Could this former New Bedford fireman's new book be the next 'Back to the Future'?
NEW BEDFORD — When Tom Marginson started to write his debut novel, his mantra was simple.
"If you know how to speak, you can write," he said. "Just close your eyes and start."
Write he did and now his self-published novel, "The Chariot: Quest to Find the River of Life."
Set in New Bedford, the story revolves around Captain Jake Blackburn, commander of Engine 8 in the year 2020. After one particularly eventful blaze, he builds a time machine out of one of the engines and ends up traveling back in time to the 1840s.
There, Blackburn and his grandson, Nate, meet a runaway slave who then comes back with them to the Whaling City of the 21st century.
"They've done DeLorean time travel, phone booth time travel, why not do a steam fire engine?" Marginson said. "It's basically Indiana Jones meets Back to the Future."
The former New Bedford Fire Department district chief and New Bedford native said that a lot of his own professional experiences went into the story.
"All the bad fires I've had," he said, "I put them in this one fire."
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It's about history
The inspiration for the book came from a conversation the Northbridge resident had with a history teacher from that area.
"I told him Frederick Douglass used to live here and he said: I didn't know that," Marginson said. "Nobody outside of this area knows that.
We got great history here."
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Marginson's faith also played a role, as the title is derived from the Chariot of Fire which took the Prophet Elijah to Heaven in The Bible, the revered holy text among Christians.
Even the mechanism used in the story to enable time travel, the River of Life, is a Biblical reference.
"It's my faith," he said, "but it's also the captain's faith."
The book also explores how a person's identity can become wrapped up in their work.
"For [the main character]," firefighting is an escape."
In "The Chariot," the runaway slave returns with the Blackburns to 2020 and is amazed at how widespread education is.
"If there's one thing I want people to take away from this, it's the importance of education."
Get a signed copy today
Marginson will be signing copies of "The Chariot: Quest to Find the River of Life" at the New Bedford Fire Museum on Saturday, July 9, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Books will be on sale for $25 and only cash payments will be accepted.
Contact Kevin G. Andrade at kandrade@s-t.com and follow him on Twitter: @KevinGAndrade. Support local journalism and subscribe to the Standard-Times today!
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford fireman writes a novel based on his experiences
