Now that my second entry in the Union Earth Privateers
universe has had a couple months of release to stew it's time to take a look back and peel back the veil. Following are some of my thoughts and plans for the book, the goals I set out with and some behind the scenes workings.
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Vick’s Vultures was intended and works well as a standalone
book. I had not planned additional installments when I first wrote it, but I
made sure to plant seeds and lay groundwork for future stories within the
universe. Conversely, To Fall Among Vultures and its follow-up later this year,
Where Vultures Dare, are two halves of a matched set. Each is a self-contained
3-act story that directly plays off the other and rewards the reader for
tackling the whole set. There’s another popular work of science fiction that
follows the same format. You might be familiar with a little series called Star
Wars.
Linking the second and third book in such a way was a
departure from my original intention of only loosely-related serialized
installments, but I think the series is stronger for it. It allowed me to
explore the concept of decision-based consequences where characters are forced
to confront the way their choices cause ripples in the world around them.
Divine Introspection
Both Vick’s Vultures and The Sorcerous Crimes Division both delved
into religious themes and biblical subversions in some ways, namely the hazards
of blindly following faith without critical thought. But never are those themes
as front and center as in To Fall Among Vultures. I worried that they would be
a little too on-the-nose, but so far it’s received far fewer comments than the
parallels to modern day government shenanigans.
Right from the start of the book I started throwing religion
at the reader with the Parable of the Good Samaritan, which in a very real way
draws Victoria into the primary conflict of the book. In fact, the original
name for the novel was To Fall Among Robbers, almost a direct biblical quote
that perfectly captured the themes and tone of the book. Unfortunately, the
name is only perfect in retrospect after
reading the book, and after much back and forth and head scratching with the
publisher we eventually compromised on To Fall Among Vultures.
Much of the remaining story is a loose subversion of Exodus
in which Moses led the Israelites to the promised land. The Gavisar are a race
of dogmatic xenos following what they believe is the divine instructions of gods.
But when granted a view from the outside looking in, Victoria is shocked at the
absurdity of attributing god-like status to aliens and recognizes that the
tenants and history of the Gavisar religion are manufactured by the Gavisar
themselves. This story is somewhat unique in the role-reversal that the protagonists
are forced into the role of Philistines. Neither the Maeyar or the Gavisar are
truly villains, they are opposing forces forced to pay for the sins of their
forebears. I think a conflict where the lines of good and evil are blurred is
more interesting to read, especially when the protagonist struggles to decide
which side they should throw their weight behind and realizes only far too late
that getting involved at all was quite possibly a moral misstep. And do right
and wrong have any place in interstellar politics at all? After all, what’s best
for the Maeyar or Gavisar might not be what’s best for humanity.
The Galactic Face-Heel Turn
Surprisingly (or perhaps not so surprisingly), most of the
reviews eschewed the vaguely religious themes and critiques in favor of the
plot twist in the last act of the book. Up until this point in the novel
Victoria, and by extension humanity, was the front and center hero. While the
conflict between the Maeyar and the Gavisar painted neither as the clear
villain, Union Earth was more than happy to assume the mantle when they arrived
at Pedres to break the line of the Maeyar blockade. In a strategic and
politically expedient decision that prevented a genocide and secured future
colonization opportunities, the Union Earth Navy betrayed a budding alliance,
undid nearly all Victoria’s work, and murdered the spouse of a main character
in the process.
Both Vick’s Vultures and To Fall Among Vultures placed heavy
POV emphasis on alien characters because I wanted to convey how the rest of the
Orion Spur perceived these savage upstarts. But that emphasis also allowed
empathy, and so when the Zumwalts begin to fire on the carrier line, the reader
feels as though the humans are the hostile xenos. Victoria is helpless in this
scene, her agency is stripped by military direction, and so too does the reader
feel helpless as they look on in horror while they ponder the outcome. To date,
this twist is the most divisive scene I’ve written. Readers are split half and
half between loving it and hating it, and unfortunately not all of the latter
were kind in their reviews. But all of them felt it like a punch in the gut, in
fact several have described it like a physical blow.
And that sensation was exactly what I set out to produce.
Whatever the reception, I consider it a complete success as a writer to evoke
such a strong reaction. I would consider it a disservice to shoot for anything
less.
Feel free to let me know what you thought. As always you can reach me on twitter @scottwarrenscd or on facebook.com/scottwarrenscd
