Desert Stars

by Joe Vasicek

  I proceeded in 2006 to attempt such a task, but the novel turned out so badly that I abandoned it unfinished and never picked it up again. A couple of years went by, in which I wrote a generic far-future space opera that didn’t bother with any of these issues, and trunked it as well.

  Then, in 2008, I had the spark that became Desert Stars. I was in Amman at the time, participating in an Arabic study abroad program through BYU. I was walking from the University of Jordan down Queen Rania street, toward my home-stay at Al-Dustour, when the phrase “Temple of a Thousand Suns” came to my mind. Perhaps it was some combination of the weather (sunny and hot, like most days in the Middle East) and the story ideas that were bouncing around my head at the time. In any case, the phrase immediately stuck out to me, and I began to wonder what kind of a place this temple was. Of course, it would be a place dedicated to humanity’s future out among the stars—but also, it would be a place dedicated to the memory of Earth, a place that now existed only in legend and fable. And therein lay the answer to my conundrum. By transplanting humanity far enough away from Earth so that they had lost all contact, the major religions in my universe would be free to believe that the Earth had passed through the prophesied end times, while I as an author would be free to leave such questions sufficiently open-ended.

  That was how the Gaia Nova universe began to take shape. I spent the next few months working out the details: how the first colonists of Gaia Nova came from Earth after spending millennia frozen in cryo, and that the universe had changed so much that it was impossible to locate the old Earth. I imagined that these colonists, living on a harsh world not quite as habitable as Earth, would do everything they could to preserve the environment, and thus enclose their settlements in giant domes which would eventually become as large as continents. I imagined that a handful of people would rebel against this form of enclosure, and thus establish a culture far away from the confines of civilization, out in the desert wastes. And from my experiences with the Bedouin in Jordan, I began to world-build that culture, which immediately began to suggest the characters and conflicts that featured in the novel.

  Jalil’s storyline came quite naturally, but Mira’s gave me a lot of trouble. In the first couple of drafts, I actually didn’t see her as a love interest—I only included her because I wanted to give Jalil that horrible moment of disillusionment where he realizes that there’s nothing left for him on Gaia Nova. But as the story began to take shape, so did Mira’s character and their relationship with each other, and despite all of my best efforts they began to fall in love with each other.

  I’m something of a discovery writer, which means that my creative process works better when I don’t know how things are going to end, rather than when I have a firm outline to follow. However, I’d written myself into something of a hole, and this question of Jalil and Mira’s relationship had me completely stumped. Instead of writing through it, however, I ended up putting the project on hold for a year and a half while I wrote Bringing Stella Home. Taking a break to work on other things ended up being the best thing I could have done. I learned a lot more about Jalil’s parents’ background, as well as the merchanters who eventually took him in, but more importantly I learned how the book needed to end: with the destruction of Gaia Nova and the Temple of a Thousand Suns.

  Lois McMaster Bujold made an interesting comment on a science fiction romance panel at Worldcon in 2011: she said that when women write romance, they write about love and life, whereas when men write romance, they write about love and death. Maybe that’s why things clicked for me when I realized that everyone was going to die. It also gave me an excellent character arc for Mira, building up to that moment when she has to choose between staying with her family on a doomed planet, or leaving everything she’s known behind in order to be with Jalil. I tend to be discovery writer, but I also work best when I have some idea of how the story will ultimately end. Once I had that, the story came much easier.

  I still didn’t know how Jalil’s story was going to end, however. For the second draft, I threw in a subplot in the latter half of the book where he leaves the camp to raise the desert, Lawrence of Arabia style, and launch an attack on New Amman in order to capture the spaceport and save his people. That turned out horribly, but it gave me the motivation to finish the draft, and once I had a finished manuscript to work with, it was a lot easier to make the changes. I decided to take out the whole save-the-world angle and focus on the deeply personal stories of Jalil and Mira.

  I finished the last major revision in mid-July of 2011, and was much more satisfied with it than with the previous ones. The story had largely taken its final shape, and while my second round of first readers pointed out a couple of things that needed to be fixed, none of those took a major overhaul. By this time, I’d already ventured into indie publishing, so I didn’t bother sending out queries or looking for representation to sell my book. The digital revolution has opened up a world of new options for writers, and I knew that I wanted to epublish first, and do it myself, while waiting to see how things shake out in the rest of the publishing world.

  So that’s how this book has come into your hands. I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, the best thing you could do is blog or tweet about it, share it with a friend, or post a review. To follow me online, be sure to check out my writing blog: One Thousand and One Parsecs (onelowerlight.com/writing). I blog pretty regularly about my books, as well as other books that I like, and writing and life in general. There you can also sign up for my email list, where I share the news on my latest releases and do periodic giveaways. My email is joseph.vasicek@gmail.com, if you’d like to reach me that way. You can also find me on Twitter (@onelowerlight), and Goodreads. So many ways to stay connected—feel free to take your pick!

  Finally, I want to thank you for taking the time to read this book and make this story come alive. Stories don’t actually exist until they are read—before that, they’re just scribbles on a page, or switches on a disk. Literature in particular is a highly collaborative art, where the reader’s imagination fills in all the details of the landscape, and the writer is more of a guide to the story than its actual creator. No matter what other accolades we writers receive, the greatest honor is just to be read, and for that, I thank you.

  That’s all for now, but I hope you’ll stay in touch! I have a lot of other ideas for novels in the Gaia Nova universe, including a few with the characters in Desert Stars, so this certainly won’t be the last time you see Jalil, Mira, Tiera, Rina, Lars, Michelle, and the others. In the meantime, don’t be a stranger! Take care, and I hope to see you again soon!

  Acknowledgments

  This novel has been in the making for so long, it’s hard to thank everyone who helped make it possible, and I apologize if I forget anyone. First, I’d like to thank Dil Parkinson, Kirk Belnap, and Spencer and Karina Scoville for organizing and running the 2008 BYU Jordan study abroad program, which was so influential in the genesis of this book. I would also like to thank my first round of first readers: Laura Christensen, Mykle Law, Caitlin Wall, Charlie Holmberg, Megan Hutchins, Kindal Debenham, Emma Penrod, Logan Kearsley, and Angela Felsted; and my second round of first readers: Jason Housely, Liel Boyce, and Evan Witt. Both Kindal’s writing group and the Quark writing group at BYU were also very helpful. I’d also like to thank everyone who made a pledge for the short-lived kickstarter campaign: Caitlin Wall, Evan Witt, Mark and Sharon Vasicek (thanks, Mom & Dad!) Lauren Astle Cowles, Alysha Rogers Whiting, Gini Richards, Christopher Sterner, Laura Christensen, and Andrea Brokaw. The campaign didn’t work out, but thanks for being willing to help fund it. Finally, I would like to thank Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe for the cover art, Josh Leavitt for the editing assistance, and my mentor Brandon Sanderson for teaching me so much through his English 318R class at BYU. Thanks so much for your help and support! You’ve all made the journey truly worthwhile.

  Thousands of years after mankind’s exodus from Earth, a young starship pilot and his accidental bride
wander the stars in search of a homeworld in Star Wanderers: The Jeremiah Chronicles (Omnibus I-IV).

  PART I: OUTWORLDER

  When Jeremiah arrived at Megiddo Station, all he wanted was to make some trades and resupply his starship. He never thought he'd come away with a wife.

  Before he knows it, he's back on his ship, alone with his accidental bride. Since neither of them speak the same language, he has no way to tell her that there's been a terrible mistake. And because of the deadly famine ravaging her home, there's no going back. She's entirely at his mercy, and that terrifies him more than anything.

  Jeremiah isn't ready to take responsibility for anyone. He's a star wanderer, roaming the Outworld frontier in search of his fortune. Someday he'll settle down, but for now, he just wants to drop the girl off at the next port and move on.

  As he soon finds out, though, she has other plans.

  PART II: FIDELITY

  Oriana Station: a bustling frontier settlement between the Outworlds and the Coreward Stars. A popular port-of-call for free traders and independent starfarers alike—and the latest target in the aggressively expansionist plans of the Gaian Empire.

  Life was simple for Jeremiah and Noemi before they arrived. Though neither of them speak the same language, they've reached an understanding that goes beyond words. But when the colonial authorities make them into second-class citizens of a fractured empire, even that might not be enough.

  Their newfound friends in the immigrant community can only do so much. With Noemi and her people depending on him, Jeremiah must find a way back to the Outworlds—before they lose everything that they came for.

  PART III: SACRIFICE

  When Jeremiah found himself alone on his starship with an accidental bride, he had no idea how much his life would soon change. Now, with Noemi's quiet confidence supporting him as she carries their first child, it's hard to imagine life without her.

  But life in the Outworlds isn't so simple. Good men are hard to come by, and Noemi's friends expect her to share. As part of a colony mission bound for an unsettled star, Jeremiah can't say no without causing a rift in the community. But if he says yes, his new-found happiness may soon come to an end. One way or another, he will have to make a sacrifice—one that could tear their starbound family apart.

  PART IV: HOMEWORLD

  For years, Jeremiah has wandered the stars in search of a home. With his wife Noemi about to have a baby, he thinks he's finally found a place to settle down. The Zarmina system lies on the edge of the Outworld frontier, but together with their friends, they hope to establish a thriving new colony. The only problem is that the system is already inhabited—by pirates.

  The colonists no sooner arrive than they fall prisoner to Captain Helena and her band of rogues from the New Pleiades. She gives them an ultimatum: live like slaves on the planet's surface, or breathe vacuum. With all their dreams about to be shattered, they have to find a way to fight back. But to do so may endanger everything—including the lives of the ones they love most.

  CLICK HERE TO BUY STAR WANDERERS: THE JEREMIAH CHRONICLES (OMNIBUS I-IV)

  A coming of age sci-fi romance from the author of Desert Stars.

  THE ULTIMATE VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY ENDS WHEN YOU LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT YOURSELF.

  Michael Anderson never thought he would set foot on a world like Earth. Born and raised in a colony of scientists on the farthest edge of the solar system, he only studied planets from afar. But when his parents build mankind's first wormhole and discover a world emitting a mysterious artificial signal, Michael is the only qualified planetologist young enough to travel to the alien star.

  He is not alone on this voyage of discovery. Terra, his sole mission partner, is no more an adult than he is. Soon after their arrival, however, she begins acting strangely—as if she's keeping secrets from him. And her darkest secret is one that Michael already knows.

  Twenty light-years from the nearest human being, they must learn to work together if they're ever going to survive. And what they discover on the alien planet forces them to re-examine their deepest, most unquestioned beliefs about the universe—and about what it means to be human.

  CLICK HERE TO BUY GENESIS EARTH

  The saga of Gaia Nova continues in Stars of Blood and Glory!

  THE ONLY HOPE FOR THE LAST FREE STARS NOW LIES ON THE PATH OF BLOOD AND GLORY.

  The princess of Shinihon could not have picked a worse time to run away. The largest Hameji battle fleet ever gathered threatens to overrun the last of the free stars. To make matters worse, a rogue assassin from an unknown faction has killed the high admiral of the Federation. Without clear leadership, the war may be lost before she can be found.

  But Danica Nova and her band of Tajji mercenaries are no strangers to lost causes. They've fought the Hameji before, and they'll fight them again—not for honor, or for glory, but simply for the pay. War has been their way of life ever since the diaspora from the homeworld.

  Master Sergeant Roman Krikoryan is one of the few remaining mercenaries still old enough to remember the homeworld. But he's an old cyborg, and his humanity is fading. Death is a mercy he doesn't expect to find on this mission.

  They aren't the only ones after the princess, however. Hungry for glory and eager to make a name for himself, Sholpan's son Abaqa seeks to make the girl his slave. Though only a boy, he'll stop at nothing to prove himself to his Hameji brethren.

  With the Federation in disarray, the bloody end of the war may come too soon for some of them. But one thing is certain—not all of them will live to see it.

  CLICK HERE TO BUY STARS OF BLOOD AND GLORY