As part of our second interview, we are happy to shine the spotlight on SHANNA LAUFFEY, author of Time Shifters: Episode One of the Chronicles of the Harekaiian.To see her answers to the first half of the interview, you can take a look at the questions below:
The first question: Why Do You Write?
The second question: Favorite Authors and Influences?
The third question: To Outline or Not to Outline? (coming soon!)
The fourth question: How Do You Create Characters? (coming soon!)
The fifth question: Why Did You Choose Self-Publishing? (coming soon!)
The sixth question: Best Advice for Other Authors? (coming soon!)
The seventh question: Any News About Upcoming Projects? (coming soon!)

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SHANNA LAUFFEY
(See her website HERE)

 

Shanna Lauffey is a native Californian currently living in Europe. She spends her time between homes in Sweden, France and the UK. She writes Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance in her spare time between attending university and traveling. She was one of the first authors reviewed on this site, and she blew us away with her mind-bending story, Time Shifters, which features a race of people who have the ability to warp space-time, thus allowing them to time-travel or teleport (but never both simultaneously!). In the first book of her ten-part series, Ms. Lauffey’s heroine, Akalya, must race through time and space to stop a mysterious group of kidnappers who are capturing her people, and thus save her friends from death and dismemberment.

We are further pleased to note that, in conjunction with her interview, Ms. Lauffey is temporarily holding a book giveaway. Time Shifters will be available for free between June 6 and June 8, so be sure to stop by Amazon and pick up a copy!

TIME SHIFTERS: EPISODE ONE OF THE
CHRONICLES OF THE HAREKAIIAN
(Read our review of her work, HERE)

 

Genres: Magical Realism, Science Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Mystery

The story revolves around Akalya the Harekaiian, a calculating woman who belongs to a group of people that possesses the inexplicable ability to bend space and time. One day, living unobtrusively among us ordinary and unknowing muggles, Akalya witnesses some of her own people being kidnapped by mysterious men dressed in black. Upon discovering that these kidnappers have found a way to stop her people from escaping using their powers, Akalya takes it upon herself to rescue the captives, using her own abilities to warp space and time. This takes the reader on a dizzying and delightful quest not just from place to place, but also from year to year, date to date, and mystery to mystery, all as Akalya races to discover and stop who is targeting her people–before they can turn their sights on her.
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QUESTION ONE:

 

In your answers to the first half of this interview, you mentioned that the
idea for Akalya and the time shifters came to you in a dream. This sounds
fascinating: can you tell us more about it? How did you know that it was
definitely a story you were going to write, rather than just an interesting
dream? How did the story grow from just a dream into what it is today?

 

It was a very realistic feeling dream. It was like I was inside Akalya’s mind (even though I named her later) and felt the urgency to escape as the others were being taken. My sense of being one of these people was so acute that I was almost surprised that I couldn’t actually time travel after I woke up! As soon as I was a little closer to awake I realized that I had to write a story about them.

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QUESTION TWO:

 

You’re hard at work on the next novel, and it sounds really interesting. What about
the series itself? Do you have a set goal in mind, or are you just going to write
these characters until the well of inspiration dries up? We know that all of the
books are going to be individual stories, but do they have a connective thread among
them that leads to one big story? And are you planning any spinoffs in the future?

 

I started out with no idea where I was going to go with it, but since then I decided to keep Akalya as the primary character to weave the stories together and a lot of the last episode has become clear. There will be elements in each story that will come together in the end and all fit together.

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QUESTION THREE:

 

Your book includes a lot of historical references, most especially concerning geography and landmarks that
have changed from one point in the timeline to the next. How did you come up with all of this information?
Did writing this novel require you to research local history, and if so, how did you go about doing all
that? What advice do you have for other authors on describing settings and locations within their books?

 

I did a fair bit of research, but on a place that was already familiar. I found pictures online from the time periods I was dealing with so I could describe the differences in the places accurately and looked up bus schedules and other details to maintain accuracy. I also drew from a relative’s memory from the same place in 1965. Jack was a real person.

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QUESTION FOUR:

 

One of the most impressive parts of your book, in our opinion, was the comprehensive and
easily understandable way that you described the powers of these “time shifters.” How did
you come up with such a system of space/time travel? Is there anything in this system that
we didn’t get to learn about in the first novel, and are you going to tell us more about its
limitations in the future? For example, how do these characters know that they cannot travel
in time beyond their normal lifetimes? What about where these powers come from (is it genetic
or not)? And, of course, we also just have to ask: is Akalya and her people the only group
with superpowers in this story? Or are there other groups out there with abilities of their own?

 

How I came up with the system was all part of the dream. It was a comprehensive system that came out of my subconscious dream world intact. I explained it a little more based on my knowledge of time and space Physics, which isn’t extensive but I’ve always had an interest in this area so I’ve picked up a working knowledge of relativity. Yes, you will learn more details about how it works in each novel. Book 2 already has further information about the limitations of personal time travel for the Harekaiian. As for other people with abilities, it hadn’t occurred to me. Marcus is still an enigma and that situation could develop into something with different possibilities. It’s something I’ve contemplated but I haven’t worked it all out yet.

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QUESTION FIVE:

 

You mentioned that you have some pre-published work that you intend to re-publish
as a indie author. We know that it might take a while for this to happen, but can
you give us a glimpse into these books? Are they in a similar genre to the
Chronicles of the Harekaiian, and what are the basics of their plots?

 

She-Wȕlf is a Paranormal werewolf story. The short blurb: Kiera Moran wanted nothing that any woman wouldn’t want; a future, a career and a man that would make her feel beautiful and alive. When she managed to find herself alone with Brian Donahue at last, a moment of passion awakened a change so frightening that Kiera found herself fleeing for her life… but it was too late. A single drop of blood was all that was needed for her to become the She-Wȕlf.

Enigma is a time-slip fantasy. The short blurb: Riding across the Mongolian Steppe with a horde so massive that few noticed the slight, green-eyed seer, Tarion was haunted by memories of a time and place that seemed to make no sense, until one day she awakened and found that the place in her dreams had become her reality.

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Many thanks to Ms. Lauffey for participating in this interview!

 

Starting today and continuing until June 8th, Ms. Lauffey’s book, Time Shifters is currently FREE on Amazon! CLICK HERE to read our review of this book, and check it out on Amazon below.

Click on the cover photo to find this book on Amazon:

Time Shifters: Episode One of the Chronicles of the Harekaiian