Up and Coming Novelist Will Sign 'Parallel' at Crocker July 5

Everyone has had that moment where they think, “If I could go back and change one thing and alter my future, what would it be.”

Area readers can find out at Lauren Miller’s book signing this Friday, July 5 at Crocker Park’s Barnes & Noble store.

Miller’s novel, Parallel, actually began as a television script she started when working as a 27-year-old lawyer in California.

“I was working full time as a lawyer and thinking I really didn’t want to be a lawyer,” the Berkeley law graduate said. “I asked myself, how did I get myself on the wrong track, what was the detour maybe I should have taken.”

She began writing a pilot about a woman dealing with the same issue. 

"She was about to marry the wrong guy," Miller said. "I was trying to think about how this girl can get a do-over and came up with this parallel universe.” 

Miller has ties to the Cleveland area. Her husband, Donald Miller, who she met in law school, was a longtime Sheffield resident and the city’s youngest-ever councilman. His grandfather, Tony Bisceglia, ran for mayor of Westlake in 1974.

The parallel universe is one year behind and when Abby’s universes collide, what happens one year behind directly affects her parallel life.

The script got caught up in the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, and died. The concept, however, was picked up by an agent and Miller managed to hammer out the book in the 100 days following the birth of her daughter.

“It was the best thing that ever happened,” she said. “I love the book so much more.”

The modified script is now a teen novel, with characters aged 17 and 18. The central character, still named Abby Barnes, revolves around a high-schooler who falls asleep as a budding Hollywood movie star and wakes up as a student at Yale.

Abby had opted to take a drama class as a senior initially, but when the parallel year-behind self opts not to take a drama class.

According to the book’s online description, “She soon learns that her reality has collided with a parallel universe. Her senior year is being re-written by her parallel self. Any choices made by her parallel affect her life in the future. She lives with the fear that at any moment, her life could change again. Possibly for the worse.”

The book has received solid reviews.

“The parallel self is still the year behind,” Miller said. “They are two separate people.”

When Abby wakes up, she is no longer in Hollywood, but a student at Yale, her life altered.

“When the younger (year behind) Abby does something, it affects real life after the world’s collide.”

The book is written in a teen voice, which Miller prefers.

Miller is a fan of “supernatural with a real-life feel,” similar to Supernatural and Fringe.

Miller consulted with a physicist for the book, which provides a scientific explanation and causal link of how the worlds collide…and entangle.

The book was picked up by Harper Teen and Harper Collins Books, who quickly contracted Miller to a second book, which she has completed.

“The next book is a slightly futuristic story” Miller said. Also a teen novel, it delves into what could happen as we give more and more control over to our smart phones.

For that book, she consulted with a Second NASA guy, a brain scientist and a philosopher.

Miller’s book signing in July 5 at Barnes & Noble in Crocker Park. The signing, which will include a raffle, is from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.