All New FAQ for Across a Star-Swept Sea

Why, hello there, internets. You have questions about my book? I have answers. I hope.

Q: Why is this book inspired by the Scarlet Pimpernel?

A: Because spies are cool, and fashionable spies are the coolest.

Q: No, really. Isn’t it weird that it’s not Austen?

A: I don’t know, is it? I mean, is it any more weird that it’s not Austen than that I’m using classic works of literature to spin a yarn about a far-flung imaginary future? And if so, then I’m cool with that. Weird is cool.

Q: Are Kai and Elliot going to be in the book?

A: Yes.

Q: I mean, really in the book, or just mentioned offhand?

A: Really in the book. With like, lines and everything.

Q: So then why are you calling this a companion instead of a sequel?

A: Well, the book is not about the people or situations in For Darkness. It’s its own story, which can be read completely separately and in any order from any of my other books (or The Scarlet Pimpernel, while we’re on that subject). I tend to think of sequels as being continuations of the stories in the previous books (like with my other series). And while fans of For Darkness can catch up with Elliot and Kai in Star-Swept, they are minor characters.

Q: Are the characters in the book Pacific Islanders?

A: Well, they live on two islands call new Pacifica, so definitively yes. Seriously, though, they are a futuristic population descended almost wholly from Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander peoples, so there is a racial regularity there. It’s actually the only book I’ve ever written where all the characters are of the same race. But don’t worry — humans being humans, they’ve found other reasons to irrationally hate each other.

Q: If Persis is a person of color, why does she have white/yellow hair?

Hmmmmm…

Oh, that’s right. Because people can have any damn hair color they want. Right, B?

Q: Why do you spell his name Justen?

A: That may be a question better left to his parents. Who are dead. Hmmm… Okay, I’ll take a crack at it. Aesthetically, it’s because I thought Justen Helo looks nice, and I was dead set on the name Helo. His last name was Helo long long long before his first name was Justen. (He actually had three first names before I finally settled on Justen, which, of course, is a play on Marguerite St. Just.) Also, the way names work is that the longer they last, the more likely they are to have alternative versions and spellings come to the forefront (otherwise known as the Margaret/Margot/Marguerite or, more recently Michaela/McKayla/Makayla effect). Many of the names in the story are ones that sound sort of, but not quite familiar to the ears of modern readers (such as Andrine or Tero). As regular readers know, I’m a big name nerd (seriously, I have a whole mess of name blogs that are part of my daily blog reading), and so the history and use of names, how their popularity waxes and wanes over time, and how they change over centuries and millenia is a big topic of interest to me. In For Darkness, the names given to people and chosen by people once they got the chance to choose for themselves were very important to the story. Names in this story are important too, for different reasons — the names characters bear have a weight and a history to them that are a constant presence in the character’s psyche.

To give one example: the character of the Princess Isla is a member of a royal dynasty in which every single daughter of that family is named Isla. Every one, for hundreds of years. And all the sons were named Albie — her father, her older brother and her younger brother — all Albie. I borrowed this naming practice from the ancient Romans, whose daughters all had feminized versions of family names. For instance, all the daughters of the Iulii family (Julius Caesar, etc.) were named Iulia (Julia). The first names of the royal family of the island of Albion are indicators of their membership in that family.

Q: When is it coming out?

A: October 15.

Q: That’s AGES away!

A: You said it, buster.

Q: Are you doing any appearances for this book release?

A: Most definitely. But October is a long time away, so things aren’t necessarily finalized yet. Here’s what I do have on the schedule so far this year:

March: New York City Teen Author Festival
April: Annapolis Book Festival
May: BEA
August/September: Dragon*Con
October: Capclave

And there’s more coming, seemingly every day.

Q: Are you going to have anything out before then?

A: Definitely the paperback of For Darkness Shows the Stars, this summer. And there may be something else. I’m not sure on that one, yet.

Q: Hey, what’s the story with the third killer unicorn novel?

A: That question has nothing to do with Star-Swept!

Q: I know. I cheated. But I gotta know.

A: I promise, the second I know, I shall tell you all. I do not know yet. I am still working on it.

Q: Why isn’t it October yet?

A: I know, right?

Q: Will there be ARCs?

A: I am told there will be.

Q: Can I have one?

A: We’ll see…