Category: Time Travel

Time Shifters in all formats!

8/29/2014

As of today, Time Shifters is available on Smashwords in all ebook formats! This will soon spread to all of their affiliates.

Meanwhile, if you prefer paperback, the paperback version is available on Amazon or on Lulu.

Children of the Morning will be joining the first book in October and closely followed by the third book, Continuum. That one will go straight to all outlets.

I'm very excited to the the series expanding and taking shape. I can't wait to see how popular the books become in the new formats. Fingers crossed that it's as popular in Epub as it has been in Kindle!

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Steady As She Goes

8/1/2014

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I'm feeling very pleased that sales have continued to be steady for Time Shifters. I've kept it at 99 cents and am selling copies nearly every day. It isn't enough to retire on yet, but the sales are increasing on Children of the Morning so who knows what potential this series might have by the time I finish it?

Meanwhile, I've had my first bad reviews for Time Shifters (Strikes dramatic Camille pose). The thing is, they say good things about the book before getting to the reasons they've rated it low. The two I've had have to be the best bad reviews any author ever got! One specifically said he didn't like the narrative style, which is fair enough. It's a narrative style series, so it isn't going to appeal to everyone. I'm actually surprised that I've had so many good reviews from male reviewers, because some aspects of the story are likely to appeal more to women.

Book Three is about to get started. I have almost a whole outline in my head, though I am sure it will change as i go along. I'm looking forward to exploring the subject of time travel in more depth as well as fully developing Marcus as a character. He is becoming more interesting as we go along, at least to me. There is a depth to him that we've hardly scratched.

I'm still waiting for first reviews of Children of the Morning. I have several promises, but it's early days. Don't forget that it will be on 99 cent Countdown Deal 15-17 August!

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Time Shifters in Paperback!

6/25/2014

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The paperback version has been available direct from Lulu for some time, but it is now available on Amazon! It should also appear in other outlets, including Ingram distributors, so you should be able to order it through most bookshops in the U.S.A.

Further Ebook distribution including other formats (like Epub) is scheduled for 29th August!

In other news, I've now heard from the editors that the edit for Children of the Morning will go into July, but it should be ready for release in the first half of the month. It's better to have a well-edited product than to get it out too quickly, wouldn't you agree?

Plans for the third book in the series, Continuum, are bouncing around in my mind. I've got the premise and a lot of notes, but I need to take a short break between books to let the story sequence fall into place.

Meanwhile, I will make announcements on Facebook and Twitter (and here of course) as soon as Children of the Morning is released. It's exciting to see the series moving along!

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Results and Sequel Update

6/10/2014

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Well, the giveaway has finished and I have to say that I am pleased with the results. The most downloads were in the US, followed by the UK, but I also exist as an author now in Germany, Italy, India and Japan! Several people in Japan got copies, so maybe my series will spread in that country. That would be very cool!

Meanwhile, I'm just two and a half chapters from finishing the second book of the series, Children of the Morning. There is some chance that editing could take the release into July, but I'm going to try my best to get it ready on schedule in June. I won't compromise quality though, especially on editing. I was mortified to find a couple of typos that sneaked through on episode one! All fixed now, including on the paperback version.

I'm thinking of releasing anothr size for the paperback. Lulu has a 'pocket size' that is about the same as the paperbacks that you traditionally find in the genre sections of a bookshop, so I think that might suit the books well. It should require a minimum amount of formatting to copy over the clean file to another size.

I'll have another update on that soon. Meanwhile, I'm hoping some of the people who downloaded the first book will review it on Amazon. Très cool.

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Congratulations!

5/13/2014

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My congratulations to JoAnna Halpin Becker, Penny Ross, Carraine Oldham, Judith Victoria Douglas and Chris Lewis who all won copies of Time Shifters in the Mother's Day Reading Blitz giveaway on Facebook! I will send your copies as soon as the organizers contact me with your details.

Reviews are always appreciated!

It was a fun contest and I hope everyone enjoyed it.

Time Shifters will continue to be priced at $.99 (or equivalent in other countries) for a few weeks as I finish off book 2 of the Chronicles of the Harekaiian, The Children of the Morning. Hopefully it will be ready for release in June!

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Developing A World

4/16/2014

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(re-posted for new page)

A lot goes into developing an alternate world. I'm working with time travel for my Chronicles of the Harekaiian series and the physics of the time and space shifts has to be constantly attended to while writing the actual story. Every move my characters make has to be explained in a way that makes sense within the 'rules' of their abilities as well as the limitations that go with having special powers. After all, if they were all-powerful, there wouldn't be much of a story, would there?

This makes the premise of the first episode pretty straightforward. Something is interfering with the ability to shift and the protagonist has to find out who is trying to capture her people and why. It's a fairly common theme in science fiction, as is time travel. I like to think I'm putting an original spin on both the theme and the way in which time travel works in my fictional world though.

I've gone into details about how the members of my special race of shifters recognise each other as well, and the relationships amongst them and how their cultural network operates. I'm enjoying creating this new world. I'm not sure how many episodes there will be yet or whether some of the same characters will continue in them, but I expect to keep this series going between other projects for some time to come.

I'm targeting novella length for each episode with a view towards making collections available in hard copy after I have four or five, whatever it takes to make a full sized novel. My hope is to develop a following for the series as the episodes come into being so that by then there will be reviews and an established readership. Yes I know, every author who puts out a series wants the same thing.

My hope is that The Chronicles of the Harekaiian will accomplish it because the stories merit the following. I will do my best to make them so and will not be rushing them out as quality is of utmost importance to me. I'm so looking forward to feedback on Time Shifters though. I'm really pleased with how it's turning out.

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New Blog Page

4/16/2014

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Well, it seems that Weeby has a special page for writing blogs so I've been doing it wrong by using the front page. What's the difference? The dedicated blog page comes with an RSS feed so that people can follow the blog.

So after considering whether to copy all my blog posts over from the front page, I've decided against it. Here's a summary;

New blog site created at the beginning of the year (2014).

Social networking looks too political for my blood. Later I give in and start a Facebook page. I did apply for my Goodreads page, but I never heard anything back from it so have left it because I've heard it's actually a minefield there and authors are better off NOT claiming their GR pages.

Had an inspiration from a dream, just like H.P. Lovecraft. Several entries later, this inspiration results in the release of Time Shifters, which begins a 10 episode time travel series. The ebook is available on Amazon and the paperback will be there soon, currently available on Lulu.

A post titled Developing a World which I'll repost. This one is worth repeating as it gives readers an idea of the construction of the alternate world behind Time Shifters as it develops in my mind.

Moans about not having enough time to write, to re-edit my previous books so I can re-release them, and dissatisfaction with the old header on my pages which has since been replaced.

Effusing about how much I enjoy writing (more of this will no doubt appear in future blogs).

Glee over my first reviews for Time Shifters and links to http://goodbadbizarre.com and various others that all appear on Amazon reviews now, six of them with 4-5 stars each, yay! I've yet to experience my first negative review, though I'm sure it's just a matter of time. It's great that I got good ones first. Several of them had suggestions or mentions of what they didn't like as well which I'm taking on board.

What I said about it was, "The first review posed a few questions so I will address them in Episode Two. This kind of feedback is very useful because while, for example, it might be obvious to me why a Time Shifter wouldn't call the police when her people are being kidnapped, the fact that one reader raised the question means that others will wonder so it's my job to make it clear."

There have also been mentions of the 'difficult' names of the people in the story, all of which have etymological reasons but show my Fantasy reading background, so I'm making some of the unfamiliar words a little easier in Episode Two and explaining that the name of my lead character, Akalya, comes from Hindu origins and the reasons for her name will become clear early in the second book.

This leads naturally into the last post I did which was about diversity in writing. My characters come from a variety of backgrounds and cultures and as the setting is primarily in modern day Los Angeles witha few excursions to other cities, it's realistic that characters would come from a variety of racial groups, including the main character who is mixed race, like myself.

So, with that summary in place, let the blog continue. Now all I have to do is decide what to put on my front page! Bookcovers are the obvious choice. I like my bookcovers. Feel free to comment on your own opinion!

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Time Shifters in all formats!

Steady As She Goes

Time Shifters in Paperback!

Results and Sequel Update

Congratulations!

Developing A World

New Blog Page

Shanna Lauffey

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