I am thrilled to be featuring Michael Miller today for the Debut Authors Bash! Michael co-wrote SHADOW RUN with Adrianne Strickland and I LOVED this sci-fi book so freaking much!!! I am dying to read the next one! I have an alternate POV scene to share with you today!
"Firefly" meets DUNE in this action-packed sci-fi adventure about a close-knit, found family of a crew navigating a galaxy of political intrigue and resource-driven power games.
Nev has just joined the crew of the starship Kaitan Heritage as the cargo loader. His captain, Qole, is the youngest-ever person to command her own ship, but she brooks no argument from her crew of orphans, fugitives, and con men. Nev can’t resist her, even if her ship is an antique.
As for Nev, he’s a prince, in hiding on the ship. He believes Qole holds the key to changing galactic civilization, and when her cooperation proves difficult to obtain, Nev resolves to get her to his home planet by any means necessary.
But before they know it, a rival royal family is after Qole too, and they’re more interested in stealing her abilities than in keeping her alive.
Nev’s mission to manipulate Qole becomes one to save her, and to survive, she’ll have to trust her would-be kidnapper. He may be royalty, but Qole is discovering a deep reservoir of power—and stars have mercy on whoever tries to hurt her ship or her crew.
“Readers will want to join Qole's crew.”—Kirkus Reviews
“The world-building is excellent, with a convincingly unique source of cosmic energy that has the potential for extraordinary power. The writing is accomplished; the plot, though familiar, has good twists; and the pace is appropriately fast.”—School & Library Journal
Now on to the post!
This is a scene from the point of view of Nev, one of our two main characters. AdriAnne and I alternate the chapters we write––she writes Qole’s chapters, and I write Nev’s. In this Chapter, Qole, her ship the Kaitan, and their runaway prince all stop at a space station on the fringes of what used to be Nev’s domain. It was a struggle to find a spot that doesn’t give away some major plot twists in the book, so you’re being dropped straight into the middle of the story!
I re-wrote this scene from Nev’s point of view because this was one of those spots where I always wished we could dwell––Basra, Qole’s trader, is so much more comfortable dealing with the daily realities of life than Nev is, and Qole is a nice middle ground to that. There is worldbuilding and character building to explore, all my favorite things! Many of the ‘deleted scene’s that I have scattered across the computer are like that; my opportunity to dwell on the world, their surroundings, and the characters in them.
I hope you enjoy!
“The darkness is… unsettling.” I couldn’t help but stare at the open edge of the docking bay, where the blackness was so complete it looked like paint. Space was dark, but not as dark as many thought. Most human activity happened around something––a planet, a moon, wreckage––that would create light. The stars themselves, in absence of anything else, could overwhelm.. But here, nestled up against a gas cloud so dense no light could get through, there was nothing.
Qole, in the middle of heaving one crate onto another, paused with it balanced precariously on its edge. She used one hand to keep it there and the other to pull the hair out of her eyes. “I don’t mind the dark. Peaceful.” She tipped the crate the rest of the way and it settled with a thunk and rattle. “I think you’re feeling the station.”
I glanced around. The trading post Basra had taken us was old. I guessed that at some point in the past the construction had been smooth, seamless, gleaming white to offset the darkness around us, not the scoured gray disaster it was now. Not old, ancient.
Built in layers around a central column, rings upon rings stretched out of sight below and above us, each one representing another layer of the station, another realm of business. Some were brightly lit and somewhat maintained, like the one where we fueled up. Some were not.
I shuddered. “Dark place for dark business.”
“Dark place to hide from the shining light of authoritarianism.” Basra’s smooth voice came from right behind my ear.
I suppressed an impromptu dance of surprise. “Would you stop doing that?” I glowered at the trader. With an unassuming slouch, dressed in black sweater and cargo pants, he almost disappeared into the surrounding station. Behind him, dock workers were bringing up fresh pallets of cargo, each container marked with completely innocuous product details.
“What are these, anyway?” I hoisted it up, making sure the dock workers weren’t in earshot. “I’m remarkably certain this isn’t where one purchases, ah,--I peered at the label--“Yip Yip the Everlasting Children’s Noise Maker.”
“That one, actually, is what it is. Banned on several worlds due to causing insomnia and uncontrollable rage.” Basra checked it off on the infopad. “The rest… luxury goods that are restricted, synthetic drugs that are both too expensive and addictive for the wealthy to resist, stolen art, unregistered artefacts—that sort of thing.”
“Can we… not sell this stuff?” I grunted as I set it down, wondering how Qole made it look so easy. It was only a little annoying. “I probably helped put some of those protections in place, myself.”
“Would you like to be smuggled onto your own planet or not? Besides.” Basra checked off the final crates and headed into the Kaitan. “You expect the captain and myself to miss out on a profit because of your qualms? You chose your own mode of transport, Your Majesty.”
I winced. The final words were framed as a joke for anyone who might overhear, but I caught the subtext. I sighed and stared back out into the blackness. “I guess I did, when I started this mess. But now it’s less of a choice and more of a… the only way forward, I suppose. The only way that might help.”
Qole stood next to me, also surveying the darkness. It was where we were headed, in every way. I started when she put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “You can’t just be doing this to help us, you know. We’ll be fine.”
I felt my jaw tighten. “I don’t see how. I don’t see any other way.”
“It’s not always about having a way.” Qole’s hand dropped. I missed it. “When you don’t have much, it’s not about having an answer. It’s trying to find one. You need to make sure you’re doing this because it’s the right thing, not just because you want to shoulder everyone’s problems. We’ve been doing this for a long time Nev, and we’ve always found a way in the end.”
I looked down at her. “I thought I was the positive one.”
A smile hinted at the corner of her eyes. “If telling you to keep looking for a way makes me the positive one, you need some sleep. Lets go.” She headed back up the ramp, and I stood staring into the darkness a moment longer.
Maybe it is kind of peaceful.
I ran back up the ramp, and it hissed shut behind me.
This is a scene from the point of view of Nev, one of our two main characters. AdriAnne and I alternate the chapters we write––she writes Qole’s chapters, and I write Nev’s. In this Chapter, Qole, her ship the Kaitan, and their runaway prince all stop at a space station on the fringes of what used to be Nev’s domain. It was a struggle to find a spot that doesn’t give away some major plot twists in the book, so you’re being dropped straight into the middle of the story!
I re-wrote this scene from Nev’s point of view because this was one of those spots where I always wished we could dwell––Basra, Qole’s trader, is so much more comfortable dealing with the daily realities of life than Nev is, and Qole is a nice middle ground to that. There is worldbuilding and character building to explore, all my favorite things! Many of the ‘deleted scene’s that I have scattered across the computer are like that; my opportunity to dwell on the world, their surroundings, and the characters in them.
I hope you enjoy!
“The darkness is… unsettling.” I couldn’t help but stare at the open edge of the docking bay, where the blackness was so complete it looked like paint. Space was dark, but not as dark as many thought. Most human activity happened around something––a planet, a moon, wreckage––that would create light. The stars themselves, in absence of anything else, could overwhelm.. But here, nestled up against a gas cloud so dense no light could get through, there was nothing.
Qole, in the middle of heaving one crate onto another, paused with it balanced precariously on its edge. She used one hand to keep it there and the other to pull the hair out of her eyes. “I don’t mind the dark. Peaceful.” She tipped the crate the rest of the way and it settled with a thunk and rattle. “I think you’re feeling the station.”
I glanced around. The trading post Basra had taken us was old. I guessed that at some point in the past the construction had been smooth, seamless, gleaming white to offset the darkness around us, not the scoured gray disaster it was now. Not old, ancient.
Built in layers around a central column, rings upon rings stretched out of sight below and above us, each one representing another layer of the station, another realm of business. Some were brightly lit and somewhat maintained, like the one where we fueled up. Some were not.
I shuddered. “Dark place for dark business.”
“Dark place to hide from the shining light of authoritarianism.” Basra’s smooth voice came from right behind my ear.
I suppressed an impromptu dance of surprise. “Would you stop doing that?” I glowered at the trader. With an unassuming slouch, dressed in black sweater and cargo pants, he almost disappeared into the surrounding station. Behind him, dock workers were bringing up fresh pallets of cargo, each container marked with completely innocuous product details.
“What are these, anyway?” I hoisted it up, making sure the dock workers weren’t in earshot. “I’m remarkably certain this isn’t where one purchases, ah,--I peered at the label--“Yip Yip the Everlasting Children’s Noise Maker.”
“That one, actually, is what it is. Banned on several worlds due to causing insomnia and uncontrollable rage.” Basra checked it off on the infopad. “The rest… luxury goods that are restricted, synthetic drugs that are both too expensive and addictive for the wealthy to resist, stolen art, unregistered artefacts—that sort of thing.”
“Can we… not sell this stuff?” I grunted as I set it down, wondering how Qole made it look so easy. It was only a little annoying. “I probably helped put some of those protections in place, myself.”
“Would you like to be smuggled onto your own planet or not? Besides.” Basra checked off the final crates and headed into the Kaitan. “You expect the captain and myself to miss out on a profit because of your qualms? You chose your own mode of transport, Your Majesty.”
I winced. The final words were framed as a joke for anyone who might overhear, but I caught the subtext. I sighed and stared back out into the blackness. “I guess I did, when I started this mess. But now it’s less of a choice and more of a… the only way forward, I suppose. The only way that might help.”
Qole stood next to me, also surveying the darkness. It was where we were headed, in every way. I started when she put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “You can’t just be doing this to help us, you know. We’ll be fine.”
I felt my jaw tighten. “I don’t see how. I don’t see any other way.”
“It’s not always about having a way.” Qole’s hand dropped. I missed it. “When you don’t have much, it’s not about having an answer. It’s trying to find one. You need to make sure you’re doing this because it’s the right thing, not just because you want to shoulder everyone’s problems. We’ve been doing this for a long time Nev, and we’ve always found a way in the end.”
I looked down at her. “I thought I was the positive one.”
A smile hinted at the corner of her eyes. “If telling you to keep looking for a way makes me the positive one, you need some sleep. Lets go.” She headed back up the ramp, and I stood staring into the darkness a moment longer.
Maybe it is kind of peaceful.
I ran back up the ramp, and it hissed shut behind me.
Raised off-grid in Alaska, where long winter nights were spent reading by kerosene lamp, he spent as much time in imaginary worlds as the real one. Weaned on Tolkien, Russian fairy tales and Laura Ingalls Wilder, he and his brother started scribbling adventures for a periodical newspaper to keep friends informed of life in the woods. The introduction of solar power and a Macbook changed everything - his writing, and his career. He now works as an Apple Consultant and web developer. He lives in Alaska with his fabulous wife, spending part of the winter being vagabonds elsewhere on the planet.
Thanks to an incredible co-author, AdriAnne Strickland and their inimitable agent Kirsten Carleton their book, Shadow Run, has been published by the talented Kate Sullivan at Delacorte. The sequel, Shadow Call, is due out in spring of 2018!
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