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Welcome to It's Raining Books. Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?
First of all, it’s great to be here today and I’d like to thank It’s Raining Books for hosting me as well as everyone reading my interview on my series “The Chronicles of Deneb”. So, let’ s get down to business. Why did I choose to write a space opera series? For a lot of people, the term “space opera” is new and mysterious. It shouldn’t be since there’s probably not one person reading this that hasn’t watched or read a space opera. Think of Stars Wars, Starship Troopers, and Dune for example. It’s a subgenre of sci-fi with less emphasis on the “sci” and more on the “fi”. Set in the future, way off in the distant parts of the universe, space operas deal with adventures, relationships, warfare, and fictional aliens. A little clearer now, right?
What draws me to the space opera genre is my past. When I was still too small to go to school, my parents lived in the countryside where we had a clear view of the night sky. The elusive dark skies that are hard to find now near cities. In the summer, we’d sit outside and watch the fireflies flashing their bioluminescent abdomens. I’d look up into the sky and my mother would sing “twinkle, twinkle, little star”, and point into the sky at the constellations. I must have been three when I could point out the major ones. Ever since then, I’ve had my head in the stars.
When it came to writing a novel, it was only too obvious that I wanted the setting to be in space. I wanted to explore what would happen in, if in the not-so-distant future, humans discovered a way to travel across the vast distances of space to colonize alien planets. I never set out to write a series, but my sense of adventure keeps me going.
What research is required?
At the outset of writing the first novel in the series, The Flight of the Mayflower, I started by researching how scientists determine the atmosphere of exoplanets. The plot of the novel required me to establish an organization of exoplanets hosting advanced life. All of the planets had to be within the Milky Way galaxy, so my next step was scouring nearby constellations for stars that could possibly host habitable exoplanets. I selected a small group of five stars in different constellations and hijacked the names of the stars for the planets. For example, the planet upon which the majority of the action takes place is Deneb-7, the seventh planet orbiting the supergiant blue-white star Deneb. Each of the exoplanets possesses humanoid or advanced life forms and together, the five planets form the Interstellar Collective for Peace and Security (the “Collective”), a kind of interplanetary United Nations.
I believed that this would be sufficient for me to populate my planets with my characters. Was I wrong. I quickly realized that geological landforms such as rivers, deserts, forest, and lakes were missing. Cities had to be constructed in logical places. Spaceports, markets, cathedrals, universities, and military bases all had to be sited. I drew maps of the planets, which are in each novel so that the reader can follow along.
Of course, the inhabitants of the planets eat and drink and that meant developing flora and fauna. I researched what types of plants thrive in the different environments of my alien planets and kept a spreadsheet with descriptions.
It was all very interesting to research and create the world of the Collective, and in my opinion, the research makes the novels come to life.
Name one thing you learned from your hero/heroine.
While writing the three novels I had to learn a great deal since several of the main characters are scientists. Daniel Radu is a starship propulsion engineer, Tara Kóbor is an astrophysicist, Meera is a botanist and Burell is an entomologist. I have learned so much from researching for the novels in “The Chronicles of Deneb” that I’d be hard pressed to name only one thing. But let me take a stab. I’m currently working on the fourth novel in the series. A few of the chapters are devoted to Daniel’s protégé, Marco, developing a new propulsion system for space freighters that would make use of the Interstellar Medium as a source of fuel. I spent a few months learning everything I could about futuristic spaceship engines, as well as the interstellar medium. But what I took from my studies, if a person continues to be curious throughout their lives, they can learn about things that they never knew existed. Learning is a life-long goal. That is what writing Daniel has taught me.
Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits, or superstitions?
Green tea with freshly crushed cardamom is absolutely delicious and I love to have a cup beside me as I write. Naturally, I take a few sips, then forget all about it. But tea is my go-to drink. It gives me this sense of calm that allows me to enter into my “writer’s mode”. That reminds me, I need to heat up my cup of tea right now.
Are you a plotter or pantser?
Oh a plotter 100%. Now, that is. Back in 2018, I started to work on my first novel, The Flight of the Mayflower. That began with just an idea in my head and I started to write, but suddenly I came across all sorts of problems. The novels span thirty years and so much happens between the time the crew lands on Deneb-7 in 2080CE and where the series ends. I needed a timeline with the lives of each of my main characters mapped out. In my office, I pecked out everything into an excel spreadsheet. It wasn’t exactly the best visual representation so I went downstairs and sat at a long table where I scrawled the most important plot points, one by one, on sticky notes and plonked them onto the wall in chronological order. I revise this from time to time, but very little needs to be changed as my writing progresses through the series.
There’s more though. I needed order, a roadmap to keep all of the creative details straight. Every person, city, plant, and animal that I create I throw onto the spreadsheet that holds the series’ timeline. I try to be as careful as possible to avoid consistency errors, but every writer knows that they sneak up on you. Without being a plotter I’d be lost in space. Or space opera… to be more precise 😉
Look to your right – what’s sitting there?
I write in an office with a big window overlooking the front yard where I have a little rose garden. Thirteen roses, lucky thirteen, all David Austin shrub roses that share the garden space with other perennials and a dwarf Arctic willow hedge. Actually, I would hazard a guess that all arctic willows are dwarf types. But at the moment, it’s covered in snow. What can I say, I live in the snowbelt of Ontario, Canada. So let me look more to the right. There I see a framed map of the Canadian arctic. This is very meaningful to me. When I was younger, my parents retired to the Yukon Territory. Although by then I was no longer at home, I would visit twice a year. I got several other chances to visit the Arctic. I was tasked by the Air Force to conduct a study on supporting operations in the far north. I flew to several towns in Canada’s arctic, as well as the Canadian Forces Station Alert on the very top of Ellesmere Island. The framed map was given to me, on the occasion of my departure from my job at Winnipeg, by one of my very good friends with whom I have since lost touch. We travelled up north together along with a team, and the map is a constant reminder of the adventures we had in the arctic. None of the stories I write about is set in an arctic environment on an alien planet, but it’s now on my radar.
Anything new coming up from you? What?
I’ve alluded to a new addition to the series that should be ready for publication at the end of 2023. You see, the Chronicles of Deneb have hijacked my life! Although I haven’t given the book a title yet, I’m toying with Perils of Paradise since the plot takes place almost entirely on the beautiful tropical paradise island of Cepheus-9, with its binary star solar system. This book is a little different from the others in that my main character, Daniel Radu (originally an astronautical engineer) is forced to masquerade as a botanist within the Collective and his work takes him to various exotic locales where he and his boss Meera face dangerous situations. Daniel’s mask keeps slipping and Meera keeps wondering who he really is as Daniel makes use of his engineering expertise to get them out of sticky situations. There will be space pirates and dangerous creatures and shades of the past coming back to haunt him in the fourth novel. It’s going to be a lot of fun.
Do you have a question for our readers?
I write to entertain. To give the reader an hour or so where they can kick back and be enthralled by a story of make believe filled with adventure and excitement. I’ve put a lot of thought and time into writing The Chronicles of Deneb. I have a good stable of beta readers who loyally and faithfully provide me with feedback, but I’d love to hear your opinions on my work. Reach out to me at www.zanneraby.com and let me know what you find interesting about the series.
Yes, I realize that wasn’t a question. So let me pose one here. Reviews sell books. Especially for independent authors. What would give you, the reader, the incentive to leave a review on Amazon, Kobo, or Goodreads?
Now that I’ve indoctrinated you into the “Collective”, don’t be shy! Keep in touch with me, friend me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/zanne.raby/ or get your copies of the maps for the planets within the Collective on my website.
The Chronicles of Deneb is a science-fiction/ space opera series set in the near future. The year is 2080 CE. The world is dying. Get ready to travel into the future to a time when nothing is certain. Where the science behind climate change was ignored, leading to drought and famine plaguing an already overpopulated globe. Massive waves of refugees stream across the planet, seeking sanctuary. Where terrorist groups have joined forces with biohackers to develop a deadly bio-engineered disease that marches across the continents like a conquering army, leaving millions dead in its murderous swathe.
Meanwhile, some of the best and brightest minds on the planet are feverishly at work - constructing gigantic Space Arks to shuttle hundreds of thousands of people to a colony on Mars. And it seems like there’s more good news: world leaders announce that a vaccine is ready. It’s all good; it’s all returning to normal.
But the truth is very different. In THE FLIGHT OF THE MAYFLOWER, the first novel in The Chronicles of Deneb, Dr. Daniel Radu – project manager for NASA’s Space Ark Mayflower – uncovers a global conspiracy of immense proportions. But Daniel cooks up a scheme of his own. Joined by a team of global experts, he and his colleagues brace themselves for a journey of a lifetime as they trek across the galaxy in a quest for survival.
Mayhem follows the Mayflower in the second book of The Chronicles of Deneb series, DESCENT INTO DARKNESS. Journey along with the crew of the Space Ark Mayflower as they adapt to their new home on the planet Deneb. But along with their struggle to integrate into an alien culture, a new battle sweeps across the planet with the arrival of the human-transmitted Chimera bactovirus, bringing war and fanning the flames of racial intolerance. With a bloody conflict now raging across the planet, the crew of the Mayflower is split between the two factions and embroiled in the chaos and destruction.
FIRES OF FURY is the third installment in The Chronicles of Deneb. Will the survivors of the Space Ark Mayflower find their way when cultures clash and the fires of fury threaten to consume their lives? Now masquerading as citizens of the Collective, the Mayflower crew has a new reason to fear. With the end of the Second Denebian War, Wesselan’s General Pallav Kóbor and his astrophysicist wife, Dr. Tara Kóbor, have high hopes that life will return to normal on Deneb7. Yet nothing can be further from the truth.In a diabolical plot to erase the scars left by the Second Denebian War, warlord turned Wessel Head of State Gomalan unleashes a fiendish scheme to heal his nation’s wounds, while his top soldier, General Ravenna, falls under the spell of a seductive Fyjer agent intent on crushing their ambitions. Dragged into a brutal reality of terror and intrigue, can the Kóbors and warbird ace Fynn Vogel remain unscathed, or will the flames consume them and all that is evil on Deneb-7?
Read an Excerpt
A white mist swirled about him, blinding in intensity. It pulled Pallav through the sands of time and across the deep divide of space. Before him, a city appeared at the confluence of two shimmering rivers and forested mountains peeked out from behind whimsical wooden houses that lined the avenues. From the mist stepped a broad-shouldered man. His rugged face was wind burned and a shaggy black beard flowed down his chest. Pale green eyes, so like his own, blinked in the dazzling light. Pallav reeled back in surprise but the man grabbed him firmly by the shoulders and kissed him three times on the lips.
He stared into those eyes, pale green like his own and a sick feeling came over him. “Have I died?” Pallav asked, panic setting in. His thoughts were of Tara, of his children and the pain that they would feel. He began to struggle, to search for a way back, but the mist descended once again.
A hand guided him back into the light; the man simply shook his head and glanced at Pallav with sadness. “My kin and blood, I fear you have lost your way. Look at what you have orchestrated on this day and tell me: do you not feel remorse?”
Pallav’s response sounded disingenuous even to his own ears. “Remorse, old man… At what?”
About the Author: Since the days of the Napoleonic War, there has always been a member of Zanne’s family in uniform. Choosing to follow in the footsteps of her ancestors, Zanne joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1980, and was selected to attend the Royal Military College of Canada – the first year that women were accepted into that prestigious academy of learning. After graduation, she studied to become a Transportation and Movements Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
During a career spanning 38 years, some of the most memorable experiences involved command of 8 Mission Support Squadron as part of Joint Task Force Afghanistan, leading a study on support to the Canadian Arctic involving several trips to Northern Canada, including Canadian Forces Station Alert (the most northern settlement in the world), a three-year tour with NATO at Joint Force Command Brunssum, a deployment as the NATO Liaison Officer to United States Central Command, and finally a nomination as the Deputy Commander for the Canadian Forces Recruiting Group.
After hanging up the uniform and putting away the combat boots, Zanne bought a small acreage in Central Ontario and designed her own house. With a cozy office overlooking the shores of Georgian Bay, she decided to pursue her life-long ambition: to become an author. Enough of the reports and returns that littered her desk over her career, now she could turn her attention to unleashing the creativity that had taken a back seat. The time had come to shake the dust off begin a new career. The winds of change had called.
Zanne is currently crafting The Chronicles of Deneb, a sci-fi space opera series that will take the reader from a dystopian earth on a voyage across the universe in search of a safe haven. But trouble is in store for them when the planet they land on is anything but the sanctuary they sought.
When not behind the keyboard, Zanne enjoys travel, photography, hiking, and gardening. And always, a good story to pass the time.
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