BOOK BLITZ - Ladder to the Red Star

Once upon a ruined Earth 300 years in the future...

Jacques Tallinn, biotech smuggler and thief, is after the cure for a brain disorder he's suffered since childhood--a disorder inflicted by a powerful tyrant. To get the cure, Jacques will need to climb the space elevator to the new Zenith space station hovering above Earth and go undercover in the lab where it's produced.

Martian head tech Devi Chandra is immediately intrigued by her sexy new lab assistant. Though she insists on keeping things professional, she finds herself charmed by Jacques. Until he betrays her trust, kidnapping her and spiriting her off to Earth.

All Jacques needed to do was steal the biotech and get back home. But when things go wrong, he can't bring himself to leave Devi behind. Now she's injured and a simple caper has become an intergalactic cause, endangering his life and the lives of millions of others. But the hardest part? Winning back Devi's trust.

Jacques leaned back against the wall across from Devi’s com booth, scanning the large, busy room. He didn’t like this. The com center was crowded with consoles and bustling with people wandering through on all sorts of business, some legitimate, most not. At any other time, the scene wouldn’t bother him, but with Devi near, his nerves were strung tight as wires.

Danger was drawing close. He could see no threat, but he could feel one, taste it in the air like the crackle of a lightning storm. He had to get Devi out of here, back to Santos where she would be safe.

But what if, after talking to her mother, after remembering the life he had stolen her from, she didn’t want to go with him?

A bead of sweat trickled down his neck. If she came out of that booth and asked him to take her to a spaceport, he was truly afraid of what he would do. That he would become ten times the ruthless, soulless bastard he had always believed himself to be. That he would keep her, whether or not she wanted to be kept, whether or not she hated him for it.

She was his life. How could he give up his life?

He closed his eyes, and for the first time since he was a child, he prayed to Heaven.

Please. I can’t let her go.

“You don’t have to. I’m staying with you, Jacques.”

His eyes shot open. She was standing across from him in the open com booth, a shine of happiness on her that made his breath stutter as he looked at her. Unknowingly, he had spoken aloud, and she had heard and answered his prayer.

A hot bright light burst inside him, joy so profound it was beyond words. He stepped toward her, entranced.

That was when the assassin struck.

A thin figure like a huge black spider leapt at Devi from behind a tall console, hands outstretched, a blade glinting in one fist.

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Jael Wye grew up on the American Great Plains, went to school in the Midwest, and now lives in beautiful New England with her family and her enormous collection of houseplants. For more of Jael’s unique blend of futurism and fairy tale, don’t miss her ongoing series Once Upon A Red World.


My Interview With Jael Wye

1. I looked at your goodreads bio and you did not mention about wanting to write. Is this something new for you or did you always somewhere deep down want to be an author?

I’ve been writing on and off all my life, but my fiction always took a back seat to my previous career as a painter. Then the concept of retelling a series of fairy tales in a science fiction setting began to grow on me. I decided I had to get these stories out into the world, and so I set about transforming myself from an artist into a professional writer.

2. You are a new author. Tell me what your greatest challenge has been so far.

My greatest challenge has been stepping up my efforts to put my books in front of the public. Marketing doesn’t come easily for me, but it’s an inescapable part of the modern author’s job. It took a while, but eventually I learned to submit to a publicity regimen with as much grace and as little grumbling as possible.

3. Tell me in one tweet about your book "Ladder To The Red Star"

A tale of passion, adventure, and betrayal--Jack and the beanstalk unfolds on a ruined planet Earth 300 years in the future.

4. Tell me how the idea for this Once Upon A Red World series formed in your mind.

I’ve loved science fiction, fairy tales and romance for years, and it seemed the most natural thing in the world to combine these elements. I felt that the archetypal plot of a fairy tale was a perfect vehicle to integrate human emotion into a high tech world. Once the basic concept was fully developed, I began to see how these individual stories fit together to tell an overarching narrative that would span the Solar system. Now each tale in the series will take us deeper into a conspiracy that could mean the doom, or salvation, of humanity.

5. Was it fun to bring the characters to life?

Developing the characters was absolutely fun. The essential natures of my hero, heroine, and villain were already established by the framework of the fairy tale I chose to work with, but that still leaves infinite room for developing nuanced motivations and detailed backstories. For example, the hero, Jacques, reflects his origins in the classic tale in that he is still a charming, brave, desperate, and morally ambiguous thief. But the childhood tragedies and driving ambitions that made Jacques this way are my own invention.

6 What makes your book different from others in the same genre?

I think one of the key differences between my books and other science fiction romances is my focus on the science. All of the technology I describe is based on technology that actually exists today, and it all operates according to the laws of physics as we know them. Many authors are content to use physically impossible genre conventions like faster-than-light travel and artificial gravity to further their stories. But I find the actual science and the effects it might have on our world too fascinating to pass over.

7. Who are some of your influences?

My main influence is Kim Stanley Robinson for his highly realistic vision of a colonized Solar system, and for the almost primitive grandeur of his characters. I also owe a lot to Ursula K. LeGuin and Larry Niven for their anthropological takes on human societies in possible future habitats.

8. Where is your favorite place to write? For example in a park nearby, at your favorite desk, on the patio?

I like my local coffeehouse because it provides a cheerful background murmur to my writing. It also removes me from the distractions that surround me in my home office, like laundry.

9. Must have food/drink while you are writing.

Coffee. Lots and lots of hot, black coffee. There is no writing without it.

10. What are you working on now and what do we have to look forward to from you?

Right now I’m working on a novella that will tell the story of two supporting characters from Ladder to the Red Star, Max and his estranged lover Sita. They have a clue to discover, a secret enemy to battle, and true love to ignite. Stay tuned.

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There is a blitz-wide giveaway from the author of a digital copy of Ice Red to a randomly drawn commenter during the blitz. Follow the tour and comment. The more you comment the better your chances of winning.