Please tell us a bit about yourself:
I'm
a Hoosier (from the U.S. state of Indiana) and have been writing since
high school as a hobby, simply attending writers groups, workshops, and
conferences when I could. I've been an avid science fiction and fantasy
reader since 1980, when my political science professor assigned us the
first three books of Asimov's Foundation series to discuss such concepts as balance of powers.
I
began seriously writing because of my clinical depression. During a
crisis in June 2010, I was lying in bed in a darkened room and figured I
was already dead, utterly unable to tolerate 'real life'. The thought
occurred to me that, since the 'old me' was dead but I still had
possession of a body, I could build my life anew.
For
some reason, I wondered what I would do if I won the lottery, as if
that stands for, 'anything is possible'. Since I had always wanted to
be a scientist, I began having conversations between the person I was
(high school teacher of inner-city kids whose problems were so vast I
gave and gave and gave until I crashed), and the person I wanted to be
(engineer/physicist). The dialogues grew so thick, I got out of bed and
began writing them down! Then I developed them into characters, they
took over my imagination, and I wrote the rough drafts of the first four
books of the To Be Sinclair series in 80 days.
It
was perhaps my third book when I began to feel like I had some kind of
'wormhole' in my mind to a future parallel dimension. Although I've
never been a visual person, I was seeing my characters in actual scenes,
and I consider myself their 'scribe', not their goddess. How so? When
you decide you don't like what you've written and rewrite it, but go to
bed and the characters act out the scene over and over again until you get up at god-awful o'clock to change it back, you realize you don't have a lot of control over the story!
Tell us about Nobility:
Nobility is
about Prince Matthieu Sinclair, the Heir Second to his grandfather
Emperor Victor and his father Prince Zhaiden. This is very much a new
adult novel, beginning with Matthieu at age 20, having finished his
Service training cycles. It moves through two years of his Imperial
duties, tours of Service, secret missions, a diplomatic mission that
breaks his heart, and above all, the search for a lady who could handle
being his Empress someday.
What inspired you to write this particular story?
The big question my series answers is, "What will the greatest ruling family in the history of the galaxy be like?" Dignity and Majesty detail
the romance and first years of marriage of the Emperor and Empress of
the Sinclair Demesnes, a four-planet polity, and the other books are
about individual children, which is why they have different
psychological flavors to them.
Matthieu
will be the Emperor of his generation, and I've always felt that
(historically) a strong hereditary ruler's influence will usually run to
their grandchildren, but not much beyond. I've also noticed that a lot
of people in my life have been more influenced by their grandparents
than by their parents. Matthieu will be the strongest Emperor of them
all, but I primarily wanted to show how the major influences of his life
shape him when he is still quite young.
Please share a favourite snippet from your book:
After inspecting the rabbits in their
hutches and the pheasant hatchery, Matthieu led her further along the cliff to
a small grotto, set rather high, while describing how the former Imperial
Preserve had had a beautiful glen and grotto.
Miriel pointed. “What is that?”
Matthieu reached in to draw out a
gilded crystal angel. “At the old grotto, family members had several items they
placed there for symbolic reasons. It was kind of like the heart of the realm
in a sense, representing our hopes and dreams. Aunt Sophia had a gilded angel
there to declare the space sacred.” He let her examine it before putting it
back in its spot.
When he turned back to her, she looked
very thoughtful. “What is sacred?”
“In general?”
“No. To you,” Miriel specified.
Matthieu reached out to cup her face. “The
joy I saw as you rode that horse.” Moving closer, he gazed at her stunned
expression and stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers to murmur, “The
power, the purity of your mind and spirit.”
He kissed her gently while wrapping his
arms around her. “The gift of your presence,” he whispered, looking into her
soulful eyes while he smoothed back her hair. He gave her a deeper kiss as she
melted in his arms.
Leaning his forehead against hers, he
said very softly, “Miriel.”
“Yes?”
His gentle laugh came from some deep
reservoir of joy he had long forgotten. “I just wanted to say your name. Miriel.
It almost sounds like the word ‘miracle’ to me.” She erupted in giggles, then. Matthieu
drank them in with a bliss that knew no bounds.
“I’m sorry, but I cannot think of a
corresponding word for your name. ‘Matthieu’ doesn’t even come close to
anything. Pathew? Wrathew? Hathew? Sorry,” she apologized again as he snorted
in amusement.
Matthieu’s mindfulness, down to his
very soul, was captured when she put her hand to his face. “How about just
‘you’?” As he blinked, she said, “You. You.” Then Miriel kissed him back.
He felt like he was the center of the
universe, at this pinpoint of time and space and lips, as if the knowledge of
the cosmos was his for the asking. This was the miracle, indeed, the ability to
pull the subtle energies of an otherwise indifferent world into the realm of
matter and light, to shower them upon another. This was love.
Which comes first for you – a character's looks, personality or name?:
Personality, definitely. That's what the story is about, how a character moves from a limited perspective to a greater perspective, and how they react to that growth, the changes they must make. I rarely describe much of a character's looks. Names can be rather difficult to choose; sometimes I look up the meanings of names, but most often I just pick someone I admire.
Any tips for aspiring authors?:
If you are going to invest time in writing a story, make it worthy of your attention for the rest of your life. Don't follow the fads; follow your heart, because you will be promoting it, day in and day out, forever. Hacking out a story because you think it will be easy or because it's trendy might get you a number of sales, but if you can imagine yourself at 80 years of age, reviewing your literary output, you will want to say you are proud of each story, that the goals of the
protagonist and intent or theme of the story reflect issues that matter.
Upcoming news and plans for the future?
I
have also finished 2/3 and 1/2 of two prequels, set some 150 years in
our future but some 500 years in the 'past' as compared to the series.
I consider those novels to be science fiction, not science fiction
romance; there are relationships that develop, but they are not the
focus of the stories.
I do not plan any other novels after Nobility's companion novel, the finale to the series, Morality.
First, because I have to finish my prequels; second, because I have
other projects I want to get to; and third, because this finale is
breaking my heart to write! Nine books covering three generations is
surely sufficient, wouldn't you say?
Otherwise, the first four books of the series (Dignity, Majesty, Fealty, and Royalty) are now available as print-on-demand through Amazon, and I should have the other four set up by Christmas!
Blurb for Nobility:
Prince
Matthieu Sinclair, the Heir Second, has many duties; he must not only
take space duty in the Service, he also establishes the Imperial
Protocol Academy to educate the multitude of Imperial youngsters in the
basics of their lifestyle, since he will be the Emperor of their
generation. Yet to find a lady who could withstand the pressures of
being his Empress is a formidable task!
When
he returns from an undercover assignment to find disaster, Matthieu
subsumes his needs in order to minimize the stress on his family, for
they are more important than anything else. Yet when a diplomatic
mission goes wrong and his strongest role model dies, who will help him
cope with the tragedy?
Book length: approximately 200,000 words
Book length: approximately 200,000 words
NOBILITY is the official book 7 of the To Be Sinclair series, yet like the others is a good stand-alone novel. An add-on book, Evan's Ladies, consists of four novellas that take place before NOBILITY. Check out the To Be Sinclair series at Amazon and Smashwords:
Series website: http://www.evacaye.com/
Blog (The Spiraling Mind): http://evacaye.blogspot.com/
Find me at https://twitter.com/EvaCaye
Series website: http://www.evacaye.com/
Blog (The Spiraling Mind): http://evacaye.blogspot.com/
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