Colony Earth, Alterran Legacy Series, Book 1
Today on Meet the Author, please join me for an interview with Fantasy Science Fiction Network (FSF Net) member, Regina M. Joseph. Regina stopped by to talk about writing her science fiction and fantasy series, The Alterran Legacy.
Silverberry: Tell us a little about yourself.
Writing fiction is my long-term plan for an encore career, which I’ll launch in full in probably six to eight years. This will follow my lifelong career as a lawyer. I enjoy thinking about how our society is evolving. Law has served as the perfect launch pad for futuristic writing because it’s at the forefront in reacting to changes in society and technology. Naturally, therefore, a theme in my novels is how high technology affects a society and individual liberties.
As for basic facts, I live in a historical neighborhood in Northwest Ohio with my husband. My three grown children live in or near New York City. I make time for exercise, including martial arts and pilates, and community activities. I like classical and new age music, and I play the piano. I like to write fiction sitting near my fountain.
One of the unexpected benefits of starting my fiction project has been meeting so many wonderful indie writers through social media. I hope that we can continue to develop these wonderful contacts!
Silverberry: Me too! What inspired you to write The Alterran Legacy Series?
Having always been an avid reader and a lover of history, I had decided to research far ancient history. I read about everything I could find. Of course, this leads mainly to mythology and speculation about megalithic structures. The bible itself refers to Watchers and Nephilim. Putting it all together, a story began to form that combined mythology and our own upheavals from advanced technology. And so, I thought I’d better write it down.
Silverberry: What does your hero, En.Lil, yearn for?
He wants to recover that which was lost. His home world was a utopia until its atmosphere was destroyed by a solar eruption. Since this occurred while he was on a mission to Earth, he and his fellow colonists are stranded here, facing the extinction of their civilization. And so, he does whatever he must to preserve its memory.
Silverberry: What’s the novel about and who would enjoy it?
The novel series is about the attempt of stranded, alien colonists to survive on Earth. By Book 3, they have been able to reestablish contact with the home world. However, the returning colonists forever change the dynamics back home.
I weave into the story a number of issues facing our own society, as well as metaphysical issues handed down through mythology. Mythology served as my blueprint for how Alterrans would have viewed the world.
So, readers who enjoy thought-provoking and literary works would enjoy my fiction. Although most of my reviews have been wonderful, one reader on Goodreads gave me a 2 star simply because I have some long paragraphs. If you are that type of reader, please don’t read my books.
Silverberry: I guess that reader wouldn’t like Faulkner, or some Hemingway, (who despite having a reputation for short declarative sentences, produced some masterful monster sentences). Go figure! What do you think makes for great fantasy fiction?
High fantasy immerses the reader in an alternate reality in which the reader can imagine how society might have evolved differently. What is the core of human nature? Are we inherently led to desire liberty, or could we just as easily have been enslaved on a mass scale? So, I think great fantasy deals with large moral issues, rather than serving as a basis for a series of battles and quests.
Silverberry: Who are some of your biggest influences as a writer?
I greatly admire the Dune series, Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy, Tom Clancy, Philip K. Dick, Andre Norton, George R.R. Martin, and Robert Jordan.
My format was modeled on George R.R. Martin’s Ice and Fire series (before his contract with HBO for Game of Thrones), with some influence by Robert Jordan. In a way, this was a mistake, because some readers have commented that I have too many characters. Martin’s and Jordan’s were more receptive. On the other hand, this format has given me the flexibility to develop many themes and that really is the point of it all.
Silverberry: How do you approach crafting a novel?
I like to write the storyline in my head and then download quickly. Then I spend eons putting more flesh on the bones.
Silverberry: Thanks so much for stopping by! Readers can find out more about you, your books, and where to purchase below!
About the Alterran Legacy Series:
Would you abandon your civilization’s ancient principles to survive on an alien planet?
Blending mythology, advanced technology and political intrigue, the Alterran Legacy Series is a high-action adventure tale. In Book 1, Colony, Earth, the Alterran ruling family of Anu, En.Lil and En.Ki are stranded at their Earthly colony in Albion after a solar eruption pierces their home world’s atmosphere. With their food supplies dwindling, their lives are imperiled after a comet destroys their rejuvenation chamber, unleashing a deadly virus.
Confronting their new mortality, do they calmly accept their fate and permit their revered civilization to slip into oblivion?
Purchase the Alterran Legacy Series:
Colony Earth: The Alterran Legacy Series, Book 1
Khamlok: The Alterrran Legacy Series, Book 2
Resurrection: The Alterrran Legacy Series, Book 3
About Regina M. Joseph
As a youth, I exhausted the science fiction section of the Zanesville, Ohio public library, falling in love with André Norton. I am a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of The Ohio State University’s honors program, and I graduated from OSU’s Moritz College of Law with honors, where I was Managing Editor of The Ohio State Law Journal. I continue a thriving legal practice in M&A and commercial and corporate law in Toledo, Ohio, and I am blessed with a fine husband and three wonderful children, as well as a special niece.
Follow Regina M. Joseph
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Regina M. Joseph, Author of the Alterran Legacy Series
