In Extremis
Page 39
I did a lot of art for this series, more than I could put in the back of a book... I picked five (with difficulty!) just to keep this section from getting too long. Completionists will find the rest of it on Patreon, along with a bunch of cartoons of Sediryl being grumpy at me.
1. Sediryl: Not a great picture of her face, but I mostly wanted to mess with her outfit. And her attitude. So much boot. Hyera was crazy.
2. Kamaney: You really wanted a picture of her! On the furs! Didn't you?
3. Oviin: This one, though, a lot of people asked for. It was rewarding to put a name to some of the invisible people from Wingless and investigate how that subculture worked.
4. The Queen and Her First Shapes: I had fun trying to make her shapes look like her despite being completely different species. It was mostly in the eyes. Anyway, the Queen and the shapes she knew initially, during Wingless.
5. The Emperor and His First Shapes: And then I needed the matched set. The Emperor's were much harder because he's supposed to look delicate in those other shapes. Plus, the first one (Eldritch) is supposed to be "off" and the second isn't too good either, so they both have to have odd eyes. But I liked how it came out.
Playlist
Using formalized playlists as inspiration is a habit of about two years' standing now. These playlists are not intended to be literal soundtracks; I use songs that give me the right "feel" for what I'm planning, either in lyrics or sound quality. Then I listen to them while commuting or running, which is when I do most of my plotting.
I think of this book as Sediryl's Wingless, so it has a main theme. After the Emperor's thread became more important, he developed a theme as well. The rest of the songs are generic to the story as a whole, but in general, Sediryl gravitated toward female singers (like Garbage and Natalie Imbruglia), while Muse and Depeche Mode belonged more on the dragon side. Depeche Mode crops up on anything involving Lisinthir.
Sediryl's Theme: "Came Back Haunted," Nine Inch Nails
The Emperor's Theme: "Black Rose," Red Flag
"Copy of a," Nine Inch Nails
"Wrong," Depeche Mode
"Furious Angels," Rob Dougan (Kamaney's Theme)
"Suffer Well," Depeche Mode
"City of Delusion," Muse
"Flame," The Cruxshadows
"Smoke," Natalie Imbruglia
"The Trick is to Keep Breathing," Garbage
"Nobody Loves You," Garbage
"Duel (Bitter Sweet)", Propaganda
"Where's the Revolution," Depeche Mode
"The Hand That Feeds," Nine Inch Nails
"Roll the Bones," Rush (Second's theme)
"A Pain That I'm Used To," Depeche Mode
"Uprising," Muse
"Resistance," Muse
"My Past Is Not Today," Daniel Ingram
"Parade," Garbage
"Head Down," Moev
A final note: "My Past Is Not Today" is from a My Little Pony movie soundtrack. This will sound ridiculous until you look it up on Youtube and listen to the lyrics. Seriously. Go check it out.
Acknowledgments
This is the most complicated series I've written to date, plotwise, and inevitably Mistakes Were Made... so once again, thank you to my editorial team: Bertha, Anastasia, Grey, Jenn, Cap, and Lola. Y'all were awesome. Rowyn, I will forever look at That Scene and laugh and it's your fault, but that's okay because your fine-tooth comb made this book much, much better. And yes, I'm leaving those adverbs in. *grin* Special thanks to Engineer Sam this time around, because the suggestion about photographing the fleet movements instead of animating them probably saved this book from at least half a year's delay as I cheerfully messed with Clip Studio's animation tools. That might have been fun, but having the book out sooner is better. For all of us!
To my Patreon folks, whose monthly tips make it less fraught for me to write books with smaller audiences: thank you all. Even the smallest donation is an enormous vote of confidence, and I am humbled to be one of your most valued entertainers. Special call out to the Patreon Chat members, who listened to me through every step of writing this book, from "I'm never going to finish this" to "formatting never ennnnnnnds." (I sense a theme there.)
And finally, to the fans who stuck with this series to the very end. One more book, folks. Then: the future.
—M
About the Author
Daughter of two Cuban political exiles, M.C.A. Hogarth was born a foreigner in the American melting pot and has had a fascination for the gaps in cultures and the bridges that span them ever since. She has been many things—web database architect, product manager, technical writer and massage therapist—but is currently a full-time parent, artist, writer and anthropologist to aliens, both human and otherwise. She is the author of over 50 titles in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, humor and romance.
The Princes' Game series is only one of the many stories set in the Pelted universe; more information is available on the author’s website. You can also sign up for the author’s quarterly newsletter to be notified of new releases.
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