Welcome to Coluna

My concept for the cover. Needs
serious work, and I'm not sure
why the grass is green.

Some of you may be wondering why there weren't any posts yesterday. Here's the simple answer. Life has been fun for me the last few weeks (not to mention a bit stressful), and I did not get all the post pre-scheduled as I had planned to do. And since no one had volunteered to interview any of the BigWigs, and I therefore didn't have any prior commitments, I decided to pull it. And since no one seemed to be online yesterday anyways, I don't regret it.

Today I'm going to talk about The New Division, which is set in the world of Coluna.

This book was inspired by the random idea of a girl who was not allowed to cut her hair for some strange reason. I liked the idea, but it wasn't going anywhere, so I decided to make its goal something Nine Gems related. And while it was a very interesting beginning (and I have some notebook pages that I could probably find with very little trouble), it wasn't going anywhere, and I felt as though it was missing something.

So I threw it into my Rizkaland universe, realized it took place during the Great Depression/WWII era, and made it an elven version of Acts. And the story just bloomed. It's still been slow writing, but at least it's gotten past the beginning stage.

This is one of my most difficult books to write, because I deal with a lot of hard issues. Slavery, racism, antisemitism, idolatry, human sacrifice. It's packed. It also deals with friendship, family, hard work, and teamwork. I can't wait to share it with you guys, but it's been slow writing.

It is certainly one of my darker books, and I see it in a lot of dark blues, greens, blacks, and crimsons. 

It's one of my twin books. I have two cultures built around twins, Mikada, and this one, and this one is, possibly, my favorite. You see, in Coluna, almost everyone is born in a girl/boy twinset, and to be born without a twin is a sign of disgrace. Twins are vital to the culture. Instead of a married couple on their throne, the Lilnia (the plural form of Lilna) have the Nilash and Dizalay (who Alistaar and Melisza turn out to be) and the Harshai have the Koyer and the Takkig (who turn out to be Jaqob and Tabetha). They're marked from birth by special necklaces. Also, twins each select the other's spouse. It's quite sensible, actually. Being twins, they know each other better than anyone else does, and they can view things objectively, and since they know that the other is choosing the life partner for them, they have a vested interest in making sure that they choose the best person possible for the other. If they abuse their power, their twin can do the same. It's very common for them to pick from the same twin set. It makes things easier.

As I've said, I love this world, can't wait to share it, but I don't want to rush it. That would mess it up.

But do swing by Kiri Liz's blog for an interview with Melisza and Tabetha ... And you can check out the mock covers she did - which includes one for The New Division. It doesn't quite fit the book - but it has the right colors ... which is more than you can say for the one I've done.