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

Resurrectionists Commentary Part 1

By

We’ve made it to the last story in the collection at last! My hope with these author commentaries 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.

Resurrectionists

resurrectionistsIt took awhile to get here but we have finally arrived at the largest story in Tales from Portents.

The idea behind the collection of short stories was always to put one out ahead of the release and offer it to readers for free. Generating interest and gauging the audience with no strings attached is, in my opinion, the best way to see what clicks with readers.

There are challenges with such a release. Some readers want more. The full story. The answer to every question asked. Or, because of the narrative structure, they are put off by the short story.

I am always conscious of this last fact. Every worry I carry for my work is that there isn’t enough meat to the story. Telling a rollicking tale with blockbuster-esque explosions and battles is nice, but the emotional core has to be there as well.

Resurrectionists was my attempt to do both. Offer a shorter work, a more straightforward plot, but really dig into the characters. Without scenes like Soriya in the Bypass Chamber with Mentor or Loren talking things out with Ruiz I think all the heart in the telling would have been lost.

But it would have been a helluva zombie story, wouldn’t it?

Why did it come first?

This is something I continually come back to, especially with the recent release of The Greystone Saga Volume One box set.

Every other story in the collection is in chronological order. Why the hell would I screw that up and put resurrectionistsResurrectionists first?

In typical fashion, I argued the point with the only other person involved in the process. Myself. (Very awkward…)

I wanted to keep things simple. Do things that made sense from a story perspective and have Resurrectionists take its rightful place after View from Above.

That would leave The Great Divide as the frontrunner for the collection and as the preview readers could download for free on Amazon and other retailer sites.

A Ruiz/Mentor story.

Now there is a time and place to showcase supporting cast members. Having them take the lead on the book and possibly be the first experience for new readers to discover the series is not one of them though.

Greystone centers around Loren and Soriya. Always has and always will. (maybe…) For a true experience, to really showcase the series for new potential readers I wanted to put my leads in the forefront.

Spoilers…

This might seem like a cheat to some but I also didn’t want an entire story spoiled by the Look Inside feature on Amazon and other sites. If The Great Divide led the pack then the entire story could be read (and hopefully enjoyed) for free in the preview of the collection.

Not the worst thing ever, but coupled with the idea that neither lead character was present in the tale, I felt the shift of Resurrectionists made the most sense in the long run.

Another benefit.

My other thought (SO MANY THOUGHTS) was that if a reader took advantage of the freebie version of Resurrectionists and then bought Tales, they could then skip right over the first story and dive right into the other five.

Convenient, right?

I could be wrong though. What do you think? Did I botch the experience by putting Resurrectionists first? Was it upsetting to see Resurrectionists in the collection when it is available separately for free?

Talking to myself about it over and over again only goes so far, so you tell me.

Next time:

More on Resurrectionists including pulling threads from Signs and the face of the Founder.

Thanks for reading.

View from Above Commentary Part 4

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.

The Fight Scene

I mentioned in the first part of the commentary for View From Above about Soriya’s rage and her need to hit something. This built from a lack of action as well as her anger at Mentor’s constant lecturing. So when it finally came down to it, when the first was finally in front of her at the abandoned theater at the climax of the narrative I had two choices.

Show the scene, a fight against a group of thugs with little or no skill at combat. Or skip it completely.

I skipped it.

Why?

This was one of those moments I continually went back to in order to argue with myself over my own decision. Part of me will always feel like the fight was necessary but at the end of the day I ruled against it.

The short answer for why is that I liked the irony of the moment. Soriya’s rage has built and after everything she has had no release. She needs this fight. She needs to get it out of her system. And she does.

But we don’t have to see it.

Knowing Soriya’s skill in combat from earlier with her struggle with Vlad as well as the numerous tales before this, we know these six punks have no shot. By not showing the fight my hope was to illustrate this point in full. The drama of the pitched battle is that there is no drama at all.

fight scene

Puts the emphasis on the real struggle.

The other reason to ignore the fisticuffs with the Teen Brigade (super old Marvel reference for you there) is to keep the focus on the real climax to the narrative. The reveal of the Kitsune and the (mostly) verbal conflict therein is the meat and potatoes of the story.

Anything before that point distracts from the actual conflict and Soriya’s arc in the tale. Her anger comes from her burden, from the constant lessons. The Kitsune represents the opposite end of the spectrum with her need for mischief. Keeping the focus on these two for this chapter and driving it home in the conclusion with Soriya’s discussion with Vlad keeps the plot centered on character instead of needless action.

Was it the right call?

Every decision, every fight scene, every conversation or setting, all of it can be argued for and against. Always. At the end of the day I hope the majority of the choices made are the best ones for the story. As long as everything serves the story and the characters within, I know I’ve done the best I can.

And that will have to do.

Next time –

One of the principal connecting factors throughout Tales from Portents: Robert Standish.

Thanks for reading.

View from Above Commentary Part 3

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.

Kitsune time.

Figuring out the threats for a Greystone tale one of the most challenging and rewarding parts of the writing process for me. I spoke about this more in depth a few weeks back.

When it came time for View From Above, most of the pieces were in place. It was a Vlad story to examine his relationship with Soriya in an attempt to build on what was seen previously in Signs of Portents.

It was also a Soriya story, dealing with her anger and the burden of her task ahead. This was early in her career so the challenges therein were nice to play with.

But what about the big threat, the big baddie for the narrative?

My number one edict.

KitsuneI had a rule when plotting this story. No murders allowed. As I started coming up with the slate of tales from this collection this was one of the main challenges I faced. Signs was essentially a giant murder mystery. The Great Divide, while eventually riffing on the drug angle of the crime started with a death. The same with Eyes in the Storm and The Consultant, both of which are coming up in a few weeks.

I didn’t want to fall into a routine with the same formulaic devices used to drive the stories along.

So no murder allowed.

How about some petty crime?

Revealing the Kitsune as the ringleader for a petty crime brigade of thugs and hooligans felt like a great change of pace for the series. No life altering battles, no great stakes with the city of Portents hanging in the balance. Just a bunch of punks that needed a beatdown… with a shape-shifting fox as their boss. Simple and straightforward.

It also played into the role of the Kitsune in the narrative and as counter to Soriya’s arc. It always comes back to character for me so having a trickster as the threat, having the Kitsune not really care one way or the other about what she is in charge of or the effect it has on anyone or anything really struck home the difference between her and Soriya.

Dangling threads…

I wrestled with this one as well. A definitive end meant no more threat or a neutralized threat. Something else we had seen previously in the Greystone series. By having the Kitsune escape, a point that seemed spot on for where the narrative was headed, it opened the door for her return. Leaving threads for later is the hallmark of a great series, in my humble opinion.

And I wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye to our foxy fiend just yet.

When will she return? Ah, that would spoil the surprise. You’ll have to wait to find out.

Next time:

The fight scene never seen from View from Above.

Thanks for reading.

View from Above Commentary Part 2

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.

Soriya in the spotlight

View from Above offered a very unique situation when coming up with the plot, something I hadn’t come across before when putting together a Greystone tale. A story solely from Soriya’s perspective. When I originally thought of the series, Soriya was the lead. There was no story without her and to an extent that remains true.

Soriya's perspectiveWhen I received the edited version of Signs of Portents from my editor, Kristen Hamilton of Kristen Corrects Inc. so many moons ago, she also wrote up the back cover description. When I read it I flinched, I balked, I couldn’t believe it. The whole thing centered around Loren.

And she was absolutely right in that assessment.

Loren was our window into the city of Portents and Soriya’s world. Unlike something like Dresden Files where we follow Harry Dresden and his view of the world including his relationship with the police and Detective Murphy – a relationship I was very cognizant of when developing the Greystone series – we only learn about the city because Loren has to learn about it at that moment.

Sure, there are chapters from Soriya’s perspective and her own arc in Signs, but the driving force of the initial novel was Loren.

Tales offered a change. And I took it and ran with it.

How best to show Soriya in a solo setting?

This was my first question. How did she fit in the world without her connection to Loren, her seemingly only normal connection to the city of Portents? How did she go about investigating on her own?

Soriya, at the time of View from Above, is 20. She’s barely out of teenager mode or, if she’s like I was, still caught firmly in its clutches. Emotional. Quick to anger.

Pretty much angry in general. And that little tidbit was my starting point with her for this story.

Once I had her anger, her need to punch, kick and maim whatever the hell was behind the latest insanity in Portents, I had my starting point.

And I had Soriya Greystone down.

Playing her off Vlad

Soriya's PerspectiveSoriya doesn’t play well with others. And when she does they typically come from a place of authority. Mentor. Loren. Ruiz.

Vlad offered a change. He’s around her age. He carries a burden he can’t really share with people, outside the Corwell family. They both share that connection.

His presence also allowed me to graze the subject of romance with Soriya. It hasn’t really come up with readers so far but I always worry about falling into the Moonlighting (dated reference!) or Friends (somewhat better, old man) dynamic of “will they, won’t they” when it comes to a male and female led narrative.

I get it. Romantic tension is a great tool, one seen hundreds of thousands of times before. I made Loren slightly older than early drafts to escape some of that thinking. Soriya’s encounters with Vlad and even Russell Kerr in The Consultant to some degree, allowed me to somewhat wipe that notion away completely.

Will it stay that way? Will there ever be a time when Soriya and Loren can evolve to that next level? Have they even considered it?

I don’t know. I’d like to say no way, no how, but I can’t say definitively one way or another how the entire series plays out.

Not yet.

Easter Egg

Soriya’s need to punch something, that burning desire at the start of View from Above, actually came from the first draft of The Medusa Coin. Back in my heyday, dreaming of using Greystone as a potential comic book franchise I outlined the four issue mini-series that became the spine of the third novel of the series.

In it, I soon realized there was little action in the first quarter and that stood out to me as something Soriya would not stand for. Ever.

I dropped the idea when putting together the latest iteration of The Medusa Coin as it didn’t fit with her arc through the novel. But I was happy it circled around to this tale and fit so wonderfully with the approach to her character here.

Next time:

Insight into the Kitsune and her role in the narrative for View from Above.

Thanks for reading.

View from Above Commentary Part 1

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.

View from Above

I had a note early on about Vlad when coming up with a list of potential stories to tell in this collection (once it became clear it was going to be a collection). Out of all the players in Signs of Portents, Vlad was the guy that made the cut.

Why Vlad?

He played the perfect counterpoint to Soriya, something I didn’t even realize when crafting his backstory. Here was a guy that wasn’t born into his role. It was thrust upon him by outside forces. “Hey, I totally just bit you. You’re wolfen now. Deal with it.”

Because of that act he lost his family. Then he lost his second family. Only after running away for years did he settle in Portents thanks to the help of the Corwell’s.

Yet, through it all he maintained his innocence, his youth. The only difference in their shared tragedy. Where Soriya was forced to learn to become the Greystone, Vlad went to school (rarely) and had a life.

I liked that split between them and how it pulls her up when she needed it.

Vlad
Tales from Portents is on sale for 99-cents now!

Pulling the thread from Signs

I kept going back to the autopsy theater with Soriya staring at Vlad’s dead body. The connection between them was deep for her to feel that way at his passing. With View from Above it felt right to honor that relationship and really flesh out its origins.

Adding the backstory really amped up the emotion in that scene felt with his death.

Guilt trip

The third and most powerful reason for the focus on such a bit player like Vlad is simple –

I FELT BAD FOR KILLING THE GUY IN CHAPTER ONE!

When I finished the first draft of that chapter a million years ago, Vlad was a nobody. He was fodder for the mysterious killer hiding in the shadows. With each subsequent draft, with each layer peeled back on the mystery behind his death, I realized there was more to this character, much more than I had been able to show.

There you go. The truth. I am a pathetic romantic that has trouble letting go of his imaginary friends.

Why not Urg?

A good friend e-mailed me recently about his love of Urg and how he hated to see the lovable orc die so quickly in Signs of Portents. At the time I thought nothing of it. More fodder.

But as I wrote this missive, I realized –

I totally should have brought Urg back for Tales from Portents!!! WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF HIM?!

There could have been a call back to the 1961 Yankees baseball Loren found in his apartment. We could have seen Urg at Woodstock or in Vietnam and do this totally insane Forrest Gump Orc Style thing! So many possibilities.

Damn.

Next time –

View from Above thoughts continue next week. (May, already? WTH CALENDAR?!)

Thanks for reading.

Disclaimer: Links throughout this site may be affiliate links. All commission earned through these links go to Eleven Ten Publishing to produce more books for your reading pleasure.

You can view our privacy policy here.

Recent Posts