Sci Fi Secrets: How Lyndi Alexander wrote Triad #RLFblog #SciFi #SpaceOpera

Lyndi Alexander, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Please tell us about your book.

Triad by Lyndi Alexander

Genre science fiction, space opera

Book heat level (based on movie ratings): G

Being at war doesn’t stop the pain of old secrets, the joy of love, or the black hearts of space pirates, as three women commanders discover in Triad, from Dragonfly Publishing.

On the planet Induna, Trezanna Len leads the Solarii, a small colony of beings, human and otherwise, who believe in the right to pursue a peaceful life free from interference from others. She’d never intended to be the one people counted on, but after she’d been dismissed from her unit at Space Force, she’d drifted along till she found this place mostly populated with travelers from the Terran Diaspora. She’d been welcomed and made comfortable; now she believes the Solarii should do the same for others seeking shelter.

Of course, no situation is free from trouble. The thorn in Trezanna’s side is another group on a neighboring planet, Miramar: Dragonfleet. Always contentious, this group has become even more aggressive after the ambitious climb to power of Estrella Drake. The unbalanced and self-centered Estrella has lost many of the former Dragonfleet members disillusioned with her petulant rule, including an organized splinter faction called the Khimeyr, who left five years ago.

Trezanna has been able to handle Estrella’s little incursions into her space, marking them up to the price to co-exist. The exercise keeps her pilots and fighters in good practice. This turns out to be a blessing when the well-armed Arkosian space pirates decide they’d like to take the sector that includes both Miramar and Induna. But Trezanna’s Solarii cannot handle this attack on their own.

The last time the pirates entered this area of space, Dragonfleet and the Solarii stood together to repel them, but that’s when cooler heads ruled at Miramar.

Help comes from a most unexpected source, but one that has its own hidden agendas. Three women, Trezanna, Estrella and Catava Rolon, must work out their differences if they are to defeat the pirates and survive.

What species/races of people are in your book? Descendants of Terran humans; Eponans, who are humanoid, but squat, hairless and witty; the Viorn, a lavender-skinned humanoid with feline characteristics and markings, eyes solid black with no iris

Language and Culture

This section describes languages and culture in your story world.

What languages are spoken in your story universe?

Most of the groups speak Terran English, whether Australian, American or British descent. Rumadan, the Viorn rolls her r’s like a cat purring.

In the culture of your story world, what is different from ours?

I’d like to say the fact they live in a constant state of war, but I guess that’s not so different from our world at the moment.

What rights (such as equality) are challenges for your characters?

The Solarii, the Khymehr, Dragonfleet, and the Arkosian space pirates are all fighting over the same bit of space, claiming they have the right to control it.

Story Setting

Writers usually know more about their story world than they can say in a book. This is your chance to show off things you couldn’t say or had to imply rather than state.

Describe one of the worlds where your story takes place.

Miramar is the home of Dragonfleet, and its climate borders on desert. Parts of the planet are more livable, and Estrella Drake’s headquarters are there. On the whole,

Dragonfleet tends to be a raucous, lawless group, subject to frequent power grabs and overthrows by combat. Many are more interested in internal politics, and less at being farmers, so the land is barely cultivated. This makes for a society conducive to scavenging and taking what others have, rather than make a heartfelt effort to improve conditions for themselves.

Tell us about the age of the culture in your story, i.e., are the people part of an ancient civilization, a newly formed group within an established culture, pioneer colonists, etc.

Trezanna Len and the others are the remains of a colony dropped on the planet Induna in the past few decades. War with the space pirates has cost them dearly in attrition over the years, and ensuing squabbles with other small colonies has only exacerbated this.

What food or drink is available to your characters?

The Solarii are able to grow some imported Terran fruits and vegetables that they brought with them, but mostly they deal with canned and potted goods traded with other small colonies around the area.

Character Physiology

Whether your characters are humans on a new world, aliens on our world, or something in between, this section discusses their physical nature.

What are the physical characteristics of the race/species of your main characters?

Most are humans, descended from Terran stock. The Space Force regulated the Diaspora, opening doors for those moving to the outer worlds with the aliens who inhabited these places. Most tend to cling to their own kind, though.

What physical differences exist in the way your characters communicate (i.e., telepathy, empathic abilities, etc.) with each other?

Because there are different species as described above, they’ve settled on Terran English as a standard language. Other than that, they use the standard tech for communication, that has translation software built in.

Sharing World Building Expertise

This section lets you share things you learned while writing.

Please give us three tips you find helpful when creating a story world:

Building a large enough cast to tell several stories simultaneously–this gives an author the opportunity to show many different facets of the world/society

The devil is truly in the details–let your reader hear, smell and taste what your characters do.

In speculative fiction, the sky (and beyond!) is the limit–step out of the box!

What things should writers avoid when building a science fiction world?

Making it too cookie cutter. Find something unique and interesting about each one of your cultures and characters.

Share a resource you found helpful when researching for your story.

Some of the Star Trek resource books–I’m no rocket scientist, but it’s helpful to have a general blueprint of what systems are inherently constructed in spaceships and what you can do with them.

What’s your advice for writers who want to create a solid background for their story world?

Think beyond the surface story line. For example, listen to the news for a day–they talk about economics, politics, food, culture, opinions and who makes them, all of which might not matter at this moment to your pilot flying his shuttle into a spaceport, but which probably impact his life in big-picture ways over the course of your entire tale.

Where to buy Triad

Publisher http://www.dfpbooks.com/dfp/lyndialexander.html
Amazon Paperback https://www.amazon.com/dp/193638132X/
Barnes and Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940014113014
iBooks https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/triad/id505663131?mt=11
Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/triad-4
Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/129399?ref=dfpbooks

Lyndi Alexander Social Media

Lyndi Alexander always dreamed of faraway worlds and interesting alien contacts. She lives as a post-modern hippie in Asheville, North Carolina, a single mother of her last child of seven, a daughter on the autism spectrum, finding that every day feels a lot like first contact with a new species.
Website https://lyndialexander.wordpress.com/triad/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lyndialexander13/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13490585-triad
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Lyndi-Alexander/e/B005GDYPU2