New interview with sci-fi author Zanne Raby

A hearty welcome back to sci-fi author Zanne Raby. Today we’re chatting about book three in her Chronicles of Deneb series, Fires of Fury.

During her virtual book tour, Zanne will be giving away a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:
Zanne joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1980 and was selected to attend the Royal Military College of Canada – the first year that women were accepted into that prestigious academy of learning. After graduation, she studied to become a Transportation and Movements Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force and served until her retirement 38 years later in 2018.

Zanne bought a small acreage in Central Ontario and designed her own house. With a cozy office overlooking the shores of Georgian Bay, she decided to pursue her life-long ambition: to become an author.

Zanne is currently crafting The Chronicles of Deneb, a sci-fi space opera series that will take the reader from a dystopian earth on a voyage across the universe in search of a safe haven. But trouble is in store for them when the planet they land on is anything but the sanctuary they sought.

When not behind the keyboard, Zanne enjoys travel, photography, hiking, and gardening. And always, a good story to pass the time.

Welcome back to Reviews and Interviews, Zanne.
Thank you, Lisa, for having me back and I hope my interview gives the readers a little taste of my work and myself.

Please tell us about your newest release.
Fires of Fury is the latest release in the sci-fi / space opera series ‘The Chronicles of Deneb’. The series begins on Earth in the year 2080CE. Step six decades into the future and look around in dismay as you realize that nothing has been done in reply to the current days’ crises. The oceans have risen, flooding coastal cities and leading to an avalanche of migration, since climate change was never addressed. Famine and drought exacerbate the situation. And somewhere, a group of demented bioengineers craft a deadly disease to reap the harvest of humanity.

Into this mess steps Dr. Daniel Radu and his crew, and pirating a giant space ark, they set out on a journey of discovery. After years in space, they land on a distant planet, Deneb7, capable of supporting life. What a surprise when they learn that the planet hosts intelligent, humanoid life.

Carriers of the deadly disease, their arrival sets off a chain of events that leads to a brutal conflict.

Now in the third novel, the conflicts have been won and the victorious nation of Wesselan is writing history. On a planet decimated by the human introduced disease, the Wessels must find a way of resurrecting their economy and the solution they craft is more brutal than the battles that were fought. And caught in the madness is General Pallav Kóbor, the burly human Provost Marshal of the Wessel army, who must oversee the implementation of the Wessels’ plan for retribution. Pallav is not alone in the maelstrom. Joined by his human colleague, warbird ace Lieutenant-Colonel Fynn Vogel, the two must navigate through a dangerous backdrop of terrorism and devious and cunning spies.

What inspired you to write this book?
What inspires me to write is the simple fact that I want to tell stories that entertain people. I adore action movies and, don’t laugh, I love the old shoot ‘em up type novels written almost a century ago. It is my belief that people need to escape from contemporary times where our planet is facing so many life-threatening conflicts and dangers. I was inspired to write Fires of Fury for that very reason.

Being the third book in the series, Fires of Fury continues with the crew of the Space Ark Mayflower as they interact with alien races. There’s Fynn Vogel, the one-time pilot of the Space Ark now flying alien warbirds. Pallav Kóbor, the tough guy with a soft heart, digs himself into dark pit of destruction all the while trying to justify his actions. General Ravenna, the female leader of the alien Wessel Army, locks horns with a seductive enemy spy. And the tiny, spirited Tara Kóbor jumps into action in an attempt to foil a terrorist plot.

Fires of Fury is a sci-fi adventure novel set on a distant planet, and although there are themes of war and deceit, my inspiration has always been simply to entertain people.

 

Excerpt from Fires of Fury:
Pallav Kóbor, Provost Marshal of the Wessel Army retook his seat at the centre of the table. Ice cold fingers reached out to the burly human, probing and seeking as if on the hunt for an elusive creature, searching his soul while through his mind a voice rang out, ever so faintly. Like a wind through the pine forests of the Russian steppe, the voice rustled through the fibers of his being, calling out to him.

You never understood my story then, did you? How they took me one day, when the sun was high in the sky, and I was walking along the banks of the Samara River. Took me without warning, not even the time to kiss my wife and little son goodbye. It too was for a great purpose, so I was told, but I found anything but purpose at the Kuybyshev labour camp. And then I became only a smudge in the pages of our family’s history. Disappeared like a robber in the night into the deep shadows of crimes that are buried. And like leaves of autumn, I decomposed into the soil of the past where I now lie forgotten. Pallav… does not the blood of your ancestors flow through your veins? Pallav… let not your name be tainted with dishonor.

Irritation rose within him, the words pounding in a surf of recrimination against the shores of his soul. Or was that the wood dove perched in the willows, the plaintiff notes of its coo-oo carried on the wind? He did not care. For the winds had kindled a fire, its flames consuming the leaves that carpeted the forest floor. A spark was set alight by the perfidious mantra of Minister Goffa and the powder keg erupted and flared. Words flashed their fiery venom, incinerating the ghost that had probed his spirit: The Geiten are a curse upon Deneb. A curse upon Deneb…

With one quick movement, Pallav got up and shut the window and then marched off the path of salvation.

 

What’s the next writing project?
Well, right now I’m working on the fourth novel in the series, Peril in Paradise. From Deneb7, I’m going to swing over to a different alien planet, Cepheus9. Both planets are part of the “Collective”, which is like the United Nations but on an interplanetary scale. Peril in Paradise is all about Dr. Daniel Radu and the work he is doing as an exobotanist for the Collective. He’s not exactly thrilled with his new job, seeing that he was the astronautical engineer who oversaw the entire Space Ark Project back at NASA. In Peril in Paradise, Daniel realizes (finally) that no matter where the humans go, they sow the seeds of discontent. Together with his supervisor, the very competent Cepheusian Dr. Meera, the two must come to terms with deception and dangers that lurk within the Collective.

What is your biggest challenge when writing a new book? (Or the biggest challenge with this book)
Fires of Fury deals with racism and labour camps in some scenes. To get into the story, I watched, read, and researched about the concentration camps of WW2, prisoner of war camps, as well as some very nasty modern prisons. The biggest challenge I faced was that I needed to develop a system of labour camps that were pretty much impossible to escape from, but I knew that my genius protagonist was going to escape (in a future novel). And he wouldn’t have a lot of tools to work with. That was really challenging.

If your novels require research – please talk about the process. Do you do the research first and then write, while you’re writing, after the novel is complete and you need to fill in the gaps?

I do a lot of research when I’m writing. Some of it is on the spot, such as, I need a name for an alien species of plant that looks a lot like sage brush. In that case, I use google translate and type in the characteristic of the plant or the person and I patiently translate the attribute into a dozen or more languages until I find a word that sounds appropriate.

For the “big ticket” items, it’s quite a bit different. My initial outline tells me what will transpire in that specific chapter. For example, if I am writing a chapter where Daniel is in a starship, I know that Daniel will be all over the chief engineer like a rash, asking questions about its propulsion system, etc. If the chapter deals with Fynn flying against an alien warbird pilot, I need to get the moves of his Stryker Skykiller down pat. In these cases, I have an overall vision of what is going to happen in the chapter, then I begin to research the technical or scientific aspects before I start writing. I am a big plotter, so I wouldn’t be able to write without having the research at hand.

What’s your writing space like? Do you have a particular spot to write where the muse is more active? Please tell us about it.
I work in an office in our house. That was fine until we purchased a puppy who seems to want to bark at anything that goes by our house. Or when he wants to be petted. Or when he needs a walk, or a snack, or a treat, or he sees a fly on the wall. Right now he is at my feet chasing his tail. I’m beginning to think that I need to sneak into the basement and work there, since he’s too tiny to climb down the stairs!

What authors do you enjoy reading within or outside of your genre?
I read mainly non-fiction, and my preference is for military history (go figure). Right now, I’m reading The African Kaiser, written by Robert Gaudi. It’s a story about a German solider who rose to the rank of general in WW1, but beforehand he travels to China to fight against the Boxers in the Boxer Rebellion, then is sent to German South West Africa where he takes part in the uprisings by the Herero and Hottentots.

One of my absolute favourite novels of all time is Hans von Luck’s Panzer Commander. Here is a man who could overcome any obstacle with panache. I’ll never forget how, while a POW in Russia after WW2, Hans learns how to knit socks using the insulation from electrical wiring.

In terms of fiction, I greatly enjoy the old masterpieces of centuries gone by. Think Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers, Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, anything by Leo Tolstoy (especially Anna Karenina). Oh something on the other end of the scale: Edgar Rice Burroughs. I love the Barsoom series as well as Tarzan!

Anything additional you want to share with the readers today?
Not to sound like a broken record, but as an Indie author, I’d like to remind readers of the importance of reviews (both good and bad, but constructively, please!). I write to entertain my audience and I read every review to see where/ what I could improve.

My thanks to everyone for following me along on this book tour and I wish you all a very happy holiday season.

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