Character interview with Genny, Duin & Belloc

Posted on December 8, 2012 by J.L. Hilton

Paranormal and SF romance author Veronica Scott interviewed J’ni, Duin and Belloc, the main characters in Stellarnet Prince. This interview originally appeared on her blog November 8, 2012.

Veronica Scott: Today it’s my pleasure to interview three lively characters from STELLARNET PRINCE. Welcome to: Genevieve O’Riordan / J’ni Nagyx Duin (she has two names, human and Glinnish), Duin and Belloc!

First a very short blurb about the book: One rebel. One outcast. One blogger – who loves them both. In a universe where everything is on the Net, they must keep secrets that could tear their relationship and an alien world apart. Book two in the Stellarnet Series, following Stellarnet Rebel (January 2012).

What was your life like growing up?

DUIN: It was glorious! I was born in White River, in the Watershed area of Glin, where there were always fwap to eat but one too many garrablug. (Laughs) I could show you the scar where that one too many bit me. I had three fathers, two mothers, and Whish Nagyx Sala – the soul bound of the mother who gave birth to me, though he died when I was a nursling.

I had… (counts on fingers) twelve siblings. I think. Maybe more, but I left White River as soon as I could hunt and never returned. Blame Ullu. She made me want to stay in Willup W’Kuay. What about you, J’ni?

J’NI: I’m an only child. I grew up in old Chicago, on Earth. My father was a lawyer most of my life. He’s a judge now. My mother was – still is – involved in various political groups, foundations, charities and that sort of thing. I spent a lot of time with my grandmother. My mother thinks that’s why I’m a difficult person now, because I wasn’t socialized properly in a daycare.

DUIN: Great Rain, J’ni, you are one of the least “difficult” humans I’ve ever encountered. Cressa is entirely wrong, on that account.

J’NI: She’s wrong about a lot of things, but that’s not what we’re here to discuss. Belloc, do you want to talk about your childhood?

BELLOC: No. Should I?

DUIN: Of course not. Next question, please.

V.S.: Before you met each other, what were your plans/hopes for the future?

DUIN: I aspired to nothing more than to see my children have more children while I hunted wallump and swam beyond the Last Wave a happy, free Glin, whose soul would return to my family again in the Great Rain. Then the Tikati came with their flame-throwers and water tankers. They destroyed my village and imprisoned my family. I found a way to leave Glin and went to Asteria Colony for aid.

J’NI: I went to Asteria Colony as a blogger for Interstellar News Corps. I had no idea Duin was there, but I knew there would be some interesting stories in such a remote place. I had a friend stationed in the military zone, and he emailed me about it. I discovered Duin in the Sector M market square.

DUIN: I used to stand on one of the sewer pipes and recite great political speeches from human history, mixed in with information about the oppression of my people. No one cared and I didn’t know what else to do, until J’ni washed up on my shore. Belloc, were you in the refugee camp on Wandalin, by then?

BELLOC: My only plans were to avoid drawing attention to myself, and to survive. Though I had little reason, after my mother died in a Tikati prison ship.

V.S.: Do you have a motto or code you live by?

DUIN: Awah na glem! “For water and freedom!” It’s the motto of every Glin who resisted the Tikati invasion.

J’NI: I’ve always liked that quote about how evil only exists when good people do nothing. I will never sit by and do nothing, if I can help it.

BELLOC: I own J’ni my life. She is the only current that guides me.

V.S.: What one thing would you take to a desert island?

DUIN: Well, water, obviously, if it’s a desert. I couldn’t survive in a desert without it.

J’NI: I think it’s more of a hypothetical question, to identify the thing you value most.

DUIN: I don’t value any one thing. Humanity’s illusions of ownership assume I would elevate things above love, freedom, water, you, Belloc, my people, my world? What a ridiculous question.

BELLOC: Assume there’s water, and J’ni and I are with you, and we can make slings and huts and hunt for food. What else would you want?

DUIN: Nothing at all. That’s sounds delightful. When can we leave?

BELLOC: I’d take Mysteria. That’s the best MMO on the Net.

J’NI: I’d take chocolate. That’s one thing I really missed when I was in the Glin refugee camp. Other than Duin, of course.

DUIN: I’ve never known you to lie, J’ni.

J’NI: I’m not lying. I did miss you.

DUIN: With our young, handsome husband as a distraction? You disappoint me, Belloc.

BELLOC: We weren’t married then. I didn’t think she’d be interested in me, when she shared the soul of the Elder of Long River, Hero of the Uprising and founder of the Freedom Council. I meant nothing to her.

J’NI: Yes, you did. You were my best friend, when I needed you most.

V.S.: What are your future plans?

BELLOC: J’ni and I are having a human wedding ceremony on Asteria, and then all three of us are going to Earth.

J’NI: We’ll be stopping in India and then heading to the United States to meet President Hamilton and visit my parents.

DUIN: I intend to establish a Glin chancery within Washington, D.C., and continue strengthening Glin’s friendship with Earth. I’ve petitioned to join the U.N. and hopefully we’ll force the Tikati out of Glin, once and for all. I am indebted to the United States for the work we’ve done together so far, but I want to make sure an invasion will never occur again. Glin is still extremely vulnerable.

J’NI: Thank you for inviting us to your blog. Your readers can find out more about us on the Net at JLHilton.com.

V.S.: Totally my pleasure!

Posted in Q&A, Science Fiction, Stellarnet Prince, Stellarnet Series | Tagged , | Comments Off on Character interview with Genny, Duin & Belloc

Guest: Jax Garren, “How Beauty Met the Beast”

Posted on December 3, 2012 by J.L. Hilton

My guest today is Jax Garren, author of How Beauty Met the Beast, a retelling of the classic fairy tale about a scarred army veteran and an educated burlesque dancer who team up with the Underlight anarchists to fight corporate oppression and the mysterious Order of Ananke. As soon as I heard about this book, I couldn’t wait to read it. It did not disappoint. A sexy, edgy, political, thought-provoking, page-turning read.

JLH: Beauty and the Beast has been my favorite fairy tale since childhood. What made you decide to write a modern version?

JAX: I love Beauty and the Beast, too. It’s not actually my favorite fairy tale–that’s either Sleeping Beauty or Rapunzel. I’m not sure what that says about me that I’m a fan of women locked in towers; I try not to analyze it too much because I probably don’t want to know. 🙂 But I do love Beauty and the Beast.

How Beauty Met the Beast was inspired when my little sister and I were inventing cocktails and watching reruns of that old CBS Beauty and the Beast.

JLH: I LOVED that show. I was a teenager when it originally aired, back in 198–um, blergh, something…

JAX: I loved Ron Perlman’s beastly Vincent, but I also couldn’t quite get behind the lionesque look. Or that he was so dern sweet. The love story in that show was very platonic, and I always found myself frustrated that there wasn’t more of an edge to it.

JLH: Yes!

JAX: My sister and I got to imagining how we’d make a 21st century “beast”–why he looked like a beast, where his fighting skills came from, how the physical change from “human” to “beast” affected him. In the CBS series, the beast had always looked different, but in the original fairy tale he was transformed. That aspect of dealing with such a profound life change is something I find interesting.

And that is where Hauk (my Beast) came from. He’s a nice guy, but he’s not innocent. He hasn’t always looked the way he does, and he knows exactly what he’d do with Jolie (Beauty) if he could! The TV series also spawned the Underlight idea. I’ve always loved the city-beneath-the-city trope in fantasy literature. For my series, though, I wanted to create one with a purpose beyond collecting lost souls.

JLH: How else is How Beauty Met the Beast different from the traditional story?

JAX: The biggest difference (other than the modernization) is the addition of a whole other plot of warring secret societies. Instead of alone in a castle, Hauk works in the Underlight, a nationwide (USA) organization of anarchists. In Austin, Texas, where the story is set, they have developed an off-grid community in the tunnel system under the University of Texas. The society’s main mission is to fight against a priesthood of wealthy corporate powerhouses who worship Ananke, the Greek goddess of fate. The Order of Ananke has taken it upon themselves to make the world run smoothly by trying to control it, whereas the Underlight is all about freedom despite the chaos and cost. This struggle between the Underlight and Ananke is the common thread among future stories after the Beauty and the Beast trilogy is done. I’m currently working on a Rapunzel-inspired plot with Hauk’s best friend as the hero, and I have ideas for Sleeping Beauty and Snow White tales, but we’ll see…

The Order of Ananke ties into another big difference between this and the original tale, and that’s Jolie’s father. In HBMtB Reginald Benoit is wealthy (like the merchant in the original story), but he isn’t the nice guy of the fairy tale. Unknown to Jolie **MILD SPOILER** he’s a priest for The Order of Ananke.**END SPOILER** Jolie does end up in Hauk’s home because of her dad, but not because Jolie is exchanging her life for his. The complicated relationship between Jolie and her father is explored more in the final book, How Beauty Loved the Beast.

Finally, Hauk isn’t a prince turned by a fairy, he’s an ex-Army Ranger from working class Ohio whose “beast” appearance is the result of a fire he lived through while serving in Afghanistan. There is some magic in his surviving the fire and he has some special qualities as a result, but that’s something I’ll let everyone learn more about as they read!

Other similarities and differences start getting into major spoilers, so I’ll have to let readers find out for themselves.

JLH: Your book is described as a paranormal science fiction romance. What are your thoughts about the classification of your book?

JAX: Haha! There was a debate. To be honest, I would’ve classified it as Urban Fantasy, but that was nixed by the publisher. I was surprised when they called it science fiction–that classification hadn’t crossed my mind–but I can see what they were thinking. There’s a little bit of dystopianism to the setting. It’s set in the immediate future in which corporations have continued to gain political sway and aren’t well policed. I actually think this is happening too much already in reality, but I added the Order of Ananke as a sort of conspiracy/ruling force behind it. There’s also some weird science. The Underlight community, the anarchist group that Hauk belongs to, exists off the city electric grid and tries to function in a no-waste manner. There are a pair of young scientists who live there and create weird technological gadgets to make up for what they would otherwise lack.

The paranormal I agree with. There is some magic in it, though not a lot, and Hauk has a few supernatural things about him. In the book-verse, magic is something that most people don’t believe in or use, but it actually does exist. Some characters even use it without realizing it.

I definitely agree with the romance label, particularly if you look at the trilogy as a whole. This first story doesn’t have a happily ever after ending, but the three put together make a romance, and each book shows progress toward that final book’s HEA.

Jean Cocteau’s “Beauty and the Beast,” 1946

I’m a fan of magical realism where everything seems normal… except this thing. This is a little heavier than that, but for the most part the world is written to feel like you already live there. And then something more happens. Most of it is not out of the realm of what some people really believe in–magic, Pagan gods, conspiracy theories, possession, etc. But there aren’t spaceships or vampires or Dungeons & Dragons style fireball flinging. The romance is heavier; there’s a steamy scene early in, and Hauk and Jolie have tension throughout the book and the series. The main overall point of the trilogy is the building of the relationship between the two.

JLH: How do you feel about mixing genres? Does it make it difficult to write? Difficult to market?

JAX: I love mixed genres–reading it and writing it. It’s fun to be able to play in different worlds and create your own. Why can’t you have magic and weird science in the same story? It does make marketing hard, as exemplified by the difficulty classifying it. It can be hard for readers, too, because when you see “science fiction” or something else on a cover, you start reading with a set of expectations that the book will probably not fulfill. That’s been the most mixed reaction in reviews so far. Some people love the genre bending and some people are like, “What is this? It’s all over the place!” I had fun writing it; some people are going to dig it and some aren’t. Which, you know, is going to happen no matter what. 🙂

JLH: Is this book also a little bit steampunk? It looks like it, on the cover.

JAX: This has been a common misconception, and I think it’s because of Jolie’s outfit maybe? She’s a burlesque dancer, and I assume that’s what she’s dressed for, but I think it’s getting interpreted as steampunk. There are some tiny steampunk-like elements in the story because the Underlight has no electricity, and as a result they use gaslight and clockwork to make things run. Plus Hauk had a leg amputated after the fire and now has a mechanical replacement built by the Underlight scientists. But it’s not a steampunk novel, no. I do love my cover though, even if it’s been giving the book an unintentional steampunk rep!

Illustration by Mercer Mayer

JLH: When I read the description of your book, “a burlesque dancer and a scarred Army Ranger team up with a colony of anarchists to fight the power,” I was SO excited to read this book. Where in the world did you get your ideas and inspirations?

JAX: Aw, thanks! Well, like I mentioned earlier, the initial inspiration came from 80s TV and vodka–a potent combo. It actually started as a 15K short (less than half the length of the current version, but ending in the same place) that Angela James, the head editor at Carina, asked me to expand and resubmit, and I got initial notes from Rhonda Helms, my editor. They liked what I did with it and the outline for the three story arc, so I got my first sale.

I’ve always liked movies and books with a fight the power message. As I also mentioned earlier, I do think that wealthy corporations have way too much say in government and get away with all kinds of craziness. Each story in the trilogy begins with an Underlight mission inspired by news articles that I’ve read. Jolie Benoit’s dad was inspired by a certain news mogul. After I finished the first version of the story in the spring of 2011, that news mogul got splashed all over the press in a scandal, and I started laughing because it’s exactly the kind of thing my character would’ve done. (Although they don’t physically look anything alike, for those who know to whom I refer. Reginald, my character, is very image conscious.)

As far as the hero and heroine go, I am the daughter and granddaughter of war veterans (Vietnam and WWII), so making a soldier hero is a natural extension of the respect and love I have for men in uniform. My dad is also such a laid back, friendly guy with a great sense of humor. People used to ask if it was hard growing up the daughter of an Army officer, if he was strict or yelled a lot or something, and I had no idea what they were talking about.

As for Jolie, sometimes it feels like a lot of romance novels have uber-handsome, well-sexed (over-sexed?), wealthy men and average looking, klutzy heroines who are just scraping by financially and longing for some good sexytime. There’s nothing wrong with this (I read those, too), but I figured if I was going to have a hideously scarred, blue-collar hero who hasn’t come vaguely close to sex in five years, I could also have a gorgeous, graceful, rich heroine who’s comfortable in her sexuality. Gorgeous, graceful, wealthy and kind are part of the original Beauty and the Beast fairy tale anyway.

The burlesque dancer and aerialist part I added for fun. I LOVE aerial arts and go watch Sky Candy, a local troupe, on a regular basis. Plus Austin, where I live and where the story is set, has a pretty strong burlesque community, and they have proved to be the nicest, most fun group of people.

Illustration by Walter Crane, circa 1900

JLH: Agreed. Burlesque seems to be growing in popularity here in North Carolina, too, and I’ve met some of the dancers. Wonderful people. The dancers and the audience have so much fun, and there don’t seem to be the body-image issues seen in mainstream media.

JAX: I volunteered at the Texas Burlesque Festival to help with research and, in addition to helping backstage, I got to interview several dancers. I will never forget being in this huge dressing room with maybe fifty performers in various states of undress (and in burlesque, undressed is REALLY undressed). I was interviewing Coco Lectric, a local performer who’s made a name for herself on the national scene, and asked her what brought her into burlesque and why she stayed. Her answer surprised me. She asked if I’d heard anyone complain about the size of her own ass. I blinked. Thought over the weekend. Looked around the room at dozens of women (and a few men) of all shapes and sizes, many of whom were lounging around in pasties and a g-string. And I realized I had not once heard a single comment about body shape. It was pretty astounding.

A common story among the dancers I interviewed is that that they got into burlesque to see if they had the courage to do it, almost like a personal dare. But something changed when they’d completed their first routine; being that naked in front of a cheering crowd made them realize that all the things they’d picked on about themselves–the shape of their butt, the size of their chest, the cellulite on their thighs–were meaningless. Everybody’s shaped differently, and everybody can be sexy just the way they are. It’s a great vibe to be around.

JLH: Part 2, How Beauty Saved the Beast, comes out in February and the finale, How Beauty Loved the Beast, releases in May. Is each a stand alone episode with a beginning, middle and end, or are they more like parts of a serial? I assume they should be read in order?

JAX: Though each story does have its own plot arc, they definitely work better in order. It’s the same hero and heroine throughout the three. The titles tell you pretty much exactly what happens in each. They meet in How Beauty Met the Beast, which is the shortest work at 38,000 words (a little over 100 pages). How Beauty Saved the Beast is longer (52,000 words; around 175 pages). It develops their relationship and, like the title says, Jolie has to do some rescuing. How Beauty Loved the Beast is the longest at 73,500 words (about 225 pages) and it’s the one with the big finale–both with Ananke and with the relationship.

I did a lot of research into burn scars and the physical, psychological and social challenges that survivors of severe burns have to work through. Intense is an understatement. One thing I didn’t realize when I first had the idea was that the medical treatment for burning is often more horrific than the burning. It can last for months of repeated surgeries while the patient lives in isolation because of the danger of infection. As their suffering at the hands of doctors continues, a lot of burn survivors start to associate any form of touch with pain, even long after they’ve left the hospital, making them very protective of their new skin and unwilling to let people close to them physically.

Illustration by Margaret Tarrant, 1915

Plus there’s the whole psychological trauma of having to look at yourself in the mirror and not recognize what you see. When my story starts, Hauk has had a few years to deal with the physical ramifications of his scars and emotionally handles his transformation pretty well as he’s fighting for the Underlight. But as much as he’s attracted to Jolie from the first time he sees her (she’s hanging from a hoop with almost no clothes on while singing about being naughty; I’m not sure that it’s love at first sight 😛 ) this type of trauma is not the kind of thing anyone can just jump into a relationship from. All three books were fun to write, but as Hauk and Jolie (finally, my editor would tell you) start taking the relationship to the next level, it got particularly daunting to be emotionally honest. I’ve never written anything that challenging in my life!

JLH: How long have you been writing and what else have you written? Any WIP you’d like to share?

JAX: Oh, my, I’ve been writing my whole life! I started taking it seriously a few years ago, and just kept writing and taking classes and submitting until I got my break. I’m currently polishing up a New Adult Urban Fantasy called Angel of Air and Earth (although, who knows; maybe a publisher will call it a contemporary romance heehee). I’ve also started to work on the next book in the Tales of the Underlight, this one based on Rapunzel with Brayden, Hauk’s best friend, as the hero and a woman we’ll meet in How Beauty Saved the Beast (book 2) as the heroine. The leads are so wildly different from Hauk and Jolie. Brayden is a hacker with a handsome face, a glib tongue and a penchant for lock picking, and the heroine is… well, I’ll let you meet her in the next book! I’ll just say that she’s more than a little Type A and she and Jolie don’t get along particularly well. Or at all. It’s been really strange jumping from writing Jolie’s point of view to the point of view of somebody who can’t stand her!

JLH: I can’t wait to read it. Thanks so much for visiting, Jax, and I wish you all the best success!

For more information about Jax Garren and the Tales of the Underlight series, see JaxGarren.com.

Posted in Q&A, Romance, Science Fiction, Visiting authors | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Stellarnet Tarot

Posted on December 1, 2012 by J.L. Hilton

For fun, I created Tarot cards of the main characters in my Stellarnet books, the cyberpunk romantic tale of interstellar news blogger Genevieve O’Riordan, her soulmate and alien rebel-turned-ambassador Duin, and the sapphire-skinned outcast Belloc. In the second book, Stellarnet Prince, they visit Earth, meet the U.S. president, punch monsters in the eye, thwart a kidnapping, befriend a cyber-ghost and consult digital tarot cards.

Cross my palm with silver and we’ll see what their cards have to tell us…

Genevieve “J’ni” O’Riordan as the Queen of Cups

The QUEEN OF CUPS represents love, compassion, kindness, creativity and literacy. She is of pure heart, a loving woman and a loyal friend, just like Genevieve O’Riordan. In Stellarnet Rebel, Genny is moved by Duin’s account of his world, Glin. Tikati invaders enslave and imprison Duin’s people and begin a process of environmental devastation. She uses her blog to interview him and tries to convince Earth to intervene. In Stellarnet Prince, she’s become a reluctant Net celebrity dedicated to mending the rifts between humanity and aliens, between herself and her xenophobic parents, and between the two individuals she loves most in the universe.

Duin as the King of Cups

Duin, like the KING OF CUPS, is a mature, paternal man who is creative, intelligent and kind. The elder of his river, he cares about others and always responds to their needs with compassion. He is tolerant of all points of view and shows patience in the most trying of circumstances – unless he has to deal with the Tikati who invaded his home. Then he’s hot vengeance on a stick and woe to any who get in his way. His magnanimous good nature is pushed to the breaking point in Stellarnet Prince, when he attempts to ally Glin with the U.S. and join the United Nations, but humanity’s friendship is as challenging as Tikat’s aggression.

Belloc as the Knight of Cups

The KNIGHT OF CUPS is romantic, sensitive, introverted, visionary and intense. He will give the impression of being open, calm and caring, but is often subject to intense inner turmoil and insecurity. This card represents someone who will sweep you off of your feet, pledge to love you forever, propose marriage, tell you everything you want to hear – and mean every word he says. He will rescue you, adore you, and fear he still isn’t worthy of you. Is it no wonder that Belloc is a reader favorite? But does he have the strength to keep secrets that could start a civil war and destroy the only people he loves?

The Major Arcana card STRENGTH represents the ability to weather any storm, to swim when one might sink. Genny needs strength to withstand the disapproval of her parents and the scrutiny of a Net-based society where every move she makes is followed, blogged and trolled, every minute of the day. Duin needs strength to deal with the dark side of humanity and the horrible truth behind the Tikati invasion. Belloc needs strength to face the terrifying r’naw of Glin and the ghosts of his past.

I’ve chosen the r’naw eye as a symbol of that strength, for reasons that readers of Stellarnet Prince will understand.

R’naw eye and Belloc’s gloved hand for Strength

Tikati as the Devil

The Ace of Cups with a j’ni flower

Hax as the Magician

Colonel Blaze Villanueva as the King of Swords

Seth MacGowan as the Knight of Swords

Any other Stellarnet Tarot cards you’d like to see?

~ J.L. Hilton

Connect, support, comment or contact the author here 

Posted in News & misc, Science Fiction, Stellarnet Prince, Stellarnet Rebel, Stellarnet Series | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Stellarnet Tarot

J.L. Hilton interviewed by Plotting Princesses

Posted on November 30, 2012 by J.L. Hilton

This interview originally appeared November 27, 2012, on the Plotting Princesses blog.

 

 

 

 

Plotting Princesses: How did you get from your day job to writing romance?

J.L. Hilton: I still have a day job homeschooling my girls, ages 8 and 12. I’ve also been a professional jewelry designer for more than ten years and I continue to do that. Not as much as I used to, but I do.

Over the years, I produced a little fiction and a lot of non-fiction – short stories, newspaper articles, columns, that sort of thing. I was content with jewelry as my primary creative outlet, and in 2008 founded a jewelry artists’ collective called the Triangle Jewelry Makers. In 2009, I contributed three projects to the book Steampunk Style Jewelry.

I had no desire to become a professional novelist. But in May 2009, I woke up from a dream and had a story in my head that wouldn’t go away. It consumed me. I wrote it down, had a few people read it, and they urged me to publish. So here I am.

Plotting Princesses: What are your three favorite books of all time?

J.L. Hilton: Les Miserables, Jane Eyre and Vanity Fair. I’m also a big fan of the collected works of Yeats, Dickens, Shakespeare, Poe and Doyle. I love classics. I’m reading the collected works of Elizabeth Gaskell right now.

Plotting Princesses: Morning, afternoon, or evening person?

J.L. Hilton: Evening to very early morning. If I could, I’d stay up until 3am or 4am and sleep until noon. Lunch would be my breakfast. My body is just made that way. I’ve tried to force it into a different schedule without much success for 40 years. I can do it if I have to, but I function much better when the sun is down.

Plotting Princesses: Music–with or without? What kind?

J.L. Hilton: I can’t listen to music while I write, but it helps when I’m plotting, outlining or composing a scene. I use it to get into a character’s head or into the mood of a scene, then I turn it off and write.

I associate the interstellar news blogger Genevieve O’Riordan with songs such as “Stars” by Switchfoot, “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin and “Written in the Stars” by Blackmore’s Night, because this is a story about her traveling into the stars and finding her destiny there. For the alien rebel Duin, I listen to traditional Irish songs such as “The Rising of the Moon” and “The Wind That Shakes the Barley,” or the modern songs “Hero” and “If Today Was Your Last Day” by Chad Kroeger/Nickelback. I know there’s a lot of Nickelback hate on the Internet, but I care more about lyrics than a band’s popularity. They are songs about taking action and trying to do the right thing, which is perfect for Duin. For the outcast Belloc, some of his songs are “Home” by Depeche Mode and “When You Say You Love Me” by Josh Groban, because those are songs about loneliness, longing, and finding a place to be.

I listened to “Come What May” from Moulin Rouge a LOT while writingStellarnet Prince. For me, this song expresses the heart and soul of the story. If there’s a theme song to sum up the first book, Stellarnet Rebel, it would have to be “You Raise Me Up,” because at its core it’s a story about how the choices we make can either lift up or tear down our fellow beings.

Plotting Princesses: First or third POV?

J.L. Hilton: The Stellarnet Series is third person. The main POV character is Genevieve “J’ni” O’Riordan, but some chapters are written from the perspective of the aliens Duin and Belloc. In book two, a few chapters are also written from the perspective of a Tikati alien named Kitik and a Glinnish alien named Eb.

Plotting Princesses: Do you juggle multiple projects?

J.L. Hilton: I currently have six – seven? do I hear eight? – WIP, including a weird west supernatural, an alternate history/fantasy adventure, a series of erotic sci-fi novellas, and a first-person POV urban fantasy. The third book in the Stellarnet Series is the one I’m focused on right now, but the others drift in and out on occasion.

Plotting Princesses: What’s harder, the beginning, middle, or the end?

J.L. Hilton: Definitely the middly bits. When I begin a new story, I tend to write one or two of the chapters very near the beginning and a climactic scene near the end, then I fill in what happens between. I’ve compared my process to the underpants gnomes on Southpark. “Phase 1: Collect underpants. Phase 2: ?. Phase 3: Make profit.” Part 1: Interstellar blogger meets alien freedom fighter. Part 2: ?. Part 3: Well, I can’t tell you that without major spoilers!

Plotting Princesses: Revisions. Love ’em or hate ’em?

J.L. Hilton: Love love love ’em and my editor Alison Dasho. That’s where the magic happens.

Plotting Princesses: How did you come up with that title?

J.L. Hilton: My original title for the first book was Asteria Colony. Now, I can’t think of it as anything but Stellarnet Rebel. It’s an awesome, utterly perfect title. I wish I could take credit, but it came from my publisher, Carina Press. They pulled it from a list of words my editor and I sent them which included “stellarnet” (what I call the future Internet that spans several stars, planets and moons) and things like “spacepunk,” “metalscape” and “technorebel.”

Plotting Princesses: Best advice anybody every gave you?

J.L. Hilton: About writing, or life in general?

For life in general: “Unless it’s yes, it’s no.” It was given in the context of relationships, not to stay in one if your heart – or the other person’s – isn’t in it. But it can apply to a lot of things. I guess it’s sort of like “follow your heart” or “don’t cast your pearls before swine.” Go in the direction of your enthusiasm, and don’t waste time or effort on those who are indifferent to you.

For writing: “Stop using so many adverbs. It should be obvious from the dialog whether it is sad, angry or hopeful.” lol

Plotting Princesses: My ideal fictional hero would think me gorgeous no matter…

J.L. Hilton: … if I had bed-head, ears, small eyes and no color on my back. Genevieve O’Riordan is beautiful by humanity’s standards, thanks to her genetic modifications, but the Glin don’t have hair or ears. They have large, dark eyes and coloring on the back halves of their bodies, like frogs. Beauty transcends physical characteristics, for my heroes.

Plotting Princesses: What’s your favorite dessert?

J.L. Hilton: Black and white cookies (aka half moon cookies). You just had to bring them up, didn’t you? Where’s my car keys…

Plotting Princesses: Do you write at home or someplace else?

J.L. Hilton: I usually write on a laptop in my bedroom. But I did write portions of the Stellarnet Series at Tir na nOg Irish Pub and on thriller novelist Andrew Britton’s couch.

Plotting Princesses: What’s your favorite type of hero/heroine and why?

J.L. Hilton: Flawed heroes who can’t seem to get a break (Edward Scissorhands, Phantom of the Opera) or anti-heroes who aren’t afraid to break the rules (or a few heads) and flaunt convention in order to do what’s right and protect their own (V for Vendetta, Firefly). Belloc is a little bit of the former, Duin is a little – ok a LOT – of the latter.

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Where cyberpunk meets costume drama

Posted on November 29, 2012 by J.L. Hilton

This post originally appeared November 28, 2012, on Susanna Fraser’s blog as part of a guest author exchange.

That I love science fiction is something I’ve written about in many interviews and blogs. But I rarely get to talk about the fact that cameos, brass bezels, watch parts and copper wire surround my laptop because I also design Neo-Victorian jewelry. My work is featured in Steampunk Style Jewelry, 1000 Steampunk Creations, and Make Jewellery magazine.

My favorite books are Vanity Fair, Les Miserables and Jane Eyre. My favorite adaptation of Jane Eyre is the 1996 directed by Franco Zeffirelli – who also directed my favorite versions of Taming of the Shrew and Romeo and Juliet.

Some of my favorite authors are Poe, Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I am currently reading my way through the complete works of Elizabeth Gaskell, and I love the miniseries North & South, based on her 1855 novel.

I haven’t met a costume drama or period piece I didn’t like. Whether it’s Fingersmith, Downton Abbey, The Way We Live Now, the Sharpe series, Nicolas Nickleby, Little Dorrit, The Devil’s Whore (renamed a tamer The Devil’s Mistress in North America), Emma, the Forsyte Saga or many, many more. I’m in the U.S., but I watch more BBC than American telly, thanks to Netflix.

Not only have I read Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, I’ve watched two movie versions (1945 and 2009), as well as a movie of Wilde’s Canterbury Ghost, and his own life story in Wilde starring Stephan Frye and Jude Law. My favorite portrayal of Wilde, however, is by Peter Egan in Lillie, about the life of Lillie Langtry.

I’d rather read literature from the Victorian period than Neal Stephenson or William Gibson. So why am I writing a cyberpunk science fiction series?

Cyberpunk is described as “high tech and low life.” The genre is about advanced science, things like digital technology and genetic modification – the “cyber” – coupled with a degree of breakdown or radical change in the social order – the “punk.” Stellarnet Rebel takes place in 2062 and features an interstellar news blogger, a freedom fighter and a video game loving outcast.

Daniela Denby-Ashe as Margaret Hale in North & South was one of my inspirations for my Stellarnet Series heroine, Genevieve O’Riordan. Victorian authors did not just write about pretty gowns and balls, they wrote about social change, women’s rights, the desire for freedom and independence, the power of kindness over cruelty, compassion and reason over superstition and fear. They delved into the human heart, not only its loves but its frustrations, faults, hopes and dreams.

In its way, the Industrial Era was also about “high tech and low life.” Think of factories and mines, orphanages, smoke, sickness, poverty, and Oliver Twist. I wanted to take those themes and move them into our immediate future. Even in a world with digital technology, Internet and social media, some things don’t change.

~ J.L. Hilton

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Guest: History geek and author Susanna Fraser

Posted on November 28, 2012 by J.L. Hilton

Though I write SF/F, I tend to read classics and I love historic romance and costume dramas. Though she writes historic romance, Susanna Fraser loves science fiction and fantasy. We both have new books released this month — Stellarnet Prince and An Infamous Marriage — so we’re blog swapping today. She’s here to talk about geekery, and I’m on her blog talking about history. Welcome, Susanna!
— J.L. Hilton

On my writing desk I have two toys that serve as my mascots–a giant plush version of Appa the sky bison from Avatar: the Last Airbender and a miniature of the Duke of Wellington on horseback, part of a whole collection of Waterloo miniatures I might buy if I had the time, money, and space to build a giant battlefield diorama in my basement.

My desk tells you my identity — I’m a geek, subspecies history geek.

On the geek front, I own the entire run of Buffy on DVD and will occasionally burst into songs from the musical episode. (If I can’t get “Going Through the Motions” out of my head, I know it’s time to start looking for a new day job!) I also own Firefly and always squee when Nathan Fillion makes subtle little references to it on Castle. My favorite Doctor is Nine, and my favorite Star Trek was Deep Space 9. My desktop wallpaper is from The Legend of Korra.

I turn into a total fangirl whenever Lois McMaster Bujold’s name comes up. (If you haven’t read her Vorkosigan Saga, you really must–wonderful characterization, and depending on the book, you get a varied and delightful mix of space opera, adventure, mystery, and romance.) I also love Naomi Novik and Jacqueline Carey, to name just two. Though I was late to the party on George RR Martin, only discovering him when Game of Thrones first aired on HBO, I’m now fully caught up on the series and can debate Jon Snow’s true parentage with the best of them.

So why am I writing historical romance, rather than science fiction or fantasy? Well, it’s entirely possible I will try my hand at fantasy one of these days. But aside from that, I’ve always been fascinated by, and occasionally obsessed with, history. I’m driven to understand the past, all the choices and chances that brought the present into being. And from my early days as a girl reading the Little House books at my mother’s side, I’ve loved stories as a way of bringing the past to life. A good historical novel–whether romance, mystery, YA, literary, or any other genre–contains every bit as much worldbuilding to make 1066 or 1692 or 1815 real in the reader’s mind as a science fiction or fantasy novel uses for its imagined setting.

What about you? What are your favorite genres, and do you stick to one or two, or are you an omnivorous reader?

I’ll be giving one copy of my new release, An Infamous Marriage, to a commenter on this post in your choice of e-book format, and at the end of my blog tour I’ll be giving a one commenter on the tour as a whole grand prize of a $50 gift certificate to their choice of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Powell’s Books. You get one entry per blog tour stop you comment upon, so check out my blog for the whole schedule! The tour is starting to wind down, but there are still a few stops left!

I look forward to replying to your comments, but it’ll be late in the evening in most North American time zones before I get a chance. I have a full-time 8-5 day job and don’t get much time online till the evening.

— Susanna Fraser

* * *

(Psst… I LOVE this cover! — J.L. Hilton)

Northumberland, 1815

At long last, Britain is at peace, and General Jack Armstrong is coming home to the wife he barely knows. Wed for mutual convenience, their union unconsummated, the couple has exchanged only cold, dutiful letters. With no more wars to fight, Jack is ready to attempt a peace treaty of his own.

Elizabeth Armstrong is on the warpath. She never expected fidelity from the husband she knew for only a week, but his scandalous exploits have made her the object of pity for years. Now that he’s back, she has no intention of sharing her bed with him—or providing him with an heir—unless he can earn her forgiveness. No matter what feelings he ignites within her…

Jack is not expecting a spirited, confident woman in place of the meek girl he left behind. As his desire intensifies, he wants much more than a marriage in name only. But winning his wife’s love may be the greatest battle he’s faced yet.

* * *

Susanna Fraser wrote her first novel in fourth grade. It starred a family of talking horses who ruled a magical land. In high school she started, but never finished, a succession of tales of girls who were just like her, only with long, naturally curly and often unusually colored hair, who, perhaps because of the hair, had much greater success with boys than she ever did.

Along the way she read her hometown library’s entire collection of Regency romance, fell in love with the works of Jane Austen, and discovered in Patrick O’Brian’s and Bernard Cornwell’s novels another side of the opening decades of the 19th century. When she started to write again as an adult, she knew exactly where she wanted to set her books. Her writing has come a long way from her youthful efforts, but she still tends to give her heroines great hair.

Susanna lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and daughter. When not writing or reading, she goes to baseball games, watches Chopped, Castle, and The Legend of Korra, and cooks her way through an ever-growing cookbook collection.

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The Hardest Part: J.L. Hilton on Stellarnet Prince

Posted on November 22, 2012 by J.L. Hilton

This post originally appeared November 21, 2012, in the “Hardest Part” series by Bull Spec magazine.

Raleigh author J.L. Hilton’s debut novel Stellarnet Rebel was published by Harlequin imprint Carina Press in January, with a release party at Tir Na Nog. A fitting place, as the space station at the center of the novel contains an Irish Pub and one of the book’s protagonists, Genny O’Riordan, well, you can probably guess by the name. (Also, there’s a certain shortage of local Glin establishments, though that’s more than understandable considering it is one of the alien races invented by Hilton for the book.) The series combines cyberpunk, video games, space adventure, blogging, and even a couple scenes of (well done) character- and plot-relevant sex in a page-turning package. Earlier this month, Carina Press published book two, Stellarnet Prince, and in this week’s edition of The Hardest Part, Hilton talks about the struggles of writing the sequel. Under deadline. And with the rest of a full life happening. – Bull Spec

* * *

With a sequel, an author has to walk a tightrope between context and clunky exposition, back story and boring, while avoiding the flaming faults of the first book and juggling its strengths. On a unicycle… of… deadlines. (Can I stop the circus metaphor now? I’m starting to hear creepy calliope music…) This is a challenge, to say the least, and some authors experience terrible writer’s block with sequels. Or so I’ve heard. I didn’t, but then Stellarnet Prince is the first second book I’ve ever written. There’s always next time.

I wrote my debut novel, Stellarnet Rebel, without the need to reintroduce characters or remind readers. I took my own sweet time building worlds, inventing an alien language, and figuring out how the hero sneaks into the military zone of Asteria Colony to steal a spaceship. When do the alarm bells go off? How many airmen are wounded in the process? Can he make it through the metal doors before they close? I need to research non-lethal weaponry, rubber bullets, flashbangs, shock poles… tomorrow.

But sequels come with unicycles. I mean deadlines. (There goes the music again.) I’d won a contract for Stellarnet Prince based on a partial and a synopsis, then had six months to add 75,000 words. And they had to be good words, too, dang it. So here’s where I mention I homeschool two children, am the founder of a local club and an annual charity event, and have a successful side business as a jewelry designer. I took two years writing and revising Stellarnet Rebel. But, no prob, I worked in newspapers. You learn to get shit done before midnight or you’re fired.

Given my full plate, constant interruptions are a hard part, but not the hardest part. I envy authors who can lock themselves away in a motel room or cabin. I haven’t sold enough books to be able to afford a good lock, let alone a secret Appalachian hideaway or a vacation. Plus, my husband would have to take time off from his job to stay with the kids, and I just can’t afford that much whiskey, either.

No, the very hardest part of Stellarnet Prince arrived unannounced around 80% completion, when my 7-year-old daughter said, “Are you almost finished with your book? Because I miss you, Mommy, the way you used to be.” Now imagine it with big, teary eyes and a trembling pout. Add a basket of starving kittens if it helps, because the way I felt, they might as well have been there.

Homeschooling, I spend all day with my children. But I understood what she meant. The way I used to watch movies with the family after dinner and she could snuggle in my lap. When I was available for bug slaying or Bandaid duty after 7pm. When I told her a bedtime story and sang her a song instead of just kissing her goodnight so I could get back to work.

After that, every time I closed my bedroom door to write, I thought about how she missed me. I couldn’t shake the feeling of… not guilt, exactly. Parental Responsibility grappling with Personal Reward? Existential angst? A Big Fricking Clock somewhere tickety ticking? Being seven years old only happens once, and then it’s gone. I can write for the rest of my life. I’ll never be as important to any reader as I am to my daughter right now. Balancing my love for her, and her ebullient love for me, with my love of writing is a more difficult act than the plotting, research or revisions of any sequel, because that tightrope runs right through my heart.

~ J.L. Hilton

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A love affair with aliens and monsters

Posted on November 21, 2012 by J.L. Hilton

This post originally appeared November 19, 2012, on urban fantasy author R.L. Naquin’s blog.

I’m trying to remember the first time I fell in love with an alien.

Does Luke Skywalker count? I know he looks human, but he is from another planet. I had such a crush on him from Star Wars through Return of the Jedi, I was really ticked when Leia turned out to be his sister. Ick.

My tween self also liked Tron. I preferred the digital “program” version to the real-world programmer, Alan. But I don’t think Tron counts as an alien, either. Even if he did glow and live inside of a computer.

I think my first foray into truly non-human alien-with-face-makeup romance must have been with Klingons circa 1989. We can thank Michael Dorn for that. If we’d all had the Internet then, I would have been one of those people who wrote fan fiction about Klingon snuggle fests. I know Klingons are all bumpy and bitey, but that’s part of the fun, right?

Oh, but a few years later I met the Cardassians of Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Those bad boys in black leather are wicked hot, sipping kanar while they tried to take over the Gamma Quadrant. Is it wrong to want to be a Bajoran love slave?

About the same time as ST:DS9 came Babylon 5. I didn’t remember much about B5 except the length of a Centauri’s “appendage.” But I rewatched the series in 2009 and fell madly in love with the Narn named G’kar (and I don’t know anything about his appendage, but that’s OK, we can work it out). He remains the subject of my laptop wallpaper even now, three and a half years later.

Ooh! But what about monsters, too? Clancy Brown’s touching performance as Frankenstein’s monster Viktor in The Bride. Nightcrawler in X-men 2. Red-skinned Hellboy and his blue friend Abe Sapien.

What is it about monsters and aliens that I find so attractive? After all, lizard skin and red eyes are not hot, they’re scary, right? Fangs? Scars? Horns? What’s wrong with me?

I think it goes back to my favorite fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast. Long before Disney created Belle the bookworm, I liked the idea that it’s the inside, not the outside, that counts. When you look like a beast, you must earn love with your personality and actions – kindness, generosity, self-sacrifice, bravery, wit – and not just your appearance.

Illustration for Beauty and the Beast by Walter Crane (1845-1915).

When someone has a monstrous or alien visage, I am forced to see a character’s true self without the distraction of human attractiveness. When they are bold, suave, noble, eloquent, shy or lonely, it makes their personalities and emotions even more vivid in stark contrast to their inhuman appearance.

When my heroine Genevieve O’Riordan meets Duin in Stellarnet Rebel, she is meeting an alien for the first time in her life. It’s not love at first sight. He has no hair, big weird eyes and webbed hands. His face is pale but the back of his skull is patterned in shades of green and gray, earning his race, the Glin, the epithet “frogs.” But, over time, she falls in love with him – his intelligence, tenacity, humor, compassion and courage.

For me, this is the essence of true love – looking deep, seeing someone’s true self, and loving them for who their thoughts, words and deeds, not just for what they look like on the outside. I wish more humans would do that.

~ J.L. Hilton

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Weddings in outer space

Posted on November 20, 2012 by J.L. Hilton

Portions of this post originally appeared November 18, 2012, on romance author Christi Barth’s blog.

Stellarnet Prince is a science fiction book with video games, aliens, lasers pew pew, wearable smartphone-type devices, virtual reality, social media, and oodles of real-world cutting-edge technology.

But it’s not a typical sci-fi story because I also happen to love fairy tales and romance. My influences were Beauty & the Beast, Victorian-era literature and tales of Camelot, as much as Firefly, Babylon 5 or V for Vendetta.

I faced several challenges while writing Stellarnet Prince. My characters visit Washington DC, so I went there myself for inspiration and accuracy. I also did a ton of research about the United Nations and diplomacy, watching Youtube videos of state visits and reading all about Blair House.

But wedding planning became my biggest challenge. I spent more time working out the details of my characters’ ceremony than I spent on my own wedding. I chose food, beverages, cake, flowers, a location and everything, just as if it were a real wedding. I wrote vows. I selected a wedding dress. I created a guest list.

Here you’ll see some pictures that I used as my inspiration for the bride’s dress and groom’s suit. The bride is human and the groom is an alien, and they both live in Asteria Colony, on a far away planet, so their wedding is kind of a hodgepodge of many Earth cultures such as clothing from India, music from Ireland, recital of a Shakespearean sonnet, and their Chinese friend Hax as the officiant.

This event had been built up since the first book, Stellarnet Rebel, so I had to give my readers a complete and fulfilling experience of the Happily Ever After.

Plus, several things happen at the wedding that are important to the plot – including an abduction of the bride! But I won’t give you any more spoilers – you’ll have to read Stellarnet Prince to find out if she’s rescued and whether the wedding goes on as planned!

~ J.L. Hilton

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12 Cool Pieces of Technology from the Stellarnet Series

Posted on November 19, 2012 by J.L. Hilton

This post originally appeared November 17, 2012, on author Kait Gamble‘s blog.

I love the Internet. I think it’s the most incredible invention since the printing press, refrigeration, vaccinations, beer or chocolate. It’s changed life on our planet and the course of human history in about a billion ways. So when I sat down to write the Stellarnet Series, of course I included a futuristic version of the Internet.

Google Glass press picture

Contemporary science fiction should have more than lasers and robots, it should extrapolate from the technology that is such a huge part of our lives now — things like social media, video games, virtual reality, tablets and smartphones.

Here’s a list of some of the tech that appears in the books Stellarnet Rebel and Stellarnet Prince. Some of it is already on its way to a reality near you.

1) The Stellarnet. A catch-all phrase for the interconnected networks that include the Terranet for the Earth/Moon, Rednet on Mars and the Asternet on Asteria, site of the first extrasolar space settlement Asteria Colony. It functions like our current Internet, but with more regulation. For example, any information about how to build bombs was banned in 2025.

2) Net bracers are thin, flexible, water-resistant sleeves you wear on your forearms. They have all of the same features as a smartphone or tablet – apps, texting, cameras, maps, etc – but no device to carry, drop or lose. Just touch your arm to activate the icons, and when it’s not in use you can set it to the default “tattoo” app to decorate your skin.

3) Table top keyboards. Dining room tables, kitchen counters, walls, are all interactive and connected to the Net. Lay your hands on the table and a full keyboard appears under your fingertips. No need to be tethered to one location, especially with …

4) Lumina walls. Every flat surface is a potential display. No more computer monitors, TV sets or screens. Open a window right on the bedroom wall or the coffee table to check your messages, watch a movie or add an event to your calendar. Here’s a fun video to demonstrate what I’m talking about.

5) Reusable plastic crates replace cardboard boxes. They may be programmed to display a recipient’s address if used for shipping, or the contents if used for storage. Food labels in the Stellarnet books have similar interactivity.

6) Genmods are expensive genetic modifications that may be cosmetic or medical. The human heroine of the Stellarnet books, Genevieve O’Riordan, has genmods to make her stronger, protect her teeth, change her hair color, eliminate motion sickness, keep her thin and have large breasts. The last two are standard in every female prenatal genmod package.

7) Sim projections look like real people, but they aren’t. They might be controlled by real people, like an avatar in an online game, or run on artificial intelligence. Some are programmed to look and act just like a living or deceased person, using an array of personality parameter settings and a database of everything they’ve ever said on the Net.

8) Net goggles overlay the world with text, icons, ads and all of the things you’d find on the Internet. I had these written into Stellarnet Prince before Google announced its glasses.

9) Multi-gun looks something like a small Gatling gun and shoots lasers, bullets and grenades. The weapon of choice for Earth’s military troops in 2062.

10) Digital Christmas decorations. Bringing a real tree into the house is a thing of the past. Instead, people spruce up their walls with pics of their favorite pines, and friends and family send each other personalized digital decorations. No more tinsel for the pets to eat.

11) Programmable, antibiotic clothing. Shirt doesn’t match your pants? Just reprogram the color code. Don’t like doing laundry? No problem. Wear your undies for a month, then toss them in the recycling bin.

12) Smart Skin bandage. More than just a bandage to cover a wound, it displays vital information about the patient’s heart rate, blood sugar, white blood cell count, iron count, and more.

~ J.L. Hilton

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