Bad Influences in Time and Space

Posted under A Time-Traveller's Best Friend, Favourite Authors on September 25th, 2017 by

I mentioned last time that I don’t write scifi—as such—and that even my scifi books are more in the way of fantasy to me than actual scifi. And over on the Amid the Imaginary blog I talked about a few of the influences that brought me to write A Time Traveller’s Best Friend and Memento Mori in the format they’re in. AKA, not in chronological order and with some of the stories from Vol 2 ducking in between some of the stories from Vol 1. 

Today, I’m going to talk more about the influences that led to the skewed, oddball way in which the Time Traveller’s Best Friend series was written.

Specifically, I’m going to talk about the biggest influence.

For those of you who haven’t read the ARC of Memento Mori—but are, I will presume, frothing at the mouth to read it—this is the dedication:

For Steven Brust.

It was through reading his Vlad books out of order—and thoroughly enjoying the intricate story structures therein—that I came to realise how much I enjoy reading stories told in a non-linear fashion.

In my Time Traveller’s Best Friend series, I am forcing my readers to share that particular pleasure.

So, if you’re confused with Kez and Marx’s adventures and frustrated by the lack of a linear storyline—

Please feel free to blame Steven Brust.

I mean, Steven Brust isn’t the only influencer for this series, but his amazing story structures have always stirred up a spirit of emulation in me—in fact, I’ve written about them before here on The WR(ite) Blog. If you’re familiar with Steven Brust’s work at all, you should also find a nod to him in one particular character’s name.

Guys, you GOTTA read it. This is still my favourite Steven Brust book, though all of the Vlad books are fantastic.

It was by reading the Vlad Taltos series out of order (unavoidably, at first, and then on purpose when I found out how much fun it was to read them that way) that I came to realise that things don’t necessarily have to happen in chronological order for a reader to be able to connect events and characters. Moreover, the truly amazing story structure of several of the books (like Dragon, which jumped from past to present and somehow met in the middle in the most satisfying way) proved that things don’t necessarily have to be told in exact chronological order within the confines a book, either. And since I was already writing time travel fiction…

The rest, as they say, is history. I mean, “they” probably weren’t talking about a tiny indie author and her books, but whatever. This is my blog. If I want to indulge in shameless self-aggrandisement, who’s going to stop me?

Oh! And one last thing: A Time Traveller’s Best Friend has a 99c sale going on at the moment. So, yanno; get it while it’s cheap, and don’t forget to grab Memento Mori before its new release price jumps from $2.99 to $3.99 on the ‘Zon…

A Preorder, a Sale, and an Excerpt Walk into a Bar…

Posted under A Time-Traveller's Best Friend, Book Recommendations on September 2nd, 2017 by

Well, not really.

But I really do have a preorder, a sale, and an excerpt to share.

Memento Mori is now officially up for preorder, and looks absolutely GORGEOUS with its cover from Seedlings Design Studio.

To celebrate that, I’ve put A Time Traveller’s Best Friend at 99c for this weekend, over all store-fronts.

Amazon||Kobo||Smashwords||iBooks||B&N||Google Play

(It will be a part of Patty Jansen’s 100 99c SciFi/Fantasy books promo, too, so check out the others! I can particularly recommend Suzannah Rowntree’s Pendragon’s Heir, and A.K.R. Scott’s Inharmonic—both of which I own).

Memento Mori will be out September 26th, so don’t forget to preorder! And finally—have an excerpt!

–oOo–

“Good news, sir!”

Mikkel looked up warily. Arabella sounded cheerful, which was nothing out of the ordinary, but her idea of good news and his were often so radically different that he couldn’t help feeling the first dragging tendrils of dread close around his chest.

“Don’t look like that, sir; you’ll like this.”

“Will I? Is it something that’s likely to get me arrested?”

Arabella appeared to think about that. “I shouldn’t think so, sir. Actually, it’s Marx and Kez who’ve been arrested.”

Mikkel sat bolt upright. “When? Where? And who managed it?”

“A small Time Corp cruiser. They were making their normal patrol to show a few new ensigns the ropes and stopped to investigate something fishy. They’re requesting help because, and I quote: ‘This is too big for us and we don’t want to make a mess of it.’”

“Wait.” Mikkel’s eyes flicked to Arabella’s face. There was no sign of the prim smile that meant mischief, but he was still suspicious. “What about being hit on the head? Am I likely to be hit on the head?”

“No, sir,” Arabella said, slightly reproachfully. “Didn’t I promise I wouldn’t let them hit you on the head?”

“Only because you said you’d knock me out first. I don’t like this.”

Arabella blinked. “Really? I thought you’d be pleased!”

“Marx and Kez managed to be captured by a glorified baby-sitting cruiser?”

“Ah. I see what you mean.”

Mikkel sighed and brought up the vector controls on the pad beside his chair. “We’d better get down there before they scar the new ensigns beyond repair…”

***

“I don’t like this job, Marx.”

“Whose fault is it that we’ve got to do it?”

“Ain’t mine!” instantly said Kez. “An’ I don’t wanna be messin’ wiv stuff Marcus wants!”

“Marcus is dead.”

“Yeah, well, ’e’s got an ’abit of turning up when you don’t expect ’im. Wot if he’s in this time as well?”

“I checked in the Core,” said Marx patiently. “No, shut up, kid; I checked. I killed him thousands of Relative Year Units ago, and the Core says he’s safely in the Institute this year. He won’t travel out for another year.”

“Yeah, well—”

“Shut up, kid,” Marx said again. “He’s not here. And if he shows up, I’ll blast his flamin’ head off again. Happy?”

Kez sounded gruff. “Yeah. Orright. You better.”

“Then get a wriggle on. That cruiser’ll be by in a few RMUs; we want to be done before it shows up.”

“Oi. Shove over. This is my bit.”

“What does it matter who does what bit?”

“It don’t, but this is my bit.”

“I should have left you in the Upsydaisy.”

Kez blew a raspberry at him, showering him with a fine mist of spit. “Yeah? How you gonna get this done wivout me, then?”

–oOo–

Enjoy! And if you want to know what job it is that Kez and Marx are currently engaged upon…well, you’ll have to preorder, won’t you?

 

Kicking Shins Through Time and Space

Posted under A Time-Traveller's Best Friend on August 9th, 2017 by

I LOVE THIS COVER SO MUCH

When I first wrote A Time Traveller’s Best Friend, it was a short story.

It was a short story written for my writers’ group, which gave a series of prompt words that turned out wildly different stories from each of us. I took it back to the writers’ group, still madly writing the last 500 words—have I mentioned that I’m a procrastinator?—while the small talk was going on. It turned out to be reasonably popular, which was nice.

My problem was that I really connected with Kez and Marx. I’d never intended to write scifi (I’ll follow up on that in a blog post next month) but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to keep writing about Kez and Marx. I didn’t like the idea of extending the short story I already had, but I am a fan of scifi tv series (*coff*Star Trek Voyager*coff*) and it occurred to me that I could do something similar with Kez and Marx.

And so the short story became a Book.

However, by the time I was finished the first draft of that book, I was quite certain that I could keep writing this pair of characters into more books.

The book became a Series.

I dithered on the series for a bit—I had another series I was writing, and exciting new ideas for other books, and I wasn’t entirely sure how well Volume One was received. Then it came to my attention (through a bookstore owner who stocks my books) that a certain reader was always coming in and asking when the next book in the Time Traveller’s Best Friend series would be out. I mean, I always wanted to keep writing about Marx and Kez, I’d just got sidetracked. That day, I was again caught up in the excitement of Kez and Marx’s world, ideas fluttering away in my back-brain and plot growing steadily and sturdily behind that.

The upshot of all this is a number of things:

First and foremost, Volume Two of A Time Traveller’s Best Friend, Memento Mori, is on its second edit and will be published next month. Just as excitingly, Jenny at Seedlings Design Studios has designed a new cover for A Time Traveller’s Best Friend, and next week will be hard at work on the cover for Memento Mori. Thirdly, A Time Traveller’s Best Friend has a new blurb! You know, because once you update the cover, you should take a look at the blurb…

Below is the new-and-improved blurb for A Time Traveller’s Best Friend. You can check it out on Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. (There will also be new-cover paperbacks available from late next month! Yay!)

Meet Marx. Meet Kez.

Marx is a small, angry man with a time machine and a chip on his shoulder. Kez is a homicidal little girl with a price on her head and a penchant for kicking people where it hurts the most.

After a narrow escape from the owners of the stolen craft he pilots, the last thing Marx wants is another gun pointed at him. What he wants and what he gets, however, are two very different things.

On the run from killers, shadowy corporations, and one very specific Someone, the last thing Kez wants when she points a gun at yet another apparent killer is a self-appointed protector.

What she wants and what she needs, however, are two very different things…

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