You’ve Seen Bill & Ted—Now Meet Julie & Winifred!
Julie and Winifred are the main characters in my new f/f time travel romance, Julie & Winifred’s Most Excellent Adventure. Is this…a sapphic Kate & Leopold?
Why yes, my sci-fi romance shares a sensibility with that time travel romance movie (starring Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman), so you can expect familiar romance tropes such as love against the odds, time-crossed lovers, doomed romance, rom-com shenanigans, and opposites attract. HEA guaranteed!
Watch the most excellent book trailer
Romance book trailer for Heather Massey’s f/f time travel romance and buddy comedy Julie & Winifred’s Most Excellent Adventure. Features the plot information, the illustrated romance book cover and bonus book art of the Disaster Pets by artist Eileen Widjaja, romance tropes, time travel footage, and other fun visuals, all set to the adventure comedy indie rock trailer music of musician Leslie Brown.
The title, as you may have noticed, is a riff on the time travel comedy film Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. In that movie, two best friends embark on an epic time travel journey to complete their history report and usher in the utopian future founded on their personal philosophy of “be excellent to each other.” During the film’s climactic scene, the Abraham Lincoln character refers to their “most excellent adventure,” which in turn inspired my book’s title.
My book’s plot is different, but it also features two friends—and lovers—who save the world, in this case by stopping an evil time tyrant. The story draws from the same well of fluffy, fun energy as Bill & Ted while offering a queer lady alternative to dude-centric time travel stories. I also think you'll enjoy Matilda, the story's badass lady's maid!
About the story
In 1838 England, spinster mathematician Winifred Blackburn helps her inventor brother build a time machine as an instrument of good for science, only to discover his diabolical plan for using it to manipulate history. To stop him, she steals the device. But when her heist goes wrong, she uses the time machine to avoid capture—and accidentally leaps to the year 2030.
Meanwhile, in 2030 America, Julie “Queen of All Geeks” Sherman enjoys a lucrative job, an adorable cat, and a treasure trove of comic book collectibles, but finding the love of her life is the one achievement she hasn’t been able to unlock. What good is her golden nest egg if she can’t share it with anyone?
One fateful day at a comic con, Julie encounters a disoriented Winifred and helps her recover. The situation takes a wild turn when Winifred proves she’s a genuine time traveler.
This time-crossed couple wins the romance jackpot, but danger threatens their happily ever after when a mysterious intruder appears, bent on stealing the time machine at all costs. To help Winifred escape back to Victorian London, Julie has to act fast—even if it means losing the woman of her dreams.
Julie & Winifred’s Most Excellent Adventure will captivate fans of geek-flavored romances like Olivia Dade’s Spoiler Alert and Seressia Glass’ The Love Con, as well as time travel ones like Casey McQuiston’s One Last Stop.
How the sapphic romance Julie & Winifred’s Most Excellent Adventure evolved
While developing my next science fiction romance book, I wanted to revisit Victorian London in some way because I love the aesthetic and had done copious research for my steampunk romance quartet, A Villainous Affair. That led to the idea of centering time travel as the technology angle. After all, Victorian inventors are famous for inventing time machines, eh? For this geek, that trope hasn’t gotten old yet. And then I thought of a few interesting twists…
Time travel tales tend to feature characters who journey to the past. That’s all well and good until the genre comes up against the issue of BIPOC characters who risk danger by traveling back to societies plagued by systemic racism (see: Kindred by science fiction author Octavia E. Butler).
That’s probably why there aren’t many time travel movies or shows with BIPOC leads—Hollywood can’t be bothered to grapple with this issue. That could change if Kindred, which has been optioned, ever makes it to the big screen. In the meantime, you can watch See You Yesterday, which addresses the issue of time travel and racial justice in a compelling way.
Promotional image for Netflix’s time travel movie See You Yesterday
As an author who enjoys seeding her sci-fi romances with social commentary, I was more interested in a story where a character from the past travels to the future—especially someone from a marginalized group who would learn about how much some things changed, like technology and gender equality, but also about how much of society had yet to improve. My story also acknowledges that the march of time has introduced new problems, e.g., climate breakdown.
Meet the Disaster Pets
Shelby the Pomeranian dog and Spritle the American Shorthair cat from Heather Massey’s f/f time travel romance Julie & Winifred’s Most Excellent Adventure. Illustrated by Eileen Widjaja.
Julie & Winifred’s Most Excellent Adventure features two adorable pets, a pampered Pomeranian named Shelby and Spritle, a mischievous American Shorthair. I'm a cat person, not a dog person, but somehow Shelby stole every scene she's in!
Queer lady time travelers for the win!
Part of the story takes place in 2030 America, which gave me an opportunity to create characters who represent me. Hence, Julie “Queen of All Geeks” Sherman is a biracial (African American and white), bisexual cis woman who loves all things science fiction and fantasy. She’s also an aspirational character for me—if I were butch, I’d be her kind of butch.
Winifred Blackburn—Victorian lesbian spinster and math genius—is the professional side of me, the one who went to graduate school in pursuit of a career. Like me, she’s intellectually curious and reads voraciously about a variety of topics. The main difference is that Winifred is a math wiz and I am not. :)
Julie and Winifred were born from my geek interests, my identity and lived experience, and my longing for more diversity in time travel stories. I wish I could name a mainstream time travel movie or show with queer lead characters that are as popular as Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure or Back to the Future, but I can’t. Until then, I’ll have to satisfy my geek itch by writing my own stories and consuming those of other marginalized creators.
To wit, I recommend Molly J. Bragg's sapphic superhero + time travel romance, Scatter. I gushed about it in an earlier blog post: Molly J. Bragg's F/F Superhero Romance Scatter has Big Gay Energy!.
Thanks for reading! I invite you to explore my blog, The Observation Deck, for various posts about sci-fi romance and other fun stuff, as well as updates about my books.
Buy Julie & Winifred’s Most Excellent Adventure
About the Author
Heather Massey (she/her) is a geek mom who's the proud parent of a terrific daughter and married to the love of her life. Heather is best known for her sci-fi romance blog The Galaxy Express.
Though she’s neither an award-winning nor bestselling author (thank you for not judging!), her stories provide quality entertainment by way of fantastical worlds, action-adventure, and larger-than-life characters who fall in love while battling evils such as classist jerks, corporate greed, the patriarchy, and corrupt politicians.
Twitter: @thgalaxyexpress
About the Illustrator
Eileen Widjaja is a writer and artist currently working and living in Indonesia. She has worked for numerous clients throughout the years and contributed to a great variety of projects. Eileen is always looking for new projects and experiences, especially in the comic industry.
Website: https://www.eileenwidjaja.com/
Twitter: @eileenwdj
