Title: Saving My Ancient Life
Author: Ken Luber
Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
ISBN: 979-8822939486
Pages: 320
Genre: Time Travel Fiction
Reviewed by: Subhrajit Saha
Author Interview with Ken Luber
Today, reviewer Subhrajit Saha is talking with Ken Luber, author of Saving My Ancient Life.
PBR: Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart? If so, why?
The character of EL… She’s seventeen; her “lover” has fled with the news that she is pregnant. Having never been baptized, her child is abducted by the Abbot’s Guard. She carries the wisdom of suffering, of loving passionately and of heartfelt devotion to her newborn child in her journey to find him.
PBR: What was the inspiration for the story?
I was teaching a GED class. The students were quite social but for one twenty-something female student who sat apart and never entered the social life of the class. I was curious as to why she remained a “loner” and asked her if she had lived in this small town for any length of time and what brought her to the GED class. She told me that she had recently moved to this town from the East Coast and had been forced to leave two of her children with their father, while bringing one child with her. She seemed very despondent, and, as a fictional character, I started to give her a voice which led her to her own romantic, marital entanglements and the many traumas and victories that emerged.
PBR: What is the key theme and/or message in the book?
Follow your heart.. never give up… be loyal to those who have embraced your love.
PBR: What is the significance of the title?
Each of the main characters goes back in time into a life, with all of its challenges they once had lived. Each character finds the strength and courage to confront and overcome the threat of death so that they can be reborn into the life they now fictionally embody.
PBR: Tell us about the process for coming up with the cover.
Having given the publisher the story, the cover was then suggested by the Palmetto art department. The moment I saw it, I loved it and approved of it.
PBR: What were the key challenges you faced when writing this book?
Keeping the thread alive in the continuous but separate stories and avoiding repetition, as well. Also, in giving each of the principal characters their own unique obstacles to overcome, and establishing the reality of different historical periods.
PBR: What was the highlight of writing this book?
Seeing El find and regain her child and seeing LuAnn (Jody) find a deep connection with the wholeness and security of the eight-year-old child that had been taken from her at the child’s birth, though meeting the boy, she could not reveal her connection to him, though each of them had a feeling there was a bond.
PBR: Are you working on anything at the present you would like to share with your readers about?
Yes, I have a children’s book, “Tejan and the Magic Soccer Ball” that is in the process of publication and my book, “The Sun Jumpers” which has been optioned by an animation company and we’re prepping to sell to a network or streamer and, of course, another screenplay.
