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Interview with Shannon Haddock, author of The Crown of Eldrete

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The Crown of Eldrete, Kavaliro Cousins:  Book One starts with two distant cousins, one a warrior priest, the other a member of a band of rebels-for-hire, meeting while fighting to free a world from Neo-Imperialists, a group that wants to restore a tyrannical empire overthrown decades before.

Complications ensue.  Many complications.  First they discover the Neo-Imperialists aren’t working alone.  Then they retake an important temple and discover that some very important artifacts have been stolen, including the titular crown.  This starts a quest to recover them that lands them on a world with pirates, giant insects, volcanos, and, oh yeah, the Neo-Imperialists and their allies. 

Oh wow. What genre is this?
It’s science fantasy without magic.  It has ninja, warrior priests, prophecies, and swordfights.  I don’t see how I can call it anything else.

What kind of readers will it appeal to?
Space opera fans who want something less dramatic than “the fate of the whole universe is in this one person’s hands” sort of fare, people who like strong female characters in stories where them being female isn’t what the story is about, fans of things like Space Vulture and Star Wars and Princess of Mars, people looking for something rather less time-consuming to read than the newest “doorstopper” sf novel.

You say there are strong female characters? Tell us about them.
Lyndsey is a member of a “freelance freedom fighter” group that have come to Marohn to aid the rebels.  She’s a ninja, a fighter pilot, and one of the cockiest people in the tri-galaxies. She’s very impatient, preferring action to careful planning.  This gets her in sticky situations often and, more importantly to her, disappoints her father, a war hero she highly admires.  She also has a rarely seen tender side.

Her distant cousin, Taliza, is a guardian faeshir — warrior priest, basically — assigned to the main temple on Marohn.  She is rather young and was still fairly new to the position when the temple fell to the Neo-Imperialists and her mentor was killed.  She’s calmer and more rational than Lyndsey, yet periodically plagued with self-doubt and guilt.

Complete this sentence for us: if you like _________________, you’ll love my book.
old-fashioned adventures stories with more modern sensibilities with regards to gender roles and sexuality

What is the crown of Eldrete?
The Crown of Eldrete is the most important artifact that was stolen from the temple.  It’s the symbol of Marohni unity and there’s a legend that if an off-worlder ever touches it, Marohn will suffer a terrible fate.

This isn’t your first brush with some of these characters, is it?
I also have epublished a short story, Once A Hero, Always A Hero, about Lyndsey’s father and uncle, who are both retired heroes, going to buy brandy for their bar and ending up having to save a world from a tyrant.

We feel that way every time we have a drink or three, but maybe that says something about us. Tell us about you.
There’s not much to tell.  I’m a rather boring person.  I write; I read; I play with my dog and young cat; I spoil my elderly cat; I play video games that I’m not very good at; I spend far too much time looking things up online.

How can we look you up online?
http://universal-nexus.com
Twitter:  @ShanHaddock
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Universal.Nexus.

What’s next?
A story about Lyndsey’s grandfather’s final mission as the cultural equivalent of a fleet admiral.  THEN the sequel to The Crown of Eldrete.

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