It begins in twenty-first century New York City. A great city overburdened with poverty and pollution. Part of a vast and powerful British Empire. Like so many, Odette Speex is outcast and marginalized. A talented ballerina, she struggles to survive. Her livelihood subjected to the whims of a corrupt elite.

Her twin brother, Odell, is a reclusive genius. He draws Odette into a time-traveling conspiracy that saw the defeat of the American Revolution and the ideals of the Enlightenment. A conspiracy spearheaded by a shadowy brotherhood and accomplished with Odell’s unwitting assistance. One that resulted in a stagnant twenty-first century ruled by an outdated aristocracy.

In order to restore the original timeline, he recruits Odette and sends her back over two hundred years in the past. In mid-eighteenth-century London, Odette must avert the murder of an important colonial diplomat and uncover the identity of the plot’s unscrupulous mastermind.

She assembles an unlikely group of allies and takes London by storm as a prima ballerina of the Theatre Royal. Odette strives to devise a coherent plan while keeping the people she has come to love safe.

The fate of the world is laid upon her slender, yet graceful, shoulders. And she is left to ponder the age-old question all heroes must answer: “What the hell am I doing?”

21st Century New York – part of the British Empire? What genre is this?
I call it a genre mash-up. A mixture of alternate history, time-travel, historical adventure, and romance.

Sounds like the kind of genre soup we love.
If you like well-written prose, strong women, fast-paced adventure and grand romance, you’ll love my book.

Tell us about this strong woman.
Odette is a young woman who doesn’t know quite what to do about the injustices she sees all around her. She would like to devote herself to her art, but cannot control her impulse to strike out against a repressive society. She is smart but has to learn to be strategic and methodical in her thinking and planning. She is kind and inclined to believe the best in people, but won’t hesitate to protect the people she loves. She is a very realistic character and not unlike a lot of young women.

What’s her twin like?
Odell’s brilliance makes him somewhat cold and distance. He is inclined to be arrogant, and this is often his downfall. Odette brings out his more human side, and he finds his love for her perplexing. Still, he has his own moral code and is repelled by cheaters and those who would prey on the weak and defenceless.

What’s the news on the rest of the series?
I am presently working on “Odell Speex: Time Traitors Book 2.” I hope to have it out by early next year (2015).

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I have been a reader since the age of six and was very influenced by the books of my youth. I love science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction and many of the classics. I write under the pen name Padgett Lively, because it’s a really cool name.

I’ve lived and worked abroad, mostly in Latin America. My profession is public health, and I find epidemiology endlessly fascinating -there is always a new health mystery to solve.

That sounds scary.
Do you have a website?
I do not. But hope to have a Facebook page up soon.

I’m a bit of a relic and really have no social media presence to speak of. Of course, I’m finding this to be somewhat of a drawback.
At least you’re now on Indie Author Land.
What’s next for you?
Writing the sequel to Odette Speex as I’ve mentioned previously.

But I’m also working to get a book of my sister’s published. She was a very talented poet and storyteller. So its a project that is very important to me.

How easily do new storylines come to you? If we give you four random words  – Man, Woman, Mexico, Future – can you give us a brief storyline?
The year is 2080. Pablo and Esmeralda search for treasure in the sunken city of Tulum. The ancient walled city of the Maya was lost to the raising seas decades before. Dangerous currents rip through its deserted chambers and hungry sharks guard its secrets.

Members of a community of pearl divers, the childhood friends hope to harvest a fortune, but instead are transported back to the time of this dying culture. They find from the past something greater than material wealth. They find a wealth of knowledge that may help their own dying culture in the future. I think I would title it “The City of Dawn.”