Lou Paduano | Urban Fantasy Novels | Sci-Fi Crime Series

Connecting Factors – The Power in a Single Choice

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The author commentary of Pathways in the Dark continues with this look at the connecting factors in the stories contained in the collection! SPOILER WARNING is in full effect!

The power of a choice

That’s what it comes down to in the collection. Each character is tested, each of our cast is pushed to make a decision that will impact where they land as we head into the finale this fall.

The question at the heart of the narrative is simple:

Do we stand together or go it alone?

Each story puts this question into play. With Collateral, it is the driving force for how Soriya and Loren react to the arrival of the Phoenix. For Trustfall, Ruiz is forced to accept his daughter’s maturity as well as the growth of Dobson over the last two decades.

Using this question for each character, forcing them to face their concerns or run away from them is a central theme to Pathways in the Dark.

How they answer it was important to me and more crucial to the direction of the series.

Loren

He can’t face certain secrets that have come to light thanks to a certain photo. His inability to work with Soriya, his lack of trust, pulls him away from his one true partner. This distrust forces him to go it alone.

It will cost him greatly…

Soriya

This question was central to her character in The Medusa Coin and this collection served as a extension of that internal argument. She needs others, her need for connection constantly pushing her forward. Her decision to move out of the Bypass Chamber comes from this need. She reaches out to Gilgamesh for friendship. Trust is essential to her.

Especially when it comes to Loren. His decision, however, has put their partnership in jeopardy. The repercussions for this are coming this fall.

Myers

We haven’t discussed Samantha Myers’ solo feature yet but this question is the core of her struggle as well. She is being blackmailed. To what end? We don’t know… yet.

The fact that she internalizes it, that she refuses to come forward and trust anyone in this matter is her choice.

And one that puts them all at risk.

Ruiz

This question jumped out at me from looking at Trustfall. Ruiz’s struggle with sharing with his family, the constant conflict with keeping his family safe or telling them the truth of what is really out there is a fun one to explore.

He learned to trust in his wife but does that extend to his eldest daughter? Zoe is 18 and about to embark on her own life. She has to know but he holds back. That choice puts her at risk, something he swore would never happen.

It’s an eye-opening event in his life and one he takes to heart. Standing together, in Ruiz’s eyes, is the only option going forward.

What that means down the line will be revealed in…

September!

A Circle of Shadows is coming. Everything changes. The ultimate cost for their decisions comes to pass.

I can’t wait to share more about the book this summer!

Thanks for reading.

Tales from Portents Connecting Factors 2

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The next several months will bring author commentaries on all six stories contained within the Tales from Portents collection. My hope is to offer insight into the decisions made in putting the project together and the challenges therein. It’s also fun to point out the little Easter eggs throughout. (I love that crap.) So, SPOILER WARNING is in effect for the duration.

Connecting Factors

It was important for me to filter little threads that tied events in the collection together. I mentioned this previous when discussing the use of Robert Standish as a connecting factor. For me, short story collections tend to fall flat in that they have no impact compared to the full length installments.

I wanted to break that trend by connecting seemingly disparate events. Some are simple, a character that shows up consistently.

Others were more subtle.

Chaac and the Storm

When I was developing the collection the original idea was to offer a free story to fit prior to Signs of Portents. (What eventually became Resurrectionists… sort of…) This seemingly simple plan turned into two stories told concurrently.

One for Loren. One for Soriya.

Eyes in the Storm and The Consultant.

If I wrote about one it was important to write about the other. Two equal partners to the story. Balance.

I decided to take it further and make the connection between the two clear, to tie them in a way to show they occur at the exact same moment in time for these two characters.

Hence the storm.

Building that bridge through subtle references in The Consultant, including the end of the storm in the final chapter of Soriya’s story, kept the two main players in the series connected in a way during their separation.

Both need each other, something they need to be constantly reminded of, during the series. This was a nice way to keep them part of the same world, even if all Loren wants to do is escape it.

Evolution of the references

This connecting factor didn’t exist in the original drafts. Chaac was very much a part of Eyes from the start. He was the device used to pull Loren back into the insanity that tends to follow anything Portents related. But The Consultant had no reference to the storm.

Except for one line.

When Soriya is hanging outside the apartment of the first victim it mentions the spitting rain. An annoyance and nothing more.

From that little nugget I went through the entire story to filter more references to the rain and its unsuspected nature. When it ends Soriya is elated, the same smile she wears whenever Loren returns to her world. That was my way to keep them tied together.

Their partnership has become the cornerstone of the series and something that should be explored with each story. I was surprised by the sudden connection and completely overjoyed it was able to come together in the way it did.

I hope you felt the same.

Next time:

One last connecting factor and then the mother of all tales; Resurrectionists!

Thanks for reading.

Tales from Portents Connecting Factors

By

The next several months will bring author commentaries on all six stories contained within the Tales from Portents collection. My hope is to offer insight into the decisions made in putting the project together and the challenges therein. It’s also fun to point out the little Easter eggs throughout. (I love that crap.) So, SPOILER WARNING is in effect for the duration.

My problem with short story collections…

I’ve always had a hangup when it comes to collections or anthologies. There seems to be a disconnect from the main series or even from the stories collected. And I get it, I do. Every story should stand on its own. There has to be enough meat in it or there is no point in telling the tale.

But I always wanted more from the collections I’ve read. A level of connective tissue that made even the shortest of stories feel bigger in scope.

That became one of my main goals with Tales from Portents.

Connecting factors.

Like the threads left throughout Signs of Portents there had to be points of connection between the short stories in Tales in order to make the work feel like a larger whole.

I took every opportunity to make sure they flowed and were natural connections instead of forced or contrived. Connecting the stories in Tales just for the sake of doing it wasn’t something I was too keen on, so I took care not to force anything on the reader.

Robert Standish.

The biggest thread sewn between tales in the collection centers on Robert Standish. He is mentioned a few times in Signs of Portents as the reason behind Loren’s fall from grace. His “big mistake” that he refers to throughout the narrative.

That made him my go-to guy for this collection.

His fingerprints are in three of the six tales, each one building the relationship between Standish and Loren so that when it explodes it is completely justified.

Following the thread.

It starts with Gremlins and the characters introduction. This piece set the tone for their relationship and everything that came after it. I wanted Standish to play counter to Loren’s feelings in the police department. Someone not highly skilled at the job but ambitious.

Ambitious to the point of criminal in some regards.

His views are vile, his motives unclean when viewed through the looking glass that is Loren. Standish, to Loren, is everything he stands against.

Which made his appearance in View from Above that much sweeter. Forcing them to be partners, showing Loren at his lowest with Standish smiling and joking by his side, was impossible to pass up.

And it wasn’t even in the original outline! The opportunity came to have Vlad arrested and it wasn’t meant to be anything more than that but adding the dynamic between Loren and Standish was too good to pass up. I think it really helped capture the moment in time on display for the story and acted as a perfect midpoint in the story of these two polar opposites.

Leading to Resurrectionists.

Standish and the events that led to Loren’s departure for Chicago were the basis of this story when plotting. Having the earlier moments, showing their troubled relationship from start to bloody finish allowed for maximum impact on delivery.

It also left the dangling thread of Rufus Mathers and his hatred for Loren on the table. Something that will be playing throughout the first cycle of the series.

Consequences.

Being able to build on events and then show the fallout speaks to the wider scope I was hoping to achieve with this collection. Having Standish not only show up for the brutal beatdown that occurs in Resurrectionists but also weave him through a number of tales and situations allows readers to connect on a deeper level (not that Standish will ever be accused of being deep) and understand the motivations of Loren’s actions in the end.

And the fallout that continues to occur because of them.

Next time –

A very special announcement later this week and then next week a look at Eyes in the Storm.

Thanks for reading.

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