The Grand Master’s Trilogy
Grand Master’s Mate, Book 3 in this trilogy, releases this month,
about ten months after the publication of Book 1, Grand Master’s Pawn. I am thrilled, and a little saddened, after
completing my longest series to date. In many ways, I’ll miss the protagonists,
Violet and Athanor, and their adventures on planets with bizarre lifeforms.
The original concept
for this trilogy dates back some thirty years ago when I had an abundance of
short stories. My initial idea was to combine
several short stories into a full-length novel. The organizing theme pays
homage to Lewis Carroll’s Alice Through the Looking Glass. The Pawn, Violet
Hunter, travels on missions to different planets under the command of a
mysterious Grand Master. Two of my short stories and skimpy notes about a
dragon morphed into Violet’s first three missions. In her fourth mission, she
meets her Grand Master and her challenges escalate. So did my challenges as the
author because I realized their story continued over two additional books.
After a rollercoaster of adventures on different planets, I leave them at a
happy point by the end of Book 3.
Teleportal Travel between Planets
In my stories set in
the Grand Masters’ Universe, the portal web allows instant travel between
distant planets.
The portals are based
on a current physics theory to explain quantum effects:
The universe we experience is just
one of a gigantic number of worlds. Some are almost identical to ours while
most are very different.
All of these worlds are equally
real, exist continuously through time, and possess precisely defined
properties.
All quantum phenomena arise from a
universal force of repulsion between 'nearby' (i.e. similar) worlds which tends
to make them more dissimilar.
Albert Einstein famously described quantum entanglement as
"spooky action at a distance" because it seems so improbable that
what happens to one particle in an entangled pair also happens instantly to the
other particle, even over great distances. The phenomenon exceeds the speed of
light. Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-06-method-quantum-entanglement-vastly-photon.html
The teleportals enable galactic travel, commerce and
communication between planets. There are limitations and unexpected
consequences.
1) A portal must be constructed at the desired destination.
The Space Corps technicians perform this task by traveling to new planets in
spaceships at sub-light speeds. They can send an unmanned ship containing a
portal, but travel between star systems will take years. Fortunately, humans
and aliens have been setting up portals for thousands of years and much of the
civilized galaxy is linked in the portal web. The Wistralians have developed an
improved technology to construct a portal in space for a fast return trip.
2) Communications are limited. You cannot use a phone to
chat with a friend on another planet because the signal travels at the speed of
light. Even Earth and Mars have an awkward time delay. It is faster to jump
into the portal cylinder and visit in person. Alternatively, you can write a
letter, or compose a digital message on a com chip, and send the message via the
Interplanetary
Communications Service. It works like the postal service, delivering the
physical message to the local Interplanetary Communications Station. Only the
Grand Masters have special miniportals to exchange private messages.
Grand Master’s Mate
Young
empath, Violet Hunter, and her crafty Grand Master, Athanor Griffin, tackle the
villains threatening civilization.
Their
worst enemy, the Red Queen, rampages across the galaxy evading capture, while
blocked portals restrict normal commerce among planets. Compounding their
problems, half the Grand Masters on the Council fear Violet is the agent of
their doom as her father foretold, and vow to eliminate her. To restore peace,
Violet and Athanor embark on a dangerous quest for a weapon hidden by the
ancient psychic masters on one of four planets. But, the weapon proves elusive,
the ancient sites harbor hazards, and new alliances forged with bizarre
entities may not be sufficient to foil their enemies and save the galaxy.
What a
fabulous ending to the most remarkable, intriguing, and creative Sci-Fi series
I have ever read.
I absolutely
love this series. It is so rich in strange sentients,
all beautifully described, and so very different than humans, yet so alike them
in other ways.
Of course, not all are ‘good’ sentients. Some are fabulous while
others are cautious, playing both sides of the proverbial fence. And some are downright deadly evil and seem
intent upon destroying everything.
Violet, the
Grand Master’s Pawn and mate, has the ability to emote empathy, and let me say, when dealing with other sentients, this often makes the difference
between life and death throughout all three books.
In fact, if
you asked me, I would say Violet is more important than any of the Grand Masters, since she can gently sway sentients to her side, even when she hasn’t asked
for help. Violet is brave, kind, courageous, and highly skilled. It is not
possible to create a better 3-dimensional
heroine than Aurora Springer has.
But Aurora’s
talents don’t end with well-rounded
character. Nope! She also knows precisely how to make a memorable, non-stop
action story. Three of them, in fact. But this one ends better than I ever
anticipated. I really wish I could give this book 10 stars!
Buy Links:
The Grand Master’s
Trilogy:
Book 1 is
only 99c for December
Bio:
Aurora Springer is a scientist morphing into a
novelist. She has a PhD in molecular biophysics and discovers science facts in
her day job. She has invented adventures in weird worlds for as long as she can
remember. In 2014, Aurora achieved her life-long ambition to publish her
stories. Her works are character-driven romances set in weird worlds described
with a sprinkle of humor. Some of the stories were composed thirty years ago. She
was born in the UK and lives in Atlanta with her husband, a dog and two cats to
sit on the keyboard. Her hobbies, besides reading and writing, include outdoor
activities like gardening, watching wildlife, hiking and canoeing.
Media links:
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Aurora-Springer/e/B00K2C4NL8
Liza, Thank you for your enthusiastic endorsement of my trilogy.
ReplyDeleteSincerely meant.
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