I have always loved Science Fiction and, when I decided to make my first contribution to this genre, I wanted to blur the edges of two sub genres in the way that Frank Herbert did with Dune. Whereas Herbert’s Dune story is a solid mix of fantasy fiction and science fiction, Herbert intentionally suppressed the technology to highlight the human politics of his cast of characters.
I wanted to keep the science both front and center to the story and intentionally close to what could presently be achieved—a work of hard Sci-Fi, but one that, at the same time, embraced the Māori myths and legends of the story’s settings in New Zealand, or Aotearoa as it was originally named by the Māori.
The hero of my story is River. Abandoned daughter of the ruling members of the Rangatiratanga, the ‘absolute sovereignty’ of the great realm of Oceania that rises to brutal prominence in a world suddenly ravaged by antimicrobial-resistant disease.
She is a child of science, and an expert in quantum physics, the myths of her heritage she renounces. River refuses to believe that she is Matakite, a seer and prophet of her ancestors. But that prophecy is hers to find, and only by embracing the brittle friction between science and the supernatural can she hope to save the seemingly doomed off-world expedition that her parents have undertaken to save humankind. One by one their Galaxy cruisers are blinking out of existence, along with the worlds they were destined to colonize.
River must escape her captors and join the race to the stars and defeat her own prejudices to free her own mind. Only then can she save her species from absolute annihilation.
I enjoyed researching the book and tried hard to stay faithful to the language and mythology of the Māori people. If I have failed in doing so in any way I can only apologize.
If you would like to give it a read, it will be available for general release on April 16th but is available now, at a significant early joiners discount, on pre-sale today in your local Amazon store.
Writer & Novelist 