Welcome to Lightspeed Magazine! We’re so happy to have “The Test of Time” as one of the science fiction stories for this month. Can you tell us about what inspired you to write this story?

Well . . . Let’s just say I wrote it after November 4, 2024.

Jacey Watkins has such a strong and relatable “why” when it comes to her pursuit of a future in the time travel field. Do you feel like you have a similar “why” when it comes to your own pursuit of writing?

I have been a professional writer since I was sixteen—which is fifty years now. I have always wanted to write. I think it comes from being the youngest of four. One of my earliest memories is of five adults (my parents and siblings) sitting in the living room reading, while I went from person to person begging them to play. They were reading instead. I was maybe three. So sometimes I think this was just a bid for attention that became a lifelong fixation.

College is such a formative time for so many people, when they learn truths about themselves they may not have even suspected existed. What drew you to writing about this particular time of life?

My father, brother, sister, and brother-in-law were all college professors. My eldest niece is as well. College was the pinnacle of existence in our family. I have a degree in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and I’m attending the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for another bachelor’s because I love being in school. One class per semester because I don’t have enough time for even that, but it keeps me on campus and interested.

If we do ever crack the secret of time travel, do you think we will be able to use it responsibly?

Nope.

Is there a project you are currently working on? And if not are there any themes, objects, or news that might be tickling your fingers?

I’m working on several. I’m finishing a side series in my Fey universe, called the Qavnerian Protectorate series. The most recent novel, The Unexpected Hero, just came out, and I’ve finished the next one. I’m also working on the next book in my Diving series, as well as two standalone novels. One is a crime novel set in the 1970s and another is dark fantasy that will appear next fall.