three women, two peoples, one planet - Tangle of Fates by Leslie Ann Moore

"This was a book I really found myself savoring. I didn’t devour it, but read it slowly, soaking everything in and reveling in the beauty. I thought about the book when I wasn’t reading and even raved on social media because it was really blowing my mind. I don’t think I can truly describe the wonderfulness of the book and can only say that I very, very highly recommend it." - Goodreads

Description:

The fates of three women. The fates of two peoples. The fate of one planet.

On Nuetierra, four hundred years have passed since the Great War. A new society has arisen on the ashes of the old.

Deanna Hernaan, daughter of Eduard, the former Alcalde of Nue Bayona, spends her days attending university and caring for her mentally damaged sister, Ceilia. Six years ago, her stepmother Lourdessa deposed her father, and now, as Alcalde, rules the city through patronage and oppression. Deanna remains apolitical, fearing Lourdessa’s power. Threatened by Deanna’s popularity with the common people, the Alcalde arranges for her assassination. Deanna survives, but is cast adrift in a hostile wilderness. She is rescued by a band of diminutive hunters—the Tiqui—members of a slave race she has only read about in history books. The hunters bring Deanna to their village, where she meets the Tiqui chieftess Yellow Bird. A remarkable woman, the ithani possesses the shamanic gift of foresight. Her visions have revealed to her that a young woman of the tall folk would come, one whose fate is inextricably entwined with that of the Tiqui—one who would bring disaster or salvation for all of Nuetierra.

GUEST POST

Five Authors Who Most Inspired Me

Every experienced writer is an avid reader. I’m no exception. Studying the styles and craft of other authors whom I admired and emulating them was the first step in the development of my own unique voice. Just as important to me were the themes that my favorite authors explored in their work. So, here’s my list, in no particular order, of the five authors who most inspired me and why.

Octavia Butler--I admire this pioneer author not so much for her style, but more for who she was and the themes she explored. I read my first Butler book “Patternmaster” the first in the Patternist series, when I was 18. At the time, I didn’t know anything about Octavia, except that her stories moved me. She was the first African American woman to gain acclaim as a major science fiction writer. Her first published story, “Crossover” appeared in the 1971 Clarion Workshop Anthology. She went on to win two Hugo Awards, two Nebula Awards, a MacArthur Genius Grant (the only one awarded to a science fiction writer) and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2010. Much of her work dealt with issues of social isolation, power and enslavement, the need for biological diversity, and racial and sexual ambiguity. 

J.R.R. Tolkien--The granddaddy of the modern epic fantasy. I read The Hobbit for the first time in seventh grade at the urging of a friend, who promised hard sci-fi lovin’ me that a story about wizards, dwarves and a small man with furry feet would capture my attention. I resisted at first, because I loved alien creatures and planets, space travel and laser guns. But once I read that famous first line, I was hooked. I finished in record time, then went on to devour The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and much later, The Silmarillion. Tolkien taught me about the intricacies of world-building and how back stories can be as interesting as main plot lines. 

Kate Eliot and Janny Wurts--I place these two authors together because, of all the writing styles I’ve studied, these two ladies most shaped my own. Kate’s Crown of Stars series and Janny’s Wars of Light and Shadow served as the texts for my very own private master class on writing. I like to call their incredibly lush, complex sentences, unusual word choices and multilayered plots Neo Victorian. Whenever I feel like my writing is becoming too stale and plain, I pick up one of their books and after reading awhile, I return to my own work, recharged. 

C. L. Moore --Another pioneering woman author who wrote during the Golden Age of science fiction in the 1940’s. C.L. is best known for her characters Northwest Smith and Jirel of Joiry. Jirel was the first female sword and sorcery protagonist, a kick-ass warrior queen of the first magnitude. Until I read my first Jirel story back in high school, I had no idea that a sword-wielding woman could be as exciting as any muscle-bound male in the same vein as Conan the Barbarian. According to one source, C.L. created Jirel in response to the total dominance of male protagonists in the S and S sub-genre so popular in pulp magazines of the 1930’s. One can see how Xena, Warrior Princess, one of my all-time favorite kick-ass heroines, may not have come into being without Jirel. C.L. showed me that I could create female characters who were every bit as physically formidable as males, who didn’t need to use sex as a weapon, and who could be the stars in their own adventures. 

I could add several more authors to this list, but these five are the ones that, when I posed the question to myself, immediately came to mind. Now, I pose the question to you, whether you are a writer yourself or simply an avid reader. Who are the authors that most inspire you?

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About the author:

Leslie Ann Moore was born in Los Angeles, California at the tail-end of the baby boom and fell in love with the works of Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Andre Norton, and J.R.R. Tolkien at an early age. A practicing veterinarian since 1988, Leslie put her dreams of writing fiction aside until she attended the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books in 2000. There, bestselling fantasy author Terry Brooks told her, “Don’t ever give up. Keep writing, no matter what.” Those words changed her life. She published the first volume of her Griffin’s Daughter trilogy in 2012. A Tangle of Fates is the first volume of The Vox Machina trilogy, and will be published by Muse Harbor in August of 2014.

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