Christian Schoon talks Under Nameless Stars

Christian Schoon and I have a habit of sending each other pictures of strange mammals. Okay, that sounds a bit odder... than it should. But if you've read and loved the first novel in his series, Zenn Scarlett, as much as I have, then you'll understand. But now book two, Under Nameless Stars, has come out, so I'm celebrating its release with Christian and this is one of the stops on his blog tour with an added extra of having a Rafflectopter giveaway below. So, once again, a huge, happy welcome to Christian, and let's get on with the show!

When we were last with Ms Scarlett, she'd stowed away on board a space-faring vessel with one boy and one furry nuisance in tow. It's not too much of a stretch of the imagination to know that things are about to get very interesting. If you sketch the basics for someone who's not read any of the books, can you give us an idea of what to expect in book two without spoilers?

Hi and, first of all: a tip of the visored-helmet to Nerine for letting Zenn and I drop in for a chat. As an author herself, Nerine knows how vital blogs like hers are to other authors when it comes to talking about new releases. So, big, big thanks. As for Zenn’s next adventure, Under Nameless Stars kicks off, as noted, with Zenn and cohorts smuggling themselves aboard the starliner Helen of Troy. To achieve this, they’ve concealed themselves inside the cage-crate of a sandhog boar, an animal vaguely resembling an armored, 12-foot manatee with front digging claws the size of backhoe buckets, a mouth wide enough to swallow a small cow and a foul temper when it comes to sharing its space with anyone else. This launches Zenn on a galaxy-spanning quest to find and rescue her abducted father, and in search of answers to why she’s suddenly begun experiencing disturbing mental “links” with some of the alien creatures in her care. Zenn is studying to be an exoveterinarian; as such, she’s a scientist. She knows there’s no such thing as ESP. But she can’t deny what’s happening between her and these animals.  So, along with her space-operatic journey into the unknown, she’s also dealing with this unsettling and inexplicable condition.

What I've loved so much about your setting is the animals that Zenn and co. encounter along the way. Are there any new and unusual species that you introduce in book two? Any old favourites that return? 

Zenn will meet, and occasionally employ her exovet skills on, an array of new sentient races and alien life forms in this book. One unusual species is the Eta Cepheian-Liquissi Drifter. Cepheian Drifters are sentient, crustacean like creatures who hover above the ground thanks to a five-foot diameter, translucent shell-like structure filled with internally generated methane and other lighter-than-air gases. This species evolved in the upper atmosphere of a gas giant planet like Jupiter, a vast, largely empty space where finding a mate was a long shot. So, the much larger females carry their diminutive male consorts with them, with the males floating inside five transparent, fluid-filled skin-globes suspended from the female’s shell. The males look like rather large brine shrimp and they tend to chatter incessantly. (Inspiration for this is abyssal-dwelling fish on Earth that do essentially the same thing: large female with tiny male mate attached for life.)

Another favorite character is (minor spoiler comin’ up…but this has been revealed elsewhere during the tour, so…) Jules Vancouver. He’s a bottlenose dolphin who gets around wearing a walksuit. He’s a fun guy, great sense of humor, likes practical jokes, is obsessed with antique print-on-paper adventure novels like Treasure Island. He harbors a deep and startling secret that features prominently during an especially harrowing escape scene in the book.

A word on the cover art for Under Nameless Stars – I think the illustrator did an awesome job capturing Zenn's mood. Any thoughts you'd like to add? 

Only that I agree entirely. Both cover images stirred up much love on the interwebs as soon as they appeared. When the first one debuted, I actually received a really sweet comment on my blog from the  father of the photo model (her name is Melissa Tongue, she’s from the UK and does shoots worldwide for all sorts of companies/products/artsy stuff). Her dad was literally bursting with pride about his daughter’s work and that she was on a book’s cover. And, seeing as how she’s the basis for the illustrated images of Zenn, I clearly concur.

So, Zenn and Liam ... What's up with them?

This would be the part where I pause and resort to something like “Well… it’s complex.” Zenn and Liam have history from the first book, of course, where he (book one spoiler alert!) was reluctantly implicated in a plot that nearly destroyed the Ciscan Cloister on Mars where Zenn’s a novice exovet in training. So, while she’s attempting to forgive him for this bit of youthful indiscretion, Zenn remains suspicious of him and his motives when he volunteers to join her in the sandhog crate, which is bound for the Helen. But, as we know, Zenn was raised in a house of science, with relatives who are no-nonsense, practicing exovets, Zenn prides herself on being an eminently logical person. But her isolated upbringing in the Cloister also left her socially naïve and, at times, downright inept. When Liam makes it clear he’s interested in her, she thinks she might be starting to have feelings for him, and she doesn’t really approve of this development. It’s distracting. It’s disorienting. It means loss of control and periodic floods of unreasonable emotion. So, she’s resisting. Will this resistance be successful? Maybe. Maybe not.

Because I like to make my guests squirm, I'm going to ask these two questions in one. What was your favourite scene (without spoilers) in book two? And the most difficult to write? (There always is one.)

Favorite scene: the above-noted escape sequence involving Jules. Can’t say too much here, but it was just a fun scene to write and I was really proud of my dolphin. And also because: black-smoke lurker beast. For difficulties, the last chapter was tough because I love cliff-hangers and kinda wanted to torture my readers with one. My editor said the major cliff-hanger close of book one was enough already and to let the gentle readers off the hook. I agreed to be merciful. I’m just that kinda guy.

In book one you touch on the idea of xenophobia in your Martian colony. Are there any underlying themes in book two? 

After instances of over-confidence that lead to more than one near-disaster in book one, Zenn is questioning herself a bit more in Under Nameless Stars. She’s also suffering from the world-view angst noted above, and she needs to recover some of her mojo on several levels. So, I’d say one of the themes in book two a simple one: never say die, take a step back in a crisis, “know thyself,” understand that you have the resources within yourself to confront the challenge and persevere. Sounds easy, of course, but when under fire/in the heat of battle/running for your freakin’ life, this can be a tough thing intellectually to achieve.

And now one of my favourites ... If you were given the opportunity to turn book one and two into either a film or a TV series, who would you cast in the leading roles? 

Of course, this changes daily, depending on mood, but…. Zenn Scarlett: Alice Englert or Lily Collins; Liam Tucker: Robbie Amell; Otha Scarlett: Liam Neeson; Fane Reth Fanesson: Steven Strait; Sister Hild: Tilda Swinton; Stav Travosk: Nikolau Coster-Waldau; Voice of Jules: Ricky Gervais (c’mon, he’d be great. Besides, then I might get to hoist a pint w/him.)

What are you reading now? 

The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health and Disease by Dr. Daniel Lieberman  A decent if not ground-breaking overview of how our evolution has (and continues to) affect our species’ health and culture in the modern age of us primates having way-too-easy access to all the sugar-fat-salt we can stuff in our cheek pouches and scamper away with.

Have any new creatures come into your life since we last spoke? 

Nothing especially spectacular or exotic. But have had a couple of new tom cats wander onto the farm and take up residence in the Cat Barn; these boys will be headed for the vet soon to be neutered. Just a matter of me taking the time to put out the live traps for 'em.  Then, we’ll bring them back and they’ll make the decision to join our colony or move on. The main thing is to shut down the kitty factory before they have a chance to breed on an adjacent farm (all feline guests here are promptly spayed/neutered. It’s part of our deluxe Spa Package.) Also the usual contingent of raccoons, skunks and possums emerging, blinking, into the daylight now that temps are above freezing.

What's in the stars for your future projects? Or is this a state secret? ;-)

Not a secret, but I resist saying too much or it’ll jinx 'em (yeah, I’m superstitious that way). Will admit to working on an animated steampunk TV show concept, and a monster-filled new novel. A third Zenn book is outlined and beckoning, but it’s gotta compete w/ the other stuff in my head, so we’ll see who wins.

And that’s the story from the sylvan hinterlands of the American midwest. Thanks again for letting Zenn’s blog tour yacht tie up at your dock.  Always a pleasure to visit. Cheers!

And ze question!
10. When Zenn hid in the back of Otha’s truck back on Mars, she was how old?
a. Five
b. Six
c. Twelve
d. Nine 

And, here's a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Woken Gods by Gwenda Bond #review

Title: The Woken Gods
Author: Gwenda Bond
Publisher: Strange Chemistry, 2013

Seventeen-year-old Kyra Locke’s world is very different from our own because five years ago the ancient gods woke, and since then things have been a bit chaotic for humans.

Washington D.C. where Kyra lives is the epicentre of all the action and is where the gods have their headquarters. Kyra’s truly in the thick of things due to the fact that her father works for the Society of the Sun, which acts as an intermediary between gods and mankind. Mostly, the Society has access to relics that help them keep the gods in line.

Kyra’s not exactly a happy camper because things between her and her parents aren’t all that great. Her father is absent most of the time and her mom – an oracle – has left the family for unknown reasons.

Things truly go south for Kyra when the trickster gods take an unhealthy interest in her, and she finds herself in a race against time to rescue her father from execution for treason.

Okay. Deep breath. I wanted to like this book a lot. From the outside, it has all the elements that I treasure, BUT, try as I might, I just couldn’t follow the storyline or understand the characters’ motivations, which seemed to shift continuously. By the time I was done, I was as confused as when I started, and I pride myself on keeping things straight. Not good when I continuously ask, BUT WHY? while I’m reading.

I get the idea that Kyra, due to her bloodline, is somehow the centre of a prophecy, and her parents are desperate (to the point of sacrificing all semblance of a normal family life) to try protect her, but their efforts don’t strike me as being all that effective. If she really was in so much danger then why not just leave the city entirely? Why allow her to grow up ignorant of the danger she’s in?

The presence of all those gods was a nice touch but I gained the impression that most of them were just waiting in the wings as set dressing for a convenient (and literal) deus ex machine at the grand finale. Anzu, Kyra’s “pet” monster is pretty neat, but I don’t get *why* Kyra is so important to deserve this special attention from a deity.

My biggest gripe with the story is the choppiness of the writing. For the most part we’re in Kyra’s first-person point of view – that is fine, perfect. The genre calls for a sassy heroine who’s doing her thing against great odds and Kyra has a lovely voice and she’s not going to take things lying down. Big thumbs up for a strong female lead.

BUT.

Her storyline is somewhat diluted by the introduction of secondary viewpoint characters (in third person) that get introduced quite far in, so that the shift in point of view is jarring. I’d just gotten used to Kyra when suddenly I must get invested in someone else?

I understand *why* the author has done this because the plot calls for her to show what else is happening behind the scenes but then I feel it only serves to weaken the pacing and steals some of Kyra’s thunder. In the end she gains her outcome largely due to the efforts of others.

The romance elements feel forced – there simply isn’t enough time to develop romantic attachments but it’s there. However, I’m almost tempted to say this would have been a stronger novel if there’d been more focus on the conflict between Legba, Kyra and her grandfather, and dispensed entirely with the secondary characters (and the romance).

Then a word too on some contradictions. A fair amount of emphasis is placed on how technology doesn’t really function properly around the gods due to their innate magic, but then why does a television crew bristling with cameras and technology, go into the heart of things to cover breaking news? They end up riding in a horse-drawn carriage because cars don’t work, but their cameras are fine… I just had to point that out because it jerked me right out of the narrative at the time.

I’d have liked to have seen further development of the gods themselves as characters. There is so much potential there. Why are the tricksters banding together? Surely they themselves wouldn’t all be in agreement? What about plots within plots? I wanted to see more of their personalities, wanted to see them interact and be more active. Then we might also have gained a better idea of why Kyra was the lynch pin to the entire saga, and also sympathise more with her plight.

All this being said, this is not a bad book. If you’re looking for fast, on-the-edge-of-your-seat urban fantasy with a female lead who totally kicks ass, and that offers a nod to Neil Gaiman’s American Gods then yes, you’ll enjoy this. But, if you’re like me and you wanted a story that digs a little deeper, you might feel the same way I do.

In conversation with Jonathan L Howard #books #YA #SF

A big welcome to Jonathan L Howard, author of Katya's War (Strange Chemistry, 2013). He's allowed me to subject him to Six of the Best which actually turned into nine, but jawellnofine. So, Jonathan, for those of us who haven't read Katya's World, tell us a little bit more about Katya and the setting?

The novels are set on the colony world of Russalka. The place is one huge ocean, with no dry land unless you count the ice caps as land. It has a breathable atmosphere and the temperature is cold but bearable for humans, but there are constant storms and permanent 100% cloud cover. It’s a horrible, dangerous, hard place to live. The only reason it was colonised at all is that it has great mineral wealth in its waters. Both to be close to those minerals and to avoid the foul weather, the vast majority of the colonists live in settlements mined in the planet’s underwater mountains, and travel by submarine.

It was hard enough there, but then they were abandoned by Earth for a century and had to struggle through. Then Earth forces turned up again and tried to take over. This triggered a war that Russalka survived rather than won. The place is still badly mauled from the events of that war ten years after.

This is the situation when Katya’s World begins. The war may be over, but the scars run deep. Katya Kuriakova is just short of her sixteenth birthday when she joins her uncle as navigator aboard his minisub. The war messed up Russalka’s demographics badly, and the young are pressed into positions of responsibility early to make up for shortfalls. You don’t get much of a childhood on Russalka. She’s happily of the opinion that her life is pretty much mapped out now and she can just go ahead and do her job.

It doesn’t work out quite that way.

You have to sum up Katya's War in no more than 16 words, GO!

War is killing your world, and isn’t slowing. What would you sacrifice to save it?
(And I didn’t cheat by pretending “isn’t” is one word.)

Was there any particular scene from the novel that you found difficult to write, and why?

Yes, there is one scene that I found singularly difficult to write. I can’t detail it without spoiling the plot, but you’ll know it by the description, “When Katya realises what she’s looking at through the window.” I write the Johannes Cabal novels which are full of horror elements, but nothing in those has been so hard. I found it upsetting. It may be that many will read it and say, “So?” Fine, but I had to go for a walk after finishing that scene because it was horrible to write.

Your favourite bit of dialogue... 

From Katya’s War? Let me think. Hard to find a bit that’s not full of spoilers. Ah, this is fairly safe. Still, very mild spoilers ahead:

“Who’s going, captain?”
“Me, obviously, because I love risking my life. Ms Kuriakova here, also obviously, as she’s the one this is all being done for.”
“What? Me?” Katya looked at Kane as if he’d just ordered her shot.
“Well, yes, you. Why do you…”
“No. I mean, an ADS? Me? You want me to go outside?”
“Yes. You in an ADS. You could try swimming over there in your underwear, I suppose, but I wouldn’t rate your chances of making it.”
Katya was not in the mood for jokes; as far as she could see, sending her out in an atmospheric diving suit – an ADS – was tantamount to a death sentence anyway. “I… I can’t,” she stammered. “I’m not rated. No training. I’m not certified.”
Kane frowned. “Russalkin hydrophobia rears its ugly head again. I have to say, Katya, I’m surprised. After the things you’ve done, I really didn’t expect a drop of water to bother you unduly.”
“A drop… A drop of water? It’s Russalka, Kane! It’s the whole planet! The whole thing wants to kill us every day! Every single day! And you want to go for a stroll out there?”

Story seeds... They all have to start somewhere. What spark set fire to your imagination for this world? 

Oddly enough, the origin is sometime around 1998, I’d guess. I was playing around with ideas for Doctor Who stories for a hobby project and an ocean world suggested itself. That story didn’t gel properly, but there were intriguing elements to it, and some – notably the world itself and the hard lives of the colonists – came back to me when I was thinking, “Well, if I were to write a YA SF novel, it would look like this...”

If you have to profile who you think your readers are, who are they? 

At the risk of seeming egotistical, I think every author largely writes books for themselves. One has to; when you start writing books for what you imagine other people think like, you’re going to find yourself drifting into hackwork. It’ll feel artificial and shallow. So, I suppose I’m writing the Russalka novels for a teenage version of me, filtered through the sensibilities of current mores of style.

A writer's workspace often says a lot about that person. Can you give us a peek at where you create?

I don’t really have anywhere. I used to work in a box room, but the boxes took over. Now I write in the lounge. I really ought to clear out the box room and make it work as an office.

Which three books have had the most impact on your love of the written word? 

The playfulness with words of Lewis Carroll, particularly in Through the Looking Glass, the precision and dry wit of MR James in his collected ghost stories, and the brilliant explosions of texture and meaning in Ray Bradbury’s writing, especially in The Illustrated Man.

You get to create a soundtrack for readers of Katya's War and can choose five songs/pieces of music for them to listen to while they read. Go!

The Hut on Fowl’s Legs from Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” ideally one of the big, threatening orchestral versions like Ravel’s. I chose this partially because it’s Russian, even if the Russalkin no longer acknowledge their roots, but mainly because it’s a menacing, off-kilter piece.

Anderson’s Theme from the Dredd soundtrack, by Paul Leonard-Morgan. Cassie Anderson and Katya have a lot in common; decent people trying to make a difference in a very harsh environment. I think that comes through in the music.

One of Our Submarines by Thomas Dolby, because, well, it’s about submarines, obviously, but there’s melancholy there, too, and an appreciation of how impersonal and terrifying it is to die in the depths.

The Seaview Theme by Paul Sawtell, otherwise known as the theme to Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. It’s a really good piece for a programme about a submarine going on adventures, mixing a romantic Hornblower sort of theme over a lurking menace in the brass section while, in my favourite version, a sonar pings steadily in the background. It was probably the best of the Irwin Allen series, I think, certainly for the first and possibly second seasons before it turned into a cheap aquatic version of Star Trek. Jerry Goldsmith’s alternative theme was only used once, and was very different – all threat and no a
dventure. I love Goldsmith’s work, but – just for once – I’m going to side with the original theme.

La Mer by Claude Debussy. All three bits of it, as I just couldn’t choose one. It describes the changeability of the ocean beautifully, although it also shows it when it’s serene, which isn’t really very common on Russalka. You can pretend those bits take place underwater in the context of the novel.

Zenn Scarlett by Christian Schoon #review

Title: Zenn Scarlett
Author: Christian Schoon
Publisher: Strange Chemistry, 2013

This is one of those books that I knew the moment I read the blurb that I was going to love utterly and completely. And it goes down as one of my 2013 YA reads that I whole-heartedly recommend to anyone who’s into the genre.

Zenn is the kind of protagonist whose mouth is often way ahead of her brain, and for a female protagonist, she’s a breath of fresh air. This young madam knows exactly what she wants and isn’t afraid to work very hard to get it—in this case she wants to be an exovet. You have no idea how happy it makes me to have a 17-year-old protagonist who isn’t a vapid, boy-obsessed creature. In fact, when the boys do pitch up on the scene, she’s not afraid to argue with them.

But a bit more about the world-building. Zenn has grown up in a kind of monastic order/clinic dedicated to the care of animals. And this is where Christian Schoon writes with a ring of authenticity. I spent my younger years working part-time in a veterinary clinic, and the author totally captures the atmosphere of such an environment. Animals need to be fed. Their enclosures need to be kept clean. They’re troublesome—only in this case the animals Zenn and her uncle deal with are also quite dangerous if not handled correctly—as Zenn discovers.

And you get to meet some pretty fascinating critters with bizarre appearance or super sizes that would make caring for them a real challenge—a challenge that Zenn is more than up to as she attempts to prepare for her upcoming exams.

Things aren’t all plain-sailing, however. The Martian colony where the Ciscan clinic is situated has suffered for many years due to a rift between Earth and Mars. Technology is outdated or redundant, and its failure often means a life-or-death situation for folks. The cities face massive urbanisation as people from the rural areas are forced to move to safety. Xenophobia is rife—only the humans view alien lifeforms, like the animals treated at the clinic and visiting aliens, with great suspicion. These are hard times.

Zenn is outspoken and often at loggerheads not only with her uncle, but the people around her. But she also has to solve a greater mystery: why her mother, an exovet, vanished while treating a patient, and the reason why her father left Mars to pursue answers. I like the fact that she makes mistakes, and everything is not all plain sailing for her. It makes her triumphs all that much sweeter.

The novel gets off on a bit of a slow start, but I was so fascinated by the day-to-day workings of the clinic/school and I could see the story building up its textures to something bigger, that this didn’t present a problem to me. I really just enjoyed the ride, which was kind of like Gerald Durrell meets a Star Wars bestiary with a bit of SF James Herriot thrown in for good measure. The pace picks up near the end to quite a nail-biting finish, and Schoon is clearly setting this up for a series, so be prepared for unfinished story arcs. And I’m hoping that Schoon hurries up and writes the next in the series.