"An expansive, genre-bending story for readers craving romance combined with gripping sci-fi.… [T]he thrilling plot is as expansive as it is gripping..." —BookLife (Publisher’s Weekly)

Would you change reality for love?

Morally complex, orphan, and absolute genius Vincent Abajian is hellbent to uncover all he can on Artificial Intelligence. His relentless pursuit distracts him from a traumatic childhood loss-his childhood best friend Akane was engulfed in a time-turbulence, a random rift in space and time.

But when a beautiful, temperamental, post-doctoral scientist, Emika Amari, joins his Center, everything changes. Vincent is convinced that Akane is inside the irresistible Emika. As they begin a life together, Vincent's past and his connection with a time turbulence survivor challenge everything they've created and push them into a spiral of politics and conspiracy. Vincent's silence to protect Emika threatens to tear them apart. Unknowingly, Emika is torn between what she wants and what Akane wants from her. With his newfound power, Vincent struggles with whether or not he should create another time-turbulence to free Emika from the grasp of Akane once and for all. But will tinkering with time be more destructive than anything he has ever encountered before?

Awards:

2022 Global Book Awards Gold Medal Winner - Sci-Fi/Romance

2022 Readers' Favorite Awards Honorable Mention - Time Travel Fiction

More Reviews:

“An engaging SF [sic] tale whose cause-effect plotline takes a licking and keeps on ticking.” —Kirkus

This is the kind of sci-fi story that like-minded readers will talk about in their circles for its intelligent plotting, stunning imagery, and larger-than-life characters. And for that, The Winding is an absolute must-read.” —Vincent Dudlado for Readers’ Favorite

“An intelligent, transporting time-travel tale brimming with music, ideas, emotion, imagination, and possibility. This is a stunner.” —The BookView Review

“Avi Datta spins an intricate and inventive sci-fi narrative that engages the mind and merges several interesting themes...The Winding does a fantastic job of portraying the emotions and thoughts of the protagonist through comprehensive internal dialogue.” —The Manhattan Book Review

“The Winding captures you from the first page and keeps you hooked until the end...and you find yourself glued to the pages as the reveals keep churning out with each turn of the page.” —Pikasho Deka for Readers’ Favorite

“A compelling, extraordinarily readable book…Datta skillfully uses usual time-travel tropes mixed with the elements of an alternate reality, but where this book really shines is in its cleverly constructed plot and immaculately drawn characters...The cliffhanger ending will raise readers’ fervor for the next installment. Fans of morally serious hard SF will be greatly rewarded. Datta is an author to watch.” —The Prairies Book Review

“A story that pleasantly teases your ability to grasp and perceive information with every flip of the page… With a gripping and engrossing plot, Avi Datta adopts a complex style of writing, presenting his thoughts and ideas through random flashbacks and digging back and forth into the story…” —Keith Mbuya for Reader’s Favorite

"The Winding is an innovative science fiction tale that mixes action with deep introspection to create an engaging and sometimes surprising narrative. It'll be interesting to see what Datta has in store for readers in the next volume in the Time Corrector series.” —San Francisco Book Review

"The Winding is an intricately detailed story full of deep emotion. It also makes the improbable seem possible. However, what really stands out is not just how well the plot is constructed with all of its connections but how deeply the characters connect to one another. If you enjoy love stories with a bit of science fiction such as The Time Traveler's Wife or books like The Great Gatsby this book is an excellent read and well worth the time. If you just love great stories, this is a must read book. And the best part is this is only the first in the series. It will be exciting to see where it goes from here.” —Adam Wright of Reedsy Discovery

Author Bio:

Dr. Avi Datta is the author of the genre-bending sci-fi series, Time Correctors. The Winding is his debut novel and the first one in the series. He is a Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at Illinois State University. He is also the director of the University’s Center for Entrepreneurial studies. He researches and publishes in Radical Innovation, Management of Innovation, Technology Strategy, and Strategic Entrepreneurship. Outside his day job, he is a writer, an avid painter, a watch collector, and a coffee enthusiast who enjoys classic rock and western classical music.

Shop the Time Corrector series