Sunday, July 8, 2012

Lady Writer... IN SPACE!

My name is Ruthanne Reid, and I write sci-fi.

I wanted to write fantasy. I love magic, grand sword-and-sorcery, bows and arrows and princesses (and princes – I’m not sexist) who kick ass. But somehow, aliens made their way into my story, along with a dystopian society, a protagonist who might actually be the bad guy, and an ending that isn’t exactly the neatly-tied-up kind you get from Pixar.

And I like Pixar, dammit.

Some endings are messy. That’s how real life works – and part of a story’s power. No matter how exotic the setting, how many limbs the characters have or what (if any) genders, the issues they face must feel real

I may write fantasy someday. The process of writing, editing, and marketing has made me realize I’m kind of a genre-hopping fiend, so my “fantasy” will likely have elements of other things. I’m okay with that. Real life tends not to fit in neat little boxes.



THE SUNDERED – now available from Amazon: 

The world I know is flooded.

The water’s black. You don’t go in the water. You don’t touch it. If you do, it will get you, drag you down, and you’re gone.

I believe the world wasn’t always that way – that once there was land that stretched forever, that there was no danger from the water – but that doesn’t set me apart. What sets me apart, makes me different, is I believe it can go back to that. 


Without the Sundered, we die. 

Harry Iskinder knows the rules. Don’t touch the water, or it will pull you under. Conserve food, because there’s no arable land. Use Sundered slaves gently, or they die too quickly to be worthwhile.

With extinction on the horizon and a world lost to deadly flood, Harry searches for a cure: the Hope of Humanity, the mysterious artifact that gave humans control over the Sundered centuries ago. According to legend, the Hope can fix the planet.

But the Hope holds more secrets than Harry knows. Powerful Sundered Ones willingly bow to him just to get near it. Ambitious enemies pursue him, sure that the Hope is a weapon. Friends turn their backs, afraid Harry will choose wrong.

And Harry has a choice to make. The time for sharing the Earth is done. Either the Sundered survive and humanity ends, or humanity lives for a while, but the Sundered are wiped out.

He never wanted this choice. He still has to make it. In his broken, flooded world, Hope comes with a price.

THE SUNDERED – now available from Amazon:

A young man must decide who survives –
humanity, or the humanity's broken slaves.

Trade Paperback || Kindle || Read chapter one here!

5 comments:

Emiliana25 said...

Wow, sounds great and a very fitting cover!

emiliana25 at web dot de

Unknown said...

Thanks, Emiliana! Feel free to check out the first chapter. :)

Journey of a Bookseller said...

I just read Sundered and loved it. The ending left me with my mouth open...

Unknown said...

Jo Ann - thank you so much! I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that. Would it be too nuts if I ask you how you found out about the book? :)

Unknown said...

OH!! I just recognized your name, Jo Ann! I am seriously delighted you enjoyed the book! YAY! I can't wait to read your review!