Seventeen-year-old Agnes is a genius. Getting her doctorate in physics isn’t challenging enough so she builds a time machine. When her mother, Claudia, dies from an apparent suicide, Agnes blames herself. If Claudia hadn’t had Agnes when she was seventeen, she would have had a better life. Agnes goes back in time to stop Claudia from having sex the night she got pregnant. If Agnes succeeds, she’ll no longer exist, but she’s determined to save her mother. During her journey through time, Agnes learns there are some things you can never change.
"The pacing of Mickey Dubrow’s Always Agnes is perfect, with an energy that manages to be relentless without being frantic, and the plot is complex, layered, and consistently engaging. The book’s most powerful creation, the one that inspired me to keep turning the pages compulsively, turned out not to be a time machine, but the relationship between a daughter and her mother, and the lengths they will go to in order to save each other."
Peter McDade, author of Songs by Honeybird
“A story about fate, love, and time travel. Like an MC Escher print, the plot twists and turns, as clever and appealing as Agnes herself.”
Julia Franks, author of The Say So
“Mickey Dubrow touches the beating heart of what each of us grows to learn about love. Always Agnes is charming, riveting, and unforgettable in the best ways.”
Jessica Handler, author, The Magnetic Girl
For over thirty years, Mickey Dubrow wrote television promos, marketing presentations, and scripts for various clients including Cartoon Network, TNT Latin America, and HGTV. His short stories and essays have appeared in Prime Number Magazine, The Good Men Project, The Signal Mountain Review, Full Grown People, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. His first novel, American Judas, won the 2024 American Legacy Book Award in the category of Science Fiction: Parallel Universe/Alternative History. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife, author Jessica Handler.
In this short made for the 48 hour film festival we explore a man’s sense of reality and memory.
