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Musings about character building and dynamics on the current work in progress.

I knew that writing Gabe’s book was going to be a challenge. One of the dynamics is the degree to which Gabe has to balance his love for Ruby with the growing number of lies he has to tell because he’s operating under a false identity. That was an issue even when I was writing the main part of The Martiniere Legacy. Why didn’t Gabe come clean to Ruby about who he really was and why he was on the run before the mounting weight of all the lies forced their divorce when he reached a crisis point? Full disclosure to the woman he loved would have been the simplest solution.

And yet he didn’t do that.

Maintaining those lies without disclosing them to Ruby is Gabe’s biggest flaw. His secrecy and paranoia, in the guise of protection. By the time of The Heritage of Michael Martiniere, Gabe’s learned his lesson. He imparts it to his father’s clone, Mike, as hard as he can.

And yet Gabe took a HUGE secret to his grave which ends up having a major impact on his son Brandon, Mike, Ruby, and others (and is a significant driver of the climax of The Heritage of Michael Martiniere). In the end that part of him that sought to protect those he loves by being paranoid and secretive not only destroys him, but it hurts those dear to him. He tries to recover before he dies by means of leaving videos triggered by search algorithms, and the groundwork for him to be able to eventually manifest himself as a digital clone, but none of those measures would have been necessary if he had Just. Told. Someone. Preferably Ruby.

So part of Broken Angel: The Lost Years of Gabriel Martiniere has to deal with that flaw in Gabe’s reasoning and build it so that Gabe’s reactions make sense. Gabe is spooked and scared, plus he still carries the weight of being beaten and mentally abused by Philip, the man he thought was his uncle (but was really his father) as well as some rather freaky mind control conditioning. Think of the Martinieres as modern-day Borgias, and perhaps that gives you a picture of what’s going on. Gabe is paranoid about eating and drinking in public because the Martinieres can and sometimes do slip nasty things into consumables to either reinforce mind control programming or kill someone. Or they do the same thing on clothing (I lifted Alexsander Navalny’s Novichok poisoning via underwear only using a psychotropic as one experience Gabe underwent). Gabe’s granddaughter Lily turns out to be particularly deft at doing this, which causes problems for Mike in Heritage.

The other piece is that Gabe is fundamentally a very decent man, in spite of lying his head off to keep his identity secret. He really is a woman’s dream partner in so many ways. Sometimes I think I’m writing him to be too nice, and then I remember. He’s lying to Ruby. When Gabe panics and decides that it’s best to force a divorce, he does some very ugly things to her as a cheating spouse. Some of that is under the influence of the Family’s mind control, because Philip wants to shred Gabe and make him suffer before pushing him into suicide. Gabe manages to fight off the suicide triggers (with the unknown assistance of the woman assigned to bring him down), but at the cost of completely destroying his relationship with Ruby, the woman he deeply loves. It takes twenty-one years and another crisis before Gabe and Ruby reunite.

And that’s basically the result of flawed choices that Gabe made.

It’s not easy to write. I find myself dodging some difficult sequences, just like I did when drafting Heritage. There are just some parts I can’t write, and others that I have to work my way toward carefully.

That said, Gabe’s book is not as big as Michael’s book. I’m about halfway through it right now, at something like 29,000 words, and on the brink of writing the toughest part. I have no problems with hitting the deadline to put it out in late April.

It’s not all grim, either.

But when it gets dark…hoo boy.

I’m a fairly broad reader in that my reading often covers a range of genres and purposes. I like reading a variety of works, though graphic details and too dark a setting and story usually ends up putting me off and not finishing what I’m reading.

Most of the time I tend to be a pure reader–that is, I’m reading for enjoyment. But there are times when my reading enjoyment extends to savoring a rather deft piece of writerly craft. I’ll end up rereading those sections and enjoying them because I appreciate the effect that the other writer is trying to achieve. Sometimes I’ll even study it deeper, thinking about how best to apply that to my own work.

I had one of those moments recently, while reading Willa Cather’s Song of the Lark. The protagonist, Thea Kronberg, is on the brink of breaking through as a top opera singer. She’s visiting with her long-term lover Fred Ottenburg and a life-long backer, Dr. Archie, when The Call occurs–essentially, the climax of the book. And the way that Cather handles it is just–marvelous. See below. Note: omniscient point of view. And Sieglinde is the part; Walküre the opera. Different formatting conventions from a different era.

******

Fred caught up the telephone and stopped the buzz while Thea went on talking to Dr. Archie about Landry. Telling some one to hold the line, he presently put down the instrument and approached Thea with a startled expression on his face.

“It’s the management,” he said quietly. “Gloeckler has broken down: fainting fits. Madame Rheineckler is in Atlantic City and Schramm is singing in Philadelphia tonight. They want to know whether you can come down and finish Sieglinde.”

“What time is it?”

“Eight fifty-five. The first act is just over. They can hold the curtain twenty-five minutes.”

Thea did not move. “Twenty-five and thirty-five makes sixty,” she muttered. “Tell them I’ll come if they hold the curtain until I am in the dressing-room. Say I’ll have to wear her costumes, and the dresser must have everything ready. Then call a taxi, please.”

Thea had not changed her position since he first interrupted her, but she had grown pale and was opening and shutting her hands rapidly. She looked, Fred thought, terrified. He half turned toward the telephone, but hung on one foot.

“Have you ever sung the part?” he asked.

“No, but I’ve rehearsed it. That’s all right. Get the cab.” Still she made no move. She merely turned perfectly blank eyes to Dr. Archie and said absently, “It’s curious, but just at this minute I can’t remember a bar of Walküre after the first act. And I let my maid go out.” She sprang up and beckoned Archie without so much, he felt sure, as knowing who he was. “Come with me.” She went quickly into her sleeping-chamber and threw open a door into a trunk-room. “See that white trunk? It’s not locked. It’s full of wigs, in boxes. Look until you find one marked ‘Ring 2.’ Bring it quick!” While she directed him, she threw open a square trunk and began tossing out shoes of every shape and color.

Ottenburg appeared at the door. “Can I help you?”

She threw him some white sandals with long laces and silk stockings pinned to them. “Put those in something and then go to the piano and give me a few measures in there–you know.” She was behaving somewhat like a cyclone now, and while she wrenched open drawers and closet doors, Ottenburg got to the piano as quickly as possible and began to herald the reappearance of the Volsung pair, trusting to memory.

In a few moments Thea came out enveloped in her long fur coat with a scarf over her head and knitted woolen gloves on her hands. Her glassy eye took in the fact that Fred was playing from memory, and even in her distracted state, a faint smile flickered over her colorless lips. She stretched out a woolly hand. “The score, please. Behind you, there.”

Dr. Archie followed with a canvas box and a satchel. As they went through the hall, the men caught up their hats and coats. They left the music-room, Fred noticed, just seven minutes after the telephone message….

******

So what makes this scene work?

First, we have a nicely intimate gathering of three long-term friends, relaxed after a meal. Then…the call. We have the conflict of time and preparation.

But. Thea does not immediately spring up and get started. Cather points out three times that Thea does not move right away. Yet she’s aware of what her time to get there and be dressed will take–for a part she has only rehearsed, not sung. She observes that she can’t remember the part she has to sing at that moment. But when she does move, she knows exactly what she needs. Dr. Archie is to get a specific wig. Fred is to call a taxi, pack some shoes, then play appropriate music from the opera. The entire process takes seven minutes…and without saying so, due to the careful staging and presentation of details, you as the reader know that Thea has thought over exactly what she would need to do should this opportunity fall into her lap. Even though she’s somewhat startled by it, she takes the time to think through what is needed and to be there for the chance of a lifetime. Quickly.

There’s also the little character-building elements, even though this is toward the end of the book. Thea is clearly someone who notices everything. She knows the timing of her travel and the length of the opera. She opens and closes her hands while thinking, a detail that points to her tension. When she does act, she moves quickly and decisively. But she is not so wrapped up in herself that she fails to notice that Fred is playing the piano from memory.

And within a few hundred words, we have slow-fast-slow pacing occurring. After this snippet, Fred and Dr. Archie put Thea in a cab, where she studies the score with the light on as the cabbie races her to the theater. Fred explains to Dr. Archie–and us–while they follow in another taxi just how and why this moment could be the making of Thea’s singing career.

For me, it’s the mix of pacing and the small elements that make this work so well. The slow-fast-slow pacing of that moment of realization that the make-or-break moment is HERE. And we see that Our Heroine has been preparing for just that sort of lucky lightning strike so that she can take advantage of it, in an economy of words.

It’s those three moments where Cather observes that Thea does not immediately get up that really make the scene.

She doesn’t move, but calculates the time needed for her to arrive and be ready.

She doesn’t move, but she opens and closes her hands rapidly while reassuring Fred (and probably herself) that she knows the part.

She doesn’t move, but she tells Dr. Archie that she’s temporarily forgotten what comes next. And that her maid (who would have known exactly what she needed) has been dismissed for the evening.

But she does know what to do, so that when she does move, she does so quickly, in under seven minutes.

When I first read this passage, the craft involved sucked me back into reading and rereading it.

That doesn’t happen very often.

On January 4^th I wrote a process post about the new Goddess’s Honor trilogy I plan to be working on during 2021. While high fantasy, it is going to be pretty darn political as it deals with a successor picking up the pieces of a failing empire in the face of a bigger threat.

Um.

I was working on worldbuilding the morning of January 6^th, and not following the news or social media. I stopped a little bit before noon to start a Zoom meeting I was hosting for my local Soroptimist chapter. I was greeted with the blare of someone’s TV and the news that there was a violent assault happening on the US Capitol, apparently with the intent to stop the certification of the results of the 2020 election.

That put paid to doing any work on the trilogy for that day—and, to be honest, I still can’t get back to it. Writing the aftermath of necessary but horrendous regime change is still just a little bit raw.

But I wrote a long essay about Writing the Revolution, which is available over on my political Substack (https://joyce14d.substack.com/p/writing-the-revolution). I brought forward a project I’ve been musing about for some time now, which was to transcribe and post two term papers I wrote while working in politics and getting my Political Science degree. In addition, I have a pile of clippings and giveaway literature from the ‘80s and ‘90s that focus on the rise of the then-titled New Christian Right. The process of sorting and analyzing that literature, then writing about it, is going to be one of my side projects throughout 2021, along with republishing political work I wrote during the ‘90s.

For years I’ve been saying that we were going to have major political problems in the ‘20s. This material is the basis for those assertions.

But what about fiction?

Sooner or later I’ll get back to the new Goddess’s Honor trilogy, which still needs a title. I haven’t liked a lot of the suggestions but it may end up becoming Goddess’s Oath or Goddess’s Vow. Burden was suggested but it isn’t quite right. It should still be on track for release in late 2021 or early 2022, nonetheless. I just can’t focus on it until things settle down a bit on the political front.

That doesn’t mean I haven’t been writing fiction. I have…but the only character who’s speaking to me right now is Gabriel Martiniere. The Martiniere Legacy trilogy is Ruby’s story, just as The Heritage of Michael Martiniere is Mike’s—but Gabe has things to say, especially about those years between getting together with Ruby up to the opening of Inheritance.

It’s not going to be a big book (ha! I said that about Heritage as well. We shall see). First Christmas Together will be part of it, and between other pieces and the one I wrote about the birth of Gabe’s son Brandon this week, I’ve got about half the material I need already.

It will include what happened during Gabe and Ruby’s divorce. Early days at Moondance and Gabe’s relationship with his second wife Rachel. The formative elements which forged him into the man who could effectively stand up to Philip Martiniere, remarry Ruby, become the Martiniere, and speak out as an advocate for the elimination of indentured servitude.

I’m looking at a possible April/May publication date for Broken Angel: The Lost Years of Gabriel Martiniere. So yes, there will be a fifth Martiniere Legacy book.

Justine is slinking around scheming about her book as well, but we shall see how quickly she decides to speak up after Gabe’s book comes out. She may decide to stay silent.

We shall see.

Like the prelim cover for Heritage? It’s pretty reflective of the book, so it’s science fiction with horses and dogs. And despite his Martiniere veneer, Mike Martiniere is still an Eastern Oregon cowboy because that’s how he was raised. Even if he does come from a rich and powerful family that controls an international consortium. But Mike has to face up to what the heritage of being a Martiniere means, including who and what he is–the clone of a powerful, vicious, and autocratic man, Philip Martiniere, who saw Mike as a disposable means to achieve immortality. Mike is Philip’s thirteenth clone attempt, and the only one to survive his progenitor.

I’ve been living in Mike’s head since August. Unlike most of my books, where I start at the beginning and work my way through, The Heritage of Michael Martiniere has been written in self-contained short pieces written to address certain themes. In fact, one of the major chunks, the interactions between Mike and his great-granddaughter/niece Lily*, were amongst the last pieces written because I couldn’t get my head around Lily for quite a while. Once I figured Lily out, the whole last section of the book came together and was written more or less linearly. Let’s just say that I finally figured out how to incorporate some inspirations from watching Swan Lake into a story.

*(um. It’s complicated. Mike was adopted and raised by his biological son Gabe after being rescued from his creator/progenitor Philip at the age of five. Lily is the daughter of Gabe’s son Brandon)

I’m jokingly calling Heritage “literary science fiction,” because while it’s near-future and has technological/cyberpunk elements, it’s also very focused on relationship, emotion, and what it means to be a clone to that clone as he grows up and has to deal with all the BS that goes with being a clone. It unfolds bit by bit, piece by piece, as Mike comes to terms with the physical, psychological, and political toxicity of his progenitor Philip…and to some extent, the Martiniere family. Mike is a very broken person because of what he inherits from Philip. But so are the people who raise him.

Anyway.

Yesterday I finished the first revision, which for me means taking paper edits of the rough draft and incorporating them into the main document. It’s the beginning of walking away from the story. It still has to go to edits, but the essential act of original creation has been completed.

For some reason I’m finding it hard to let go of this creation. Last night I actually came up with ideas for two more books in this setting…one, Broken Angel, about Gabe, and the other, Rescue Angel, about his sister Justine. Not ready to write those stories just yet but they could end up being a 2022 project. All the same, I have to wonder if the degree to which I immersed myself in the world of the Martinieres is due to the nature of the story, or the nature of writing something like this during Covid? I did achieve a lot while writing these books–approximately 270,000 words in the trilogy, Heritage at 115,000 words, and assorted short stories at around another 30,000 words. So close to 400,000 words this year, all in one world. That’s more than I’ve continuously written in a single setting before now. Part of this was due to the decision that I wanted to write the whole darn thing all at once before doing something else, unlike in the past when I was alternating Netwalk and Goddess’s Honor books.

Covid is a factor, all right. Without my other usual activities, this year in writing has basically been go to the computer, futz around on line, write for a while, go do some other stuff, then write some more. However, that decision to work in one world until I reached an endpoint in the major story arc was a huge chunk of this year’s production and it’s affected me in other areas.

I haven’t made jewelry. I haven’t made any quilts.

It’s just been writing, riding the horse, and getting out into the woods.

But now that I’m having to detach myself from the Martinieres, I’m finding it hard. Like I said…at least two more possible books. At least. And while I’ve written this world from the top layer, there are lower layer pieces that could be written as well.

I hate to say goodbye, but in the next week or so, the last pieces of this world get wrapped up and move from creation to production.

I’ll miss them.

I finished The Heritage of Michael Martinere this last week–Wednesday, or maybe it was Tuesday, I can’t be certain now without going back to look at the Facebook/Twitter posts. Almost right away, I came across an article which not only clarifies something I did in Heritage but also somewhat underpins and supports the elements of The Netwalk Sequence. Food for thought, but it kind of blows up part of the ending of Heritage…and gives me something to think about for the next book, should I choose to write another Martiniere book. Which I think I may…there’s some elements I can still mine in that world. The whole indentured servitude/body modification issue…what happens when indenture gets wiped away quickly? What impact will it have on society? I’ve written about this from the upper end…now how about the everyday end?

Thinking about it. One problem is that I don’t feel confident about writing that kind of story. That might be an exercise that is good for me. On the one hand.

On the other…so many people write about the gritty side of things. I’m not sure I want to join those ranks, necessarily, and the everyday life in that particular world might not look so nice. Gotta think about it.

Then again, I do leave an opening at the end of Heritage for Mike and JoAnn to further that story. We shall see. I’m resisting the urge to print it out and do those revisions because I need to think about that major ending revision pretty darn hard. And Heritage is already at 117,000-some words.

But there’s other things going on besides the book and thinking about the next project (I always try to have December as a not-large-project month).

Mocha’s sore and I think it might be age plus frozen ground with no snow cushioning. And she did tweak something. I broke down and ordered a quarter sheet to go under the saddle when I ride, because I suspect that her back muscles are tight and perhaps a little extra warmth when riding might be useful. We’re doing short rides with a focus on bending and flexing–and the other day she suddenly came right after doing a little bit of two-tracking. Meds kicking in or she finally got warmed up? I don’t know for sure, but at her age it doesn’t hurt to pamper her a little bit.

We are reorganizing the house–all this time in it during Covid kinda has helped us revise our organization. A couple of chairs got relegated to the basement (one is an extra we don’t use but can come out post-Covid for visitors, and the other is my porch rocking chair that stays out once weather gets good in the spring). But there’s some other system stuff going on.

I generally start bringing the grooming caddy for Mocha inside once the weather consistently drops below freezing, because it has wet stuff in it that doesn’t take well to freezing. Because I also keep horse cookies in the caddy, I’ve been concerned about attracting rodents into the house so I’ve had it in the main house, which eats up space. This year, I’m keeping the caddy in a big garbage bag in the basement. Same for the big garbage bag. Soon I’ll be moving saddle into the basement and definitely the bridle I’ll be using most of the time so that it isn’t constantly cold. I’m also rotating halters because of possible fomites on gates etc when I’m at the ranch, and I want to keep all of that stuff out of the main house. Which means my boots also live in the garage instead of in the house.

I do like that setup. It’s much more efficient and then I don’t have a whole bunch of horse tack in the main house. The Western saddle is going to be the big challenge, though. It may just keep living in the horse trailer tack room.

We went for a “get OUT of the house” drive yesterday, first up to Wallowa Lake and then in the grain and hay fields to the east of town. Saw elk, a fox, lots of deer (both whitetail and mule), assorted raptors including eagles, and took some artsy photos.

But for the most part we’re hanging out and staying away from Covid. It’s a quiet life right now. I’ll take it.

While cruising through social media this morning, I found a reference to a site talking about Thanksgiving with assorted science fiction and fantasy families. I thought about it a little bit, and decided it might be fun to do the same with my fictional families.

The Netwalk Sequence

First of all, I kinda did this already with Christmas Shadows (Amazon link here). From the blurb:
FOR the first time in years, Diana Landreth is looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home with her family. Or can she? Her mother, a leader in the new Third Force government, has become strangely uncommunicative. The random, disruptive attacks by rogue war machines on cities worldwide may call both Diana and her husband, Will, out to capture the machines. Then Diana learns that her mother’s ex-lover may be involved in the mechanisms that created the Disruptions.

It’s going to be one heck of a Christmas Eve dinner.

Yeah, that pretty much sums things up in that world. You’re gonna have lots of political scheming going on. There should probably be a therapist on site because there are a LOT of problems with the Stephens-Landreth-Fielding family. Meals go along with personal, political, and corporate negotiations. Lots of tense meals or else refueling in order to take on some big problems with physical demands. Holiday dinners in this world are gonna be fraught, even in calm times, because someone’s always got an agenda. Even if it is just close family members. Would I go to a meal with one of these folks? Maybe one or two of them in private. But the family as a whole? Um. No. I have more respect for my sanity than that. I don’t recommend you do it, either.

Goddess’s Honor

Food can be almost ritualistic in this world. Witmara decides to make breakfast pancakes en route to challenging the Emperor Chatain in order to settle her nerves. Her parents Katerin and Metkyi have a lovely dinner after a scary encounter with Zauril’s military forces, the day before they’re part of a challenge to Zauril’s leadership. Katerin’s assistant Colerei quickly finds her preferred role as baker, cook…and preparer of Katerin’s medical salves in Pledges of Honor. When meals are political, though…things do get tense. These folks are the ones you want to eat with on a road trip, though. You will eat well. I’d probably have a meal with them. They’re like having a chill Thanksgiving with your family of choice, and nice and quiet. Maybe not entertaining, but quiet.

The Martiniere Legacy

Let’s just get this out of the way right from the beginning. The Martinieres are fucking paranoid and they need to be. They exist in a world where public banquets can have adulterants that make attendees susceptible to mind control manipulation, and not a one of ’em trusts even events put on by friendly allies because the Martinieres developed a LOT of that technology. Besides, having one of ’em show up at your event can result in–um–interesting situations such as cyborgs attempting assassinations. And in the work in progress (The Heritage of Michael Martiniere) , Mike detects an attempt to drug him and kill his wife JoAnn. Ruby and Gabe have a huge argument during their first meal in public after their divorce, while working through issues that lead to their reconciliation. But their first marriage concluded with a big fistfight at an expensive restaurant that got both of them arrested.

Privately, though? Oh hell yes, I’d go to a Martiniere family meal, especially at Ruby’s Double R Ranch. Ruby raises her own veggies–legacy of the world in that mid-21st century era and food shortages. She has been known to grind her own grains for flour, plus her lab manager is experimenting with distilling from the ranch’s grains. And they have grass-fed ranch-raised beef…and locally-sourced other meats as well. A turkey on that table might just be one that one of the Martinieres hunted…or you could end up with venison. It would be good food and fun, though if I were you I’d plan to stay overnight if you go to a private Martiniere big dinner. You’ll get stuffed and the alcohol flows freely. But there will be music, entertaining conversation, and dancing, and you’ll have a good time. The Martinieres work hard and play hard.

The other part is that they tend to be grazers. Lots of deli trays and veggie trays for these folks because the Martinieres are busy people and lunchtimes in particular tend to get consumed on the run. Though Mike does have a special fondness for pain au chocolat.

Anyway, it was kinda fun to think about the role that special meals play in my worlds….

Taking a deep breath because I’m not sure how well this is going to work, but damn it, I sure do believe in these books.

I have already nominated Inheritance (the first book of The Martiniere Legacy) for the Neukom and Dragon Awards, but I would certainly appreciate more Dragon nominations and votes when voting time comes around! Also planning to submit to the Endeavour Award.

Anyway. My major candidates for awards eligibility this year are…the three books of the main Martiniere Legacy series (Book Four, The Heritage of Michael Martiniere, will be coming out in late February/early March, depending on editing and cover processing). The trilogy fulfills an overall arc and Book Four is a standalone. Not sure if that means it’s eligible as a series.

Awards eligibility: Novel, possibly series.

What The Martiniere Legacy is about:

In the year 2059, climate change, economic uncertainty, and significant debt frequently leads to indentured servitude for individuals. That includes ranchers and farmers. Some of the more daring resort to competing in the AgInnovator, a game show that provides funding for agriculture technology innovations, in hopes of financing the launch of creative agtech solutions without crossing that fine line that will throw them into the indentured ranks.

When AgInnovator introduces a new competitive category, the Superhero, to commemorate their 25th anniversary in 2059, the finalists include ex-husband and wife Ruby Barkley and Gabe Ramirez. Through the competition Ruby and Gabe discover that a malign purpose underlay the causes for their divorce. This shadowy inheritance threatens the future of their son, Brandon, a producer of the Superhero segment of the AgInnovator. In order to save Brandon from being forced into the ranks of the indentured, Gabe has to acknowledge his hidden past as a member of the powerful Martiniere family. He must vie with his cousin Joseph and Joseph’s father Philip for the leadership of the family company, the Martiniere Group.

As Ruby, Gabe, and Brandon delve deeper into the secrets of the Martiniere legacy, they discover secrets upon secrets. Not only is Gabe not who he once thought he was, but Philip and Joseph have condoned interdicted human experimentation on indentured workers. Indentured workers are being held beyond the expiration of their contracts, not just in the Martiniere Group, but in other companies. And now a new class of indentured workers appears with significant body modifications and programmable loyalties. They aren’t quite cyborgs…but how far away from being cyborgs are they?

Inheritance: The Martiniere Legacy Book One

Rancher Ruby Barkley and her ex-husband Gabe Ramirez are competing head-to-head for the AgInnovator game show’s new one-shot award, the Ag Superhero. The winner walks away with $3.75 million per year for five years, with no accountability or need to re-earn the Superhero, unlike the Innovator’s other awards.

But issues beyond those raised by their long-ago acrimonious divorce face Ruby and Gabe. Fence cutting. Rogue biobots destructively ranging beyond programmed parameters. Physical attacks. And the realization that they may need to reunite to save their son Brandon from indentured servitude.

Then the secret shadow of Gabe’s hidden inheritance reveals itself. Will he step up to the Martiniere Legacy—and what role will Ruby accept in any future they may share?

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JYJNN7B

Other stores: https://books2read.com/u/b6ZNZ6

Ascendant: The Martiniere Legacy Book Two

Six months after the triumphant collaborative conclusion of the AgInnovator Superhero game show, Ruby Barkley and her ex-husband Gabriel Martiniere still struggle with the professional and personal fallout from their victory. The Superhero money allowed Ruby to launch her line of agricultural biobots. But one of the RubyBot spinoffs, the Defender, leads to unsettling revelations about crop tampering using body-modified indentured workers. Their son Brandon uncovers even more disturbing information about the abuse of indentureds as he campaigns to end it. All of these disclosures lead back to the Martiniere Group, the family corporation controlled by Gabe’s malevolent uncle, Philip Martiniere.

Meanwhile, Ruby and Gabe wrestle with what form their resumed relationship will take, as Ruby contemplates whether she wants to take on the role of a Martiniere wife. The revelation that Gabe’s father is not who they thought, and Philip’s attempt to force Ruby away from Gabe once again confirms her decision. But the need to rescue one of Brandon’s valued indentured informants turns celebration into catastrophe. Will Ruby and Gabe be able to recover from this disaster—or will Philip triumph yet again in his campaign to destroy Gabe?

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KHNTKT9

Other stores: https://books2read.com/u/bwd5Wy

Realization: The Martiniere Legacy Book Three

The indentured labor wars heat up as Ruby Barkley and Gabriel Martiniere struggle with medical complications that interfere with their fight to stop the sinister goals of Gabe’s father Philip. Discoveries by their son Brandon about the degree to which Philip and the family corporation, the Martiniere Group, are involved in unethical, interdicted human experimentation push them into accepting a questionable treatment to speed their recovery.

Philip’s direct challenge initiates Gabe’s final push to take over the Martiniere Group. Ruby and Brandon consolidate family support behind Gabe. When a high-profile assassination attempt at a political banquet reveals the existence of cyborged Martiniere descendants and clones of Philip intended to provide him with replacement parts, Ruby and Gabe must take action. One clone—Michael—still survives.

Along with their bid to win control of the Martiniere empire, Ruby and Gabe now face the dilemma of what is to be done with Michael. Can they save both the family and Philip’s clone—or should they even try?

The realization of their dreams is within Ruby and Gabe’s reach. Can they fulfill it while still remaining true to themselves?

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KHP5D4G

Other stores: https://books2read.com/u/4NLAR8

And thank you very much to anyone who buys and/or reviews and nominates these works!

I took a big step today and figured out the basic structure of The Heritage of Michael Martiniere, which at this point is going to be a novella and the last work of any length in The Martiniere Legacy. One of the challenges I’m facing with this book is that I’m doing something new for me–writing in a non-linear fashion, i.e., writing in scenes/chapters that aren’t necessarily in order, then rearranging them later. Part of it is simply due to the nature of the book and the lengthy period it covers in Michael’s life (something like 40 years). I really don’t want to create this work as a straight-line story, simply because to do it justice might mean another trilogy in this world and I don’t think there’s a series-length arc within it. Plus it was one thing to live in Ruby and Gabe’s world. Michael’s is a lot tougher because of various issues around his origins and the long-term impact on his choices.

But the other piece is that these scenes are coming to mind as self-contained snippets. Some are multi-scene, but may get divided up. Additionally, the three major pieces come in and out of focus in Michael’s life, and…I don’t know. My gut just tells me that this is not particularly a linear story but a set of themes that roughly correspond to a linear arc, albeit not entirely. Rather than deal excessively with flashbacks and memory flashes, I think I’m going to deal with the themes in specific and connected vignettes. Think of it as spotlights on particular relationships and events in Michael’s life, sometimes seen with different perspectives as time passes.

I’m vaguebooking a bit because while Heritage is not explicitly part of the core Legacy trilogy, it picks up one character from Realization and goes from there.

Essentially, the themes are Identity (a particular issue for Michael), Advocate (how Michael applies the resolution from the Identity section), and Fulfillment (the resolution of the events put into play in Advocate). And yeah, they could be another trilogy. But there would need to be a lot more worldbuilding etc built in, and I just don’t think the base premises support that…while they would support about 10,000-15,000 words per section.

We shall see. I’m playing with process right now, as a break from the intensity of writing three books one right after the other.

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The Martiniere Legacy: Book One, Inheritance; Book Two, Ascendant; and Book Three, Realization will be released in Fall 2020, along with side stories and sketches. More specific information can be found in my newsletter which comes out toward the end of each month. Sign up for my newsletter at https://tinyletter.com/JoyceReynolds-Ward for release dates.

Wow. It’s been a while since I’ve posted here. But I got seduced by Medium for a while, and I’ve had my head down working on Choices and now its direct sequel, Judgment of Honor. I have been keeping a journal, only on paper and not online. It’s mostly a skygazing journal and notes on the writing of Judgment. It’s rather along the lines of what John Steinbeck did when writing The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden, only I’ve been doing it in the evening, sort of an unwinding and contemplative noodling about the day’s work. It’s been interesting and I’ve found myself referring back to the journal when starting the next day’s work–a huge enhancement of my creative process. Which was something I really needed to be doing.

So anyway. Choices of Honor is now available in every ebook format, and there will be a hard copy once I get the cover for it. Everything else is ready to go.

Choices was an odd book to write. Over the last four years, when writing novels, I’ve developed a habit of creating a scene-by-scene outline noting what my major characters are doing in each scene. It’s been really helpful in plotting and made rewriting less angst-ridden. Choices didn’t choose to cooperate in that fashion. I could only outline about a quarter of the book, and then it flipped me the middle finger and told me I needed to start writing. So I did. Then, about halfway through Choices, I realized that I was not going to be able to stuff everything needed to wrap up the Goddess’s Honor series in this one book. Not only did I have pacing and geographical issues, but there was just too much to be included in one book.

I started making notes about what needed to be included in the next (and final!) book of the series. I came up with a title, Judgment of Honor. I realized that a minor new character in Choices, Betsona, needed to be a viewpoint character in Judgment. After I wrapped up the first draft of Choices, I needed to go back through and insert necessary foreshadowing for Judgment.

But that came later in the rewrite process. Before I started the actual rewrite, I went to Summer Fishtrap and workshopped with Jamie Ford (Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Songs of Bitter Frost, Love and Other Consolation Prizes). While he’s a literary New York Times bestseller, Jamie’s also got strong roots in genre and has a number of genre short stories to his credit. The workshop…blew my mind, made me look at my process, and was just what I needed before revising Choices. I had set a publication date for late August/early September, unsure about how things were going to work. Probably a longer lead time than I really needed, but…it worked.

Meanwhile, at the end of July, I sat down to block out Judgment, then started writing it. By then I had a mostly-revised version of Choices, so all I needed to do was make the final tweaks on it to reflect minor changes and continuity with Judgment.

I like Choices. It’s a solid book. It introduces Katerin’s daughter Witmara as a character in her own right, and we learn a lot about Katerin’s background in Waykemin–a fascinating place. But I’m also enjoying Judgment (and that is its own post!) and think it will be a solid ending to this set of stories. There will be more–the emergence of the Outcast God and the Divine Confederation in Choices and in Judgment demands spinoffs. Those will be their own series, though, not the Goddess’s Honor.

So happy book day, Choices of Honor! And I promise, Judgment of Honor will be a December/January release.

Here’s the details:

SOMETIMES VENGEANCE BECOMES MORE COMPLICATED THAN EXPECTED.

Avenging the death of co-Leader Inharise of the Two Nations appears straightforward at first for Katerin Leader and Rekaré Kinslayer. The curse that killed her points directly to the Witches Council of Waykemin. Therefore, they’re responsible. But as Katerin and Rekaré lead a small avenging force to Waykemin’s capital city of Formis, they discover that things are not quite as they seem.

At the same time, Waykemin’s overseas ally, Chatain, Emperor of Daran, sends an invading force that Katerin’s daughter Witmara must counter. But is Chatain’s sortie a distraction from the attack on Waykemin, or does it serve a deeper purpose? Katerin must choose between her daughter and the challenge that Waykemin presents—and hope she made the right choice.

Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WXKLXHW

Other ebook: https://books2read.com/u/b6kKWA