A new trilogy to Celebrate the 10th Anniversary

This edition is a complete rewrite of the three novels, where plot and scenes are preserved, but the text is changed to reflect the author's evolution as a writer. Overall in the trilogy, 25,000 words were removed, language was altered, and additional chapters added.

"These are works that nurture wonder and sometimes break hearts"Free Download

—Foreword Reviews

Get the 10th Anniversary books

Combined Trilogy (Reader, Writer, Maker)
ebook | Print | Free Download

Reader (Daughter of Time, Book 1)
ebook | Print | Free Download

Writer (Daughter of Time, Book 2)
ebook | Print | Free Download

Maker (Daughter of Time, Book 3)
ebook | Print | Free Download

About this Edition

It has now been ten years since the original publication of my Daughter of Time trilogy. Of all my writings, this series is the most important to me in nearly every aspect of a novel that might matter: plot, ideas, themes, characters, and writing. Unlike my thrillers, which were written strongly to match what I understood of the expectations of the genre, I had allowed myself a lot more creative license with Reader, Writer, and Maker (especially Maker).

After the 2015 completion of the trilogy with the release of Maker, my work shifted toward thrillers, and over several years my writing evolved as I developed a systematic revision process designed to eliminate redundancy while preserving story and scene: removing superfluous phrasing, reducing reliance on adverbs, varying diction, and refining rhythmic flow. I applied it successfully to my new thriller novels and to the science-fiction novella series Hard Time, and even went back to rewrite earlier thrillers.

For several years, I deliberately avoided employing this system with the Daughter of Time books. I was concerned that imposing a protocol optimized for pace and compression might diminish their exploratory quality.

Eventually, however, I reconsidered. Upon re-examining the originals, I recognized numerous opportunities for tightening and improving the writing. I therefore undertook the revision, but with a deliberate caveat: I would adhere to the method while still permitting myself room to experiment with language and style.

The constraints proved surprisingly generative, prompting sharper phrasing and, in places, bolder stylistic choices than appeared in the original. The result is a leaner text that nonetheless retains, and in some respects heightens, an experimental spirit. Readers familiar with the first edition will have to judge for themselves which version they prefer.

Consistent with previous results, the revision removed roughly ten percent of the original length (twenty-five thousand words in this case), without eliminating any existing scenes. Indeed, I was able to include an entirely new chapter in Reader, one I felt helped humanize the protagonist in the later stages of the novel when much became abstract.

Finally, this edition is released into the public domain. I am considering placing my entire backlist under the same terms in the near future. The novels will remain available for purchase through standard retail channels for those who prefer that option, but they are also freely downloadable and distributable without restriction (see “Free Download” above).

I hope you enjoy this new edition, whether you are encountering the story for the first time or returning to it after many years.

Erec Stebbins

December, 2025

Description of the books

READER: From the future, a final plea. Out of the past, a last hope. 

Ambra Dawn, a young girl born to die in freakish disregard. A doomed world, enslaved to forces unseen. A final hope beyond imagining. Become a Reader, because in the end, the most unbelievable step in the adventure - will be your own. 

""a unique and altogether profound sci-fi novel... incredibly well-written...a fusion of the best classic styles, reminiscent of Bradbury...with new and original ideas...haunting, thought-provoking and surprisingly philosophical while remaining engaging and thrilling throughout...must-read for any sci-fi fan" —San Francisco Book Reviews, READER 

"A richly detailed, compelling story about the power of love." —Kirkus Reviews, READER 

WRITER: From hatred, Love. From many, One. 
Book 2 in the Daughter of Time trilogy: A love story and sci-fi epic about the beautiful and terrible destiny of profoundly star-crossed lovers with a galaxy's fate in their hands. 

“Deeply thoughtful and exciting, warping the expectations of the genre... reminds me of Dan Simmons’ HYPERION.”
 —San Francisco Book Reviews, WRITER

"Literary fiction that transcends its genre. Read this novel. Immediately." 
—Portland Book Review of WRITER 

MAKER: Until all is lost, nothing is found. 
Conclude the epic story of Ambra Dawn in the final installment of the trilogy. A story in which the one that was lost will be found. Where a thief will guide through chaos and time. Where all that was held dear will perish. And in that final and utter destruction—there will be a Creation. 

"Erec Stebbins concludes his Daughter of Time trilogy with a novel that manages to outpace its predecessors in its capacity to induce awe. Maker is a continuously rewarding science fiction work in which many surprises reach cosmic proportions. Exploratory fiction at its most powerful and intelligent, Maker will challenge and reward all those who have ever wanted to believe in almost anything. These are works that nurture wonder and sometimes break hearts. A brilliant conclusion to a series that tests the elasticity of imagination, with consistently stunning results." —Michelle Anne Schingler, Foreword Reviews, MAKER

Favorite Negative Reviews from Amazon

Note: These were compiled many years ago. The quotes listed may now be gone. The harvest of entertaining quotes is likely now larger. My authorial responses in italics.

“I felt like I was taking a walk through the mind of a schizophrenic.”
(More like a trip)

“I cannot think of even 1 positive thing to say”
(Really? Typeface? Use of Oxford commas? Anything?)

“If the author had a plan for the resolution, he was smoking funny cigarettes when it was defined.”
(I don't need drugs to hallucinate, thank you very much)

“Too much”
(This is the complete review, which was, alas, perhaps too little)

“It was a murky mess of misery.”
(I do strive for clear messes of misery, but my reach often exceeds my grasp)

“Each book became less relevant, more redundant and confusing.”
(Continual progress!)

“The first book was so good right up to the end when, for some reason, you felt the need to use profanity.”
(Ah shit, you fucking noticed.)

“The author took me on a ride that was just a little too crazy”
(My regrets, I do strive for just the right amount of crazy when possible)

“Really disturbing. Dystopian and secular but with pretensions of explaining Deity.”
(Explaining Deity is not secular, doh!)

“At 800 pages the central protagonist has only one "sort of" close personal connection, with an alien who doesn't understand her, and still she doesn't understand herself. 800 pages!! And I only got that far because I would read one sentence out of ten in each paragraph of nonstop descriptive prose for several pages at a time.”
(A humble hypothesis:
Your meager understanding of the characters might have something
to do with reading a random 10% of the novel.
Just an idea.)

“Stupid book!”
(Please reserve insults of intelligence for the author)

“Well written but too far removed from rational thought for me”
(These characteristics were, indeed, aspects I strove for)

“Not sure. Don't know.”
(This accurately summarizes the core of the work, if you want the truth)

About the trilogy

When I began this series (then only conceived as a single novel), I wanted to write a "superheroine" book for my (then) middle school-aged daughters--the story of a "girl that saves the universe". What began as something with a strong YA flavor in the initial drafts, quickly turned darker. In addition, the ideas percolating in the first novel, READER, cried out for a follow-up. Hence, WRITER and MAKER were conceived.

With this trilogy, I was interested in exploring certain themes and ideas from a variety of science fiction authors and modern cosmology, trying to find my own "mythology" to harmonize some of the disparate conceptions of reality. Ideas of the subjectivity and limitations of human perception and understanding played important roles, as did ideas of causality, time, superstructure, divinity, and infinity.

I always wanted to write a book that not only "broke the fourth wall", but obliterated it, mocked it, transformed it, and turned it into a house of mirrors for the reader. READER was my chance to try. There has been a decidedly mixed reaction as to how well that worked, but it was a lot of fun in the making.

Whereas READER was written very organically (and metamorphosed from a YA novel to something quite different), and WRITER written following a detailed outline, MAKER was a strange synthesis of the two. A detailed flowchart of the various time loops that characterize the first half of the novel was supplanted by a completely unplanned stream-of-consciousness climax that led to a fixed narrative point: the resolution to the entire wild story of Ambra Dawn that was envisioned several years before when I completed the final draft of READER.

It was a huge "risk" to change the first person voice from Ambra Dawn in READER to her lover, Nitin Ratava, in WRITER. Indeed, both this change in perspective and the very different structure to the novel and character interactions, put a number of readers off. However, it also has been some readers' favorite novel of the three. Beyond subjectivity, there was a practical consideration of Ambra's powers and painting myself into an artistic corner with that, as well as a key element of the plot that called for a different perspective.

With MAKER, again I changed the narrator for the novel, in this case the story told through the voice of the alien Waythrel of Xix. A further challenge to myself and the reader is the ever recession of Ambra Dawn in the story. Waythrel's near constant companion in the novel is instead the enigmatic Kloan, a biological replica of Ambra Dawn, modified by the biomedicine and cybernetics of the dark Anti, who kidnapped the alien in WRITER and leads her on a harrowing and confusing cosmic quest. Ambra returns in strange and punctuated events in the novel, in multiple different forms from infant to cosmic goddess. But there are few extended engagements with the Daughter of Time as in the previous books.

By far the most esoteric of the three, MAKER cannot help but ultimately fail, just as overall the series must, as would any effort to produce an artistic impression of ultimate reality. But I didn't seek to succeed in the impossible, but rather to wade into the chaotic paradox of mind and matter and metaphysics in the context of an engaging narrative. For those who require coherence, realism, techno-science fiction, or a linear narrative, among other things, the trilogy has been at best a frustrating read. And that's okay. It was meant to be in some ways. That others have found it also inspiring and moving, thought-provoking and unique, is a success I am content to achieve.