She is the author of Rescue in Time and Time Conquers All, as well as the brains behind AZ Publishing Services.
Today, Ms. Hultstrand wants to share some of her favorite and most thought provoking interview questions with us! :)
Q: I understand that Time Conquers All was written during a difficult time in your life. What made you decide to pick up a pen at that point?
Near death experiences often change a person's perspective in life and makes them contemplate
what they are doing and where they should be going. I had a infection left growing inside me after what
should have been an easy hysterectomy. I wound up in the hospital several times that year fixing what
went horribly wrong. The hysterectomy was in February; back in the hospital for antibiotic treatment
for five days in April; back in for emergency surgery at end of June with another nine day hospital stay.
It was this emergency that caused me to reflect on my life since it was thought I would either die
or could have colon complications that would affect the rest of my life.
Obviously, I did not die and thankfully, I went home with minor complications and have recovered as
far as possible. I will never be the same physically, spiritually or mentally. But, I am alive and functional.
After I got home, I was on limited work detail, so started re-organizing my house. I had started "Time Conquers All" about twelve years earlier. I had printed the story on a dot-matrix printer (some young people are saying "huh" about now). I found the pages yellowed from age and dusty along the edges where the pages had peeked out from a creative person's twelve year pile of other discarded projects and items that probably should have used on previous years' tax deductions.
Along with a few chapters, only a portion of one of them actually stayed in the book, I had a floor plan for the palace in the story, which only needed minor changes to be usuable. It was mid-September 2002 when I sat down and decided it was about time I stopped writing for others and finish the story that was inside me all these years. I wrote almost everyday for 6 months and stopped when I hit over 296,000 words.
Of course, I could never sell 296,000 words, especially for a new author's break out book. I cut it in half and started the LONG venture in editing and poking at the story to make it what it is today.It has mutated into so much more than I had conceived all those years ago. I had not been influenced by India or so heavily by time-travel back then. Tamea, my herione had started as Tia on those yellowed pages, but Parker, my hero, has always been Parker, and probably always will be.
Q: With all the possible paranormal story genres, what attracted you to the idea of time travel?
Science-fiction was my first love in short stories and books. We rarely forget our first love whether in men or in other things we have loved. Physics has always intrigued me and picked at my "what if" mentality.
Whenever I read a romance book or story that has the Rip VanWinkle premise, where the main character falls to sleep in one time and wakes up in another, and they don't give me a plausible reason for this, IT DRIVE ME INSANE. I expect a plausible scientific reason for such things as time-travel. "Time Conquers All" is much more complicated and spans centuries.
Q: Can you give us an overview of Time Conquers All and the next book in the series, Rescue in Time?
In "Time Conquers All," Tamea, a nineteen-year old warrior princess from the India region of the world in the late 1500's, is being plagued by disturbing dreams and visions of the future. Tamea is assigned to protect a visiting king from a neighboring country while their two countries solidify a treaty that will benefit both countries. This king brings with him assassins that want to kill him and his family who are hiding a bigger secret regarding the origins of his country.
This king is not who he seems, and Tamea must unravel the intrigue that surrounds him and his country, but even more important, she must find out why he has been haunting her dreams and visions.
In "Rescue In Time" we find Tamea and Parker are connected by more than just their countries' alliances, but have a destiny to discern. Tamea continues to have the disturbing vision where Parker dies in her arms from a successful assassins bullet. She is subconsciously trying to solve the outcome to save his life in the future.
Meanwhile, in the 1500's, Tamea and Parker must take their countries to war with their neighboring country of Bengal who have been implicated as the mastermind behind the assassination attempts on both of their families' lives. Tamea must learn that not all those close to her can be trusted, maybe not even the man she loves.
Q: Now you are the mastermind behind AZ Publishing Services, can you tell us how that came about and what exactly you do?
Now, that's a longer story than my near death experience. LOL
The short story on this should start 21 years ago, where I've been going to fan based sci-fi/fantasy conventions. From all the authors I have met over the years, I have heard all the horror stories on their dealings with the publishing industry. Then I found a way to help myself and others who wanted to publish their books their way, not the corporate way. The printer I've worked with for ten years had finally decided to go into printing books like I had suggested several years before when I noticed that print shops either needed to expand their product line or become extinct.
Then a few months after the machines were installed and we were working on publishing our first few books of our own, Charles Burgess out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, had been in contact with me. He lunged into publishing head first without knowing anything about this industry. He asked me for my help in getting his publishing company off the ground. Charles rarely takes no for an answer and I rarely say I can't do something.
There are certain rules in the publishing industry that companies in the business can't break and the main one is that whoever owns the ISBN has the rights of distribution. So, what I decided to do to help Charles and others like him was to set Underground Publications as an imprint under Az Publishing Services, LLC. We own the ISBN's and distribution rights, while Charles and the other five imprints find and help authors to get their books edited and covers designed, then after I print the books at great rates, the imprint helps the authors market their works locally.
My role is that of the umbrella publisher who organizes the book projects, produces the books in print and eBook formats and then distributes and markets the books for sales. The author buys their own books at prices well below even the Lightning Source prices. They can sell on their own stock personally and on their websites. Then I buy stock that we keep on-hand for selling in all the distribution channels and the conventions and events we participate in.
As you all can see, she is an incredibly interesting woman, as well as a very kind person. I've thoroughly enjoyed my conversations with her. Please check out her work and support great authors doing great work!
Happy reading! :)
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