Today’s special guest is novelist Stella Atrium and we’re chatting about her new sci-fi space opera, Home Rule: Book III of The Tribal Wars.
Bio:
Stella Atrium presents planet stories about female protagonists of diverse ethnicities who encounter obstacles relatable to our lives today. How do women in a conflict zone gain voice in the public square using the few tools available to women?
The Bush Clinic received an Editor’s Pick from BookLife, a 2022 Artisan Book Review Award, and a 2023 Independent Press Award for Science Fiction.
The second novel titled The Body Politic also received an Editor’s Pick from BookLife and a Artisan Book Review award.
Home Rule debuted in the Top Ten Amazon ranking for its genre category in August 2023, securing an Editor’s Pick from BookLife, a Literary Titan medallion, and another coveted Artisan Book Review Award for Science Fiction.
Tribal Logic: Book IV of The Tribal Wars is scheduled for release in January 2024.
Also be certain to pick up Atrium’s standalone novel Seven Beyond that won a 2014 Reader’s Favorites Award in Science Fiction.
Please tell us about your current release.
Hey, thanks for the opportunity to talk about Home Rule that winds up the first trilogy in the series. We published widely in August 2023 and debuted in the Amazon Top Ten ranking for its Science Fiction niche category.
Hershel Henry is a photo-journalist from Earth who is reporting for a news conglomerate about conflicts on the distant mining planet of Dolvia. He interviews tribal leaders and meets the women who hold community together in a conflict zone. He gets entangled with tribal politics and commits to the push for regime change and home rule.
What inspired you to write this book?
Writers reflect what we see in the world today. Although located on Dolvia in the galaxy Westend beyond the wormhole, the struggles for liberty and unity are similar to emerging nation-states here. People gather in the public square and agitate for regime change. Leaders are elevated and some fall, but the narrative of home rule and tribal logic prevail over older ideas like state-rule or socialism.
The story is unique in that it focuses on tribal women who must find ways to survive the struggle and have their voices heard in the public square. How do women band together to succeed and provide hope for the next generation?
Excerpt from Home Rule:
from Hershel Henry
Dkar was my landlord in Cylay. A Putuki man with bulging eyes that judged everything, he owned a converted warehouse eight blocks from the governor’s house, if you can call them blocks. I paid rent for two rooms above the storefront where Cylahi-constructed furniture was sold to the newly rich residents of the Putuki city section. People on the street did not bother me much, sometimes to beg alms. My rooms were tossed and robbed, however, whenever I left to pursue a news story.
I was in Dkar’s office to lodge a complaint about being robbed again. Dkar sat in a squeaky chair behind a desk scrounged from an abandoned hotel. “The thefts are friendliness, Hershel Henry,” he said. “Their way of saying that you are useful to them.”
“Look, if you refuse to take my complaint seriously—”
“I like you, Softcheeks,” he interrupted. “You can feel safe here. Safe as long as you allow the activity. If you should bother Putuki police about the theft, well . . . that’s different, huh?”
“Is that a threat? Are you making a threat?”
“I want to help you, Henry. I’m helping here. Tomorrow we go to the bazaar, and there we find your solution.” Dkar leaned forward with a grin, showing the absence of two teeth on the left side. “Trust me.”
It was four days and two thefts later when Dkar knocked on my door. I laughed and shook my head. The doorjamb was splintered where the most recent thief had gained entry after I had bars installed on the windows.
“Come along then,” he said without preamble.
The Cylay local bazaar was long established – a narrow walkway where vehicles found no purchase. We walked past six-by-six kiosks with stacked shelves. Unlicensed, I was thinking, and each with a souk who mostly lived there. I saw second-hand goods near the walkway, also some aging and bruised vegetables. We had to step across a couple of vendors to get to another kiosk with better goods. We struggled through a narrow section where herbalists sold amulets, talismans, and magic poteens.
Finally, Dkar stopped at one counter that I could never find again from trying. I was instructed to buy blue macaw tail feathers.
I squinted. “Bird feathers?”
“Trust me,” Dkar said with that slimy grin.
The feathers were expensive.
What exciting story are you working on next?
Oh, we’re releasing the next trilogy in 2024, we think. Depends on sales. Look for Tribal Logic in pre-order in January. Surprisingly, there’s another trilogy after that. I’m sort of far ahead with the plots and characters.
In fact, I supposed to be writing the final novel in the series that doesn’t have a title yet. There are many sketches already completed, but I need to wrap up the story lines for all characters, which is turning into a puzzle. Or maybe I just don’t want to let go.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
When I was 14, I told my four brothers that I would grow up to be a great American writer like F. Scott Fitzgerald (who was alive at the time.) I can still hear the mocking laughter. I stuck with it, though. Writing was confession, then therapy, then discipline, then expression, then style, then a race toward completion.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
Full-time would be great. I’ve never achieved that, or met any writer who did. I know several college professors who write during winter break.
Just now I have to balance writing with promoting. I learned to manage a year-long calendar and encourage promotion partners to mark certain firm dates. And I learned to look at results for ideas about doing it better next time.
To write, I need to push aside several other demands on my time. It’s a discipline, but I find that the morning hours are more likely to be mine than later in the day.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I like to re-read my manuscripts for entertainment. Sort of sick, huh?
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Rich and famous, mostly rich.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
My ambition is to get the characters who I have lived with for decades in front of their best readers. My loyalty is to the characters. I hope you come to love them as much as I have.
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