Sci-Fi / Fantasy
Date Published: 06-08-2021
Publisher: Sandpaper Press
Three thousand years ago the three races of Vinge, Human, Dak’or, and Fingalin, fled into space at the destruction of their planet. Now The Alliance between the three governments is at its breaking point. Between racial tensions caused by the elitist and wealthy Fingal trying to claim a divine right to rule, a deadly new quarantine-resistant plague that is sweeping through the primarily Drak’or outer colonies, and lack of funding and success in terraforming efforts, the treaty seems to be at an end. As people begin to turn to religion to save them, The Descendents, a powerful religious sect worshiping the Goddess Vyanna, readily fill the void.
Now the crew of a small mercenary vessel, captained by a man calling himself the devil, are on a relief mission to replace equipment for Deep Space Initiative Station 3122’s failed life support. Lieutenant Commander James Aiunys, the newest member, and tactical officer of the legendary crew is shocked when they are unexpectedly pulled out of hyperspace, and informed that the quarantine zone has been expanded to include the station. The mysterious Drak’or captain is undeterred. In a feat that seems more like magic than science, he turns the battle on its head, defeating one of the most powerful warships in the galaxy, leaving it paralyzed in space.
Upon their arrival however, the station is not what they had expected. The crew becomes concerned when they discover the station empty, an eerie resemblance to another station they had visited at the bequest of strange women with silver hair who smelled of apple blossoms.
When the power core fails during their investigation, The Captain is once again forced to do the impossible, leaving James with more questions than answers. With the government collapsing into chaos, the crew of The Shade find themselves on the run, caught in the middle of a sinister plot that will change the galaxy forever.
But there are darker shadows than the machinations of mortals lurking in the far corners of civilization. Brought face to face with their own humanity in a conflict older than the concepts of good and evil. They are forced to question everything they understood about themselves, religion, and even the very fabric of reality.
Is There a Message in Your Novel That You Want Readers to Grasp?
Yes, but you really have to read it to find it because more
than anything it’s about asking ourselves questions about ourselves. And everyone
should walk away from that with something different, something individual and
unique.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Transitioning between scenes can be difficult. Sometimes I
have one scene written out, and I know where I want the story to go next, but
getting the characters from where they are to where they need to be in order
for it to work the way you imagine it can be difficult.
Those are also the moments you learn the most about your
characters though because it really challenges their motivations and objectives.
You must understand what their investment in the story is in order to write convincing
and believable narratives to keep them moving forward.
How many books have you written and which is your favorite?
Seph is the first book I have published, but I have 7 other
projects on my proverbial worktable. My Favorite is one I have called The Book
of Atl. Which you probably won’t really be seeing much about for a few years. I
love it so much I am unwilling to publish it before I know I can do it justice.
There are also some real world cultures involved and I am trying to be very
respectful of their history and traditions. Since it isn’t my own heritage and
I am writing from the prospective of an outsider, it’s important to me that I
do some serious research and create something that is not only fun and
imaginative, but that celebrates a culture that no longer exists in a way their
descendants can be proud of and can serve to educate and bridge gaps not only
between cultures today, but also between the past and the present.
If You had the chance to cast your main character from
I honestly don’t know. Authors seem to like this sot of
question, and I have never really followed actors close enough to be like “hey
this person would be great in x roll.” It’s also hard because if I were casting
my main character it would be very important to me that the roll went to a None-White
actor, and there aren’t a lot of those who have become very recognizable yet.
When did you begin writing?
Well, I first started writing when I was about 12 it was
around when the Eragon books were first coming out, and Christopher Paolini
made a lot of us at the time feel like if he could do it so could we.
But I had so many false starts at some point a had given up.
Everybody wants to write a book it seems like, and I didn’t feel like I had
what it took to do it.
So I started writing for real at the end of 2016. I had been
in a car accident that had really messed me up pretty bad and I didn’t really
have anything to do with my time. I found a writing prompt online, and it
re-ignited all of these Ideas I had been working on as a child, and pretty soon
I had a book. I couldn’t stop writing after that.
How long did it take to complete your first book?
I wrote the first draft in 27 days. It took me about 2 year
to turn that into a second draft. After that it took another year to refine it to
what it is now. So all together it took just over 3 years. But a lot of that
time was spent on researching publishers and publishing and all of the other
business stuff that goes into being an author and has nothing to do with
writing.
Did you have an author who inspired you to become a writer?
I consider Timothy
Zahn and Brandon Sanderson to be the two authors who have influenced my writing
the most. But I think every book I have ever read was a little piece of the inspiration
that turned me into an author.
It’s an interesting
question for me though, because when I started, I don’t think I did want to
become a writer. I am not sure that was even on my radar, and I think that is a
big part of why I say it was an accident. So I guess in some ways I am the
author who inspired me to become a writer at the same time I was doing it. That
may sound a little conceded but that’s not the way I mean it. But there is
something about doing a thing that makes it worth doing and I think that can be
powerful. I don’t think I could have done it if there was more to it than that.
It wasn’t about anyone or anything else. It was just me and my story and I was
telling it because I loved it. And that seems to be the key I couldn’t do it
when it was just something I wanted to do. But when I wrote Seph it was
something I had to do. Not because anyone was making me. But because there was
something inside of me that couldn’t walk away.
What is your favorite part of the writing process?
Discovering the story. I don’t know about other authors, but
a lot of the ones I have talked to seem to feel this way. For me writing is a
lot less about telling the story you want to tell. And a lot more about finding
the stories that already exist. Something magical happens when you put the
right characters together in the right setting and add just a little bit of
tension to get things going. It’s like the story is already out there floating
in some kind of ether or something, and all we are really doing is plucking it
out and giving it a shape.
Describe your latest book in 4 words.
What is
Hummanity?
Can you share a little bit about your current work or what is in the
future for your writing?
I currently
have 7 other books I am working on, with a few more concepts floating around in
my head.
The next book you
will be seeing from me is the first Dystopian YA series I am calling Perspectives.
The book itself will be titled Cinnamon Latte, and takes place in an imagined
future where society is being run by an extreme version of a social media
platform who’s algorithm dictates pretty much everything.
About the Author
Ezra Sandborn got his start writing fiction as a dungeon master in online role-playing games . He draws on inspiration from his childhood, sitting under the trampoline and inventing new worlds and characters. Ezra became an author by accident, during a particularly difficult period of his life he was suddenly struck by inspiration for a short story. After sharing the story with friends and family everyone wanted to read more, and so he continued writing. In less than a month as the result of that novel accident Seph – The Reflection of Divinity was created. Ezra’s writing is defined by his complex characters, deep immersive worlds, and unique stories that challenge the conventional narrative, while exploring the deeper truth of human nature.
Contact Links
tiktok: sandpaperpress
Purchase Links
Posts
0 Comments