A whole new world…
That’s the theme of this week’s SFRB Summer Blog Hop, and it’s a good one. One of the most fun aspects about developing the settings for my Star Empire saga (soon to be two series, and possibly a third) is getting to develop the strange and wonderful worlds my futuristic characters get to visit. In the Huntress series, I’ve got four main settings where the characters discover more about each other and their society.
Each of the planets represents a different phase of their burgeoning relationship, and a different facet of their society. The Jewel system boasts a host of habitable planets and a vibrant Jumpgate system bringing traffic back and forth between them. Not all worlds are equal, though, and life on some of them is harder than others. A whole new world is just a Jumpgate away, but that Jumpgate may be further out of reach than the other end of the galaxy.
Tenraye is a bucolic world formerly known for fine wines and rich foods, a prosperous playground of abundance…until the people began to believe their prosperity attracted danger.
Guerre is a rough world of cave crystals, native aliens, and ancient secrets slowly being sacrificed to the grinding forces of progress.
Capitol is a city-planet, a worldwide urban sprawl whose spires concentrate the halls of power, but whose depths can be some of the most unexplored, and a person can easily be forgotten in its depths.
Varuna, the warm ocean moon of Iolia, offers spectacular views, warm shallow seas, and sanctuary in the shadow of a graceful gas giant whose system is known for its loose relationship with laws.
In my WIP, the sister series of “Huntress” (called “Scions of the Star Empire”), the citizens of the Torch have lost access to most of their Jumpgates. Their capitol planet, Landfall, possesses four habitable moons, however, and two minor planets at the LaGrange points of its orbit. There are plenty of places to play in the Torch system…but not all of them are safe.
If you’d like to learn more about the worlds of the Star Empire, you can check out the books at this link (where you’ll find links to your favorite retailers). And if you join my private readers’ group, you can get the first three episodes of Huntress absolutely free, plus sneak peeks to exclusive content, extras, bonus features, and the chance to get in early on my new releases. Just put your email in the box below!
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I’ve had a lot of fun creating these star systems, and the people in them as they live, love, and adventure. And yet I know that my own little creations can’t really hold a candle to the amazing and astounding alien worlds that are out there in our galaxy–or even our very own home solar system–for real.
You don’t have to leave this world to get great sci-fi romance, or get a chance to win exciting prizes from our little week-long tour of the science fiction romance brigade universe! Just follow the blog hop below, and don’t forget to sign up for the rafflecopter!
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Awesome blog entry!
Love your worlds, love making them up myself. There’s sooooo much scope out there.
You’ve created a very diverse cluster of worlds!
Those worlds all sound like so much fun! I’m not sure I’d want to live on any one forever, but I think they might be fun to visit.
Thank you, Imogene! I could go on for days… 🙂
I’m just getting started with the Iron Admiral series, and can’t wait to see what exotic places are out there! I love creating the places for my stuff almost as much as creating the people.
The real exoplanets are so amazing that sometimes I feel like my imagination is inadequate. 🙂
One thing that really stunned me when I began my research into exoplanets was how many diverse worlds were in our own backyard right here in the solar system. And how many here could support life in some way.
Right now, I would like a semi-permanent home on Varuna. I really could use a Planet Beach! 🙂
I think I’d vote for Varuna too.
Wow. All your worlds sound really cool!! A vast empire to explore. 🙂
So many worlds! I’d probably like Varuna. I’d love to go swimming there. 🙂
I want to go live on Capitol and vacation on Varuna.
I wanna go to Capitol! A city world with unexplored depths…that sounds so interesting!
Cheers,
t.
Very cool, Athena! Lots of richness and interest to explore!
Yep, Varuna’s kind of my favorite right now. It’s a little moon of a gas giant whose satellites are mostly populated by pirates, political refugees, and wealthy-ish people on the lam, so the system itself is sketchy, but it’s a little slice of sanctuary. The rebellion makes a base there, along with a settlement of displaced Hathori, human-variants who are devout followers of a pleasure goddess, and who are skilled at all manner of decadent delights, including the ability to put together a magnificent buffet almost anywhere and out of almost anything.
There’s ALWAYS something going on at the Capitol. It can be hectic, but the further up you go, the more isolated you can feel. The further down, people have figured out that relying on each other is just as important as relying on the vast systems that keep their strato-scrapers functioning. Plus, there are so many abandoned spaces that have found second (or third, fifth, three-hundredth) lives with other purposes that it’s a testament to the residents’ resourcefulness, even in the face of the alien attacks that ripped great holes in the skyline.
It’s a little repressed these days, what with the new government. But as the residents of the midlevels will tell you, it’s a different shine on the same old rock. Many of the strato-scrapers are hundreds of years old. The old Hathori temple is in terrible disrepair these days, what with the Hathori being interdicted and all, but it used to be a monument to grace, hospitality, and joyful companionship…as well as hostess to many secrets. 🙂 In fact, the further down you go on Capitol, the closer you come to the system’s origins.
I’m setting myself up to be able to fanfic my own universe. 😀 I can’t wait to expand Season 2 of Huntress. I have to tie Scions in first, to sync the timelines. I need more hours in the day!
I’m glad this contest showed up in my inbox because I’ve started to gradually get sucked into sci-fi romance and I’m the ONLY one I know who reads it. So now I have somewhere to FIND stuff yay!
Yaay for another convert! 😀 We are a small, but plucky, genre that is growing fast! And PS – when you’re looking for your next read, we have a lovely series of free samplers out there to whet your appetite and introduce you to the many worlds of sci-fi romance! Just check us out at SFR Portals!
SFR is my favorite genre. Delighted to get the chance to learn about so many great stories. Thanks for sharing.