where this story begins.