Reality Matrix Effect

When newspaper copy editor Al Frederick is called back to work after a popular congressman is shot and killed in 1971, he is unprepared for the events that follow. A suddenly changed headline splits reality and sets Frederick's life—and the course of world history—on a new path.

Fifty years later, the world is at peace, running on clean electric power produced by generators using a nickel-titanium alloy called Nitinol. Al Frederick, recently deceased, has bequeathed to high-school teacher Rayna Kingman a box of old audio tapes and newspaper clippings that explain much of what happened in the intervening years. This includes Al's work with a controversial counter-culture physicist whose research indicates that Al may have changed reality.

Stunned by what she learns about her friend Al Frederick—and about herself—Rayna tries to make sense of it all while coping with disturbing changes that include a threat of war with mining colonies in the Asteroid Belt.