Dear Reader,
When I’m talking to people at book shows, scifi gets a
curious reaction. Some simply dismiss it out of hand, some love all the
shoot-em-up high-tech space-wars stuff in it, and others look for something
more in it.
I’m not really into the shoot-em-up stuff, but I do love
space ships. But what I love even more are people, personalities, and the
possibilities in creating alien entities. People who develop on planets unlike
our earth are unlikely to have the same physical or emotional reactions as
ourselves. If they are part of a human diaspora, then they might—but the
culture the original settlers bring with them will alter their viewpoints.
If you think how many and varied our cultures on earth are
now, how much more wonderful would it be out in the galaxy?
It’s really an ecology question. Why do creatures evolve as
they do? What functions do their forms provide, and why so different from
something else in the same niche? Are opposable thumbs really essential for
grasping tools? How does one categorise ‘intelligence’ of wildly different
forms?
That’s one reason I admire author Becky Chambers so much.
Her worlds, her cultures, her people… her AIs growing sentient… all wonderful,
and logical developments. It gets difficult to write scifi that has no
influence from the authors I admire most.
So I settled on an out-of-the-way star system that is the
main source of something the galaxy needs for instantaneous communication. One
of the protagonists talks to the trees, and wonders what lifeforms were
destroyed when they settled the planet. The Viridian System series stems from
there. Some people thrown together, in institutional arrangements that most of
them hate. A chance for an extended chase in search of a mythical sword,
followed by a space accident that results in meeting aliens with a common goal.
And now the last in the series. People cut off from their
loved ones in a galactic disaster. I didn’t realise when I was writing it, but
it’s really about people adjusting to isolation, to changes to their customary
freedoms, and rediscovering self-sufficiency. Mostly, it’s about missing loved
ones.
It’s a mystery adventure set in another solar system, but
you may find something of your own world that seems familiar.
I hope you enjoy it.
love,
Jemima Pett
Jemima reckons she read all of the science fiction in her local library, and most enjoys alternative universes, time travel, consequences of social change and unusual ideas surrounding alien species. Her favourite authors included Anne McCaffrey, Fritz Lieber, Poul Anderson, John Brunner, Robert Heinlein and Arthur C Clarke. These days she likes Becky Chambers, Matt Haig, Lindsay Buroker, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Clare O’Beara, M T McGuire, Jennifer Ellis… She also loves series – once involved with characters she loves to read their continuing adventures.
She has degrees or diplomas in maths, earth sciences and environmental technology and studied with the Unthank School of Writing while she lived in Norfolk. She now lives in Hampshire, where she enjoys rewilding her garden, raising organically grown vegetables, and birdwatching.
She would most like everyone to use their natural resources sustainably, since we only have the one planet to support us.
Her latest book is Zanzibar’s Rings: Viridian System Series (Book 3).
Visit Jemima’s website at www.jemimapett.com or connect with her at Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram and Pinterest.
A Galactic crisis: the entire comms system destroyed. No waypoints, no navigation aids, no database access… and how will spaceships in flight get home—or to any destination?
Dolores is stuck in warp with a very dangerous passenger, Pete gets his shuttle back home on manual. But how come anything in close contact with pure orichalcum fixes itself? Just flying through Zanzibar’s Rings solves the problem—as the Federation’s fighters find, as they descend on the Viridian System to take possession of the planets.
Zanzibar’s Rings brings the Viridian System series to a conclusion with a bang—and a lot of whimpering. And possibly a view of things to come.
Book Information
Release Date: February 22, 2022
Publisher: Princelings Publications
Kindle: ISIN: B093QFX6DV; 380 pages; E-Book, $2.99
Apple Books: https://apple.co/3mSjrvZ
Thanks for hosting me today. I hope you enjoy the letter :)
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