Shanna Lauffey - Blog

Episode Eight is Released!

5/27/2018

Believing herself free of the torments of the past, Kallie seeks renewed tranquility in the past and present, but the events of the recent few years won't go away that easily. Someone from her past comes back into her life reviving an old friendship that unwittingly makes Kallie a target of a crazed gunman.

Meanwhile, distracted by studying the effects of a magnetic field to fold dimensions, Harlan Edmondson receives a surprise visitor. Mason is a man with a reputation for cold-blooded murder and he, too, wants answers to questions of time travel.

Behind the seemingly innocuous façade of a doctor and fellow scientist, Mason approaches Edmundson to seek explanations for the events that occurred over fifty years earlier that resulted in the birth of his son. Edmondson becomes an unwilling time travel guide when the secrets of the past meet with his future to reveal a convoluted temporal loop.

Now available on Amazon, Amazon UK and all international outlets and on Smashwords for all other e-formats!

Introductory price .99 until Sunday June 3rd!

Finished!

5/4/2018

Good news! I finished the first draft of Episode Eight, so now it's just the edit and then release!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the editor had a head start and she's actually given me some feedback for a little re-writing in one chapter so I'll get onto that and anything else she might point out in the second half.

Meanwhile, Episode Five is currently in audiobook production! I don't know how long it will be before release, but that will be half the series out in audio! So far the same narrator has done all of them, so hopefully she'll stay on board for the other five books because I really like her voice for Akalya.

So, back to work for me. I need to finish any edits before I move on to writing Episode Nine, but I've left myself set-up with a story line to follow so hopefully it won't take as long as this episode did! Don't worry, no cliffhangers!

Hopefully I can stay just ahead of the audiobook production so that the last episodes will come out with similar frequency to the earlier ones.

Not Long Now!

3/31/2018

Great news!

Things are moving along and the editor now has the first ten chapters of Episode Eight in hand. I just have to wrap up a couple of story lines in the final chapters and I'll be done!

This means Episode Eight isn't quite out in March as I had hoped, but it will certainly be released in April. Hopefully the world coming to a stop for Easter Weekend will give me time to finish up!

Meanwhile, Easter Weekend is also Sale weekend for the combined edition of Episodes 1 - 5!

This is the last time the boxed set will be on sale for 1.99, so grab it quick if you haven't already!

Tell your friends!

Amazon.com Amazon UK

Progress continues!

3/7/2018

It feels ever so slow this time, but progress is moving. I've been working on a chapter with a lot going on and I find that although I can usually write the first draft of a chapter in two or three sittings, this one is taking me through a lot of scene changes and I run out of steam when I've finished at one place and I'm changing to the the next thing that happens.

Add to that a family member who just doesn't understand that talking to me while I'm writing breaks my concentration so that I lose my focus and have to quit for the day and start fresh the next day. Why don't they get it? Stopping me mid-sentence to tell me about something that actually doesn't concern me reduces my production significantly!

Such is the life of a writer. If I ever get married, it will have to be to another writer so that he understands the need to be undisturbed while working.

Anyway, enough complaining. The story is going well. The convolutions of time travel are fitting in and I'm getting some cloak and dagger stuff in as well in the same vein as the early episodes, but in a totally different story line. I wouldn't want my readers to get bored with the same old plot getting drawn out!

I've got the endings both for my current chapter and for this episode worked out and in notes, and even have something scribbled for the ending of the series to tie up some things. I'm still hoping to finish this episode by the end of March. If I don't get too many interruptions, I should be able to manage it!

A 2018 Update!

2/24/2018

My apologies for being AWOL at the beginning of this year!

I haven't abandoned you, promise!

I've just been doing some re-writing in the early chapters of episode eight. The convolutions of time travel can sometimes require mapping out who is where and when and trying to reconcile it all, and I have a character who keeps complicating the issue. The fiend!

Whether he counts as a good guy or a bad guy I'll let the readers decide. In the meantime I'm making steady progress and I hope to have this episode ready for release by the end of March. I can't promise, but if I keep producing at my current rate, and if my editor doesn't get a load of jobs at once, it can be done.

I'm on a real roll so my part in getting this story finished is nearly at an end. I've already started contemplating how events from this episode will weave into the series story arc to tie up all the loose ends.

I'll write another update sooner this time. Promise!

How is it halfway through December already?!

12/17/2017

It looks like I'm not quite going to make my self-imposed deadline to finish the first draft of episode eight by Christmas. I'm not having trouble with the story, it's the demands of real life slowing me down!

This is why writing reviews for books you enjoy is so important. More reviews lead to more sales and for some writers, that means earning enough from writing to do it full time instead of working a day job.

So, now the demands of Christmas itself are becoming inescapable. People are already panicking to make mailing deadlines and stock up on all the special food items. I'm on top of it myself, but it's been at the expense of writing time.

Rest assured that my mind is always in the story, keeping track of the twists and turns to come. I'm hoping to make the last few books of this series MORE exciting rather than fizzling into mediocrity like so many long series do.

The characters are patiently waiting for me to play havoc with their lives, but I have to go wrap presents. *Sigh!*

The Television Series

11/17/2017

Those who have been with me from the beginning will know that there was talk of a television series that fizzled out when a small production company went bust.

Well, I've recently been approached by a different production company who are showing a little interest in the series. I've sent them the volume with episodes 1 -5 to read. Whether this will go anywhere is anybody's guess, but it's interesting to contemplate!

Meanwhile, the audiobook version of Episode Four: Plausible Deniability should be out any day now.

How exciting!

Someone Made A Mistake!

11/10/2017

The combined volume of the first five episodes of The Chronicles of the Harekaiian was scheduled to go on Kindle sale this weekend and that part has worked fine.

However, instead of 1.99 as planned, the discount was set up for 0.99!

So, for the first and probably only time, you can now get the first five episodes on Kindle for only .99, but only through Monday so be quick!

Amazon US Amazon UK

Overdue Update!

10/26/2017

Apologies! I've left this update far too long but do not fear, I haven't abandoned the series!

Episode Eight is rolling now. Between real life interference and research, I've also been riding a nagging feeling that I was waiting for something, some inspired twist of plot to make itself known before I could continue.

It came to me yesterday! With a lot of loose ends already tidied up I didn't want to write something that was too much like previous episodes. That's always a danger with a long series, that it will start winding down in later books. I didn't want that to happen with this one. I've had a new character ruminating in the background who you will meet in the first chapter and his job is to take Kallie into something fresh and new.

It all came pouring out at once as these inspirations tend to do. How it entangles with events from past episodes just fell into place, though not all of it will be revealed in the next episode. There will be more to unfold in the last two episodes as well!

In the meantime, if you haven't caught up with all
the earlier episodes, the combined volume
with episodes 1 - 5 is going to be on Kindle sale
on the weekend of November 10 - 13! Just 1.99
for all five books!

Also, the audiobook of episode four is in progress and
it may be out by Christmas, though I can't promise.
It's in the hands of the narrator, Kalinda Little, who
has been doing a wonderful job narrating the series.
No one is going to rush her!

So lots of excitement here. As much fun as it is to write this series, I'm looking forward to seeing it complete! I know what it's like to be a reader, eagarly anticipating a next book in a series and I won't keep you waiting any longer than I have to, though quality will always come first.

Time Travel Physics

7/16/2017

Research is important, even in fiction writing. While other people are enjoying reading novels, these are my two newest acquisitions.

I do actually find all this stuff interesting!

I came across an article of interest on Facebook this morning.
http://themindunleashed.com/2017/07/scientists-accelerate-backward-time-travel-laboratory-conditions-first-time.html

It's about scientists accelerating backwards time travel for the first time and involves creating negative mass under laboratory conditions. Fascinating stuff!

So, this is the type of stuff I get to read to research time travel for my series. Neat, huh?