Fern Brady operates at full throttle. She is the CEO and Owner of Inklings Publishing (my publisher). She is a polymath with careers in teaching and real estate. Oh, yeah, she’s also an author, and is the head of the Houston Writer’s Guild.
Full. Throttle.
Her debut novel, United Vidden, came out in 2020 and is a sci-fi fantasy work that does a wonderful job of mixing science/science-fiction aspects with magic in the universe of Therion’s Galactic Wall. I admire her ability to weave politics into her prose. She exposes court-level politics and world/interworld politics in a way that gives the reader a nice grounding in her universe.
- United Vidden takes place in the universe of Thyrein’s Galactic Wall – 51 planets in an alliance. The novel is both science fiction and fantasy. Technology and magic meet in kingdoms and empires. Most fantasy relies on a technologically stunted society, yet you have hovercraft carrying shamen around. How do you decide whether a problem is going to be based in technology or magic?
The conflicts of Thyrein’s Galactic Wall mostly revolve around geopolitical issues and societal issues that we face here in our world and which I enjoy exploring in this made-up world. For example, in United Vidden, the key problems are gender related issues. Verena is set to be the first female ruler of her kingdom and yet instead of letting her rise to the throne, her father maintains power to force a wedding to Prince Amiel. This throws her into a melee of emotional confusion. Where once she had a strong sense of her identify and what she was destined to be, now she is questioning herself. This leads to a huge mistake that then places her in a position of having to reclaim the authority she should have had as her birthright.
A huge issue in book two is the societies acceptance of nonhuman sentient species. While on the surface, the alliance contains many nonhuman species that have representation in the intergalactic council, on a planet-by-planet basis, these beings are not always provided a fair chance at making a good life for themselves. These ‘racial’ issues lead the Gortive, a species of lizard-like beings, to seek a military solution to being excluded from the rich lands of Vidden.
The technology and fantasy blend plays out as we move the story themes forward. Verena must draw on inner reserves of power and resourcefulness with technology in book one to overcome Amiel’s control of her lands. In books two, the Gortive, having very limited abilities in technology must train with the resources that are provided by the spacefaring Calvernsin that are helping them reclaim their former lands. In most instances, technology takes the foreground while the fantasy elements are more subtle. Science fiction is always heavier in these blends because it demands stricter plausibility than a fantasy world would.
2. Please tell us about jorses and lavender snow.
The jorse is a piece of technology that is unique to my world. It is essentially an AI horse. The machine looks like a horse and has synthetic skin and hair so that it would seem to be the animal itself. But, it is actually a machine. It has weaponry built in as well as an option to ride in a cockpit. The back of the jorse opens up allowing the rider to sit in a cockpit-like space with a steering wheel and other control options. A force shield covers the cockpit to shield the rider from the wind that the very high speeds which can be attained by the jorse would cause. It is a very sophisticated machine and only the very wealthy can afford to provide jorses for their most elite knights.
Some might wonder why not just make tanks. But it is a stylistic choice. It is a conveyance for war that speaks to the underlying essence of the powerful on the planet, the ruling class of aristocratic birth. There are other such conveyances from around the galactic wall which allows the reader to enjoy flavors of various types of cultures. There are jippos in Gortive offensive, which are like hippos and allow for warfare in both dry and wet environments. The desert clieks (like the sheiks of our world) often ride jamels which are shaped like camels.
So, the lavender snows of planet Jorn. Yes. There’s actually no scientific reason for them. I just love purple. It’s just a fantasy piece there. I’m not even going to try to come up with a scientific plausibility. Just going with, I like the idea. =)
3. Your main character, Princess Verena, seems to have a thing for bad boys. What drives that?
For Verena loving Amiel is almost a default. He has been in her life always. As children, they played and hung out as friends. In many ways, they have been together since she came into the world. After his knights training and his parents’ deaths, he became an angrier and more dangerous person. It scared her and she tried to put distance between them. Her father noted this and tried to forge a treaty with Amiel without a marriage, but Amiel truly loves Verena. So, now as they face life together, Verena finds herself realizing how much she loves him while at the same time how dangerous he is for her on so many levels. It’s a tough relationship she has to manage.
On a lighter note, bad boys are more fun. =)
4. Science fiction often proposes worlds where current religions have vanished. United Vidden routinely mentions The Great I Am. That’s got some pretty solid Judeo-Christian roots. Would you tell us more about religion in your novel’s universe?
As a believer in the God of the Jewish/Christian roots, who called himself I Am, I feel that no matter where in the universe sentient life arises, He would manifest. He would let himself be known to all his creation. I don’t believe that scientific development will remove the essential purpose of God in our lives. I believe science draws us closer as we learn more about the complexity of the creation. In my world, there are many religions. Some mirror those here on Earth. But the main or strongest group of believers are the rajin, who follow the Bible and the Great I Am. I believe that as human beings, the need to connect to a higher power remains no matter our level of education or technological development. There is something beyond this reality, we will cross into another realm of existence at our death, and the need to have a belief system that underpins these elements of our life will always be with us.
5. One final question: Star Wars or Star Trek?
I love both but I’m more Star Wars than Star Trek. I love space wizards. Aka Jedi.
This the first vote for Star Wars in the Feral Author’s Poll, which Star Trek continues to lead 3-1.
Buy United Vidden by Fern Brady here.
Check out Inklings Publishing.
To learn more about Fern, her love of dragons, and what else she has written, go to her website.