Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
ISBN: 9780765318411
A Tor Book, published by Tom Doherty and Associates, LLC
Science Fiction/Steampunk/Alternative History

Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
ISBN: 978076532785
A Tor Book, published by Tom Doherty and Associates, LLC
Science Fiction/Steampunk/Alternative History

FTC Disclosure: I own both of them and they look great on my shelves!

Whether you’re familiar with steampunk or not, this is an author who represents  it so well, I have no problem recommending her novels as an introduction to this sub-genre of science fiction.

The unique aspect, for me at least, with these novels is the horror element. Who thought zombies could work so well in an alternative history novel? Well, it does!

Boneshaker and Dreadnought are books 1 and 3 respectively in the Clockwork Century stories. Unfortunately, the second Clementine, a short novel, is only available as an eBook as far as I can tell.

The books don’t need to be read in order, although I recommend reading Boneshaker first to help set the tone, and offer a better understanding of the Clockwork Century.

What struck me about the writing and stories is how quickly I became involved, especially with Boneshaker. The strength of this novel is its characters and the setting.

Dreadnought is a different read. If you can refrain from trying to compare the two, and read each, and judge each, singularly, then they are equally excellent reads. Despite being set in the same century and having characters appearing in both, they are as unique, and similar as siblings – not twins.

There is no cookie cutter formula used here to develop this series of novels. I love the fact that the author has no fear in giving her characters and their stories a quality unique to each.

Another love was that each book has a female protagonist that is not stereotypical and has strengths and faults that make them easy to like. My only gripe may be that the supporting characters in Boneshaker had a stronger presence and more impact on the reader than in Dreadnought.

I think this is because the author told the story in Boneshaker from the point of view of two people and Dreadnought from only one person. This would affect the development of the story and its characters as it all has to be told in a way that is more limiting.

However, it’s still successful. It took no more than two days to read each book. And both times I was up to the wee hours of the morning finishing them because I couldn’t put them down.

In fact, they were such fun and great reads, I am going to find it nearly impossible to wait until September when Ganymede is released.

These books are adult fiction, but would be fine for older teenagers. There is no heavy romance, but there is violence as there is a horror element in each. Not too gory, and never gratuitous.

Whether you are a steampunk fan or not, these books are worth a spot on your shelves or eReader. Definitely.

The Declaration by Gemma Malley (Book One in the Declaration Series)
ISBN: 9781599902951
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Young Adult Fiction/Speculative Fiction, Ages 13 & up

In order to better diversify my reading (and home library), I’ve been trying to read other genres. This book is one that has me kicking myself in the keister for not doing this sooner.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book in one sitting. ONE. As in I didn’t realized I had, until I finished and looked up to find my cats very grumpy from lack of attention. Maybe I should change my rating system from stars to a “grumpy kitty meter”. If I did, The Declaration gets 5 out 5 Shredded Shoes.

The premise for this dystopian novel derives from the author wondering what a society would be like if humans could live forever. However there remains the issue of population control.

In the year 2140, this is managed by the Declaration, an oath taken by those wanting immortality:

Longevity drugs are a fountain of youth. Sign the Declaration, agree not to have children, and you too can live forever. Refuse, and you will live as an outcast. For the children born outside the law, it only gets worse – Surplus status. – From the back cover

The story is told from the point of view of Surplus Anna: a young, indoctrinated, yet authentic voice. The realization of what is really going on in the world would not have the dramatic impact it does, if the main narrator were anyone else.

. . . captured when she was young and brought up in a Surplus Hall, a place where she is taught to hate herself and her parents; to be told again and again that she owes a debt to society, to Mother Nature, whose generosity she has abused by her very existence. – Description of Anna by the author

To help her enlightenment is Peter. Another Surplus, but not like any Anna has known before. He’s spent most of his life on the “outside”. What unnerves her most is that he knows things about her that he shouldn’t. Luckily, seeds of doubt have already been planted in Anna’s mind, so it isn’t too hard to accept her sudden decision to turn her back on the only life she’s ever known.

The author states that “The Declaration is, I hope, a story that will challenge its readers, that will stay with them, that will make them think about the freedoms and privileges we take for granted and about the price paid for these. But, ultimately, The Declaration is Anna’s Story.

This story does stay with you. Makes you wonder how many of us are willing to accept our true role on this planet, and whether or not it should be an infinite one. What price would any of us pay in order to have a longer life? Would we accept a Fountain of Youth if what we had to sacrifice, is youth itself?

Another highly recommended read. I can’t wait to get my hands on The Resistance and The Legacy.

Code Walker by G. L. Drummond
Published by Katarr Kanticles Press

Available at: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Smashwords

FTC Disclosure: This interview, as part of a blog tour, is being conducted with an author I know personally. The work being discussed was provided free. However, the opinions I have of her and her work are genuine and are not contingent upon anything I receive either free or in return for services rendered. (I have proofread and edited some of her work.)

Whew, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let the interview begin!

I thought it’d be nice to do this somewhere comfortable and beautiful, during the very brief respite from the cold here in Reno.  It’s warm enough to park the laptop and myself just outside my favorite cyber café near the Truckee River.

I’ve got a few moments before the interview/chat session starts, and I’m so excited. Code Walker is quickly becoming one Gayla’s most successful eBooks to date. We met in an online writers group several years ago, and even though I tend more toward historical fiction or general fiction, she’s nailed Preternatural, Paranormal, and Science Fiction/Fantasy genres.

And this directly leads me to why I’m here today and thinking about Science Fiction and Fantasy writers.

Suspending disbelief is necessary in order for a reader to enjoy fiction; especially with genres such as Fantasy. Imagination is also paramount, but that imagination, once disbelief leaves the playground, must be thrilled and satisfied or else is has nowhere to go and nothing to do.

Those successful in writing these types of stories must be skilled enough to keep imagination a happy camper. It must be one of the hardest genres to write in. But authors like Gayla make it look easy.

That’s why I wanted to pick her brain for this blog tour. She’s written a thriller fused beautifully with Science Fiction, Fantasy, and interesting characterizations.

Of course, she always does well with her characters. She has to since they insist on writing most of the story themselves. She just hangs onto the keyboard for dear life as they drag her, and her fingers, along for the ride.

But enough of my blathering, let’s let Gayla speak for herself:

Even though you’ve dabbled in several genres, you shine when writing Preternatural and Science Fiction-tinged Fantasies. It isn’t always an easy genre to write and can have some of the harshest critics. Do you ever approach a story with this in mind, or are many – if not all, of your stories driven by the “voices”?

The Voices have total control. I went into writing fiction with ‘not everyone will like it’ uppermost in my brain. Honestly, if you try to keep up with what annoys readers, you’ll never write anything at all.

Everything’s been done. All the tropes are tired rags. Too much sex. Not enough sex. Not enough dialogue. Not enough exposition. The list goes on and on, even covering descriptive replacements for body parts, and complaints about characters’ sexual activities.

I followed a couple of threads on Amazon for a few days, in the interest of seeing what readers liked/didn’t like in the fiction they read.

That drove my desire to write clean for several days. Yet in the end, I realized the old tried and true saying that you can’t please everyone is the simple truth.

What people like is all a matter of their own personal preferences, and that’s what will keep a writer going: Some of them are going to like YOUR stories.

I just write what the Voices tell me to, and think those who want to read that type of story will, while other readers will avoid it like the plague.

In short, nope, I don’t worry about critics when I’m writing a story.

My favorite character in this story is T.J. the AI. You have another story with a well-drawn AI, although she has a much darker side than T.J. I love them both. When creating these types of characters, do they get the same attention to their development as your “living and breathing” ones?

Actually, they don’t. Mainly because they haven’t gone through things like learning to walk, puberty, etc. over a period of several years. Living, breathing characters have a lot more personal history going on.

AIs develop into ‘maturity’, or are created ‘mature’ from the start. Doesn’t mean something won’t cause a change in their attitude (like tragedy did to Mary in Hunter’s Edge). They’re easier to write, because they don’t have all that baggage built up.

Several of your stories require more than a basic knowledge of technology. How much effort and importance do you place on doing research? Is this something you do when outlining, or do you research it as you go along – or perhaps both?

I research when it’s necessary, but for the most part, I stick with technology that people are likely to have seen in movies, TV series, or read about.

Like transporters. Your average reader probably knows what a transporter is, even if you give it another name, because they’ve likely heard of Star Trek. It’s not really necessary to explain how one works. It’s a transporter. It scrambles your atoms, phases them through space or walls, whatever the obstacle may be, and reassembles them at a designated point.

And Dr. McCoy hates transporters. Heh.

I don’t enjoy stories that go into great detail about how things work. Personally, I find that boring to read.

Just tell me what it is, and that it works. That’s all I need to know.

I like the multiple facets of a relationship you cover in this book: professional, casual, sexual, artificial, etc. All of these affect our lives in one form or another, but in Code Walker, reality and artificiality interact quite a bit to form a something that we are just now beginning to see a lot of in real life. (MMORPG addiction, Skype for interactions other than business.) Was the impetus to write this story borne out of the increasing use of cyberspace to connect socially and otherwise?

Woman, I have no clue. I don’t sit down and think about specifics that should be included in a story. What ends up in each is what feels right and fits. Which is why it took me so long to finish Code Walker – Seth having a freak out didn’t feel right.

That doesn’t mean all of the above didn’t play a part in the birth of Riley and TJ as Voices. It likely did. It just wasn’t a conscious decision.

In terms of plots, there are only so many a writer can work with. It’s the writers ability to create a unique theme that make each story different and intriguing. This uniqueness is important in keeping a reader’s interest instead of having them feel like they’re reading a re-hashed version of something they’ve read before. How hard do you work to come up with that difference – that twist that makes your writing so fun to read?

I think it’s hard not to come up with differences and twists. I mean, people aren’t clones, so we don’t all comprehend and output our comprehension the exact same way.

You’re unique. Whatever you write, assuming you work on the basis of your creativity, is going to be unique too.

Yeah, it might be the same plot and themes someone else used, but the characters, their actions, and behaviors aren’t going to be exactly the same as theirs, because YOU wrote it.

Then again, I avoid reading anything in the genre of my current WIP, because what you read will bleed into it, and you might not realize it until a fresh pair of eyeballs points it out to you. If I’m working on preternatural fantasy, I read thrillers or mysteries.

If it’s a romance of any flavor, I read horror.

I like it when someone says one of my stories reminds them of this or that one, and I can honestly say, “I haven’t read that one.”

So if one does happen to rehash a certain plot with the same certain themes, it wasn’t planned.

The Voices made me do it. Heh.

Speaking of voices, I think I hear one now letting me know our time is up. It’s the one telling me my battery power is about to go out. Technology. Makes life easier, as long as you have the power for it. Hey, I’ll see you on Twitter later. Congratulations on Code Walker doing so well!

Thanks for letting me drop in, Jo. It was fun as always!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There has been a lot of discussions recently regarding self-published authors and the quality of their work, and for some, their character. Be assured, Gayla takes pride in her work and cares about the product she offers. And the only time I’ve ever seen her go viral is when she’s run out of Chai.

To find out more about Gayla and her work:

Website: http://midnightintentions.com

Blog: blog – http://feralintensity.com/

Twitter – http://twitter.com/Scath

Facebook: Facebook profile

Also by G. L. Drummond:

• After the Fall: Good Intentions
• After the Fall: By Chance
• Daughters of the Lore: Resurgence
• Moon Children: Dark Cravings
• After the Fall: Tria’s Tale
• After the Fall: The Silent One
• The Contract Bride
• Rift (A Wolven Tale)
• Fated Ends: The Grates
• Deadlands Hunt