The 99% Solution — Ransom Stephens

A hilarious, swashbuckling, intercontinental, inter-dimensional thrill ride that will leave you questioning centuries of world politics. Simon Wentworth -- daft, brilliant, confused physicist who believes he can choose the course of history at the intersections of past and future realities. Fiona Black -- delightful, optimistic, Australian proprietor of The Intoxicating Page, a bar-bookstore where cocktails are matched to literature. Vladimir “Volodya” Kazimer -- badass, pessimistic, cold-war era Russian hacker whose software calculates the probabilities of different futures. Winter -- cute little doggy. These three keyboard-wielding musketeers (and their beagle) call themselves the Time Weavers (actually, Fiona calls them that, Simon finds it simplistic, Volodya thinks it's stupid, and Winter doesn't talk). Together, they search for the incidental but pivotal events that alter history and manipulate them to rescue civilization from human foibles. In The 99% Solution … Lucy Montgomery, a tiny woman with a commanding presence, is buried in student loan debt and pissed off at a rigged system. Francis Gordon Woodley, IV, the ultimate one-percenter, is the pampered heir to a corporate empire that can buy entire nations. Manipulated by anarchists, Lucy sets out to destroy corporate power so that classless democracy can bloom into world-wide utopia. With his oligarch friends, Francis sets out to destroy government authority, unleash free-market forces and spawn world-wide utopia. With Lucy and Francis on a collision course, the Time Weavers race to save humanity by manipulating the future. Every timeline leads to a hundred year dark age except one. But for that one timeline to emerge into reality, Simon must encourage his daughter, Lucy, to assassinate his mentor's son, Francis. Guaranteed to deliver a Raiders of the Lost Ark buzz of international adventure, history, and humor, The Time Weavers employ friendship, rivalry, drinks, and wit to save the world when it needs saving.