Shanna Lauffey - Blog

Busy People

9/29/2022

I've been rather neglectful of this blog. This is partly a matter of being busy, but also because I've had no new releases to shout about.

So October is happening in a couple of days and the Summer sale is long gone, but Winter holiday events will be starting soon. Is everybody ready for Halloween?

Considering some of the books I have in notes, I wonder if maybe I should make one of them happen near Halloween. Werewolves, Vampires and Witches feature in several of my ideas. I guess that's a step aside from time travel, yet I have fun writing them in the same way. How do you deal with a life that requires a certain security consideration and sets you apart from the general population? How would a Werewolf or Vampire manage to live in a major city without drawing attention to themselves?

I don't expect to finish a new book before the end of October, but I can recommend some little known books that make great Halloween reads.

If you like a well-written Haunted House story that isn't too long, these two are Ace.

Ghost Story by Jeff Brackett
A Halloween Tale by Austin Crawley

I highly recommend both.

Smashwords July Sale!

7/2/2022

For the month of July! Time Shifters is FREE on Smashwords, no coupon required. All other episodes of the Chronicles are 99 cents!

Step into a world of time travel and intrigue for a rock bottom price this Summer!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/byseries/30969

Predicting the Future

8/25/2021

I've had several people ask me how I predicted the Covid-19 pandemic would continue through 2021 in a book released in 2020.

This is why writers do research. What I did is look at the history of major plagues, especially the Spanish Flu of 1918-1920, and noted a pattern of these outbreaks. They tend to last just over two years.

The one flaw in the logic, however, is that we have more global travel now. We also have a lot of people pretending it isn't happening and keeping the spread going. It looks like 2023 would have been a better prediction.

Never mind. The series is a Science Fantasy and reading is a good way to escape the realities of this awful disease. It's nice that time travelers can just slip away to better times.

Having said that, I read a post on Reddit the other day that makes a very good point. Time travelers need to be especially careful about spreading diseases from eras they don't come from where bugs their bodies have never encountered are rife! Imagine visiting a time when Diphtheria, Cholera or Tuberculosis were spreading wildly with no cure!

Many of the vaccines we receive as children might help fight off these infections, but how effective are they decades after the inoculations? Most of us don't travel to places where there are still outbreaks. The Western world often forgets how protected we have become from problems that still exist in third world countries.

Luckily for my own characters, their time traveling abilities are limited to their own lifespans. Most of them will never see times when eradicated diseases regularly killed people, though if you've read the series you'll know there is a way to travel through relays beyond your own time.

Imagine if a modern time traveler took Covid-19 back to an earlier time. What would happen to change an unchangeable future? Just trying to think it out gives me a headache.

Stay safe everyone.

75% Off the Full Series!

7/4/2021

The Time Shifters Chronicles in two volumes, just $1.74 each!
Come on a time traveling adventure and solve the mystery, who is capturing the Time Shifters?

Vol. 1 https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1025262
Vol. 2 https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1025263

The Complete Collection Now In Audio!

6/2/2021

With Bonus Material!

It's out now! The Complete Time Shifters Chronicles with Bonus Material
in a single audio collection!

The Collection has been available on Kindle for a while now and will continue to be on Kindle Unlimited for those who subscribe, but now it's available on audiobook!

I'm so happy to have this available. Check it out here!

Meanwhile, the hardcover editions have also been released! They can be found on Lulu or on Amazon.

These look awesome on the shelves and make a great gift for the book lover in your life, or for yourself!

Exciting News! And A New Release!

4/22/2021

Some wonderful things are happening with the Time Shifters series. First of all, have a look at the new, redesigned covers for the paperbacks. Are these awesome or what?

The spine design alone makes me want copies on my shelves, just for decorating purposes!

So, how did this change come about? It started with a conversation between our audio book co-ordinator and the narrator of the audio book version. Apparently they both had the same idea at the same time; to make a full series release with all ten stories, plus some bonus material.

Okay, so I got to write a couple of short stories to follow up on a character who appeared late in the last book because a reviewer mentioned wanting to know more about this character. I also wrote a short documentary thing on the Harekaiian people.

Well, to get this on the system for doing the audio book, there had to be at least an e-book release of the full series. This has been done and it's staying on KDP Select and clocking up a LOT of page views as we speak!

This led to an overdue cosmetic edit. There was some crossover of British and American spellings that had to be standardized (Oops! My fault!) and also a discrepancy in curly or straight speech marks. This all got done and the result carried over to all written versions, which are all updated now.

The cover designer saw an opportunity to make a full series paperback and designed the background you see on the two volume paperbacks above. Only the page count for all ten and bonus material exceeded what any of the printing sources would do. Funny thing, if you make the book a larger size, the page limit goes down!

Eventually the designer admitted defeat and suggested putting the prettier covers on the existing two volume paperback set. Yay! I love it.

As if that weren't enough, two questions came up. How could paperback readers gain access to the bonus stories and wouldn't the set look even more awesome if there were three. (Gulp!)

The idea of adding the bonus stories to the second volume was discussed, but to keep the two parts a closely similar size, the solution would be to write more short stories, enough to fill a third volume of that same size. That's five novellas page count of short stories, any length.

So, I've agreed to this. There's no time scale and I can write the stories about new characters in different parts of the world, making them whatever length I want as long as I produce enough of them to fill the page count. This could take a while, especially as I want to get my other two books re-written and back out there as well as a third one you don't know about yet.

I'll probably write a few stories between bigger projects and let them accumulate. Exploring this world further is undeniably appealing, especially as I can set them in different countries I've visited.

Oh, and one more thing. The new cover design is going on hardback editions of the two volume set. This will of course be joined by the third volume when it's released.

How exciting is all this?

Read An E-Book Week at Smashwords!

3/9/2021

It's Read an Ebook Week at Smashwords, March 7-13!
This week only, get the first 5 episodes of the Time Shifters Chronicles FREE! https://smashwords.com/books/view/1025262

Black Friday Sale on Kindle!

11/27/2020

Yes, the entire series of ten books in two volumes is on sale
all weekend from Black Friday through Cyber Monday!

Just 2.99 per volume in most currencies across the Amazon stores!

Amazon.com Amazon UK Amazon IT Amazon NL Amazon DE Amazon ES
Amazon CA Amazon FR Amazon IN Amazon JP

Amazon AU (3.99 due to Amazon rules)

Another Day in the Apocalypse

10/4/2020

So, what have I been up to?

READING!!!

Writing cuts into reading time, even though I do read daily regardless. The time I would normally be sitting down and writing the next book makes a lot of difference in how much I can read in a day!

That doesn't mean I'm not creating. This time of year, I like spooky stories. I love a good haunted house story or a unique spin on witches. Monsters and demons have a lot of potential too, but I don't like overly gross stories.

I have a couple of books on vampires and werewolves to finish, but what do you think, should I try my hand at witches? There are soooo many ways to approach magic!

How is everyone getting on? I've noticed a real surge in audiobook sales for the final episode of the Time Shifters series, which suggests audiobook listeners have been keeping up with the series over the years and just waiting for the last installment. This is rather gratifying to say the least.

Otherwise, I'm doing okay. Second wave has hit the UK so we're having to be extra careful, except the people who aren't and keep spreading the virus in the name of personal freedom. I suppose everyone will eventually have some exposure to the virus and it will be relegated to occasional outbreaks, but a knowledgeable relative of mind suggested that could take five years!

Meanwhile, keep reading and stay positive. Keep safe everyone.

The Complete Series is Now Available in Audiobook!

8/15/2020

Episode Ten has been released in Audio, so now the
full ten book series is complete!

Tell all your friends and book groups. Spread the word!
The time travel adventure of a lifetime awaits!

Buy it on Amazon