I had a blast interviewing Holly and Robert (writing as H.R. Jackson), the team behind the unique urban fantasy series, The Nemesis Chronicles. Read the excerpts from their latest title, Hand of Time, and don't forget to enter to win your copy in the Rafflecopter contest at the end!
Welcome to the Speculative Salon blog Holly and Robert :)
Why did you decide to
collaborate on the Nemesis Chronicles, and what's it like to work together on
the series?
Robert: I had
the ideas, she had the writing background. Sometimes it can be difficult having
two different viewpoints, but at the same time once we make it to that middle
ground I know it makes the story better.
Hollie: Agreed.
Jack (Robert) has always had this fantastical imagination that’s fascinating to
watch. As a child, my family fostered a very deep love of reading and I’ve
always had an active imagination myself. When I met my husband, it was like
something clicked. We had so much fun letting our story ideas run rampant. So,
just prior to the first book, I’d been working on a different version involving
two other characters in the Nemesis Chronicles universe (Sam & Bella) but
had hit that dreaded “middle of the story…what do I do now?” wall. I started
talking to Jack and I realized that we needed to follow different characters,
that the story needed to go in a different direction, and that I needed not
just his verbal input, but for him to really write Dirk’s story in relation to
Morgan’s… and the rest is history. As for what it’s like to write together?
Well, I guess it’s a lot like any other collaboration: we don’t always agree,
but we’ve agreed to disagree just to keep the peace sometimes, discussions can
get heated because we’re both very passionate about our ideas, but at the end
of the day, we love each other and that is something we’re trying to reflect in
our stories.
Have you always been fans of urban fantasy, and who
are some of your favorite authors in the genre?
R:
Yes, actually. I think I’ve always liked fantasy in general. Favorite authors:
Jim Butcher & Neil Gaiman.
H: Oh
yes. I’m a huge fan of urban fantasy. I love the idea of the fantastical
blended with the everyday, seeing the world around you in a completely
different perspective, finding the magic in the mundane. My mom has always been
a romance novel fan, my dad loves his sci-fi/fantasy, so you could say it’s in
my genes. Favorite authors: Jim Butcher, Kim Harrison, Kelley Armstrong, and
yes, Neil Gaiman too.
Can you explain a bit about the premise of the
series and where the idea for Mythics got started?
R:
The premise has always been about having both a strong female and a strong male
protagonist, but at the same time showing the differences between having an
alpha male character that isn’t portrayed from the get go as an alpha male
character, and having an alpha female that isn’t portrayed as being overly
masculine with no feminine qualities. I wanted to see a real relationship grow
through all the different difficulties people really have. In other books I’ve
seen, it doesn’t matter how much of an asshole the guy is or how much of a
dainty flower the female is, they end up together at the end because they
survived together, rather than by getting to know each other. And it doesn’t
seem real. It’s a lot like Stockholm syndrome, in a way.
The
idea for the Mythics was based out of wanting to have a smorgasbord of
different characters that could be considered a different race but having a
catchall term for all of them.
H:
I’d noticed in many other UF books, the main protagonist is usually a male with
these fantastical powers who saves the damsel in distress. On the flip side, if
the main protagonist is a strong female, she’s only strong until she meets that
“one guy” (or the two guys she can’t decide between) and realizes that she’s
been missing that masculine presence in her life, then suddenly her every move
is all about what he wants, what keeps him happy. That’s all well and good, but
I really wanted to see a female character who isn’t defined by her romantic relationship, and a male character
who doesn’t have to be the one to save the day every time. It’s a fact of life
that we all are defined, at some point, by our relationships to others, but
those relationships aren’t always romantic and that doesn’t make them any less
important of a contributor to who we are. As
for the Mythics, well, aren’t all legends to some degree “creatures of Myth”?
They’re the ones stories are told about. It’s not confined to just “monsters”
like Chimeras or Gorgons, Dragons or Gargoyles, Vampires and Werewolves. It’s
all those legendary stories you hear about the Spartans at Thermopylae and
their stand against the Persian invaders when all seemed hopeless. The Amazons
of Scythia who battled against the idea that women couldn’t be warriors. The
Viking raiders who struck fear into the hearts of men in shores of distant
lands while opening up trade between countries. It’s about gods and goddesses,
creatures that exist in both light and shadow, the stuff of magic and
imagination.
If you could be any type of Mythic, what kind would
you want to be?
R: A
dragon. Because they do have a vast amount of ability and they’re truly in the
middle ground because dragons are usually portrayed as either evil or good when
they can have aspects of both just like other humans and Mythics. And you have
to treat them with a little more respect than you would any other mythic or
human because of what they are.
H: My
first answer would be an Amazon, mostly because, well, I’m short and they
generally aren’t. *laughs* But in actuality, I think I’d want to be a
Psychomancer. Telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation? Oh yeah.
Tell us a little more about Dirk and Morgan and
their journey so far.
R:
Going with the premise that they are two characters thrown together through the
series of circumstances in the first novel, they’re compatible as a good
relationship but both have to work through their own issues, just so they can
truly understand that yes they do love each other and it’s not just because of
a freak accident or anything else. They have to get through their issues to
really see who they are. And that’s the progression through this book, it’s a
journey so you get to see just how they interact and how they grow to
understand their love for each other.
H:
It’s sort of a story of boy meets girl, boy wants girl, girl says “what the
hell, why not?” Boy and girl go to get it on, lightning happens, and then both
of their worlds shift sideways and they have to deal with an unusual bond to
each other that neither was expecting while fighting against external sources
trying to tell them what they should do. It’s about Morgan discovering that
being a loner is great and all, but it’s not weakness to ask for help, that
it’s not weakness to give your heart to someone knowing full well it might get
broken, that sometimes? You just fall in love when you least expect it, no
matter how you say you’re not going to. That she can’t control everything. It’s
about Dirk discovering that there’s more to life than being a sex object, that
he has an inner strength that eclipses his impressive outer strength, and that
patience can yield a great payoff. It’s about the both of them learning that
family is important, but that family isn’t always blood, but who you choose to
surround yourself with. And it’s about learning what you believe and what
you’re willing to do for those beliefs.
What's the story behind the Society, and what are
their dastardly plans in Hand of Time?
R: During
the 1300s, in our book, we have something we call the “Cataclysm” take place.
Pope Clement V and King Philip IV got together, raided the Templars, and found
a cache of relics, imbued objects that made them stronger. Because they were
greedy men, it had nothing to do with religion, just pure greed, they were able
to use those relics to their advantage, surround themselves with the smartest
people. Science was pushed further because they had a blueprint in the relics
to show what was possible, and once that spring-boarded everything they started
taking over. This was the basis for the Society: Greedy men trying to gain as
much control over the world around them as they could, using whatever means
(scientific and faith-based) at their disposal.
H:
After The Cataclysm (a massive global war instigated by the Society discovering
that humans weren’t the only inhabitants on the planet and the Mythics taking
exception to the amount of power said humans were amassing without
understanding just what they were messing with), the world was in shambles. The
Society and Mythics both suffered massive casualties and society had to reset
itself. The relics were mostly lost or collected by Mythic guardians (like
Nemesis) and largely kept out of the hands of humans (and other Mythics) to
prevent another war.
R:
The Society took exception to this and set their sights on the ones they held
responsible for their losses, the Mythics, whom they considered abominations.
And so the battle began anew, this time, not just for the relics, but for the
eradication of these non-humans who have abilities that set them apart from the
humans around them. When religion declined in importance after the Cataclysm,
the Society decided that science was the answer and so set out to do what they
could to either elevate humanity to the level of the Mythics, or wipe out
Mythics entirely.
H:
The fly in their ointment right now is that humanity, by and large, doesn’t
despise the Mythics as much as they do. So when the Society discovered the
whereabouts of a huge stash of relics (in the first book, Minutes To Midnight) it was the missing piece of their puzzle and
they grew one step closer to their goal. Without giving anything away in Hand of Time, their agenda remains the
same: improve humanity at the expense of the Mythics through subterfuge,
misdirection, and outright manipulation. The more humans they can get on their
side, the more they can expose this Mythic menace… the better their odds of
gaining that power they crave.
Do you have any world-building tips for anyone
interested in writing urban fantasy (or speculative fiction in general)?
R:
Let your imagination wander in the direction of the world that you want, try to
stay true to that idea of what you want that world to be, and once you feel that
you’ve fleshed it out enough you have to be able to present it to someone to
see what they believe. There might be certain parts you need to rein in or
push/develop more, that’s the great part about writing with someone else,
because they see those needs, and it’s good to have someone with as vivid an
imagination as you. But there has to be a sense of realism in there, no matter
how crazy your world might be because if people don’t believe in your world
you’re going to lose them.
H:
Don’t get bogged down in the minutiae unless it’s absolutely integral to your
story. Give your readers a chance to fill in details, to let them make the
world their own. But the parts you’re certain they’re going to care about? Make
sure they make sense. Description is great, but remember that you’ve got a
story to tell too.
What types of stories or characters would you like
to see more of in this or any other genre?
R:
The true alpha female, dynamic characters: ones that you can truly feel for,
and characters that are a little more abstract, outside of the box.
H:
That’s one of the things I love most about fantasy and urban fantasy. The sky
is really the limit as to what sort of characters you can create, what sort of
stories you can tell. I, too, would like to see strong feminine characters
spotlighted, but I’m not discounting the guys at all. I guess I just really
like to see fully fleshed out characters and stories that don’t leave me
wanting to throw the book (in a bad way) against the wall.
How did your path to indie publication unfold, and
do you have any advice for those who might follow that route?
R: It
was a series of fantastical events: we both wanted to write a novel, Hollie
started hers and got to a point where she lost her muse, and then I got to a
point where I wanted to write, so I started writing. And then she wanted to
write again. So we got all that together. She did all the research for finding
out the ground level of what we needed to do, amazon.com helped out a lot. If
it wasn’t for them, I don’t know what we would’ve done. And then there’s the
research that led to Createspace and so on. It does take money, though, even as
an indie publisher to get your work out there. If you don’t have at least a
little capital, it’s like … it’s a hope and a prayer. I mean, there’s twitter
and Facebook, and you get the people who say it sounds interesting but don’t
actually read it, and then you generate that buzz because you have so many
people talking about you in so many different areas that makes you buy your
writing. Once they get it, it’s all about your writing because if your writing
isn’t good, they aren’t going to keep reading no matter how good your story
might be.
H:
Bottom line? We wanted to maintain creative control. Yeah, it’d be awesome to
be published by a big name, but there’s good and bad to both paths. You have to
do your research, don’t be afraid to ask questions, and network, network,
network! Try new things, don’t undervalue yourself as a writer. Make sure your
work is solid before putting it out there and your writing will speak for
itself. Also? Be patient and be persistent. That’s been the hardest lesson.
Yes, there are overnight successes out there in the IP world, but by and large?
You have to get used to not getting the immediate feedback you want, not
selling a million copies overnight. You really have to love writing and putting
yourself out there to Indie Publish. Not everyone is going to be a fan, but at
the end of the day? It’s worth it to be able to say, “Look what I did!”
And
seriously, don’t discount social media. But don’t turn your twitter into a
nonstop ad-feed. Let people get to know you as a person and they’ll be much
more likely to read your work.
What are you working on
next? Will there be more Nemesis novels?
R: Book 3 for the Nemesis Chronicles, as yet untitled.
Yes, there will be more. I’m the type of person that if I like the
character(s), I like to see them in many different situations, be it on this
world or others. I have threads built in where I can go to different dimensions
and planets, because I don’t want anything to become stale. I know that if I
get bored with it, the readers will be bored by it, so it’s one of those
situations where things are always changing.
H: I’m also working on a side project that, right now,
I’m not sure if it’ll be an ongoing novella series or a novel one. It’s outside
of the world of Nemesis, so it’s a bit of a different flavor, still urban
fantasy with a touch more sci-fi than magic. And heck yeah, there’s definitely
going to be more Nemesis novels! We have so many stories to tell, so many
different characters to follow… it’s definitely going to continue on.
Thank you so much for
answering our questions!
Hand of Time
The Nemesis Chronicles, Volume 2
H.R. Jackson
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Geek Treats Collective
Date of Publication: April 20th, 2013
ISBN: 1484125509
ASIN: B00CFWYO3K
Number of pages: 352
Word Count: 154,224
Cover Artist: Robb Lombard
Book Description:
Morgan... Three months after the events of Vegas turned her life upside down, she's finding that getting back to normal is anything but easy.
Dirk... Trapped between juggling his new responsibilities and making Morgan understand his feelings, the former courtesan is discovering that letting go of the past is much harder when the past refuses to let go of him.
Nemesis... Still reeling from the Society's attack, they find themselves facing a familiar foe and a new menace hellbent on testing their fortitude.
Midsummer madness heats up Nemesis Island. It's a time of celebration and renewal, but the Society has other plans... with Dirk, Morgan, and the rest of Nemesis at the top of their list.
Excerpt from Dirk’s POV:
“I’m fine, Dirk.” She wasn’t and we both knew it, but I wasn’t about to
press the issue.
I let out a frustrated sigh. “I’ll go see if my father has a shirt or
something he can lend me to wear.”
“Good idea,” Morgan said, starting a slow pace in front of the terrace
doors that reminded me of a tiger restlessly circling its enclosure. She
sounded distracted and the concern I’d already been fighting to keep from
spilling all over her nudged its way back to the surface of my demeanor. I
wanted to scoop her up and port back to my home, tuck her into bed and remind
her of my stellar bedside manner. But as she made another pass across the
doorway, I could see the limp in her step easing, slowly, until her strides
were sure and smooth. Her body was healing.
Ah well, I thought, there’s
always next time. Although, I really hoped there was a very long interval
of non-injury between them full of bedside activities that were infinitely more
fun.
“And shoes,” I added, curling my toes against the cold, damp hardwood
floor as I glanced down and finally got a good look at the damage. My pajama
bottoms were soaked through with rain and had clearly seen better days. My skin
was grimy with sweat and blood, the mottled green and yellow of my healing
bruises slowly fading. “Gods. I look
like a war refugee.”
“What’s wrong with being shoeless?” asked Bree, looking up from where
she’d been hunched over, studying the Pithos. She stretched out one of her
naked feet, her expression all ruffled feathers and huff. “I prefer it. Helps
with my Credomancy.”
Opening my mouth to apologize, I was stopped when Betty strolled back
into the room. She’d disappeared down the stairs after leaving us and it looked
like she’d been busy raiding my father’s closet. One arm was laden in textiles,
an expensive looking auburn and charcoal three piece suit on a hanger dangling
from the fingertips of her free hand.
“Morgan,” Betty let the name roll off her tongue, her brogue giving it
a delicious quality that almost made me jealous. “Why does that sound
familiar?” she mused, stopping in front of me and thrusting the garments into
my startled grasp.
A flash of black around her throat gave me pause to stare and suddenly,
I understood what my father and Sam had been talking about when they’d
mentioned Betty answering their call. My father had long employed a specialized
group of bodyguards as his security detail, scattered all across the globe,
acting as his eyes and ears. His Ravens, he called them, and they all sported
the same tattoo as an indicator of their allegiance to him. My eyes drifted to
Sam. She had received hers shortly after our hookup.
I wondered if my father’s interests ever conflicted with those of
Nemesis.
“Why does what sound familiar?” Morgan murmured, still pacing.
“I can’t quite place it…” Betty’s eyes widened and she did a slow turn,
snapping her fingers in Morgan’s direction. “Wait. Wasn’t that the name of your
horse?”
“Betty.” I knew that tone. Morgan didn’t want to talk about it. Based
on Betty’s delighted expression, she was going to poke the bear until it
snacked on her. I didn’t know if I wanted to be present for the carnage.
Betty’s grin widened and Morgan’s glower scrunched her face until I wanted to
kiss it.
“What are you talking about?” I couldn’t help it. I had to know. I felt
like I’d been left out of a private joke, and I wanted in, damnit.
Betty trilled out a laugh. “Och, you mean she hasn’t shared that with
you? Well now, doesn’t that make me feel all special.”
“It hasn’t come up,” Morgan stilled and focused her glare on Betty.
“It’s a moot point anyway.”
I knew that names held power within both our cultures, but it was the
first time I’d ever heard Morgan called by an alias and I was intensely curious
to know why she’d changed her name. I knew she had a history, one that I’d
apparently not even scratched the surface of discovering, and I’d take Betty’s
rendition of things over nothing at all.
My gaze swung to Betty. She didn’t say a word. I narrowed my eyes at
her. She dissolved into a fresh round of laughter that practically lit up the
room. “Fine. Since Dirk insists. Let
me procure a little story for you. Once upon a time, in a land far, far away,
there lived an Amazonian Princess named Airlea. She was fiercely beautiful,
fearsome on the battlefield, and more than skilled between the furs. She had
this thing she liked to do with her tongue –” Morgan crossed the room in three
strides and clapped a hand over Betty’s mouth as my eyebrows rocketed to the
ceiling.
“So help me, Betty,” Morgan said in frosty, clipped tones, “I’ve half a
mind to shove something in your mouth to shut you up. If you wouldn’t like it
so much.” Betty wiggled her eyebrows at me from above Morgan’s hand and I
couldn’t help but chuckle. Reaching out, I pried Morgan’s fingers away from
Betty’s face and dusted a kiss against their tips. Morgan responded by pulling
away and punching my arm in protest.
“Oh come now, you know how I love a good story,” I grinned, rubbing my
arm. If it took a little pain to get what was promising to be an
amusing-as-hell insight, I’d take my lumps gladly. “Please continue, Betty.”
“Long story short,” Betty resumed the second her mouth was free,
ignoring Morgan’s warning scowl, “it appears someone decided it was time for a name change. Honestly, Morgan, if
I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you were trying to avoid me altogether.”
“Maybe I was.”
Excerpt from Morgan’s POV:
Sam was a flash of
Cimmerian shade, her outfit matching her blackberry hair as she zigzagged
through the dense forest with the fluid grace of a gazelle with a lion on its
tail. She played hide-and-seek with the shadows, and I was having a hell of a
time keeping a bead on her. Bursting through the pines and out into a large
clearing of short grass, I spanned the distance between us, waylaying her with
an aerial kick to the back that sent her tumbling forward into a combat roll
with an explosion of breath. Springing to her feet before she came to a full
stop, Sam pivoted into a roundhouse kick that I barely dodged, my fist aiming
directly for her jaw.
She deflected the
strike with the momentum of her spin, managing to avoid my follow up kicks,
before rushing in to clip my chin with her elbow. The shockwave from the sharp
hit almost made me bite my tongue, pain spiking down my jaw and into my neck.
Capturing my next jab, she used my kidney as a speed bag before I managed to
retreat with a grunt of rapidly mounting irritation. Regrouping quickly despite
the ache in my side that threatened to drop me, I lashed out with a flurry of
fists and feet, hoping that sheer speed would somehow get past her defenses.
Sam expertly blocked
and dodged everything I threw at her before unexpectedly stopping my forward
inertia with a hard palm to the chest that sent me reeling back gasping for air
as my lungs forgot how to work.
Breathing is highly overrated anyway.
In the two months since I’d joined Nemesis, I’d had many occasions to
spar with Sam, the current head of the group and perpetual pain in my ass, but
never at quite this intensity. With the exception of Sam’s fraternal twin, Tequila,
no other member of Nemesis understood the training style I’d grown up with in
my Amazonian tribe. It was a brutal, no holds barred, out for blood mode of
fighting, meant to test our skills, to keep them as honed as our blades. But
there was a fine line between training and the outright brawl this session was
quickly turning into.
And damned if I didn’t have the first clue as to what set her off this
time. But then, getting a read on Sam was like trying to capture smoke with a
sieve. Holding back, she eyed me as we circled one another slowly.
She and her sister had been raised outside the tribe until they were
fifteen by their mother, the former Queen Antiope. Both were formidable
fighters in their own rights, thanks to her guidance. Tequila, the resident
healer of Nemesis, had come back to her Amazonian roots, while Sam decided to
serve with our shield-sisters the Valkyrie, before they were both recruited
into Nemesis’ ranks. Where her sister was exceptionally skilled in the healing
arts, Sam’s abilities resided in tactical strategy and a natural talent for
Psychomancy.
I deflected another whirlwind of strikes and growled, dancing out of
the way. Over the years, my experiences going toe-to-toe with Psychomancers had
shown me they generally resorted entirely on fighting with their mental acumen,
relying on telekinesis and telepathy to swing the odds in their favor.
But Sam had elevated it into an art form, wielding both blade and brain
with the ferocity of a woman possessed and the skill of an accomplished
warrior. She’d managed, numerous times, to make even me question if I’d somehow
become dumb and clumsy, and I’d been swinging swords since before she and her
sister were even a twinkle in Antiope’s baby blues.
Truth be told, this fight had been a long time coming. It wasn’t that I
didn’t like Sam, per se, but I was
unaccustomed to being bossed around, even if I understood the hierarchy as it
stood within Nemesis. I wasn’t used to being the puella, the rookie. It rankled me, getting under my skin like a sliver
of glass.
Sam motioned for me to attack, egging me on with a gesture. I hung
back. She was baiting me. My eyes narrowed.
When she’d suggested we ‘take it to the wood line’ after our most
recent verbal altercation, I was more than happy to oblige, despite wishing her
timing had been better. We had a house full of reveling Amazons, Valkyrie, and
other guests for Midsummer celebrations, and I had a gala date later that
evening with Dirk. I’d been dragging my feet about it all day and that black
cloud had gotten me into this predicament.
Still, it felt good to take out all of the pent up frustration and
worry on someone who’d been an absolute thorn in my side for the last two
months, even if she was making me
wonder if this was going to end with one of taking a one-way trip to Bella’s
morgue. The gnawing sensation of impending disaster intensified when Sam
reached for her blade, a scarily grim and focused expression smoothing the
lines on her face into an impassive mask. I immediately followed suit, loosing Aduro from her scabbard and pulling her
free with a single smooth movement.
The slow circling continued and I knew she was waiting for an opening.
The ground below me was springy, damp from the perpetual moistness that helped
to keep the Emerald City its lovely verdant hue. It was a hell of a drastic
change from the Vegas citadel’s sandy sparring fields, but at least it wouldn’t
hurt as much to get knocked down.
And with the way Sam kept eyeballing me, I knew one of us was going to
end up ass over teakettle soon.
What the hell is with her today? I hadn’t realized that telling Sam I had plans for
the evening that didn’t include sitting through another boring debriefing
warranted this kind of ass kicking.
Once upon a time, a man and a woman looked at each other and asked, “Why aren’t we writing this down?”
Inspired by Sci-Fi and Fantasy, with a healthy appreciation of all manner of geekery, they longed to create a world where sword, sorcery, and a little sprinkling of real life could come together. With this in mind, the pair sat down and started the stories that would eventually become The Nemesis Chronicles.
When they aren’t weaving fantastical tales, they spend their time being owned by the Feline Mafia and watching the rain fall in their home city of Seattle.
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