Arts and Entertainment

Local author makes time travel possible in her book “The Keepers Calling”

Alex Sisca
November 15, 2012

Time travel—many of us wish it was possible. What if it was? In the book “The Keepers Calling” by local Oregon author Kelly Nelson, it is entirely possible. Of course, you have to be the keeper of the counter in order to do so.

Now what is exactly is a counter and a keeper? A counter is a pocket watch-looking device with three buttons, a globe with dials and an odometer. A keeper is the one who obtains the counter and the counter only works for the keeper.

Chase Harper expected to have a normal senior year at Hillsboro High school until he found a counter on a trip with his family to Zion National Park in Utah. Finding the counter in the cave in between the rocks, “It look ancient and pocked with rust. ..a soiled piece of leather lay at the bottom….Prying it open sent a tarnished gold object tumbling in my hand… The top flipped open when I pressed it….An eerie light with a bluish tint emanated from within.” (12)

Not realizing he had traveled back in time, Chase explored his new surroundings. Coming across Vaqueros Chase, he came across a beautiful teenage girl, who is later introduced as Ellen Elizabeth Williams (Ellie). Ellie and Chase started a time conflict because Ellie was from 1863 and Chase was from 2011. They both never thought the would “fall in love’’ and fight for their life because others know of the counter.

Nelson who began writing The Keeper Saga in the summer of 2007. It started with a daydream, while traveling with her own family to Zion. She toyed with the idea of a teenage boy finding a time travel device and his adventures once he found one.

“I enjoy the concept of time travel myself and always dreamt about writing a book about time travel,” Nelson said.

Nelson waited an entire year before actually starting to write the book. She started to write as if it played in her mind like her own mini-movie, completing the entire series in one year.

“ I wrote a lot of the book on intuition,” Nelson said.

I would give the book an A, because I love any book with an adventure. Also I have always wanted to time travel myself, and when I finished the book I thought to myself “I want a counter!” This book is a wonderful read for anyone who is looking for a fun adventure.

All three books are scheduled to be published by the end of the school year. The second in the saga is to coming out sometime in November and will continue the many adventures of Chase and Ellie. The book is called “The Keeper’s Quest” In the spring of 2013, “The Keeper’s Defiance” debuts. “The Keepers Calling” book can be found on Amazon, the Wilsonville Costco, www.bn.com and www.deserestbook.com.

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About the Contributor

Alex Sisca, Reporter

Dazzling fireworks and decorative birthday cakes are the essence of July for Alessandra Sisca, Senior. While she celebrates the Fourth of July with usual traditions, the day marks the end of a two-day celebration that begins with her July third birthday.

“I don’t really think of it like my birthday,” Sisca said. “When it’s Fourth of July, I do what most people do—if we’re at the beach, sometimes [my family will] do a cookout and we’ll go to the parade—if we’re home we’ll do something quiet. My neighbors go up to Washington and buy fireworks, and basically you hear them from the time it barely gets dark until midnight. So we basically get our own firework show.”

The excitement of this summer has transitioned straight into the new school year. Sisca has been absent from Amplifier for the past two years, but she has decided to return to West Linn High School’s independent newspaper for her final year in high school.

For Sisca, freshman year of high school marked the beginning of a journey and a new passion. Sisca has worked with the Oregon City Children’s Theater as an aide in shows and a mentor to young actors for the last four years. The organization, according to Sisca, is an independently-run program that is “an open theater to anybody.”

For two shows, she has worked backstage, and recently Sisca debuted as an actress in two other shows. The shows that she has acted in were “Alice in Wonderland” as a Jabberwocky and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” as an Italian reporter. She was able to take advantage of her Italian heritage by displaying an authentic Italian accent.

“I kind of tried to imitate the way my grandparents speak,” Sisca said.

Because the productions are put on by a small collection of people, fundraising is done completely by those who run it. The sets, according to Sisca, are not as extravagant as Broadway and even some high school displays, but she considers them to be a good quality for a community theater. Sisca’s favorite set was from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

“It was a lot of fun to set up all the rooms in the factory, “ Sisca said. “It was a lot of fun to watch everything come to life.”

Sisca feels that theater has helped herself grow as a person.

“I’ve learned a lot about myself through theater. It’s kind of fun because the director, Michelle, makes the experience fun for everyone,” Sisca said.

While Sisca is involved with the theater beyond school, she hopes to sleep at a decent hour and raise her GPA. After high school, Sisca plans to fulfill her graduation requirements and afterwards attend the University of Windsor in Canada. There she will study business in the hopes of one day running her own dress shop. This shop, Sisca described, will contain dresses of all shapes, sizes, colors and styles.