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

Founder’s Day Commentary – Lessons from the Dead

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This is it! The final author commentary for Pathways in the Dark! One last look at Founder’s Day. SPOILER WARNING is in effect!

Lessons from the dead

This is an important theme for the series. It is best exemplified by Loren’s dreams. In them, Beth provides a story for Loren – offering him a choice. These are lessons being imparted to him and what they mean are coming to light in a few weeks with A Circle of Shadows.

What I failed to realize is that the dead hold lessons for more players in the series. What our main characters learn from them puts them on a path to the next novel, to the next moment in time.

It is a tried and true theme throughout the series. One never intended, but a vital one to the cast.

It started with Mentor…

As you’ll come to learn, pretty much everything starts with Mentor. His lessons, the small flashbacks imparted on Soriya allow her to realize her shortcomings and see where she needs to improve.

There is more to it, I promise. There are secrets coming to light down the line that show in greater detail the impact this fallen teacher on the lives of our cast.

But it started with his lessons. His tutelage. When he died he set her on a certain path, one she believes is built on disappointment and failure at not being able to save him. On not being able to protect Portents to the best of her ability.

It grows from that and where it ends next month will surprise some of you. Others will understand this is merely a natural progression of what Mentor taught her for so many years in the Bypass Chamber.

Ruiz and Edgar

I never made the connection until putting together this blog. Edgar Rusch fulfills this role for Ruiz in The Medusa Coin. He plays the role of mentor for one chapter and it is all it takes to push Ruiz forward in his arc.

Edgar badgers his old friend about coming clean with Michelle about things. Ruiz brushes it off but then Edgar dies and he is left with that lesson.

Those dying words of his best friend.

The lessons of the dead end up being vital to our present course. They propel this cast to make heavy decisions that impact the narrative on a fundamental level.

Ruiz takes a leave of absence because of his friend’s words. Because of the lesson imparted before his demise.

Loren and Crowne

I wanted that moment for these two players as well. Where the others have positive experiences to draw upon (debatable with Soriya, I know, but there were plenty of good memories mixed with the disappointment) I wanted to show Loren and Crowne as the opposite of this dynamic.

Crowne shows Loren the downside of obsession, of living in the past. Loren tries to pull him out, to force him to look forward, but can’t because of his own failings. They can’t lift each other up.

They can only fall into darkness.

That final conversation with Crowne, the anger behind his every word, mirrors Loren’s from stories like Resurrectionists and Gremlins.  At this moment, after Crowne falls, Loren can’t help but feel responsible. He can’t help but see the failure in trying to help and not being able to because of his own inadequacy.

But down the line? Will this be a lesson that propels Loren forward or will be wallow in defeat? Will he look forward? Will he follow the lessons offered by the dead and change?

A Circle of Shadows arrives on September 11th. Why not give it a read and find out?

 

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.

Trustfall – Standalone or a Part of the Whole?

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The Pathways in the Dark commentary continues! SPOILER WARNING ahead!!! One last look at the short story Trustfall from the collection…

The Return of the Kitsune

Last time I discussed bringing elements of The Great Divide back to explore how things have changed for Ruiz and his world in almost two decades.

Having Dobson and Harvey return allowed Ruiz to see this change and second guess his choices on all fronts. It was a fun exploration, one that challenged Ruiz’s conception of trust as well as the idea of good and evil as it related to these two forces from his past.

But what about the threat for the story? Who was committing these crimes?

This question led me back to Tales from Portents and another open-ended menace from the collection: The Kitsune.

When she showed up in The View from Above, she was using teens to commit petty theft for the thrill of it. I wanted to see the next step of that, where this ancient creature would go when she had nowhere else to turn.

I also thought it would be a nice nod to readers who had been there from the start. As I’ve often stated, I feel short stories tend to feel unimportant so bringing back past dangers, past relationships and expounding on them gives that sense of connective tissue I love with series writing.

Which brings me to my final point on the tale…

Standalone or a crucial piece to a larger puzzle?

This is something I struggle with constantly. Even as I write this I am working on the second book in a new series where this concept is coming into play.

My thoughts go back and forth on how best to handle individual books in a series. I believe in the standalone novel. I love the ability of picking up one story and having a beginning, middle and end.

Yet I also believe there should be connective tissue when it comes to a series. Subplots, overarching themes, history between characters, etc. All are crucial to make the journey feel more real for the reader.

When it came to Pathways in the Dark, my goal was simple. Six stories bridging the series from The Medusa Coin to where the characters need to be at the start of A Circle of Shadows. Each piece needed to stand on its own but I wanted each to feel like it was part of something bigger.

Some readers mentioned this as a fault. I totally accept that assessment. If you’ve come into the series at book four I completely take the blame for not making this collection stand on its own. There is more baggage with each new book and this one had its fair share to be sure.

My own thoughts are mixed…

I do, however, think with tales like Trustfall, The Apartment and Blackmail that there is a sense that you can read just this story and enjoy it on its own.

Are there elements of the wider story being told? Absolutely. Especially for Trustfall. Harvey’s inclusion, as I’ve hinted, is crucial to where the narrative is heading this fall. The Kitsune alludes to the growing shadows as well.

Looking at Trustfall on its own though, there is a beginning, middle and end. Ruiz is a father trying to protect his daughter from the outside world, something he can no longer do now that she’s heading to college. That’s the standalone story and if you read it as such it is a complete work.

If you’re looking at it from a Greystone Saga perspective there is enough connective tissue to the other stories to keep you moving for the next piece of the puzzle.

So in the eternal debate of standalone vs series I prefer to skirt the line right down the center…

Where do you fall on this debate? Email me at lou@loupaduano.com

Thanks for reading.

Trustfall – Starting Points

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Welcome back to the author commentary on Pathways in the Dark. SPOILER WARNING ahead! I’m talking about Trustfall today…

Starting Points

Trustfall was the first tale in the collection I wrote. It was immediately after finishing The Medusa Coin. I was on a roll and wanted to keep the momentum of the series.

Why this one first?

The story about Ruiz and his daughter on a college campus was one of the initial thoughts I put down on paper when putting the collection together. If you know me, Ruiz is my favorite character in the series. I love writing him and really enjoy his interactions with other members of the cast.

At the end of The Medusa Coin, Ruiz realizes he can’t keep hiding from his wife. Not without losing her to the divide he’s built over the last two decades. So the question became what is the natural extension of that?

Enter: Zoe

If Ruiz is truly willing to start trusting in his family and opening up to his wife about what is happening in the city, how could I test that to the fullest?

That was my starting point. And my response was the introduction of Zoe, his eldest daughter.

For 18 years Ruiz has been able to keep his family safe in the northern coves. Away from downtown Portents. Away from the danger.

But now Zoe is going to college. One of the scariest things any parent has to endure.

How do you survive that in a city like Portents?

starting points

Building on that idea…

From there the pieces fell in line pretty quickly. Keeping Zoe and Ruiz, as well as his struggle to let her live her own life was central to making the story work.

But what could test that relationship? What could pull at them both?

That was where the challenge came from with this story and by pulling from the past I realized the story was there right from the start. I’ll be talking more about that next time.

The Opening Chapter

I’m a fan of the inciting incident. It’s the idea that a singular event occurs that drives the rest of the story. In Signs of Portents, it is the murder of Vlad. In The Medusa Coin, it is Henry Erikson summoning the Charon.

Typically it is an external force set on a collision course with the protagonist.

For Pathways in the Dark, I set out to mix things up with how the stories were paced.

Trustfall was one such experiment.

The scene at home with Ruiz doing the dishes was one I went back and forth on. For a couple reasons:

  1. I was concerned it didn’t draw the reader in enough. It’s a lengthy scene without overt conflict. There was the fear of driving readers away rather than pushing them to the next chapter where we start to see what’s happening on the campus.
  2. It was a LONG scene. I try to keep chapters short. Jump in and jump right out at the first opportunity. For this story I stayed in that kitchen for a long time, weaving in the conflict in the background through their discussion. I have my reasons. First and foremost was the change in Ruiz from The Medusa Coin. A happy and relaxed family man versus the stressed and overworked police captain previously seen. The second, and equally important, reason was to show a different dynamic than the audience was used to when reading Greystone. Ruiz is the only family man in the cast and I wanted to play up that angle.

I think the scene works. It sets things up on a relationship level and layers in the conflict to come. Starting internal and then expanding in the following moments keeps the central conflict on Ruiz. Always a plus in my eyes.

Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe it was self-indulgent having this winding conversation instead of jumping into things.

What do you think? Shoot me an email at lou@loupaduano.com

Tales from Portents Connecting Factors 3

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Connecting Factor

Stories grow in the telling. They also grow in the editing phase and that tends to happen quite often with my own work. Ruiz and his relationship with his wife, Michelle, for example is one such instance of this. At the start Ruiz was little more than an ear for Loren. A minor character that assisted when he could but basically served to give Loren someone to talk to other than Soriya.

That sure as hell changed quickly.

Editing Signs of Portents, I realized how much I enjoyed Ruiz. His personality. His depth. And his relationships, both with Loren and with his wife.

When plotting The Medusa Coin, I knew Ruiz’s role was expanding with each pass. He was a vital component of the series, as much as Soriya and Loren.

Michelle started out much the same. A potential element of conflict for Ruiz but little else in terms of a character. When I explored her further, when I pulled apart their relationship and examined their family closely, I realized the potential to really build a strong background character.

Someone that helps drive Ruiz to be a better person, but also causes him to stumble because he wants to do so much for her.

The Great Divide

connecting factorWith Tales published between Signs of Portents and The Medusa Coin, I had the opportunity to put this marriage on display. I also had the chance to show the strengths and weaknesses of it from the beginning and compare it to the present day.

The Great Divide offered a glimpse at the happiness of the Ruiz family to be. How they shared all and Ruiz avoided the traps his parents fell into during his childhood. Of course, it crashes down on him.

But how to show the difference compared to the present?

Enter: The Consultant.

In the original outline, Soriya heads to the Central Precinct for information on Russell Kerr and hides at the approach of Ruiz. The focus here was more on how Loren’s absence had affected Soriya’s ability to do her work, the same as the previous chapters but that didn’t feel right to me for this moment.

And it would have been a missed opportunity.

By changing it and having Michelle call him, the reader easily recognizes the shift in their relationship from The Great Divide. It serves as a bridge, not only through the whole collection but also to The Medusa Coin where the divide comes to a head.

Resolutions are coming your way in September so get ready…

The final connection

Endings are tough. Just ask Stephen King. But they always come, some to more satisfying conclusions than others but they always have to arrive at some point.

And some are just so perfect you couldn’t ask for anything else.

Tales from Portents served as a prelude to Signs, so why not dovetail right into the first book in a natural way?

The final chapter of The Consultant does this perfectly. The text from Vlad about the missing women and the possible God involved. Soriya’s leap into the morning light of the city, ready for more fun connected the final moments of the collection to the first novel.

I tend to be overly critical with my work. (I know. Big surprise…) Not so much here.

Tales from Portents, to me was the easiest project to put together. Every piece, every connection, flowed from one story to the other naturally. Nothing was ever forced on the reader or the characters. Everything happened for a reason, every connection layered from the story itself, not shoved into the mix by my own hand.

If only every book came together so nicely…

Next time:

The BIG ONE. Resurrectionists! The whys and wherefores!

Thanks for reading.

 

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