Among Bright Stars… (Neo-human #2)
Humanity’s future, isn’t human…
Nadia Korelia, Falcanian queen, has spent the last three years assembling together her sibling Morningstars. Artificial people, who are in every way stronger, smarter and more beautiful. Among these Morningstars are Temujin Sardur, a Mongolian buccaneer, who raided pleasure boats in the Andaman Sea, Guillaume LaSalle, a Gascony spaceship Commander, who participated in bringing alien life to Earth, and Darius Noorani, the 12th Imam foretold by Islamic religion. Can Nadia unite her fellow Morningstars, even as the Falcanians use war, to broker for peace?
It’s finally here, Neo-human book 2!
A few thoughts. The book here is very different from the draft I began with, though the plot is largely the same, how it gets to where its going is somewhat different. Many of the changes came about because these first three Neo-human books were written as a single unit, not unlike LoTR, and the second book behaved too much like “the middle” of the novel than a story on its own. To be sure, the larger story arc needed to be, and is served here, though I made a point to connect the grander arc to the micro focus on Mornngstars and what they are. In fact doing so added another layer of meaning which I didn’t intend to touch on until further down the road in the series.
If “Starblade” was the story of Frederika learning about who, and what she is, then “Among Bright Stars…” is Nadia‘s story exploring she and Frederika‘s common Morningstar origins.
I’m going to forewarn you, there’s a little something for everyone to HATE in this book. It could be the whole Muslim messiah presented as both a Robot and a fierce Westernizer/reformer. After Benghazi, I made a special effort to tick up that plot a bit… Or, it could end up being Princess Sitara‘s life choice – Which will only seem radical depending upon your point of view on the matter – Though its sure to annoy some contingent who think science fiction‘s job is to support one particular party line. On that same note, I’m sure the whole Annunaki riff will grate a few people the wrong way as well. But, I don’t try to please everyone, or anyone but myself first and foremost when I write.
*A sharp eye will note, the Table of Contents (TOC) is different in the Amazon version compared to the Smashwords (aka all other retailers) TOC. That couldn’t be avoided. Kindle was being a pain and wouldn’t read the Table of Contents as it was formatted for Smashwords (which was odd as it had every other time) so I needed to build it a different way. Which is why the epigraph is displayed as it is on the Amazon book.
Artificial people, who are in every way stronger, smarter and more beautiful – and they like to go braless to prove the last point to anyone interested. Plus, the robots they use to enforce their will [if that's what they're really there for] look an AWFUL lot like the big enforcer robot from Disney’s THE BLACK HOLE…
Sorry, dude. First thought that sprang into my head. Or pretty close.
LOL
Actually, your cover model would make a pretty decent Enoshi (“Half-Elf”) in my Covenant Realm, pointed ears, lovely face, long hair, light skin, characteristic top-heaviness and all.
Along those lines: do you do artwork by commission? If so, I may one day knock on your door for something bearing this sort of quasi-stained-glass, modernistic style. And while my editor wouldn’t allow see-through blouses as a near-certainty, I have my own reasons for wanting that degree and kind of physical beauty as an option.
We’ll see what we can work out.
The battledroids are indeed based on Maximilian from The Black Hole! One scary robot that was!!! It stuck with me.
LOL, I had to include the nipples, her boobs looked like formless blobs without them.
Do I have a good eye (with regard to pop cultural references), or just too much time on my hands?
LOL
Well, IRL such formless blobs are pretty “form”-idable; maybe it’s harder to make them so in art. But what do I know?
(Why am I playing along with you here? I value such touches of beauty, but displayed privately. But leave that aside.)
I could waste your time (and probably mine) imagining and writing down here a conversation between my Alain Harper and his wife Autumn Selene about how the latter would like to dress in private much like that (yes, that was long since an idea of my own) – or with less (cut-off tee, cut-off jeans, no bra) – but I will spare us both. But in my Realm the Lightchildren and the Enoshim are loved for many reasons, and one of them is that they don’t go showing off their particular kinds of superiority to mortal Adamim. I leave that to other groups of very gifted beings. (
LOL at myself)
Oh, and thanks for your consideration as an artist. It won’t be immediately, I have to finish the manuscript for submission first. But I will definitely keep your reply in mind.
Book 4 might even have a male on the cover – But I have not gotten that far yet.