The Perihelix by Jemima Pett Book Blast

The Perihelix by Jemima Pett

Book 1 of the Viridian System Series

• Published by Princelings Publications
• Genre: science fiction/scifi-adventure/space opera (for grownups, although I wouldn't describe it as adult)
• Words/pages: 83,800 / 360
• Formats: all ereaders and paperback
• Price: ebook currently on special offer at 99c (rrp $2.99): paperback rrp $10.99

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Blurb:  Two asteroid miners, three women, one spacecraft, and five pieces of a legendary weapon scattered around the galaxy. Big Pete and the Swede are rich, or so they discover after bringing their latest haul of orichalcum in from the asteroid belt. So some well-deserved vacation awaits them. It starts out just fine, with one of the men winning the big flyer-race of the season, but they start to receive odd messages, and despite the attentions from the girls, both realise that someone is trying to drag them back to their pasts, pasts they have tried hard to erase. As they set out to discover who’s bugging them, they are kidnapped by some particularly nasty aliens, which leaves the girls in a mess –stranded on the spaceship with very little idea how to fly it.

 

Buy links:

Amazon eBook - Amazon PB - Smashwords - B&N - Kobo - iTunes - Book Depository

 

 

Interview with Jemima Pett

Q: How did you come to invent the characters in your new book? It was through my regular flash fiction stories on my blog. We'd had a couple of times when I'd ventured into science fiction, once in a Casablanca/Star Wars mash-up which was called Paradisio, and then those characters got mentioned in a Random Title story called the Orichalcum Library, where two asteroid miners wanted to read real books, so the bar owner on another planet got hold of some which had been swapped for food by some fugitives from the Paradisio story. The asteroid miners turned into Pete and the Swede, and there we go.

Q. Why did they end up with three women? Isn't it a bit degrading to bring in your female characters as escorts? Asteroid miners have a reputation for being hell-raisers when they aren't mining. Pete and the Swede want some female company, and after a while they realised they actually wanted company, good food, people to enjoy their vacation with, as well as bed companions. So when they found escorts who they liked, they rehired them, and if you can afford more company, then why not? As for why are the females escorts, well, in the Wild West women are generally either bar girls (escorts) or pioneer/ranchers' wives, and I didn't have any ranches around. The Viridian system is very much Outback, and although there are a few women in what you might call 'normal' jobs on Sunset Strip, it's not an area that's easy to get to without a sponsor. These girls have quite interesting futures ahead of them, though, as you'll see when you read the book.

Q. What was the most difficult thing about writing the book? Having developed my worlds of Pleasant Valley and Sunset Strip, the two inhabited planets of the Viridian System, in part through the short stories, I then had to check the science for them. I've done a course on planetary science, and to me, getting planets that were physically feasible was important. I wanted Sunset Strip to have two sunsets in a Standard day, which led me to realise the difficulties with that, which I've mentioned in the 'world-building' section on the Viridian series website. Now, sorting those worlds out wasn't difficult. But then I realised ALL the other places they go to on their adventures need to be fully realised as well. Oh, boy! Physical characteristics, society, relationships with other planets, weather, occupants.... and keeping tabs on with all with a huge spreadsheet. But it's great fun. As long as my memory holds out!

Q. How do you keep up with the science? At present it's hard, because in the eighteen months since I wrote the first draft of The Perihelix (at Camp NaNoWriMo) there have been huge developments in the detection of exoplanets - planets around stars outside our own system - and level of detail we've worked out about them. We've also had hugely more information about the outer planets of our own system. What is emerging is that basically, anything goes; a lot of what we thought would be the rule from what we knew of the solar system has been turned on its head. It's really exciting! Most of my updates come from a couple of websites, from other bloggers who report on interesting things, from the Norwich Astronomical Society and from the excellent BBC programmes The Sky at Night and Stargazing Live. And with a #BritInSpace on the International Space Station at the moment, there is more interest in astronomy and space travel in the UK than there has been for years.

Q. What's next for Pete and The Swede? Well, I've already written about 15,000 words of Book 2, some of which are scenes for later in the book. I have a setting, some propositions and some problems, but I haven't got the solutions yet - except there will be a third book, so I don't have to complete the overall storyline yet, just advance the main issues of book 2 to a satisfactory conclusion. No cliff-hangers!

Thank goodness for that! Thanks for talking to me, Jemima.

About Jemima Pett:

Jemima has been writing since she was 8 years old, and reading science fiction since she was about 15. She tried writing a scifi book while at college, but was put off writing entirely by a 'friend' who said it was rubbish. Even with a maths degree, a Masters in Environmental Technology and a Diploma in Earth Sciences, Jemima kept writing – although it was mostly manuals, newsletters and research papers. It was only when she moved to Norfolk, on the east coast of England, that she found characters who inspired her to write fiction again – and that led to the Princelings of the East series, now six books long, with the seventh due later this year. Where Pete and the Swede came from is another story entirely, but she thinks the guys who inspired her would probably be flattered, if they realised

Where to find The Perihelix: 

Buy links:

Amazon eBook - Amazon PB - Smashwords - B&N - Kobo - iTunes - Book Depository
 

Author Margaret Fieland: Sci-Fi and Poetry

Join me in meeting Poet and Novelist Margaret Fieland.

Margaret, why did you pick to write books for kids?

Poetry is my first love, and I started taking myself seriously as a writer along about 2005 or so, when I wrote a poem I wanted to keep and see published. This led me to the Muse Online Writers Conference, where I discovered Linda Barnett Johnson and joined her writing forums. Linda required everyone to join both the poetry and fiction forums. That's when I started writing fiction, and I picked writing for kids because it seemed less intimidating. Before that I'd never written any fiction at all, and if you had asked me, I would have sworn I never would.


What types of books do you like to read?

Poetry, science fiction, romance, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal fantasy, mainstream fiction. If it looks interesting, I'll give it a try.


Tell us about Relocated and how the story came to be.

In spite of being a long-time science fiction fan, I was very wary (read phobic) about writing it, and, on a whim, I decided to sign up for 2010 Nano and write a science fiction novel. I decided to write for kids again -- my main character is fourteen -- once more because, again, it intimidated me less than writing for adults. Why? I was anxious about having to write a long book {grin}. Because I wanted to increase the potential word count, and because I love poetry and am crazy, I also decided to go for Robert Lee Brewer's poem-a-day chapbook challenge that November. I created an imaginary poet in the universe of my novel, and wrote 31 of his poems. Eight appear in the book.

 Relocated Blurb

When fourteen-year-old Keth's dad is transferred to planet Aleyne, he doesn't know what to expect. Certainly not to discover Dad grew up here, and studied with Ardaval, a noted Aleyni scholar. On Aleyne, Keth’s psi ability develops. However, psi is illegal in the Terran Federation. After a dangerous encounter with two Terran teenagers  conflict erupts between Keth and his father. Keth seeks sanctuary with Ardaval.  Studying with the Aleyne scholar Keth learns the truth about his own heritage. After Keth's friend's father, Mazos, is kidnapped, Keth ignores the risks and attempts to free him. Little does he realize who will pay the cost as he becomes involved with terrorists.

 

 
Have you written other books? If so, tell us a bit about them.

I'm co-author of Lifelines, a poetry anthology published in November, 2011, and of Sand in the Desert, the book of poems that goes with Relocated. The last two were published this past July. I also have a chapter book, The Angry Little Boy, that will be coming out in 2013.


What’s next for your writing? Are you working on a new story?

I'm editing the novel I wrote for 2011 Nano, another tween/YA science fiction novel that features one of the secondary characters from Relocated as well as an adult science fiction novel featuring another (adult) character.


What advice do you have for other authors?

Learn your craft, including grammar, punctuation, and spelling, to seek out a community of sorts, either online or in person, and to have a realistic view of yourself and your writing, both the strengths and the weaknesses.

I earn my living as a computer software engineer, and at one of the places I worked we would hold design and code reviews. The rules for these were straightforward. We would meet, and the moderator would record the issues brought up by the reviewers. The person being reviewed was allowed to ask questions to clarify the issues, but not to respond to them. After the meeting, the moderator would circulate the completed issue list, and the author could then respond. IMO this is excellent advice for authors as well as computer programmers.


 When you are not writing, what do you like to do?

I love music and play the flute and the piccolo, and I want to try to devote more time to that in the near future. Right now I'm busy raking acorns. We also own a large number of dogs, and they keep me busy as well.


Where to find Margaret and her books:




Relocated:

MuseItUp Publishing's Bookstore

Amazon

Smashwords

Bookstrand
 
Sand in the Desert:   Amazon

Lifelines:   Amazon


Margaret Fieland's Web Site

The Poetic Muselings blog


from Margaret:

I am a native New Yorker, born and raised in Manhattan, and have lived in the Boston area since just after the blizzard of 1976, thus missing the opportunity to abandon my car in a snowbank and walk home. I am the daughter of a painter and the mother of three grown sons. An avid science fiction fan, I selected Robert A. Heinlein's "Farmer in the Sky" for my tenth birthday, now long past.

In spite of earning my living as a computer software engineer, I turned to one of my sons to put up the first version of my website, a clear illustration of the computer generation gap. An accomplished flute and piccolo player, I can also write backwards and wiggle my ears. Thanks to my father's relentless hounding, I can still recite the rules for pronoun agreement in both English and French. My articles, poem, and stories have appeared in anthologies and journals such as Melusine, Front Range Review, and All Rights Reserved. My 2010 NaNo novel, Relocated, was published by MuseItUp Publishing in July.  I published the book of poems that goes with the book through CreateSpace. My book The Angry Little Boy,will be published by 4RV publishing in early 2013. I am one of six authors of the poetry anthology Lifelines.