The Deadline Plate · The Chronicle Keepers, Book One

Someone is editing history.

Four student journalists have to catch them.

A school time capsule contains news of their own disappearance. Then an impossible printing plate sends them to New York in 1887.

Available now

The Deadline Plate

A time-travel mystery for teen and young adult readers by Eric Jourgensen.

Cover of The Deadline Plate, a young adult science-fiction and historical time-travel mystery by Eric Jourgensen
Book One

The Deadline Plate

Their time capsule contains news of their own disappearance.

When Lila Hernandez and her newsroom friends open a school time capsule, they find a printing plate that sends them to New York in 1887.

Nellie Bly is preparing an investigation. Someone with a red pencil is changing the records around her. And the students’ phones cannot reliably capture what is happening.

To protect the story, Lila, Zora, Benji, and Quinn must follow witnesses, preserve evidence, and question the version of events that looks too easy. Their way home depends on a history that is still being written.

A young adult time-travel mystery about friendship, dangerous questions, and what it takes to keep the truth on the page.

Publication details

Now available in paperback and Kindle.

The paperback and Kindle editions are live on Amazon, with separate purchase links for readers, educators, librarians, and media.

KindleAvailable now
ASIN B0HHTH1KCK
PaperbackAvailable now
ASIN B0HHTKPCX1
ISBN 979-8-9979319-0-2
AmazonChoose your edition to see current pricing and availability in the Amazon store.
Inside the series

The past does not stay put.

The Chronicle Keepers combines real journalism history with a continuing mystery about who gets remembered, who gets erased, and what happens when the record changes.

ReportersTeen journalists must ask questions, protect sources, and work without the shortcuts they take for granted.
HistoryEach story places the team beside journalists confronting consequential moments from the past.
The RedactorA figure with a red pencil is not changing history at random. The missing facts form a story of their own.
For educators, librarians, and book clubs

Bring the mystery into the classroom.

Explore corroboration, missing context, corrections, and protecting witnesses through a student newsroom’s adventure.

Free discussion and evidence guide

Follow the evidence.

Six discussion questions, a 25-minute fictional newsroom exercise, a student worksheet, and facilitator notes. The exercise works without buying or reading the novel.

Download the discussion guide (PDF)

4 pages. Optional story spoilers are marked in the facilitator notes. No signup required.

For teen readers, classrooms, and libraries

Science fiction built on real journalism history.

The series is fiction first: fast, strange, dangerous, and driven by the choices its characters make. Its time travel is speculative. The journalism history underneath it is real, and the reporting questions are real too.

Review copies

For educators, librarians, reviewers, and media.

Complimentary digital or print review copies may be available for legitimate classroom, library, media, podcast, event, or review consideration. Signed paperback copies can include a Dr. Darth Grader sticker while supplies last.

A complimentary copy is never offered in exchange for a positive review.

The Society of Chronicle Keepers · SoCKs

Every story
needs a keeper.

Join the Society of Chronicle Keepers. Submit your Amazon receipt for The Deadline Plate and receive a welcome letter hand-signed by Dr. J and some special prizes. Paperback and Kindle purchases welcome. No review required.

Join the Society