Where did you get that dress?
Write about what you know, that’s the old adage, isn’t it? I confess, fashion isn’t the most important thing in my list of interests, so when I had to come up with a suitable dress for Jess Sondijk in a scene in my latest book, Starheart, I delved into my own history. It’s quicker and easier than looking up photos of movie stars in women’s magazines.
Jess has decided to attend a meet ‘n greet to find out a little more about rather attractive Admiral Ullric Hudson, who has just arrived in her part of the Galaxy. Is he really there to queer the pitch for small-time smugglers like her? So she turns up, dressed to kill.
She had made a special effort. The red dress was a favorite. The neckline plunged deep, affording everyone quite an eyeful. The rest clung to her waist and hips, accentuating her figure. The split up the front meant she was able to stride if she wanted and provided more than a glimpse of leg.
I thought you might like to see something approximating the original. Jess is a beauty, with long, blonde hair. But you can see where the inspiration came from.
What about you? Have you used your wardrobe (or anything else) to inspire a scene?
A gay guy is a girl’s best friend
As you know, I’m touring the internet to introduce readers to my new novel, Starheart. So far, if you’ve been following my posts, you’ll have learnt a little bit about Jess Sondijk and Admiral Ullric Hudson, two of the main characters in the book. But, in the immortal words of Yoda, there is another.
Santh Dekstra, Jess’s best friend and first officer of her freighter Saintly Maid has his own major role in the story, which revolves around how Jess’s husband, Troy, died in a botched boarding a year and a half ago. Hudson stirs up questions Jess had thought laid to rest with Troy. Santh had been close to Troy, too, and together Jess and Santh decide to find out what might have happened to him. That proves to be a perilous undertaking.
As I said in an earlier post, Santh is one of those marvellous gay men who really can be a girl’s best friend. I copied the picture up there from Sodahead, where the site actually asked if readers would be friends with a gay guy. He’s a bit young for Santh, but you get the idea.
Here’s a little piece about Santh and Jess at a function organised by the Nordheim Government to introduce Admiral Hudson and his senior officers to the planet’s domestic captains. Jess has gone along to see what she can find out about Hudson’s plans.
Santh, drink in hand, strolled up to Jess, looking her up and down.
“Jess, baby, he doesn’t stand a chance.”
Jess laughed. “Well, thank you, spacer but I don’t know what you’re talking about. You look lovely yourself.”
The pale blue breeches molded to his slim and athletic form and he’d tied back his luxuriant dark-blond hair. He’d covered the white shirt with a sleeveless jerkin, giving him a dashing air.
She had made a special effort. The red dress was a favorite. The neckline plunged deep, affording everyone quite an eyeful. The rest clung to her waist and hips, accentuating her figure. The split up the front meant she was able to stride if she wanted and provided more than a glimpse of leg.
Santh flicked a finger at a waiter, who approached with a laden tray, his eyes following the plunge of her dress.
“Careful,” Santh said, straightening the tray from a dangerous angle. “She wants to drink the wine, not wear it.”
Jess selected a glass of pale yellow wine and watched the youth walk away. “Not your type?” she said to Santh.
“No. But I expect somebody will be.” He winked.
I like Santh. A lot. I’ve had gay friends like him. He’s in for a serious adventure, I must say. Find out more on Amazon.
I’ll be at http://pippajay.wordpress.com/ tomorrow for some more spicy bits and pieces.
Don’t forget – to celebrate the release of ‘Starheart’ I’ll be giving a $25 Amazon gift voucher to one person who leaves a comment on any of the blogs I visit until 10th March. So leave a comment here and you’ll be in the draw.
Starheart – Chapter One
“We’re gonna get boarded, Jess.” Santh glanced up from his console, where Confederacy Battle Cruiser Defender, sleek, dark and weapons hot, dominated the display. Jess read the ‘oh shit’ in her first officer’s eyes.
“Santh, we’re chugging along on our way to the space station, minding our own business. It’s got to be routine. Let me do the talking.”
But even so, her heart hammered. She’d been boarded before, by teams from Nordheim Militia’s patrol frigates, but this was the first time she’d ever seen a battle cruiser in this part of the Confederacy.
“Saintly Maid this is Confederacy Battle Cruiser Defender. You will shut down all drives and prepare to be boarded. If you fail to comply you will be attacked.” A crisp military voice barked instructions, sharp and to the point, no visuals.
“Saintly Maid to Confederacy Battle Cruiser Defender. Message received and understood. Welcome aboard.”
If they brought InfoDroids with them and they searched thoroughly… She pushed the thought away.
“Shut us down, Santh. I’ll pop off and fix my makeup. Might as well look the part.”
Jess headed out of the bridge, through the freighter’s common room and into her own quarters. Let’s see now, what did she have suitable for a military boarding party? She rummaged through her wardrobe and selected the dark green uniform. The pants accentuated her long legs and if she left the jacket unbuttoned over a white shirt, she’d give them something else to think about other than the cargo. She pulled out the clasp holding her hair back and let the blonde mane hang around her shoulders. A little bit of makeup, but not too much, and she was ready.
“Just in time,” Santh said as she slid back into the captain’s chair. “Their cutter has attached to our airlock.”
The airlock status gauge flashed orange. Airing up prior to release. The numbers rose… seventy, eighty, ninety. The gauge glowed green. Jess pressed the hatch release. The boarding party appeared in her view screen, eight people, suited up in black, helmets on. The spheroid shape of an InfoDroid drifting beside them sent a shiver down her spine. Even her security couldn’t beat one of those. Still, even an InfoDroid would need to scan the right place and they hadn’t the other times. She crossed mental fingers and hoped her luck hadn’t changed.
Three of the boarding party, InfoDroid in tow, clumped off to search the cargo hold. Two started searching the common room, and the other three… She rose to greet the trooper who stepped onto the bridge. The other two, both armed with laser rifles, stood outside.
The leader took off his helmet, revealing an attractive young man staring at her with unabashed admiration. “Er… ma’am… Are you Captain Jestinia Sondijk?”
Jess smiled. “Correct, Lieutenant…” She checked his name patch, “…Douglas. And this is First Officer Santhias Dekstra.”
Douglas cleared his throat and stiffened into a more military posture.
“You and your first officer are to be transferred to Defender for interrogation, ma’am, while the boarding party makes a thorough search of your ship.”
Her nerves twanged. “Oh? Is there some sort of problem, Lieutenant? We’re on our way to the space station to dock. I wouldn’t want to miss my arrival slot.”
“Those are my orders.”
“We’ll comply, of course. Please,” she thrust out a hand. “Lead on.”
She followed the officer through to the airlock off the hold and into the cutter, Santh at her heels. This was unexpected. And scary. Usually they searched the ship, looked at the trade manifestos and left empty-handed. She exchanged a look with Santh. He’d know enough to keep his mouth shut. If this trip was intended to unsettle them the move had worked. The butterflies in her stomach were performing a salsa.
The warship’s side loomed like an apartment block with a few lighted windows. The cutter aimed for the window with the flashing light and slid into the vessel’s interior. A few minutes for the airlock to air up and they were out. Jess sniffed the air. Not even a hint of mustiness or cooking. Their filters were obviously better than Saintly Maid’s.
Jess and Santh walked together, the troopers behind them, while Lieutenant Douglas led the way to a transit foyer, where he pressed a button to summon a car.
Jess stared around her at clean grey walls and floors, and a row of no less than ten lifts. Strewth. The buttons went up to thirty. Thirty levels. This ship was huge. A group of people appeared from a doorway, also heading for the transit foyer. Three senior officers. She fixed her ‘not sure why this is happening but I’m being co-operative’ expression on her face as they approached.
Well, well, well. The captain, a senior commander and a rather dishy admiral. Tall, thick brown hair, heavy eyebrows over blue eyes that right now were shifting his gaze over her body and most especially down the carefully-judged split at the front of her shirt. She smiled at him, taking care to adjust her hair while she did so. Now what would a Star Fleet admiral be doing at Nordheim?
Beside her, Lieutenant Douglas and the two escorts stiffened to parade ground attention.
The admiral stopped in front of her, still staring. “What have we here, Lieutenant?”
The look in his eye sent a sexy shimmy down her spine. No prizes for guessing what was on his mind right now. And under different circumstances, she wouldn’t mind. No, not at all.
“Captain and First Officer of a suspicious ship, Sir. The Saintly Maid. They’re here for interrogation.”
Jess widened her eyes. “Suspicious ship? Oh, really, Lieutenant, you must have mistaken the Maid for some other vessel.”
The admiral grinned. The transit car the senior commander had summoned arrived with a gentle ping. The captain and the senior commander both had their bodies pointed towards the open door but the admiral lingered, gazing down at her.
“Delightful to meet you, Captain…?”
“Sondijk .And equally delightful to meet you, Admiral…?”
“Hudson. Ullric Hudson.”
She gave him a long, hard once-over, her gaze traveling slowly down his body and back up to his eyes. “Welcome to Nordheim, Admiral Hudson.”
He chuckled, jerked his head down in a brief nod and followed the two officers into the transit.
****
Douglas herded her into the waiting transit car, then selected a destination on the key pad.
“Just visiting, Lieutenant?” Jess said as the car rose. “We’ve never had a battle cruiser on our patch before. I thought they were busy keeping the ptorix hordes at bay.”
His lips jerked in a smile. “The admiral doesn’t share the orders from the High Command with the likes of me, ma’am.”
No, he probably didn’t. Admiral Ullric Hudson certainly looked like a man in charge. Those three wide bars on his shoulders denoted a fleet admiral, a very senior rank for a back-water like Nordheim. Interesting. She’d have to ask a few questions back home when she got a chance.
The transit car slowed, causing that familiar rising feeling in Jess’ stomach. The door slid aside to reveal an anonymous grey corridor lined with doors at regular intervals. A large sign between each pair of doors announced 4-D in red to the left, in green to the right. They took Santh off into one room and marched her along to another. Grey walls, sensors in the corners, a desk with one chair on the side nearest the door, and two chairs opposite, both occupied. She suppressed the sigh. These two wore Nordheim Militia uniforms. She should have known the local planetary border control would be involved in this raid.
She didn’t recognize these two. The middle-aged male commander’s swift up-and-down revealed suitable appreciation of her presentation but the hard-faced female sergeant looked like she’d swallowed vinegar. Knowing Longford, their commanding officer, he’d probably chosen the woman specially.
“I’m Commander Harcourt,” the man said,” and this is Sergeant Box. Please sit down.”
Jess walked the three steps to the chair on her side and sat.
“I expect you know I’m Jess Sondijk.” Jess put on an engaging smile. “What would you like to know?”
“Perhaps you can tell me where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing in this last voyage,” the commander said.
“I’m sure this warship’s scanners have already pulled my navigation system and my cargo manifests, Commander. And you would have had my voyage plan and cargo manifests from the space station. But … I left Nordheim with a cargo of local manufactured goods; vases, carvings, beads and jewelry, dresses, bolts of material headed for the markets at Kentor. I managed to sell most of my stock and came back with some precision cutting gear which should fetch a good price in the manufacturing sector here.”
The man grunted. He clearly already knew this. She’d play his little game.
“How long were you there?” he asked.
Jess pulled a wry face. As if he didn’t know? “Three days at the space station. It cost me a lot in docking fees, I can tell you.”
And gave her enough time to shift the cases of fine wine and Pyrrhian silk that weren’t on the manifest to the GPR ship parked in the level below.
“We have intelligence indicating you met with representatives of the Galactic People’s Republic.”
“Oh, ‘met with’ is a bit over the top. Exchanged a few words in a tavern, more like. When did that become illegal?”
“When the transaction involves smuggling.”
Jess threw her arm over the chair back and crossed her legs. His gaze strayed to her breasts. “I’ve nothing to worry about.”
“Your ship is being dismantled as we speak. If we find contraband you can expect a jail sentence.”
“Yes, I kinda guessed that. I hope the boarding party has a good time. I’m an honest trader, Commander. If those people break anything on Saintly Maid, I’ll send the Fleet admiral the bill. And a complaint to Longford.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Admiral Longford.”
She folded her arms. “Whatever. You report to him. I don’t.”
He jerked his lips. “In the meantime, you’re under suspicion. I’ll leave you with Sergeant Box,” he said, rising to his feet. “She will perform a strip-search. I’m sure you’ll understand.”
Jess kept her face straight. A strip-search? Strewth.
The door swished closed behind the commander.
The sergeant smiled, if that screwed-up expression qualified, stood and pulled a pair of thin gloves out of her pocket.
Buy the book on Amazon
Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy gives substance to Star Wars
I don’t mind admitting I’m a ‘Star Wars‘ fan – have been since the first movie back in the ’70′s. When the final credits rolled on my umpteenth viewing of ‘Return of the Jedi’ I was one of many who cast around sadly, looking for something more. Timothy Zahn stepped into the breach with his ‘Thrawn’ trilogy. Darth Vader and the Emperor were both dead but the Empire was still a formidable force – how very believable, suitable and fitting that a warlord would arise to fill the void?
There, in a nutshell, I have provided a clue to why I love these books. They ooze authenticity.
The basic background delineated in the ‘Star Wars’ trilogy is still there, of course, with all the weird and wonderful worlds with identical gravity and breathable atmosphere. There, as always, the reader has to go along for the ride. But then, if you weren’t prepared to do that, you wouldn’t be reading this review. You’ll find Luke and Leia, Han and Chewie, C3PO and R2D2 and other mainstays of the movies, along with new characters to love – and hate.
What Zahn has added is depth. The wounded Empire and the fledgling New Republic came across as very real with the political in-fighting, brinkmanship and double-crossing one might have found as the Roman Empire fell into decline. Grand Admiral Thrawn is the warlord, one of the Emperor’s most trusted leaders. He is unusual because he is not human – but he’s as close as an alien could get. The Chiss are so humanoid that – apart from their red eyes and blue skin – they’re human in appearance. Thrawn poses a striking figure in his white grand admiral’s uniform. As a military leader he is unsurpassed – cunning, innovative and resourceful. Thrawn is an art connoisseur, able to assess an alien adversary’s mental weaknesses through their art. This is a nice idea which certainly sets him apart. Once again, one must avoid asking too many questions and go along for the ride. However he does it, Thrawn wins again and again, devising brilliant tactics to achieve his aims. I LOVED that part of the books.
The three books – Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command – follow on from one to the next as Thrawn’s Imperial forces advance on Republic planets. One pivotal character is a Jedi Master – or the clone of a Jedi Master, C’baoth. Thrawn has found a way to prevent the Jedi from using mind control on him and seeks to use C’baoth’s Jedi powers to assist his own campaign. The unstable Jedi is masterfully depicted as flawed and arrogant. Not all the Jedi are perfect.
Of course, Zahn introduces new characters. One of the most important is Mara Jade, one of the Emperor’s most trusted agents. She is fixated on finding and killing Luke Skywalker. But so is Thrawn, who has promised to capture Luke, Leia and her unborn twins for C’baoth’s new Jedi order.
Each book starts with a star destroyer orbiting a planet – another gesture of unity with the Star Wars movies.
One thing I really, really liked is that the New Republic never wins a battle against Thrawn. They win in the end – you’d have to expect that – but the means is unexpected.
These three books date back to the early 1990′s and since then, Zahn’s Grand Admiral Thrawn has become a cult figure. The author has been forced to write several other Thrawn books to cope with the demand. This is space opera at its finest – fun, fast-paced and action-packed, as you’d expect. But, as I said in my introduction, what Zahn really offered was depth, details that even someone like me (I have a history degree) could believe in. There have been very many Star Wars spin-off since then; some are good SF, a lot are crummy pulp fiction. The Thrawn trilogy has earned a place as one of the finest of its type.
Starheart is here
The big day has arrived. Starheart is officially released to the reading public.
Come with me on a tour of discovery as I tell you a bit about the story and the characters. For today, here’s the blurb.
She’s lost her husband, her best friend is missing. What else has she got to lose?
Slightly shady freighter captain, Jess Sondijk, thought she had her life under control until Admiral Hudson’s Confederacy battle cruiser stops her ship to search for contraband. His questions reopen matters she had thought resolved. What if her husband’s death on his way back from Tabora wasn’t accidental? Jess decides to investigate, while keeping Hudson at arms’ length.
While he’s attracted to the lovely Jess, Hudson is also concerned about what might be happening on Tabora and how that may involve the Confederacy’s enemies.
Jess and Hudson’s interests collide in more ways than one. But while Jess is more than willing to put her life on the line to protect what’s hers, Hudson must balance the risk of inter-species war at worst and the end of his career at best, in a deadly game of political intrigue, murder and greed. At the end of the day, how much is he willing to lose for the woman he has come to love?
If that’s enough to pique your interest, Starheart is available on Amazon.
If you’d like to come along and find out more, here’s a list of topics – and by the way, anyone who leaves a comment on my post at any of these sites will be placed in a draw for a $25 Amazon gift voucher.
23 Feb http://francespauli.blogspot.com/ A slightly shady freighter captain
24 Feb http://www.cerebralwriter.com/ What brings a battle cruiser to Nordheim?
25 Feb http://spacefreighters.blogspot.com.au/ A womanising admiral
26 Feb http://www.tulagihotel.com/ An interview with me
27 Feb A gay guy is a girl’s best friend
29 Feb http://pippajay.blogspot.com.au What is a Starheart?
1 Mar http://livingwritingandotherstuff.com Surprise! Aliens that aren’t humanoid
3 Mar http://mariakuroshchepova.blogspot.com.au/ Interview
5 Mar http://sesshabattousai.com/cgi-bin/wordpress Alpha male meets alpha female
8 Mar www.imogenenix.blogspot.com Romance is just one story arc
9 Mar http://heidirubymiller.blogspot.com.au Six questions
I’ll announce the winner of the gift voucher on 11th March and attempt to contact that person via email.
Good luck, enjoy and may the Games Begin.
Addendum:
The tour is over and Mona Karel won the $25 Amazon voucher. Thank you to everyone who took part and to all those wonderful people who allowed me to post on their blogs.
What’s this ‘hard SF’ stuff, anyway?
Lately I’ve been pondering the term ‘hard’ science fiction. Probably because I used the expression myself when referring to Jack McDevitt’s books. But once you start to ponder, the mind turns to ‘but what does it mean’? And if there is ‘hard’ science fiction, what is ‘soft’ science fiction?
Wikipedia says hard SF is ‘a category of science fiction characterized by an emphasis on scientific or technical detail, or on scientific accuracy, or on both.
There is a degree of flexibility in how far from “real science” a story can stray before it leaves the realm of hard SF. Some authors scrupulously avoid such technology as faster-than-light travel, while others accept such notions (sometimes referred to as “enabling devices”, since they allow the story to take place) but focus on realistically depicting the worlds that such a technology might make possible. In this view, a story’s scientific “hardness” is less a matter of the absolute accuracy of the science content than of the rigor and consistency with which the various ideas and possibilities are worked out.
To me, this smacks of ‘Rules’, as well as snobbery – the kind of distinction that says literary fiction is a ‘better class of literature’ than genre fiction. Needless to say, Star Wars doesn’t get a jumper in the ‘hard’ SF team. I’m okay with that. The science is often ordinary but regardless, the Star Wars galaxy has held millions enthralled for over thirty years.
Back to ‘hard’ SF. Let’s take Jack McDevitt as an example. Most of his books include FTL so die-hards would discount them as ‘soft’ SF. I don’t because he so rigorously depicts his worlds and his physics. An example is the wide array employed in ‘Black Lightning’ to collect signals sent out thirty years before. Let’s say he squeezes in, then, under the ‘enabling technology’ rule. A foot in the door. What about Anne McCaffrey’s ‘Pern’? Yes, it has dragons – but they are genetically engineered animals based on a beast native to the planet. And the planet’s destructive scourge (thread) is in itself a logical reason why the dragons developed the ability to teleport. Then we have Elizabeth Moon, where humans have spread throughout the Galaxy by terra-forming planets (McDevitt has this, too). We can’t do this now and it seems a monumental task. So I assume we cross off Moon and McCaffrey.
As is so often the case, science fiction offers a spectrum starting from scenarios set (of necessity) in the present or near future which adhere strictly to the known – or perhaps I should say, the currently accepted – rules of physics or an extrapolation thereon. Something like Star Wars would be at the opposite end and everybody else would sit along the line somewhere.
Where would they put my books?
To be honest, I really don’t care. I’ve tried to think through my universe and make it plausible, so I avoid some of the more obvious mistakes. Some spotty student with nothing better to do may well be able to tear apart my world-building but my aim was to tell a story that would grab and hold a reader. I’m never going to please everybody and if readers wish to ignore my work as ‘soft’ SF – so be it.
Oh, and before I finish, I must point out that science is not immutable. In 1920 the Galaxy was estimated at 65,000 light years in diameter. With better equipment and more knowledge, we now estimate the diameter at nearly double that amount. That picture at the top of the post shows galaxies – hundreds of them. Maybe one of them is a Galaxy ‘far, far away’. We now know that stars and planets are much weirder than we could ever have imagined. We know that there are no rainforests on Venus and no four-armed Martians on Mars. It’s mathematically accepted that there are more than four dimensions. Etc etc.
At the crux of the matter, though, this is fiction. It takes people to other places, other worlds, other times. Isn’t that why we read this stuff?
Stories from the dark side
Do you remember when you were a kid and your older brother told you ghost stories in the dark? I do. My brother did it to frighten me and it often worked. My guest today is my good friend Heikki Hietala. Heikki and I met online about 5 years ago now and though he lives in Finland and I live in Australia, we’ve met in real life twice – once in London and again in Helsinki.
Heikki writes award-winning short stories, many of which have an element of the supernatural, and he agreed to answer some questions about his just-published collection, “Filtered Light and Other Stories.“
You’ve written one novel and a heap of short stories. Which do you prefer to write?
The short stories are a bit of a puzzler for me. When I had finished writing Tulagi, I found I had a need to write shorties though I had expected to start working on my second novel. But in the span of six months I wrote 16 stories. I was not at all sure of their quality, but working with author friends and especially Dan Holloway of Year Zero Writers convinced me I was on to something.
In ‘Filtered Light and Other Stories’ the tales you tell have a hint of the supernatural. Is that a favourite for you?
It is indeed. I have never been of the opinion that there is nothing outside what we can see and touch. The volume of supernatural encounters, even with people I know can be trusted, is simply too big to be ignored. While I am not a big fan of exploiting the ideas (as was done in quite a few
movies) I like to include a small element of it in my work. In Tulagi Hotel, for example, the main character is able to see in a photograph an omen of people who will soon die, and this feature is based on a story of a reliable person. In short stories, supernatural elements can be given a little more exposure; some of the stories are pure ghost stories in the classic vein.
The story ‘Filtered Light’ is not only eerie it is very moving. Where did you get the idea ?
It is a conglomerate of personal experience and the ideology of ‘otherness’. There’s a fantastic (but sadly untranslated) Finnish poet, Uuno Kailas, who felt himself an outsider all his life. The fate of Lieutenant Steele derives from Kailas’ poetry. The gang is what I remember from my boyhood years, and the supernatural element is a dream I myself had as a youngster. No one died in my childhood, mind you, but we all have these emotions of ‘did I do enough’ that are the result of action and inaction in demanding situations.
You won a prize for ‘Lord Stanton’s horse’. How did you feel about that?
I was very proud of that. It’s a flash fiction piece, 467 words only, and in that short space, I managed to set up the situation, spin a believable plot, bring it to a rewarding finale, and write dialogue the competition judge deemed excellent. The story’s idea came from a documentary where volunteers dig up the remains of WW1 casualties in Belgium, and of one man, all that remained were a piece of bone and a shoulder unit title.
Which is your favourite story in the collection, and why?
I like the story “The Ephemeral Man”. My favorite author of all times is Omar Khayyam, the 12th century scientist and mystic, and I’ve brought his thinking into both Tulagi Hotel and this new collection of short stories. This I do because no one sums up the human condition better than Khayyam – we are indeed ephemeral, and we will not solve the riddle of life for good, hence we should make the most of what is here and now and try to enjoy life as it unfolds. In the short story I wanted to bring out the pure essence of Khayyam’s thinking, and it may have worked, judging from the comments it has received.
Which was the most difficult to write, and why?
That would have to be The Dispatchers. That is again a supernatural story, about spirit entities who bring dying people across the threshold of death. I set that in a bombing run of the RAF over Germany, and I wanted it to sound technically convincing and spiritually challenging. As this was my second short story ever, I was still trying to figure out how to construct short stories, and I had to go through many revisions. Hopefully the version that now stands in this book is a good one. I translated it for publication in the Finnish speculative fiction magazine “The Cosmos Pen”, and it was issued in January this year.
Would I be right in saying quite a few of your stories are set in WW2?
You would indeed. There’s the novel, set in post-WW2 Solomon Islands and the war in flashbacks, and in the short stories there are two published and at least two in the development stage.
Why is that?
It is because that war was bigger than we will ever see again (I hope) and it was technical, but it was not fought by remote control. For example, aircraft carrier pilots had to perform miraculous feats of navigation, if they wanted to be able to find their ship after a four hour flight. It’s also a well-known era and it is easy to use events in it to date a story. I do not like date-stamping (I do it in The Dispatchers) but I rather want to bring the time of the story up in a side clause or a casual remark that will tell the reader when this story happens.
Thanks for chatting with me Heikki. All the best with the new collection – it deserves to do well.
You can find ‘Filtered Light and other stories‘ at Amazon US and Amazon UK
Heikki Hietala learned to read at four but is still trying to learn to write. His World War 2 era debut novel, “Tulagi Hotel”, was first published by Diiarts (England) in 2010, and is now reissued by the Pennsylvania-based Pfoxmoor Publishing. Even if he is a native Finn, he writes in English. He holds an MA from the University of Jyväskylä where his major subject was English Philology.
Hietala has written some forty short stories, most of them falling into the speculative fiction genre, but also real life and humor stories have appeared to the surprise of many. His flash piece “Lord Stanton’s Horse” won the Flash500 competition in September 2010, and “The Campsite vol. 1” was highly commended in the Global Short Stories competition in March 2011.
In addition to his short story collection “Filtered Light and Other Stories” (PfoxChase Publishing, Feb 2012) Hietala’s work has appeared in five short story anthologies so far, and shown on websites such as Emprise Review and Escape Into Life. Two of his stories were included in the anthology “Words to Music”, for which forty authors were sent a random song to use as inspiration. His flash fiction has appeared in the Rammenas collection”In These Hands”.
He is a member of Year Zero Writers and is active in the Book Shed writers’ conclave. Hietala is able to quote Monty Python interminably.
You can contact Heikki at
Amazon and his main site: www.tulagihotel.com
The Suspense of Information
Today, I’m welcoming Michael Combes, a writing coach who has written a fascinating article about the nature of suspense in fiction.
Welcome, Michael.
Not only am I a master of suspense, but I…
According to Aristotle, suspense is an important building block of literature and most writers include an element of suspense in stories to some degree. But as we look at books and films being released (and not being released) today, we will find that the major difference between a successful novel and an unsuccessful novel is the quality of suspense.
Why do authors fail at suspense? Most of it is their approach to what suspense is. Many people feel that suspense is merely tension within the action, or cliff-hanger moments, or nail-biting moments when the reader doesn’t know what is going to happen next. While this last statement is more-or-less true, we, as authors, really need to examine WHY the reader has the nail biting moments.
Back to Aristotle. He defines suspense as a sense of real danger looming combined with a ray of hope. This could lead to several possible outcomes. The danger hits and there is sorrow; the danger is avoided and there is joy; or there is no hope which leads to despair and necessitating divine intervention to draw the characters out of the danger. This last outcome is mostly used in the morality tales of the Hebrews, Greeks and Romans.
Ok, so what about modern literature? How does suspense work for an audience of today? We must examine a fundamental paradox of suspense: for suspense to work there must be uncertainty or a lack of information. Let’s look at some successful stories and examine this paradox. First, Titanic. This was a widely successful film where audience members flocked to the theatres to see this story unfold. But the audience went into the theatre KNOWING the ship was going to sink. So, why did the audience even want to see the film? There was no suspense. What happens when the uncertainty is removed?
As you look at the modern story, there are very few basic plots. Some people say as few as three major plotlines to as many as 36, depending on whom you read. The idea is that once people identify the plot, they can basically predict the ending regardless of other plot devices. I am sure that each of us has done that in our reading and movie-watching. Don’t believe me? How many James Bond films have you seen? Why so many once you knew the plots were all basically identical?
Once we understand—usually early in the book—that the boy is going to get the girl, the world will be saved, the riddle will be solved and the evil villain will be dispatched, we keep reading. This begs the question, how can tension remain effective with no uncertainty? The answer is simple. It is the anticipation of uncertainty that draws the audiences. Why do we watch so many James Bond flicks? Because it is the anticipation of uncertainty of the how that keeps us watching. Why did we go see Titanic even though we knew the ship was going to sink? Because we wanted the anticipation of wanting to see how the story would unfold with that disaster hanging over the characters.
In Gestalt Psychology, the branch of psychology that deals with the mind’s desire to create order from complex interactions of conflicting stimuli, the human mind remembers uncompleted or interrupted tasks. The human mind is drawn… almost compelled to create an order out of chaos. We, as human beings, need to see the order out of chaos. The higher-quality of chaos, the greater the desire of the order. People-watchers love Gestalt Psychology.
Notice that I said that there is a higher-quality of chaos. Not more chaos. There is a difference. I’ll talk about that in a moment?
By now you are asking the question, what does all this psychological mumbo-jumbo have to do with writing? Think about it. The most successful works are often the most suspenseful. Look back at your favorite books and movies. Chances are, these were books you couldn’t put down and were films that made your butt pucker. These are excellent examples of good suspense.
Remember, audiences don’t just want uncertainty. They want the anticipation of uncertainty. They just don’t want chaos. They want order out of a logical and cohesive chaos. This is what I mean by high-quality chaos. Chaos that makes sense. We call that verisimilitude. You may remember that term from other writing classes.
If your work provides the audience with that anticipation of uncertainty, your readers will read, re-read and recommend your book. It is paramount that the suspense be quality.
Now, we cannot talk about suspense without talking about the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. Though a director of films, Hitch’s methods of creating suspense in his works cannot be ignored by writers. One of the primary reasons Hitchcock was so successful in his creation of suspense was he always focused on the audience perspective. He would never watch his scenes being filmed. He always watched the scene through the lens of the camera in order to see precisely what the audience would see. He ensured that what the audience saw and what he envisioned were identical.
He also directed the audience perspective to what he wanted them to see. He would want them to expect something bad was about to happen by angling the camera to see the figure in the doorway of the bathroom in Psycho or focusing on the crows on the power lines in The Birds. The audience anticipated the action because they were drawn to it through the manipulation of the camera.
Another way Hitchcock directed the audience perspective was to lead the audience to feel that they had a superior perspective on events. In Strangers on a Train, the audience anticipated the bad events because they knew Bruno was crazy. In Rope, the viewer’s heart would beat faster every time someone got close to opening the credenza. By creating this superior perspective, Hitchcock could better create the tension and suspense of the film and increase the audience’s anticipation of the suspense.
So, what does this mean for writers? We have to remember our audience… always. We have to constantly think of our reader’s perspective. What will they think in this scene? Where is the anticipation? How can I stretch out that anticipation? How can I influence the audience’s expectations? How can I ensure that they will want to keep reading?
Good writing just doesn’t cut it. How many Earnest Hemingway books have you put down because the story just didn’t do it for you? There has to be good suspense. There has to be a desire to keep reading. We as writers must create that uncertainty and lead the audience down the path of the plot to its ordered ending.
Michael Combe is the author of the Convergence Series and is a writing coach. He provides writing help and writing classes on his website at http://www.michaelcombe.com.
Ten days and counting…
Ten days to go. In ten days time my latest science fiction romance novel Starheart will be out there on kindle. I’m getting a bit excited about it all. The book has done a few rounds with a few beta-readers who set me straight on the subject of being mother of a teenage daughter. It’s ready to go, and I’m very happy with the result.
The picture on the left was done by the multi-talented Kevin Radthorne. Check out his wonderful gallery here. He didn’t create the image for me – but as it happens, I think it’s an excellent representation of the heroine in Starheart, slightly shady freighter captain Jess Sondijk. Blonde, beautiful and not above using her bountiful assets if it will give her an advantage.
Of course, there’s an admiral. Tall, well-built womaniser Ullric Hudson. Just to tickle your fancy, here’s an excerpt where Hudson has Jess brought on board his battle cruiser. She is NOT HAPPY.
Tomas was waiting for him when he disembarked. “Where is she?”
“In an interrogation cell, Sir.” His adjutant’s eyes twinkled. “The same one the Militia used last time she was here.”
Hudson grinned. How would she have reacted to that? “Have her brought to my office.”
“Sir.”
He hardly had time to make himself comfortable in his chair when his clerk said via his implant, “Captain Sondijk is here, Sir.”
He sat back in his seat, watching the door when she entered. Her grey ship suit was unzipped at the front and the scoop-necked white shirt she wore underneath revealed a tantalizing expanse of breast. The last time she’d been brought aboard she’d dressed for the occasion but this time she probably didn’t even realize. Her eyes blazed with fury as she barged into his office, flanked by a lieutenant and two troopers. No, intimidation didn’t work on Jess Sondijk.
“What in blazes is this about? Annoyed I stood you up?”
“Thank you, Lieutenant, you may go,” Hudson said.
He waited until the door closed behind the troopers.
“I admit, I’m not accustomed to being stood up.”
She slammed both her palms on his desk and leaned towards him, affording him a lovely view of her cleavage. “You are not the fucking centre of the universe.”
His gaze slid down to admire the swell of her breasts. Nice. Exquisite. Two delicious handfuls. His mouth watered. The prospect of a close and personal encounter with that body was enough to give a man a hard-on.
She pushed herself upright. “Oh, for fuck’s sake. Do you ever think about anything but your cock?”
He leaned back, grinning. “If you flaunt your assets, my dear, you can hardly blame me for looking.”
Scowling, she zipped up her suit.
“Very good. Now sit.” He pointed at the visitor’s chair beside her.
“Go to hell. You have no reason, no right to stop me and impound my ship. I’ve done nothing wrong and I’ve other things to do apart from some… some sort of verbal foreplay with you.” She folded her arms, staring down at him.
I loved writing this book. I love Hudson and Jess – and Jess’s friend, Santh. Come along for an action-packed adventure and find out what a Starheart really is.
Once Upon a Dream
Today I’m pleased to host Frances Pauli, who will tell you about her ‘Changeling Race’ trilogy. Over to you, Frances.
Thank you so much for having me on the blog today. When Greta asked me to do a “behind the book” post, I had to think back. It’s been nine years since I wrote the original draft of the first book in The Changeling Race trilogy. While it seems so much shorter, that time in between was filled with marriage, children, and my first steps into the universe of publishing and writing books. It’s been quite a journey, and at least that very last part, all started with A Moth in Darkness.
The book, itself, started with a dream.
I get a lot of ideas from dreams, as do many authors. Our subconscious, thankfully, provides us with a steady flow of creative fodder. In Moth’s case, that inciting dream ended up as one of the very last scenes in the story, however, and from there I chewed and churned and pondered my way backwards to the beginning.
That scene is still one of my favorites in the book, though the dream was more than a little disturbing. There was an elf held prisoner in a dark room. Images flashed on the walls while he struggled to stand. He needed help. He needed me, and though I didn’t know who he was yet, I knew I was madly in love with him. I was in love with his story, and all I had to do was get it sorted out and down on paper.
I woke up shaking. I spent the whole day distracted, thinking about that elf and his predicament. How did he get there? Who was he? How was I going to get him out? The first time I met Lockland Sheen, I knew he was the one. All the stories I’d imagined up till now, the ones I’d started and never finished, the ones I’d thought about and never written, couldn’t compare to him. His story had to be recorded. I had to finish something—and that thought terrified me.
Up until that point, I really didn’t finish. It wasn’t my thing. I mean, I started out great, even wandered into the middle a few times, but reaching the end was an elusive goal I figured only happened in the movies. This time, however, I knew I had to get there. That elf was counting on me to save him.
And because of that, he really saved me. I wrote that first book determined like I’d never been before, and I finished it. After that, lo and behold, I finished another one. I knew I could do it, you see, and that knowing opened up the floodgates.
So in a way the story behind A Moth in Darkness is the story behind Frances Pauli. The first step into The Changeling Race took me farther than I’d ever imagined. It holds a special place in my heart, as does that elf, and they both probably always will.
As to saving Lockland Sheen, well, that turned out to be only a first step too. Once his friends and I got acquainted, and the whole story played out, a trilogy was born. Now, at its finish, I can’t help but think of them as my friends too: Lockland and Liz, the fairies, trolls, gnomes and even the dark Kelpies and boggins will always be an integral piece of that puzzle that is my universe.
If even one reader enjoys them as much as I have, I will consider the journey well played. It certainly was an adventure for one procrastinating, would-be author.
Thank you so much for hosting a stop on the tour. I am offering a free pdf of any book from my backlist to one commenter today, and for each stop on the tour that you comment on, you will earn one entry into the final drawing for print copies of all three books. Follow along and enter to win!
Thanks so much for a fascinating post, Frances. And best of luck to the commenters, too.
Bio:
Frances Pauli writes speculative fiction with romantic touches. Her books are published through Mundania Press LLC, Awe-Struck, and Devine Destinies, and her short stories are featured in various anthologies. More information on her worlds and writing can be found on her website and blog, and she offers free online stories, web serials, podcasts there as well.
http://francespauli.blogspot.com
https://twitter.com/#!/MothinDarkness
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Frances-Pauli/112884745408149
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3426477.Frances_Pauli
A Moth in Darkness
The boundaries between the worlds have fallen. Forced to integrate the creatures of fantasy into real life, humanity struggles against its disillusionment, prejudice and an inevitable feeling of inadequacy.
Once an agent for the embassy that mediates between the worlds, Elizabeth Larson has abandoned her past and slipped into a world of nostalgic addiction to fairy revels, dancing, and the dark lure of her own memories. But when Lockland Sheen, her former partner and lover, goes missing, she is pulled reluctantly back into service. She must venture once more across the borders, into the land that haunts her, facing a string of gruesome murders, the imposing Sidhe rulers and her own addiction in the process.
While the Embassy’s agents attempt to soothe tensions between the races, Liz and her new partner search the fairy realm for Lockland. Fighting the constant temptation of the revels, they piece together the trail of an unknown enemy. But the longer they follow it, the more it appears that the man they came to rescue is more villain than victim. And the more they rely on Elizabeth’s ties to the fairies, the closer she inches toward the madness that lurks behind her fantasies.
http://www.mundania.com/book.php?title=A%20Moth%20in%20Darkness
The Fly in Paradise
Something’s rotten in the Fey lands. While Marcus Bramble tracks the lunatic who started it all, Elizabeth and the crew at the Embassy sort through the evidence he left behind. With Lockland back, and the revels behind her, Liz’s world is slowly returning to normal. But on both sides of the borders, shadow creatures spring out of nowhere, and the dark legends surrounding the fey take on a whole new meaning.
Now time is against them. On the mortal side of things, protesters rally to close the borders, politicians descend on the Embassy, and something that shouldn’t exist stalks Elizabeth through the city.
In his world, Marcus faces a madman with answers he doesn’t want to hear. The Fey rulers turn a blind eye on forests teeming with imaginary monsters, and the Sidhe tower stands silent amidst the chaos. Will the race to uncover its secrets solve the mystery of the elves’ past or unleash even more horrors on them all?
http://www.mundania.com/book.php?title=The+Fly+in+Paradise
Spiders From Memory
The Seelie court is gone, and the Tower has fallen into darker hands. Now nightmare creatures terrorize the Fey races, and the whole Fey world turns to frost and shadow.
Liz Larson holds the last remnant of the Seelie Sidhe’s power. The elves look to her for guidance, but all she has to offer them is the disturbing story of their origin, the final truth that will turn many of them against her. With her dwindling number of allies, Liz needs to reopen the borders, to find the missing Marcus Bramble, and to avoid the sudden, terrifying attention of the new Fey ruler, the Unseelie Speaker and new master of the Sidhe Tower.
While her friends in Mundanity race to pry open the gates, and Marcus searches for the answer to a puzzle that could save or damn them all, the Unseelie Speaker marches north, bringing his army and his wrath to focus on Elizabeth. What can one, fairy-touched human do in the face of the Unseelie court’s full fury? How can she fight when the enemy’s anger is only partly blind, when she can see all too clearly the traces of justice behind it?
