In April of 2017, the final installment of the Aidan’s War trilogy will be released. One World One People will bring the massive conflict to…
The Internet Home of Creator Justin Hebert
Tag: science fiction
Helix in a Nutshell If you enjoy perusing the murky depths of Netflix’s Scifi category, as one does, then you’ve probably spotted Helix lurking in…
Every Story Must End… Eventually
I finished the second book in the Hunger Games Trilogy, Catching Fire, about a year and a half ago. Last week, I finished the third and final book in the series, Mockingjay. What took me so long? Basically, I just wasn’t ready for it to end yet. I fell in love with the characters and I found the premise fascinating. Now that I’ve read book 3, though, I really can’t wait to see the movie and I hope they treat it with the same care and passion the crew and cast have brought to the previous adaptations.
After reading the first three trade paperbacks, I’m not sure whether Saga is a beautiful love story with a wartime setting, a brilliant war story with a love story as a plot device, or a perfect amalgam of both. One thing is certain: Saga is brilliant.
Saga is the story of war run amok, and readers are not spared from the practical horrors and visceral realities of proxy warfare. Two peoples, the techno-savvy winged warriors of Landfall and the spell-casting horned-headed mages of moon Wreath, are locked in a bitter feud with plenty of blood on everyone’s hands. Because the two worlds depend on one another to maintain a stable orbit, they fight their battles on other planets, essentially drawing the entire galaxy into their war. Horrific atrocities have been committed by both sides, and in some cases entire indigenous peoples on the proxy planets have been driven to extinction. And in the midst of this war, a baby has been born. A baby whose father bears the horns of Wreath, but whose mother has the wings of Landfall.
The popular geek blog io9 published an interesting article a few months ago observing that modern Fantasy books often contain more actual science than Science…
My Fifth First Book
A Test of Honor is not the first book I’ve ever tried to write. In fact, it’s at least the fifth. Usually when I write a book, I get to about the third chapter and then it all falls apart. Suddenly I hate the characters, the story seems stupid, the dialogue nonsensical, and the point strangely missing. I freak out, tell myself I’ll come back to it later, and then leave it forever in my Documents folder to gather digital dust for all eternity.
So why is this book different? What did I do differently?
Milestones were originally used by the Roman Empire to mark distance along their many roads. This helped people know how quickly they were traveling, and also how far they had to go. I think this is why I prefer thinking of accomplishments as milestones rather than goals. Goals imply that you’ve arrived, that you’re finished; milestones tell you that you’ve simply reached an important place on your journey.
Just recently, I completed a milestone that I began working toward at the beginning of the year. I finished writing the rough draft of A Test of Honor – eighteen chapters, 94,263 words, three months’ worth of focused creativity. And it feels amazing.