Lana Ayers is another of my sisters in Broad Universe, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting, encouraging, honoring, and celebrating women writers and editors in science fiction, fantasy, horror and other speculative genres.

Lana is a poet, novelist, managing editor at several poetry presses, and a time travel enthusiast. She facilitates Write Away™ generative writing workshops, leads private salons for book groups, and teaches at writers’ conferences. She is obsessed with exotic flavors of ice cream, Little Red Riding Hood, and black & white animals. She holds an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, as well as degrees in Poetry, Psychology, and Mathematics. She’s published nine poetry collections to date, one of which was nominated for a National Book Award. In addition to thriving in the book-loving culture, she enjoys the Pacific Northwest’s bountiful rain and abundant coffee shops. Her favorite color is the swirl of Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

Her first novel is Time Flash: Another Me:

The Granola Diet promises to turn curvy Sara Rodríguez Bloom García into a svelte, new woman in no time. Once it does, her husband’s rekindled passions will be unstoppable—she hopes. But “Holy molé salsa!” When Sara reaches for the box of cereal, she travels back in time to a childhood trip to the grocery store with her beloved grandmother. Seeing her dead grandmother alive and well again is wonderful, but Sara may be losing her mind, or much, much more. What starts out as another fad diet leads Sara on a time travel journey of perilous twists and turns—fraught with double-agents, lusty redheads, and a deadly serum. Sara’s possibly-magical cat, a sexy former crush, tasty meals, and vivid music enliven the darker moments. Fans of The Time Traveler’s Wife and Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series will love Time Flash: Another Me.

Did something in the real world inspire Time Flash: Another Me?

My first novel is a time travel adventure. It could not be otherwise. Because I grew up in a one-television household, my brother Alan, being six years older, controlled the TV. We watched lots of science fiction movies and shows, including Time Tunnel, The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, and The Time Machine. Time travel had me in its hooks thanks to Alan, so this book is dedicated across space and time to him. As one of the volunteer rescuers that fateful day in lower Manhattan, Alan died of a 9/11-related illness before my book was published.

What is your favorite scene in the book?

My favorite scene is the very first time heroine Sara travels back in time as a result of the experimental serum she’s been given. Sara doesn’t yet know she really is time traveling and experiences the incident as a very vivid dream—complete with the smell of baking pizza and the summer sun on her bare arms. The best part is getting to spend the day with her beloved and quirky grandmother, who died twenty years earlier. Sara’s grandmother is inspired by my own zany and unconditionally loving grandma. Writing her character was a bit like time traveling to my own past.

 What was your writing process like as you wrote Time Flash: Another Me?

The process surprised me quite a bit. Although I’ve written short stories, Time Flash is my first novel. I wasn’t sure whether I could write it the way I do short stories, just feeling my way through to the end without an outline. Once I began writing in Sara’s voice, her character showed me the way through. She even did some things that surprised and even troubled me a bit. It was like she was in control and I had to take a backseat. I’ve never had that experience before. It was both scary and exhilarating.

What was the best thing that happened during your promotion of the book?

I’d published nine collections of poetry prior to coming out with my novel. I wasn’t at all sure how my poetry colleagues would receive the news of my publishing a time travel book! However, my poetry friends and readers were very excited about me achieving my lifelong dream of completing a novel. Several even admitted that time travel had been a secret fascination for them as well.

What do you have planned next?

In addition to working on a couple of different poetry projects, I am beginning a Cozy Mystery series set in a small Oregon coastal town.

You can get a copy of Time Flash: Another Me from Amazon: https://amzn.to/2EcmgCC.

Follow Lana at her website & blog at http://LanaAyers.com or check out all her books at https://amzn.to/2PzNcyl.