Author Randy McWilson has written a series of time travel novels that are based out of Normal, Ill.

As often seems to be the case, author Randy McWilson’s path toward writing a recently published series of novels is a story in and of itself.

Over the span of two years, McWilson, who lives in Missouri, released four books under a series dubbed, “Back to Normal.” The setting for the books is a community McWilson had not visited before putting pen to paper: Normal.

“I was looking to have this set in a small midwestern town,” McWilson said. “I wanted something that perfectly depicted the heartland of America.”

As it turned out, Normal provided the perfect backdrop for the fictitious novels on a number of levels, including wordplay on the series’ theme, which revolves around, as McWilson describes them, a motley crew of involuntary time-jumpers who find themselves mysteriously transported back to post-World War II America.

As the travelers’ stories unfold across each of the four books in the series, readers learn of their desperate struggles to find their way back home, in the present, before the CIA and KGB assassins can find them.

“I find Normal to be an intriguing name for a town, and it provided a perfect triple-meaning for these books,” McWilson said, pointing to the travelers’ enduring quest to resume normalcy as a central theme throughout the series.

Author Randy McWilson

McWilson, who grew up in California, has connections in Hollywood. The seed for “Back to Normal” was planted more than five years ago through a chance conversation with a friend, who had a time travel-themed dream. McWilson initially envisioned writing a movie script as he delved into the plot. He later transitioned his proposal into an episodic TV series.

An agent has been shopping the proposed TV series around Tinsel Town, McWilson said, and as that prolonged process has continued over the course of the past several years, McWilson also decided to transition the dialogue into the books, which carry the titles, “Paradigm Rift,” “Tradecraft,” “Proximity” and “Crossover.”

For readers truly invested in the books, McWilson said emphatically, “People can’t get bored.” His inspiration for the plot twists came from the TV series “Lost,” which commanded viewers’ undivided attention because of the scripts that jumped around between sequences.

“The goal is to make people think and feel in a very real way,” McWilson said. “There are very few throwaway lines in these books. Everything’s there for a reason.”

Because details are such an important part of the books, McWilson said he went to great lengths to research Normal’s past and present landscape — a fact best represented by the assorted locations, streets and landmarks that are referenced throughout the books.

“I spent time in Normal, as well as Bloomington,” McWilson said. “I looked at archived content and interviewed people who grew up around there in the 1950s. I wanted to create something that was grounded in as much fact as possible.”

“Back to Normal” was McWilson’s first foray into a series of books. The first book, “Paradigm Rift,” was released in late 2014; the last, “Crossover,” came out earlier this year. Thus far, McWilson said the response to the books has been positive — most notably from McLean County readers who appreciated the accurate references.

“The concept of time travel is something that has fascinated people for a long time,” McWilson said. “It’s rather timeless, no pun intended.”

For details on McWilson’s writing pursuits, visit his website, www.randymcwilson.com. “Back to Normal” can be purchased through such online retailers as Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The local Barnes and Noble store within the Bloomington Commons shopping center, 1701 E. Empire St., also has copies of the series on hand.

This is a link to two videos about the first two books.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvqUqJhnLuE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e41_a7jW8I

This is a web site about Randy

http://www.randymcwilson.com

— A far from ‘Normal’ experience for novelist —