Let's just get into this straightaway. If you haven't read Girl in the Box, Book 8 yet, DON'T READ THIS POST. IT WILL RUIN THE SERIES FOR YOU. The whole thing. Seriously. This is the single most explosively revealing book yet, and as one of my beta readers put it, "I don't know what you're going to do for the next two books now that all that is out there." (Don't worry, I've got it covered.)
Spoilers commencing in 10...
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You're still here, you person who didn't read the book yet. Go read it, will you? We're going to have a discussion here and I don't want you standing around looking all befuddled while you're trying to figure out what's going on. Seriously, this is just going to be a series of disconnected ramblings mentioning little segments of the book, and it will completely ruin any enjoyment you have from the damned thing. Go away and come back when you've read it. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but spoilers will kill all your livestock and salt the earth. Or something. I read it on a Surgeon General's warning.
So, judging from beta reactions, a lot of you were expecting that I'd written myself into a corner at the end of book 7, throwing Sienna in jail. As usual, though, I made sure that there was a trapdoor beneath me before I did write myself into said corner. Now Sienna is working for the U.S. Government, which I'm sure won't ever possibly have any negative, life-altering consequences in future volumes. <evilicious grin> But anyway. That's for the second series.
And Sovereign! I wanted to give you a little more insight into him, sort of lay out some of the basics. Really, this book is largely about him, how everyone else in the meta world sees him - except for that last flashback, obviously. That was just pure juice. You really don't know everything about Sovereign, though, and there will be another series of flashbacks in book 10 that will delve into him, his past, more from his perspective (and unfiltered, like the last one was). This book really is all about Legacy, about what we leave behind, from all the flashbacks that illuminate us on who Sovereign is and what he's all about, to the kinda/sorta resolution of conflict between Sienna and her mommy. Note the kinda/sorta there, in case you thought it all came together much too smoothly in this book. It ain't over yet; some wounds don't ever really heal fully. Also, Old Man Winter. He's left a legacy of extreme pain in Sienna's life, and it was nice to put a little bit of closure to that whole score. And before anyone asks, yes, he's really and truly dead. He will not be back in any way except a flashback. I would have preferred he died "on screen" as it were, but let's face it; Sienna may not have wanted to kill him by the end, but she's not going to shed any tears at his passing, and no way is she touchy-feely enough to comfort the bastard in his last moments. Especially not while he was asking of her what he did.
So...Breandan. Sorry about that. Someone had to go in order to drive home the fact that the stakes were highest, and, well...I looked around and knew that the Irishman would have the most impact. It's always the ones with the most personality that make the biggest impact. And let's face it, when you're walking into the extinction of your species, it's inevitable that people are going to die, including people we know very well...
In case any of you didn't know who Jon Traeger was when the flashback on the ship came 'round, I hope you figured out later that he was Sienna's dad. I kind of expected to hear gasps all around the world at the end of that chapter. Same thing for the last chapter, but for different reasons.
For those of you who haven't read it in a while, "He really does taste like the ocean," was a reference to something Charlie said in Soulless. That's a long callback, but I went with it. It made me laugh a lot, though I was probably the only one who remembered that joke. Sometimes I write just to amuse myself, though I always desperately hope that others of you come along for the ride.
If you read the chapter with Bjorn's flashback, you can catch a throwaway line revealing that Sovereign killed Thor as well as Odin. Yes, he's that much of a badass. Should have showed him your abs, Chris Hemsworth.
This was one of the toughest books I've ever written, because it actually weaves together with real world events in the flashbacks. Peshtigo, Wisconsin was the site of a massive firestorm that killed hundreds on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire that burned the city to the ground. Obviously, my explanation for the events is that Sovereign flung Winter's flaming body a few hundred miles south (which was fun to write, but probably not the truth - probably) starting the blaze. Same thing with the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald in the Jon Traeger chapter. Real world events require research to allow at least a sense of verisimilitude/believability. It takes time. Remind me never to do that again; it's all making shit up as I go from here on!
All right, well let's cut to the end and I'll open it up for comments. The last two chapters hopefully turned your perception of what this was all about on its head. Yes, Sovereign is an incubus.What does this mean? You can probably speculate; I'm sure you'll get a much clearer idea in book 9 as it'll be the first thing discussed in chapter 2 when we return to the group still meeting in Sienna's office. I will leave you with one tidbit, though - read the finale of Untouched again. It hinted way back when at some possibilities related to this turn of events.
And as for the last chapter...well...I think you can see how far back I've been spinning this. If you read Omega again, it does say that Joshua Harding looked awfully familiar...same with Weissman...
Destiny: The Girl in the Box, Book 9 will probably not be out until close to mid-year 2014. I've got two and a half other books to write before I can get to it. Hopefully they'll go fast, because I'm looking forward to moving the pieces closer to the big finish.
And it WILL be a big finish.
LET THE COMMENTS COMMENCE!
Spoilers commencing in 10...
9...
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
0.
You're still here, you person who didn't read the book yet. Go read it, will you? We're going to have a discussion here and I don't want you standing around looking all befuddled while you're trying to figure out what's going on. Seriously, this is just going to be a series of disconnected ramblings mentioning little segments of the book, and it will completely ruin any enjoyment you have from the damned thing. Go away and come back when you've read it. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but spoilers will kill all your livestock and salt the earth. Or something. I read it on a Surgeon General's warning.
So, judging from beta reactions, a lot of you were expecting that I'd written myself into a corner at the end of book 7, throwing Sienna in jail. As usual, though, I made sure that there was a trapdoor beneath me before I did write myself into said corner. Now Sienna is working for the U.S. Government, which I'm sure won't ever possibly have any negative, life-altering consequences in future volumes. <evilicious grin> But anyway. That's for the second series.
And Sovereign! I wanted to give you a little more insight into him, sort of lay out some of the basics. Really, this book is largely about him, how everyone else in the meta world sees him - except for that last flashback, obviously. That was just pure juice. You really don't know everything about Sovereign, though, and there will be another series of flashbacks in book 10 that will delve into him, his past, more from his perspective (and unfiltered, like the last one was). This book really is all about Legacy, about what we leave behind, from all the flashbacks that illuminate us on who Sovereign is and what he's all about, to the kinda/sorta resolution of conflict between Sienna and her mommy. Note the kinda/sorta there, in case you thought it all came together much too smoothly in this book. It ain't over yet; some wounds don't ever really heal fully. Also, Old Man Winter. He's left a legacy of extreme pain in Sienna's life, and it was nice to put a little bit of closure to that whole score. And before anyone asks, yes, he's really and truly dead. He will not be back in any way except a flashback. I would have preferred he died "on screen" as it were, but let's face it; Sienna may not have wanted to kill him by the end, but she's not going to shed any tears at his passing, and no way is she touchy-feely enough to comfort the bastard in his last moments. Especially not while he was asking of her what he did.
So...Breandan. Sorry about that. Someone had to go in order to drive home the fact that the stakes were highest, and, well...I looked around and knew that the Irishman would have the most impact. It's always the ones with the most personality that make the biggest impact. And let's face it, when you're walking into the extinction of your species, it's inevitable that people are going to die, including people we know very well...
In case any of you didn't know who Jon Traeger was when the flashback on the ship came 'round, I hope you figured out later that he was Sienna's dad. I kind of expected to hear gasps all around the world at the end of that chapter. Same thing for the last chapter, but for different reasons.
For those of you who haven't read it in a while, "He really does taste like the ocean," was a reference to something Charlie said in Soulless. That's a long callback, but I went with it. It made me laugh a lot, though I was probably the only one who remembered that joke. Sometimes I write just to amuse myself, though I always desperately hope that others of you come along for the ride.
If you read the chapter with Bjorn's flashback, you can catch a throwaway line revealing that Sovereign killed Thor as well as Odin. Yes, he's that much of a badass. Should have showed him your abs, Chris Hemsworth.
This was one of the toughest books I've ever written, because it actually weaves together with real world events in the flashbacks. Peshtigo, Wisconsin was the site of a massive firestorm that killed hundreds on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire that burned the city to the ground. Obviously, my explanation for the events is that Sovereign flung Winter's flaming body a few hundred miles south (which was fun to write, but probably not the truth - probably) starting the blaze. Same thing with the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald in the Jon Traeger chapter. Real world events require research to allow at least a sense of verisimilitude/believability. It takes time. Remind me never to do that again; it's all making shit up as I go from here on!
All right, well let's cut to the end and I'll open it up for comments. The last two chapters hopefully turned your perception of what this was all about on its head. Yes, Sovereign is an incubus.What does this mean? You can probably speculate; I'm sure you'll get a much clearer idea in book 9 as it'll be the first thing discussed in chapter 2 when we return to the group still meeting in Sienna's office. I will leave you with one tidbit, though - read the finale of Untouched again. It hinted way back when at some possibilities related to this turn of events.
And as for the last chapter...well...I think you can see how far back I've been spinning this. If you read Omega again, it does say that Joshua Harding looked awfully familiar...same with Weissman...
Destiny: The Girl in the Box, Book 9 will probably not be out until close to mid-year 2014. I've got two and a half other books to write before I can get to it. Hopefully they'll go fast, because I'm looking forward to moving the pieces closer to the big finish.
And it WILL be a big finish.
LET THE COMMENTS COMMENCE!