I’m delighted to welcome Leanna Renee Hieber to the blog! Her work includes the Strangely Beautiful, Eterna Files, and Spectral City series—plus the one she is discussing today, Time Immemorial, a trilogy of timeslip novellas coming out over the next few weeks. Set in the same universe as her Prism Award–winning space opera novella Dark Nest, the books in this series are being released in ebook and audiobook formats. Time Immemorial, the first book, is out today with Time Inescapable scheduled for release on June 22 and Time Indivisible following in July. Read on to learn more about the series and see the covers of all three books by series co-creator Thom Truelove!
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Read Time Immemorial or Listen to the Audiobook
Greetings Fantasy Café friends!
This delightful Café has been a part of my life and historical fantasy career since the very beginning. What a delight and honor it is to be here to showcase and cover-reveal a brand-new novella series that ties all my works together in an innovative way, beginning with Time Immemorial, arriving in digital and audio formats today thanks to Scrib’d / Bryant Street Publishing.
Time Immemorial, Time Inescapable and Time Indivisible are novellas that follow the lives of Elizabeth Marlowe, a woman living in 4 concurrent timelines and in each one, someone wants to kill her. Whether Iron Age Britain, 1882, World War II or the 24th century, something is hunting her. There’s a force working to take down not only her, but everyone she’s ever cared about through time.
The concept of Captain Liz Marlowe, co-created by my business partner Thom Truelove, began as a character sketch for a TV pilot. We’d begun work on a script and did some concept photos of the character in some of her different timelines, a character who was intended to be played by yours truly. Most folks know me as a novelist but I trained in theatre and my artistic career began and spanned many years on the professional stage.
During those early concept days, the awesome artist, writer and photographer Sebastian Crane staged and took these shots of me as Liz in several of the character’s different timelines. L’Bet is a druidic priestess, Lizzie is a Victorian scientist, explorer and Spiritualist, Captain Liz is a starship captain in the 24th century.
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| Pictured (left to right):
L’Bet, Druidic Priestess, wielding ley line energy – Leanna Renee Hieber, photographed by S. Crane. Additional effects by Thom Truelove Lizzie Marlowe, 19th Century adventurer & Spiritualist – Leanna Renee Hieber, photographed by S. Crane Captain Liz Marlowe, 24th Century starship captain – Leanna Renee Hieber, photographed by S. Crane |
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The original project Liz was created for fell through, but the character was too good not to keep and run with. Some of Liz’s iterations had already begun popping up in my novels; Lizzie Marlowe “The Visitor” shapes Clara Templeton’s life in my Eterna Files trilogy. Marlowe’s starship captain self understandably would tie into my existing Dark Nest Chronicles of psychic space opera.
Liz stays connected from one life to the next by harnessing an ancient, mysterious energy. The concept of “ley lines” is a bit like thinking of Earth’s magical, spiritual and/or life-force energy having latitude and longitude. It was a concept re-popularized in 19th century mysticism and Spiritualism. By manipulating ley lines, Liz can assert a certain power and control over her environment. This becomes increasingly important as she’s trying to survive.
In writing this Time Immemorial set of novellas, sites and connections from my other books organically came into play. One doesn’t have to have read any of my work prior to jumping into this new series, so don’t worry if you haven’t. But if you are familiar with my work and remember a place called Athens Academy from my Strangely Beautiful series, I hope you’ll be glad to see it again. The building plays a key role in protecting our heroes, just as it always has. And just as Lizzie, “The Visitor”, played a vital part in Clara becoming the woman she is in The Eterna Files, Clara shows back up in Time Immemorial to help Lizzie in turn.
Writing a woman living in multiple timelines, time-slipping from one to the next in shifts of consciousness, was a huge puzzle and a unique challenge. The trick was, just like Liz has to master, staying in the moment. Liz takes her life one important moment at a time and that’s how I had to come to this narrative. That’s also how I read the audio books! The chance to perform Captain Liz after all, as the audio book narrator, was so gratifying.
Working with talented and insightful editor Julia O’Connell on this series was a huge help. Her blog, The Gothic Library, has well-established her eye for analysis and she helped me keep a sharp focus on what worked in the draft and what didn’t, honing in on Liz Marlowe’s core emotional needs, motivations and trajectory across the set of novellas. With a character as overwhelming as Liz, editorial guidance was critical.
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I truly love the blend of mystical and astrological imagery Thom Truelove created as the cover artist for the series. Here’s Thom’s note about his choices for these covers:
“Sacred geometry almost accidentally occurs when rendering the Celestial. The arcs and stars in the covers of the Time Immemorial series were initially adapted from a page of an 1880 star atlas. The representation may be even older. Astronomers have lifted their heads to comprehend the Heavens since… time immemorial. And our hero in this saga was created to explore them. Astrologers looked upward for clues about ourselves and perhaps our fates; the incarnations of Liz are collectively on a comparable – if not parallel – journey, from her perspective in a far more practical and urgent manner. These covers are meant to capture all this thinking and as an invitation for you to join her.”
About Time Immemorial: A Dark Nest Adventure (via Scrib’d):
“A masterful tale of multiple timelines; one woman, split between four lives…
Elizabeth Marlowe has always known she was different—even from others with psychic abilities. She doesn’t merely glimpse past or future lives, she lives multiple lives concurrently. She is L’Bet, a druid priestess holding out against the Roman invasion. She is Lizzie, a headstrong Victorian plumbing the depths of both science and Spiritualism. She is Beth, a Women’s Royal Air Force pilot fighting in World War II. And she is Captain Liz, a starship commander forging a path through the stars.
But being different comes with danger. Liz is determined to make it on her own, hiding her unusual ability from all but one trusted companion in each life. Yet, she is haunted by an ominous warning from her old mentor, Saire: Someday they’ll fear you. People fear what they cannot understand, and it is only a matter of time before those with psychic powers are targeted for their difference. When that happens, Liz will have to choose between her life of independence and saving the community she rejected long ago.
Return to the Prism Award-winning world of Leanna Renee Hieber’s Dark Nest trilogy with the start of a new series that spans eras and galaxies!”
We hope you’ll take us up on that invitation to join Liz and live in the moment, across time and space, taking life one critical choice at a time.
Cheers!
Leanna Renee Hieber
http://leannareneehieber.com
http://twitter.com/leannarenee
http://instagram.com/leannareneehieber
