I have well, reasons, for the desert island mentality – which I’ll share one day.
But the real thing I need to get off my chest is, prior to when I started writing about 18 months ago now, that the last time I read a fiction book was probably around the age of 11 and that was only because I was too young to see the latest Alien movie.
So I read the books instead.
For the longest time I was kinda a science-fiction (book) virgin.
Until my first collaborator - MA.
Long story short - at the age of (redacted) he inspired me to pick up his first novel - to learn the Kurtherian World and the voice, but within weeks he had me writing actual words.
He’s spent hours showing me the ropes and turning me into a writer who publishes… from someone who had never published a single story before, didn’t think she could make anyone laugh, and never thought of herself as a writer.
So, back to my confession.
When you guys and gals reference other series and stuff that most avid sci-fi readers will know and love, you now know that you’re talking to alien from another world.
Now, that’s not to say I haven’t been exposed to other material. I mean, who doesn’t binge watch their life away on Netflix?
(I’m a humongous fan of Doctor Who. I currently have a writing crush on Steven Moffat who is blowing my frikkin mind with his side-splitting dialogues and character development in the current series. And can anyone say Season 5 timey-whimey story arcs?? SWOON! Ok, gimme a moment. Sigh….)
Battlestar Galactica – “just one more episode” was my life well into the wee hours of many a morning and of course, who doesn’t love a bit of Firefly, Dollhouse, Buffy or Angel. Yeppers – Joss Whedon is on my top five professional crushes. I think Aaron Sorkin is in there too.
But though I’m naïve in the ways of the science-fiction written word, I’m pretty versed in the science.
It’s taken me years to be able to talk about it, because I was a geek back before geeks were cool.
Being a chick, in theoretical physics… well, there is a reason I used to hate it when guys would ask what I did. Being smart (and a girl) back then was like being a leper.
Or worse.
And it didn’t help my self-esteem.
But I loved and still love physics. My thesis was in string theory. You know that game where you model particles as string, and D-branes, and then multi-dimensional surfaces? Then that same model that describes the behaviour of a sub-atomic particle turns out to be the same mathematics that describes a black hole?
Yeah.
That kind of thing.
To say I was mesmerised by the mysteries of the universe is an uber-understatement.
So when we started writing Molly, let’s just say I had some material to go off of. (It took me a while to twig why MA would keep asking me, “Well what would you do here?” when we were doing character development discussions. I would keep saying, “Yeah, but I’m not Molly”. And then the penny dropped. #SlowStudy.)
The more I heard him talk about Molly and her internal struggles, the more I felt like he’d been looking into me and just talking about what he sees under the thinly veiled guise of talking about Molly’s character construction.
But through writing Molly, I think that I’ve found some solace. I’m certainly a different person now than I was before I started writing.
And this is my deepest hope for anyone who has ever felt like an outcast, rejected or broken: that perhaps in reading about Molly’s (and now Bentley’s!) adventures and shenanigans you’ll see that you are not alone.
And more importantly, as things evolve, perhaps you will get an embodied sense of how even an outsider can find her tribe. A tribe of likeminded badasses who really get you, care about you and want to stand by your side and make the world a better place with you.
Fast forward 18 months and I’m finally ready to release my first solo project: this little number you hold in your hand now.
I’m soooo nervous about whether you’re going to like it or not. Are you going to like Bentley? Is she just the right mix of broken and spunky to find her way into your affections?
I don’t know.
But I really hope so.
Because I think there’s a little Bentley in all of us. Someone who doesn’t quite know what this world is they’ve woken up to, or what their place is in it, but who is determined to somehow figure it out and do some good along the way – with whatever skills, or brokenness, we’ve been dealt.
This is for all of us.
And if nothing else, I hope to at least have made you laugh!
(Well, maybe it was Loco making you laugh… I hope he did.)
Ellie x
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Here are other series written by Ell:
The Ascension Myth
– known amongst the fans as “the Molly series”.
How Molly has survived military life this long, we'll never know.
When her implanted computer interface is hacked by a nascent AI, Molly has to escape.
And her biggest problem?
The swiftest and most efficient way to get out is also the most embarrassing.
Mortifyingly embarrassing.
If you your space opera with snark, action and characters that support each other, you will love The Ascension Myth where we find out if a dysfunctional genius can change the universe.
We double-dog dare you NOT to fall in love with Molly.
The Giles Kurns Chronicles
– known amongst the fans as “the Giles series”.
Giles is a roguish space archaeologist.
And a good one too.
The problem?
He's addicted to adventure.
When the continued existence of his whole world is thrown into jeopardy, Professor Giles Kurns may well have to face his biggest challenge yet...
Growing up.
Together with an old war ship, an old frienemy, and a rather spunky AI, he embarks on a high stakes journey of intrigue to uncover the truth about the Ascension Myth.
Will they solve the riddle of the strange but powerful talismans before it’s too late?
If you like fun, Indiana Jones-like adventures you'll love this series because it is a smart, hilarious, swashbuckling romp in space with characters you'll just want to take home with you.
The Second Dark Ages
Books 3 and 4. aka the “Michael series”
– Ell helped Michael (aka Yoda) out on the last two books to help him finish out the series.
And because, well, he wanted to kill his villain using… physics!
Ranger Deuces
This series lays out the (mis)adventures of Tabitha (an enhanced vampire who is off saving the universe – yes, vampires in space!) and spunky Nickie (the messed-up niece who was left behind).
Ell calls this the Nickie series, because that was her storyline. Her collaborator calls it the Tabitha series, because that’s who he wrote. And sometimes they find a middle ground and agree to disagree on stuff…
Thank Yous
Lots of people go into making a series like this. I’d like to say a massive thank you to the team of suppliers who made this book possible: Amy, Canadian Brittany, Jeff-fa-fa (his name is actually just Jeff, but I’m a fan of Jeff Dunham so now I can’t say ‘Jeff’ without saying Jeff-fa-fa!), Max, Steve, Justin and Hayley.
Thank you!
JITers
Massive, uber thanks also go out to our JIT team and Canadian Brittany for all their hard work in making sure
the words reach you in tip top condition. Thank you so much for all the care and attention you put into the process. Without you… well, I’d probably be crying in a corner and this book still wouldn’t be published!
Reviewers
Mega thanks also goes out to our hoard of Amazon reviewers. It’s because of you that we get to do this full time. Without your five-star reviews and thoughtful words on Amazon we simply wouldn’t have enough folks reading these space shenanigans to be able to write full time.
You are the reason these stories exist and you have no idea how frikkin’ grateful I am to you.
Truly, thank you.
Readers and FB page supporters
I’d like to also thank *YOU* for reading this book. Your enthusiasm for the worlds, and characters, is heart-warming. Your words of encouragement, and demands for the next episode are the things that often stay in my mind as I flick from checking the Facebook page to the scrivener file when I start each writing session.
Thank you for being here, for the giggles and interaction, for reading, and reviewing. You rock, and without you, there really would be no reason to write these stories.
Thank You to Our Growing Patreon Family
Last and by no means least I’d like to say a huge thank you to our growing Patreon family.
Allan MacBain, Amy Teegan, Andrew McEwen, Brian Roberts, Charles Wood, Charmaine McDonald, Cynthia MacLeod, Darrell Heckler, David Pollard, James Burrett, Jason M. Greatreaks, John DeBlanc, Jolie Brackett, JoPen, Judith Wiseman, Kendra Gilmore, Lester Nye, Mary Morris, Nat Thongchai, Russell Peake, and Sandra Chapman.
You may occasionally notice that a normal/ “human” name is used for characters here and there. That is because this is one of the ways we honor our Patrons – we name characters after them. Since this book has been 12 months in the making we haven’t done that in this one, but as we release quickly going forward, this is something that will crop up. (We’re already doing it in other series we have in the works.)
If you’d like to get a character named after you, and to continue the back stage shenanigans, feel free to join us over at: http://www.Patreon.com/ellleighclarke.
I’ll look forward to hanging out with you over there – either through the Author Shenanigan videos, or on one of our live streams. We’ve already done a movie day, and believe it or not, I think they are going to get me doing a live baking thing at some point.
(As you may imagine, I’m no baker, so this is going to be interesting!)
Until then…
Ellie x
Awakening Page 22