Taking a break from my promotional advice - part two, coming soon, I just wanted to let it brew for a day or two - and instead wanting to share something of my world.
1. It's dark. It's not for those looking light stories. Abendau is a world where actions are important. Things are predicted, which might come true. Paths are hinted at but may not be the right ones. Good characters have their flaws and do unforgiveable things - bad characters occasionally surprise and will more in future books.
2. It's epic. I didn't mean to write an epic but it grew and grew and now it is. It has dynasties and politics. Multiple planets. People with histories. Some of it is only hinted at for now, but it's all there to be built on.
3. It tackles hard subjects. What we can do to others. How weak we can be in adversity. How hard it is to shake things off. It's epic with humans in. It's an epic story told from real people's point of views, allowing subjects to be explored in depth, not cast aside for the next plot line.
4. It's fast paced. There is a lot packed into one book. Multiple point of views, timelines, agendas. One reviewer described it not as having highs and lows but mountains and canyons. There's not much time to slow down and, when it does, it's to give time for point 3, the tackling.
5. It's about people. Not space, although it's set there. Not politics, although there are plenty of them. It's about a man, and the woman who loves him. About their friends, their families. Their world. This is no distant story - this is, as near as I can get it, real.
6. Some of it is hard going. I like books that make me feel. The scenes that stay with me - Corelli facing the firing squad on a beautiful summer's day, Henry de Tamble preparing to leave his family, Paul Atreides and Chani - are hard reading. A book that shies from making us feel isn't a book I wanted to write. This will make you feel. Sometimes you'll smile. Sometimes you might read and wish you weren't. Allegedly, some have cried. But, you know - that's a real life. I laugh. I cry. I smile. It's what I want to feel.
7. There is, indeed, a sexy space pilot. Ealyn, dark-eyed and fey and half-mad. For me, space opera isn't complete without one.
8. There's action. I like to feel, sure. But not all the time. I like space battles, and shoot-'em-ups. I like rabble-rousing speeches. I like my heroes crossing parapets against all odds. Hell, I like punching the air and saying 'Let's blow this thing, so we can all go home, kid.'
9. There are a few Easter eggs in there. Little references. This book isn't just about the story and the people a it's my attempt to pay homage to a genre I love, and give credence to the influences behind it.
10. It's just the start. It builds a world that I want to write more in. It holds a mirror to ourselves and gives me a safe place to ask the questions.
I hope you like it. I hope it makes you smile and laugh. And I really hope it makes you punch the air and say yee-haw!
1. It's dark. It's not for those looking light stories. Abendau is a world where actions are important. Things are predicted, which might come true. Paths are hinted at but may not be the right ones. Good characters have their flaws and do unforgiveable things - bad characters occasionally surprise and will more in future books.
2. It's epic. I didn't mean to write an epic but it grew and grew and now it is. It has dynasties and politics. Multiple planets. People with histories. Some of it is only hinted at for now, but it's all there to be built on.
3. It tackles hard subjects. What we can do to others. How weak we can be in adversity. How hard it is to shake things off. It's epic with humans in. It's an epic story told from real people's point of views, allowing subjects to be explored in depth, not cast aside for the next plot line.
4. It's fast paced. There is a lot packed into one book. Multiple point of views, timelines, agendas. One reviewer described it not as having highs and lows but mountains and canyons. There's not much time to slow down and, when it does, it's to give time for point 3, the tackling.
5. It's about people. Not space, although it's set there. Not politics, although there are plenty of them. It's about a man, and the woman who loves him. About their friends, their families. Their world. This is no distant story - this is, as near as I can get it, real.
6. Some of it is hard going. I like books that make me feel. The scenes that stay with me - Corelli facing the firing squad on a beautiful summer's day, Henry de Tamble preparing to leave his family, Paul Atreides and Chani - are hard reading. A book that shies from making us feel isn't a book I wanted to write. This will make you feel. Sometimes you'll smile. Sometimes you might read and wish you weren't. Allegedly, some have cried. But, you know - that's a real life. I laugh. I cry. I smile. It's what I want to feel.
7. There is, indeed, a sexy space pilot. Ealyn, dark-eyed and fey and half-mad. For me, space opera isn't complete without one.
8. There's action. I like to feel, sure. But not all the time. I like space battles, and shoot-'em-ups. I like rabble-rousing speeches. I like my heroes crossing parapets against all odds. Hell, I like punching the air and saying 'Let's blow this thing, so we can all go home, kid.'
9. There are a few Easter eggs in there. Little references. This book isn't just about the story and the people a it's my attempt to pay homage to a genre I love, and give credence to the influences behind it.
10. It's just the start. It builds a world that I want to write more in. It holds a mirror to ourselves and gives me a safe place to ask the questions.
I hope you like it. I hope it makes you smile and laugh. And I really hope it makes you punch the air and say yee-haw!
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