Guest Post and Giveaway: Lost in Time by A.L. Lester

We’re so pleased to have author A.L. Lester joining us today on the tour for her debut novel, Lost in Time. She’s dropping in to introduce herself and her book, and there’s also a giveaway, so be sure to check out the Rafflecopter widget for entry details.

Welcome, A.L.!

Writers Come in All Flavours

Greetings, Novel Approach Readers. I’m A.L. Lester and thank you so much for coming and reading my guest post today. My first novel, Lost in Time, is out this month and I am on a five-stop blog tour to introduce myself.

When I’m not writing, I’m a Smallholder and a parent. I keep various chickens and animals and children and a husband, with commensurate levels of frustration and satisfaction. We have a large garden/tiny farm in the Southwest of the UK, where I keep a few different rare breeds of hens that I breed and sell; and I run chicken keeping courses for people wanting to learn. My Mama, who is in her eighties, and One Of Those Scarily Competent Women, has a seven acre property down the road from us, where she grows flowers and plants and keeps a few sheep. Up until recently, we’ve had a flock of two hundred chickens in her fields and OH has sold the eggs every week at the local farmer’s market for years.

This summer, though, things got too much for us. Our youngest kid has a progressive neuromuscular condition, which means she’s fed by tube and can’t walk or talk. She is a wheelchair user and bats about like a maniac, and she signs to communicate and is generally extremely happy. But caring for her takes up a lot of time, and over her nine years, we have made progressively more serious adjustments to all aspects of our lives to make sure we have a happy family.

So, in June, we gave up the farmer’s market, and I ditched what felt like about a million hens; and both OH and I are much happier and so are the kids. It feels really weird to actually have some time to spend doing entry level family stuff like watching TV in a heap on the sofa. But I have learned to love it now I’ve got past my ingrained Lutheran Guilt about needing to be busy every single waking minute.

Of course, the other enormous positive is that I now have more time to write. Not necessarily more physical time but more mental time. I have time to think about ideas before I fall asleep rather than passing out the minute my head touches the pillow. I have the concentration to re-write and proof-read and commit to things like this Blog Tour. All the things I feel I actually need to do as ‘someone who writes’ in order to be able to say, ‘One of the things I do is write, actually,’ when strangers ask me about my profession. It feels very odd. I blogged for years under another pseudonym, and that felt like writing. I have written poetry and stories and essays and facts and fiction since before my handwriting was consistent. But I have never been able to say, ‘I’m a writer,’ and feel like I mean it. And that’s a bit rubbish, actually—because I do believe that if you write, whatever and however you write, you ARE a writer. And being a published writer doesn’t mean you aren’t working another job. OH is about to self-publish his second SF novel, and he’s just taken a job behind the bar at the local public hostelry in order to pay for proper editing. I am still Mrs Chicken to some of the kids in the village because of my albeit much reduced poultry breeding empire.

Writers come in all flavours. Some of us are lucky enough to pay all our bills with our words. Some of us know we are never going to be able to give up the day job. Some of us never even show anyone what we write. But we still do it. The words are there, bubbling up inside and spilling over on to the page, and we aren’t whole people if we don’t let that happen. For a very long time I wasn’t in a position to do that, and now I am. And, despite all the bumpy stuff that goes on in my life—including the dachshund trying to sit on my keyboard as I try and type this—I am so grateful that I have that chance.

I hope you’ll follow me through the rest of the tour … next up is Alpha Book Club on January 10 and I’m going to talk about The Story That Gave Me Nightmares.

About the Book

Buy Links: JMS Books | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Cover Design: JM Snyder
Publisher: JMS Books
Length: 54,000 words approx.
The Gate (a FREE short story introducing the characters from Lost in Time)
Amazon US | Amazon US | JMS Books
Blurb: Lew’s life is pleasantly boring until his friend Mira messes with magic she doesn’t understand. While searching for her, he is pulled back in time to 1919 by a catastrophic magical accident. As he tries to navigate a strange time and find his friend in the smoky music clubs of Soho, the last thing he needs is D etective Alec Carter suspecting him of murder.

London in 1919 is cold, wet, and tired from four years of war. Alec is back in the Metropolitan Police after slogging out his army service on the Western Front. Falling for a suspect in a gruesome murder case is not on his agenda, however attractive he finds the other man.

They are both floundering and out of their depth, struggling to come to terms with feelings they didn’t ask for and didn’t expect. Both have secrets that could get them arrested or killed. In the middle of a murder investigation that involves wild magic, mysterious creatures, and illegal sexual desire, who is safe to trust?

About the Author

A.L. Lester likes to read. Her favorite books are post-apocalyptic dystopian romances full of suspense, but a cornflake packet will do there’s nothing else available. The gender of the characters she likes to read (and write) is pretty irrelevant so long as they are strong, interesting people on a journey of some kind.

She has a chaotic family life and small children, and she has become the person in the village who looks after the random animals people find in the road. She is interested in permaculture gardening and anything to do with books, reading, technology and history. She lives in a small village in rural Somerset and is seriously allergic to both rabbits and Minecraft.

Author Links: Website || Twitter || Facebook || Instagram || Amazon || Goodreads

The Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Follow the Tour

January 7 – Book Review By Virginia Lee
January 8 – The Novel Approach – Blog Post
January 9 – Valerie Ullmer
January 10 – Alpha Book Club – Blog Post
January 11 – Mirrgold: Mutterings & Musings
January 12 – Love Bytes -Blog Post
January 13 – Padme’s Library
January 15 – Drops Of Ink, Bayou Book Junkie, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, MM Good Book Reviews
January 16 – Diverse Reader – Blog Post
January 18 – MM Good Book Reviews – Blog Post