I wrote a book.

Major congrats, again, especially because it is crazily prolific to have completed two novels in this span of time. And I love the cover art. It suggests the kind of science fiction that I like, where it's more about the atmosphere and the humanity than the crazy sci-fi wizardry.

It definitely sounds character-driven, from the synopsis. I would be curious to know what authors are influences on your writing, and any further particular influences on this novel.

Nice cover for me ! And the synopsis seems to be great too Good luck for the following ones and keep up the good Work !

Congratulations on the 2nd book augmentedfourth!

That's a cool cover...intriguing and mysterious...makes one want to know more about what's in the book. Oooooh, Claire!!!!

Bragatyr wrote:

It definitely sounds character-driven, from the synopsis. I would be curious to know what authors are influences on your writing, and any further particular influences on this novel.

I was a huuuuge fan of the Myst games back in the day (I still haven't played the final two in the series, I'll get there eventually), and I LOVED the three tie-in novels by Rand Miller and David Wingrove. It's been well over a decade since my first reading of each one (god, when did I get so old? ), but the impact they made on me has lasted. (I go into more detail about why I think they were so influential in this blog post.) I know it's not necessarily mainstream, "high quality" literature, but there you have it.

Aside from Myst, there's definitely some other video game influence in this book. I didn't really notice it while writing, but I think I was subconsciously inspired by the setting of Kings Quest VI (another game I played to death when I was younger), as there are some similarities. Golden Axe 3 also gave me an idea for one of the minor characters.

And I just remembered - I DID put in a Phantasy Star reference at the end!

A Phantasy Star reference at the end ? Great teasing for the book !! Good luck again

You know, for some bizarre reason, I still have never played any of the Myst games. I love Shadowgate, and that kind of exploratory genre, but I've never come across a copy of Myst.

Same for me here : I've never played any Myst game

Oh, they're definitely worth checking out. I'm pretty sure the first two are available at gog.com, and the online version is free. (FREE!) I haven't played in a while, but I'm pretty sure it's still running. If nothing else, they are pretty, pretty games. Good for sparking imaginations!

Back with more book!

At first, I was caught a little off guard by the cover, as that's not how I pictured my main character. Then I remembered that he loses half his face by Chapter Two and it didn't really matter. Now I kind of love it.

Anyway, this one has some PS relevance, as the ideas for it originally came from a PSO fanfic I was going to write. I was thinking of writing about the origins of Kireek and his life on Coral before the Pioneer 2 left. Sue and Black Paper would feature significantly, and I was going to cover his mission to assassinate the player character (should you follow the Soul Eater subplot). As the whole first part of it was going to be original material that wasn't in the game at all anyway, I wound up reworking it into a novel.

The book just came out (and the initial estimate was late February/early March!), so I believe it's only out at my publisher right now. In the past, it's taken a couple days to a couple weeks for my books to be released at the other main retailers (Amazon, B&N, etc.); now I just have to be patient for the official Kindle version so I can carry it around with me wherever I go!

W00t! More book! Congrats on getting yet another one published. ^_^

I'll be sure to nab a copy for my kindle when I get a moment. In the meantime, since it seems I'm going to be in your neck of the woods come march, feel free to set aside a signed paperback copy for moi. Something to read should the weather turn a bit foul and I wind up stuck indoors. We could even...read it together?