UTCAN’S TALISMAN received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Stella Atrium.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
UTCAN’S TALISMAN is Book 5 of the award-winning The Tribal Wars series, published on August 21, 2024 and opening at #20 in Amazon rankings for Teen and Young Adult Dystopian Science Fiction.
What’s the book’s first line?
I sat at dinner over a sticky plate, my food half-eaten.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Bybiis the scholar helps Opin the healer to escape the control of Utica’s khalif who wants to turn Opin’s gift to his purposes. They are shipwrecked near a village where Dr. Greensboro is conducting research for vaccines and exploring the ruins of a lost city. Hershel Henry is visiting there and helps Jesse Hartley return to her life of privilege.
Later Henry travels to the neighboring planet of Cicero to investigate the fates of conscripts from Earth. He and Jesse connect as lovers, but the union is uneasy. When Henry travels to Stargate Junction to report on the investigation, he realizes that Jesse has betrayed him. Henry takes the opportunity to jump back to Earth, leaving Dolvia’s struggles behind.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
My original purpose was to develop women characters who drive the plot, rather than decorative or romantic types. Readers can follow a favorite female teacher or warrior or diplomat through the disasters and triumphs of the tribal women, and visiting scientists from Earth who have embraced their cause for Home Rule.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
The story is meant to entertain, of course. Young readers can place themselves in a volatile world where freedom is hard-won and the tribes have little voice for their own fates. Banding together with traditional enemies is the only route toward victory and securing a future for their way of life and their children.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
Hershel Henry is a photo-journalist from Earth who is placed in the center of most events due to his reputation for asking sharp questions. Henry reminds me of war correspondents who balance their reporting for both sides of an international incident. Henry is like an Australian Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and killed in the Middle East conflicts.
Self-publishing changes every 18 months. Opportunities and trends arise, but so many writers are in the field that a sudden glut of promos can push one out of the competition. We are gratified that The Tribal Wars series is well-received by reviewers and readers. With the award-winning series (and more books on the way), I feel that I can carve a niche for my characters that appeal to readers who appreciate an intricate story with outcomes for several characters – more than the win-the-day hero.
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
Count your pennies. I have been snookered more than once by an offer that was hollow, promising outcomes that didn’t materialize. Be careful who you trust. You are in charge of your publishing goals, so don’t hand them over to a group making big promises. If it looks too good to be true, it probably isn’t.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Ah, sure… a traditional publisher can help a writer to scale up, reaching a broader audience and even a foreign audience in translation. The big houses only look at Indies who have a proven track record for sales, though, so you have to do the work upfront.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
I read a lot, but a writer I go back to for inspiration is Peter Handke, a little known post-war Austrian writer (2019 Nobel Prize winner) who was willing to look truth in the face.
Which book do you wish you could have written?
No One Writes to the Colonel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The fragmented plot flow was inspirational to me.