Glynn is currently writing the sequel to To Stand Defiant, the next book in the Dakotan Confederacy series, which is set within the Castle Federation universe. Here are seven more questions he recently answered about his work in progress. Click here to read part 1, and click here to read part two.
Q: What was your process to create this setting and make it realistic?
This setting began, honestly, with an attempt to justify starfighters against the usual complaints.To do so, I settled on economics. Space travel in the Castle Federation setting is done with absolutely massive, mind-bogglingly expensive starships.That made smaller, more expendable, fighters have an economic justification – losing a starship is a BIG DEAL. I got to work from there.
Q: Someone threatens your MC’s loved one’s life. How do they respond?
It…depends.
James Tecumseh is disturbingly of the Captain Carrot School of “personal is not the same as important.” On the other hand, his wife is a sub-sovereign head of state for the nation he helped create.
So…context one, he’s bringing a interstellar battle fleet.
Context two…uh…he’s trusting the assassin who made herself his bodyguard to “handle it.”(The fleet might kill fewer people)
Q: Who was your MC’s first friend and how did they meet?
This feels like an odd question to me, one aimed at a very different context than my work.Most of my characters at this point are in their 40s and 50s. “Their first friend” is, sadly, basically irrelevant.
James Tecumseh’s chronologically first relevant “friend” in the storyverse, though, is James Walkingstick. They met when JT was a Captain and Walkingstick was already an Admiral.
They bonded over both being Native sons of the US and a shared name. Walkingstick became something of a mentor to the JT, saving his career at least once.Then, of course, Imperator Walkingstick overthrew the Commonwealth…
Q: Do you have any LGBT+ characters?
They tend to show up, yes. In this particular work, two villains are non-binary (one in the current sense, one as part of a particular cultural transhuman/artificial intersex movement). Two of the close allies to the lead (including one POV character) are Aro-Pansexual.
The lead’s wife is bisexual, though I’m not sure that’s actually come on page in 3 books. Honestly, in hindsight, this ended up a low-queer content book for me…
Q: What sort of transportation or vehicles does your MC use?
I’m back to the same Eurovision quote: “I’m up in space man.” So everyone is flitting around on starships primarily.
Primarily, James Tecumseh not only travels aboard but spends almost the entire book aboard the Dakotan Confederacy Navy flagship, the fleet carrier Krakatoa.
Q: Would your MC/hero stand out in our world?
Not physically. I’d be a touch worried about how an older Native man used to being a senior military officer would get in trouble in most of North America, though that is an unfortunate reflection on us not on James Tecumseh. Oh, and he’ll set off any metal detector he walks through since he has two cybernetic limbs!
Q: What does the antagonist think about the MC?
Imperator James Walkingstick thought of James Tecumseh as a protege, another Native American man from North America he could shepherd up the ranks.
And while Walkingstick found JT’s sense of honor aggravating, he also respected it. Right up until JT betrayed Walkingstick to serve the people he was tasked to protect.
So he likes JT. He respects JT. And he, still, feels completely betrayed by JT.
Bonus Q: Have your friends/family read your book? Why/Why not?
Some, yep. I know my father has read almost everything I’ve written. On the other hand, it’s not a question I ask. I’m an anxious enough individual that I honestly don’t want to know. Some fans have become friends. Some friends are fans. But I don’t need my friends to read my books to stay my friends!
Unbroken Faith, the next book in the Dakotan Confederacy is coming November 2023.
The diversity of your characters and how they stand for their beliefs is what hooked me way back in Castle Federation. I am a diehard fan of few Writers. You are on that list for me. Damn the torpedos and full speed ahead!