Third Daughter (The Dharian Affairs, Book One)
Page 29
Faery Swap is an action and druid-magic filled portal fantasy, told by both a runaway faery prince and the boy he's tricked into taking his place. Parents and Teachers: there is a teacher's guide and card game designed specifically for the book!
Susan writes speculative fiction all up and down the age spectrum. She's always dreaming up something new, so subscribe to her mailing list to be the first to know what’s up!
Faery Swap
(middle grade)
Mindjack Trilogy
(young adult science fiction)
The Dharian Affairs
(steampunk romance)
Debt Collector
(adult future-noir)
Find all of Susan's works here.
(available in ebook, print, and audio)
Third Daughter started as a contest entry on Rick Daley’s blog, The Public Query Slushpile. He wanted to run an experiment (which, naturally, hooked me immediately): given a vague premise, writers were asked to submit a query and the first five pages of a (fictitious) novel. His objective was to see which was easier to write (the query or the pages) and to prove that writers’ fears of their “unique” story being “ripped off” were unfounded. He posited (and I believe) that each author couldn’t help but craft something unique, even though they were starting with the same, basic story construct (a military intrigue). The results? I’m not sure if pages or queries were considered easier (for me, it was definitely pages), but it was clear that the stories were very diverse. And I’m fairly certain I was the only one to take a military intrigue and turn it into an east-Indian steampunk fantasy romance! Rick’s note at the time:
I hope this turns into a project you can finish and sell! I'd totally show all my friends my name on the acknowledgments page.
Well, here you are, Rick!
Your spark of a story kept smoldering for two years, nagging the back of my brain, before I finally turned Third Daughter into a proper novel. It took another year before it was ready for publication. Shockingly, the first line remains the same, although the rest has morphed substantially. Thank you for the nudge and the encouragement—without you, this novel literally would not exist!
Further thanks are due to the wonderfully talented freelancers who helped bring Third Daughter into its final form: Byron Quertermous, who pinch-hit a developmental edit and convinced me this needed to be a trilogy; Sher A. Hart, who lent her sharp copyediting eye to clean up my sloppiness; Ali Cross, who made the book gorgeous on the inside; and Steven Novak, who made it gorgeous on the outside. I’m tremendously lucky to have such wonderful people bringing their talent to bear on my novel!
Special thanks go to my writer-friends and critique-partners, Matthew MacNish and Pavarti K. Tyler, for your insightful notes, quick turn around, and most of all, for loving the story. Thanks as well to Aspi Havewala for the definitive guide to Bollywood movies! That was some of the most fun research I’ve done to date.
Finally, thanks go to my readers for your constant encouragement and excitement about the book as I was writing it. Whether you were following my Third Daughter Pinterest page, or dropping notes asking when the book was going to be out, or just gushing over the steampunkery pictures I posted for inspiration—your enthusiasm is literally the steam that drives my story engines.
I hope you enjoy the result!
Susan Kaye Quinn is the author of the bestselling Mindjack Trilogy and the Debt Collector serial, as well as other speculative fiction novels and short stories. The Dharian Affairs trilogy is her excuse to dress up in corsets and fight with swords. Her work has appeared in the Synchronic anthology and has been optioned for Virtual Reality by Immersive Entertainment. Her business card says "Author and Rocket Scientist" but she mostly sits around in her PJs in awe that she gets to write full time.
Susan grew up in California, got a bunch of engineering degrees (B.S. Aerospace Engineering, M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering) and worked everywhere from NASA to NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research). She designed aircraft engines, studied global warming, and held elected office (as a school board member). All her engineering skills come in handy when dreaming up dangerous mind powers, future dystopian worlds, and slightly plausible steampunk inventions. For her stories, of course. Just ignore that stuff in the basement.
Susan writes from the Chicago suburbs with her three boys, two cats, and one husband. Which, it turns out, is exactly as much as she can handle.
Susan loves to hear from readers!
Like her Facebook Page,
follow her on Twitter , or visit her author blog.
Subscribe to her newsletter
to be the first to hear about new releases.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Map
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Other Works by Susan Kaye Quinn
Acknowledgments
About the Author