Revelations is here!

At long, long last, Revelations has arrived! Tech issues resolved! The birth process of this book was more challenging than either of the other two books, but in some ways, it is also more of a celebration for me, since the journey toward the release of the book was so much more challenging than I expected. Now, I can rest and celebrate its arrival.

For those of you who have been following the course of Tamara’s life, this book represents a continuation of the other two—the story is Tamara’s continuing journey—but it also represents a depth that I have never gone to in my other two stories. These people whose lives I’ve had the privilege to write about have experiences that I don’t always share, or even really understand, at times. I feel their frustration, fear, love and joys, but their experiences don’t always resonate with me personally. This book, which was difficult for me to write, resonated with me very deeply as Tamara experiences some of the most intense experiences of her life. I was forced to experience one of the most pivotal—and powerful—experiences in my life as I wrote. It wasn’t easy, but it brought me levels of understanding and freedom I did not expect when I began the journey. I don’t know what it will bring those of you who read it, but I hope it touches you as it did me.

I begin again at the start of the writing process: the creative phase, where I write lots and lots of book starts with an eye to finding out where the next steps in the continuing story of Azelle go. I don’t know yet exactly where Book Four is going to take us. We may follow Tamara directly, or see her at a remove as we follow one of the other people who populate this world—even despite the November writing month, the creative process is so very fluid right now. I’ve got more possibilities about what might happen, but no firm path to follow yet. Divine timing at play once again, and this time, I’d like to believe I can be patient as I enjoy these beginning stages of the creative process. We’ll see how that goes.

In the meantime, enjoy the new installation in the story of Azelle and the continuation of Tamara’s journey in Revelations: Book Three of the Azellian Affairs! You can access the Amazon version of the book on the book page of my website or in the link below:

As our Release Date Approaches …

We are counting down to release date! Since I’m one of those odd people that love lists, and sometimes obsessively create them, as our release date approaches, I’ve put together a quick list of the main people who populate the world of The Azellian Affairs. As a refresher, and a sneak peek all in one, here it is in no particular order, so you can see if your favorite people might be making an appearance. No spoilers are below, it is a simple list of who appears where in the series. Enjoy!

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Merran Corina: Where he appeared: Alawahea, Triangle, Revelations (as of 9/30/22, not yet released)

Tamara Carrington: Where she appeared: Alawahea, Triangle, Revelations (as of 9/30/22, not yet released)

Alarin Raderth: Where he appeared: Alawahea, Triangle, Revelations (as of 9/30/22, not yet released)

Justern Memaxthal: Where he appeared: Alawahea, Triangle, Revelations (as of 9/30/22, not yet released)

Jasmian Memaxthal: Where she appeared: Alawahea

Greg Tenricth: Where he appeared: Alawahea, Triangle, Revelations (as of 9/30/22, not yet released)

Rory Memaxthal: Where he appeared: Triangle, Revelations (as of 9/30/22, not yet released)

Mellis Mennak: Where she appeared: Alawahea

Ketiana Dorvath: Where she appeared: Triangle, Revelations (as of 9/30/22, not yet released)

Peter Carrington: Where he appeared: Alawahea, Triangle, Revelations (as of 9/30/22, not yet released)

Sadie Carrington: Where she appeared: Alawahea, Revelations (as of 9/30/22, not yet released)

Andreya Carrington: Where she appeared: Alawahea, Triangle, Revelations (as of 9/30/22, not yet released)

Jeanine Carrington: Where she appeared: Alawahea

Rashella Raderth (Corina): Where she appeared: Triangle, Revelations (as of 9/30/22, not yet released)

Galadrian Raderth: Where he appeared: Triangle, Revelations (as of 9/30/22, not yet released)

Kyla Raderth: Where she appeared: Triangle, Revelations (as of 9/30/22, not yet released)

And while we wait ...

It’s almost here! Revelations: Book Three of the Azellian Affairs is scheduled to release at the end of the month!

In the meantime, I’ve gotten lots of questions from readers about why relationships played out the way they did in the first two books: Alawahea and Triangle. Here’s a sneak peek (and Spoiler Alert if you have never read either Alawahea or Triangle). If you have never read either book, please be sure to read those two books first! If spoilers don’t bother you, or if you have already read the books, then feel free to read on:

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Why was Alarin and Tamara's relationship so uneasy? They had a bond, right? Didn’t that mitigate the tension between them?

Among Azellians, and particularly those from the High Council families, Awakening is an overwhelming, intense and sometimes even traumatic experience. It can sometimes lead to very intense relationships, but by their very nature, the intensity burns out and often goes cold fairly quickly unless constantly re-ignited. Based almost entirely on hormones and very little on actual compatibility, once that intensity flares and fades, there is little left to raise if one does not have a genuine connection to the other such as shared interests or common ground on which to build something long term. To Azellians, bonds such as those between Alarin and Tamara—and even Merran and Tamara—are constricting, frustrating and to be avoided at all cost. Once a bond is formed, both partners will often chip away at it until it disappears. The deeper the bond, the more the instinctive response is to get away from it, or damage it until it is destroyed. Azellians will take on sexual partners, sometimes as life mates, but they do not believe that one’s self should ever be subsumed into another.

Why did Tamara and Merran’s relationship fall apart? They seemed so good together!

Tamara and Merran’s relationship is deeply unbalanced. To Tamara, Merran is a mentor more than a lover. Her Awakening freed so many suppressed and confused emotions about love, sex and being out of control, that many of her feelings for Merran are more like gratitude and a crush. What was between them was never meant to last. Their personalities do not truly mesh and they are in very different places in their lives. Tamara knows this and though she doesn’t consciously break it off, she draws closer to Alarin as Merran withdraws from her, and the relationship between herself and Merran falls apart. To Merran, Tamara is not a lover, partner or confidante. For a time, he does entertain the idea of being her lover, and he does care deeply about her—more deeply than he knows—but their relationship is not meant to last in that form. Instead, the birth of Rashella allowed the child to be their bridge so they can forge a friendship built over shared responsibilities for their daughter.

Why did Alarin, Tamara and Merran never function well as a unit?

While polyamory and open relationships are common on Azelle, with many people living in multiple combinations of many types, for Tamara it is so far outside her comfort zone that she subconsciously sabotages it. Alarin comes from a family who does not accept same sex pairings, and Merran is not particularly drawn to men, so the relationship between the three of them functions less as a partnership and more as a competition. That combination does not make for a long lasting relationship.

Will Merran ever find a lover?

I ask the same question over and over myself. I don’t know yet. I think so—I would like to think so—but we’ll have to find out together.

Will there ever be justice for Justern?

Justern’s experience leads to some very powerful growth for him. Does he heal? Yes. And he finds a new, deeper and very loving relationship that perfectly fits him. If that is what you mean by justice, then yes, he does find justice. If you mean does he get revenge? If the best revenge is to live well, far beyond any hurt the other can do to him, then, yes, he gets revenge. His story may even one day end up in a book or books of his very own.

Why did Tamara end up with Alarin instead of Merran?

Their relationship was much more equal and they each have something to learn from each other. There is a very deep soul contract that is going to play out between them. Book 3, Revelations, explores that in more depth.

Do you have a burning question? Either jump in on the comments below and ask, or submit a question through the site! Enjoy!

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Revelations Update

Today I reviewed the layout design of Revelations and started to get excited. It is coming together! We have some stylistic changes to make, but it’s really starting to take shape. And perhaps the funniest part: I got utterly sucked into the story. I was SUPPOSED to be looking at the overall design (no editing allowed) but then I just read a sentence. Then another one, then another one, then suddenly I’m reading the story. Again. Considering I wrote it, you’d think that I wouldn’t get sucked in. But yet … I did. I have no idea if that means anything about the story, but it sure was fun. I’m falling in love with yet another Azellian.

In the meantime, if you want to learn more about my favorite people from Azelle, and a bit more about their history and what books they appear in, join as a Fellow Voyager level and check out my Patreon post called Exploring Azelle: People here:

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We're back!

Welcome to the explorations of Sara L Daigle!

After what has to be the oddest two years in the history of the world (well, my world, anyway, and, I daresay, most of the rest of the world’s, too), my next book is FINALLY done! Revelations: Book Three of the Azellian Affairs is at long, long last finished editing and is now moving into production. Of course, there remain quite a few moving parts, so I still don’t have a solid release date yet, BUT it will be this year.

As I’ve shared in previous posts, the journey to publication with this book has been long, bumpy and reached deep into places in me that I have never experienced before. It is a labor indeed—a labor of love, a labor of growth, and one of the most intense stories I have ever written so far. This story and the people in it took me to very deep places in myself and I am very excited to share it with the world.

And I know, loyal readers, that it has been torture to keep you waiting.

So in the interim, I have exciting news: I am launching myself and the Azellian Affairs on a new platform, in which you can learn more about the story behind the story, where I will be posting appendices, backstory and more of my creative endeavors to help you through the in-between-book-times. Here is your opportunity to Travel with Sara L Daigle and the Azellian Affairs!

Click here to learn more and become a Patron:

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The Beginning

My first foray into writing occurred when I was a very young child, about 8 years old. I lived in a very rural area, up in the Northern part of Maine, 400 miles away from the nearest city of any size, which was Boston. I used to go outside at night and just look up at the night sky. It was absolutely gorgeous, too many stars to count. When you look at that many stars, your brain just boggles. It just looks like a mass of starlight. The stars always captured my imagination. I would look at the stars and wonder what planets there were surrounding them. Even as a young child, I didn’t even question that there were planets there, and probably other beings living on those planets. What were they like? What were some of the things they did? How were they different? How were they the same?

One particular heavenly body really fascinated me when I was growing up. Titan, which is a moon of Saturn. I would imagine this moon, which is one of the few moons in the solar system that has an atmosphere, and it completely mesmerized me. I didn’t know a lot about it, obviously, but it was just a jumping off point. I imagined what it would be like to live on another planet like Titan with a different colored sky. I imagined what it might be like to see something rise and set in that sky every day, whether it be another moon or a planet. I found all of that really fascinating.

When I was 8-years-old, most of my writing was very basic: “We went up the hill. We got a drink of water at the top of the hill and watched a beautiful planet rise.” Needless to say, I didn’t have a lot of descriptors, or dialogue. The dialogue I did include was very basic, very simple. I would also draw pictures of what I thought the planet might look like. The creatures that lived there. The people that lived there. My drawing skills were also right on par with what an 8-year-old is capable of. Let’s just say, there were lots of stick people and stick creatures. Everything was beautiful, everything was something to be explored.

As I entered my teens, I continued to write, but moved away from Titan as a subject matter. Astronomy continued to be a fascination of mine, although I didn’t end up going into it because the math intimidated me. Explorations within astronomy absolutely captured me. I would read anything I could get my hands on by NASA, and took astronomy classes. I wanted to do anything I possibly could to learn more about planets that might exist out there.

Since, of course, it’s all based on what humanity knows, my lessons were mostly about the solar system. It was mostly our solar system that I was exploring, but it provided a jumping off point. As I got into my teens, I also started to write plays. For the most part, I would act out the plays that I wrote with my friends. We would actually go through and role play through the dialogue. I found plays to be too restrictive. There were so many details in my imagination that didn’t necessarily translate to a play, so I found myself gravitating toward a narrative style, rather than play writing. Those stories morphed and became Alawahea.

There were stories before Alawahea. There were many different characters. Whatever I happened to be reading at the time would definitely influence my writing style. There were times when I was reading thigs that weren’t really that great, so my writing followed suit.

When I got into college, I began to write the basic story of Alawahea. I told the story from my own viewpoint because my writing experience tells me, “start where you are.” When you start writing, start where you are. I wrote about a young girl who was in college and started to bring in elements of the fantastic when she encountered aliens. The questions I asked myself to drive the narrative were things like: How did meeting aliens impact her? What are some of the things she said? What are some of the things she imagined? How were the aliens different from her? How were they the same? I contrasted things by getting into the aliens heads and seeing things from their perspective. What did they think of humans? What was confusing to them? What things were the same?

All of that gave me room for the birth of a planet. It gave me the ability to create Azelle, which is the fictional planet that I’ve been able to tap into. The story just started jumping off the page. As I wrote the novel, I also wrote backstory and all kinds of things that built into the characters. All of the little details of their lives just started flowing through me. I currently have 8 stories and they came so easily. It all just started with a little girl’s fascination with the stars in the night sky, and developed into a whole other way of life that feels so very real to me.

Get to participate in the look of an entire series!

Creating a look for a series has a whole different set of challenges and joys to recommend it. When I first started, I was looking for some symbolic and interesting art that suggested what was going on in the book. It’s taken me several months to realize that a series is a different set of thought processes than a single book and that having the input of other people is very important.

I’m beginning to launch the process of starting the second book and am taking a moment to review the first one and what I’ve learned so far. Where do I want to go with the series? What look do I want to create? What would be fun on the cover, giving hints about the story behind it, but also is eye-catching? I recently discovered 99 Designs, which runs a contest for designers all around the world to compete for a chance to design a cover. I’ve seen some beautiful artwork based on a short paragraph I gave them about the story…and they responded. And best of all, it’s led to some really great concepts for covers!

For the next four days, I’m going to be running a poll to help me decide the direction of the covers for my series. I want to know what you like! And of course, I’m showing the work of some very talented designers in the world of 99 Designs. Some of these designers have really floored me with their talent and insight—they all created these pictures from a description I wrote about the story. There are some really amazing artists listed here. Which is your favorite? 

The voting link is here:

https://99designs.com/book-cover-design/vote-bkwok5

Tell me what you think!

A Thank You To Merry Dissonance Press

Although I am not technically self-published (I am working with an indie publisher), there is a certain power to publishing through the indie circuit that reminds me of the edgy, remarkable, very powerful movies that get made through the indie industry. My publisher, Merry Dissonance Press, has been a blessing and a huge help as I wandered into a brand new world, sometimes quite literally. I had to learn a new language, a new set of rules, an entirely new paradigm from which to function, and Donna Mazzitelli helped me do that. Step by step, as my book went from edited manuscript through to final product, Donna helped me navigate the steps to actually holding a copy of my book in my hand.

So much goes into the production of a book: cover art design, layout design, putting the book up into various e-book outlets (from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, all the way to Smashwords), making sure it looks good and is professional at every step of the way, and even registering it with the Library of Congress and getting an IBSN number. Even help with the book launch party and making sure I had all the supplies for that….I had no idea you even needed any of that to launch a book. No idea of the sheer work that goes into the background of getting a book out there. I have quite a bit more sympathy for the publishers of the world, and for the authors who self-publish. Diving into the world of publication, while it is very different than it used to be, can still be a bit bewildering to the novice. Merry Dissonance Press helped me face that challenge and really navigate it. I’m very excited for book 2 and where it will take us!

Merging Sci-Fi and Romance

I just had my first experience with being on a radio show being interviewed by someone. I really loved the experience! The interviewer, Briar Lee Mitchell, was supportive and helped me bring up some really neat information I never put into words before: how do you merge the romance and sci-fi genres? The answer gave me a sneak peek into my own psyche, which I love. I read quite a bit of classic science fiction and fantasy. When I was in my teens and early 20’s, I also had time to read novels that required you to learn a huge amount about another world before you could even begin to enjoy the story. That ability ended for me in my mid 20’s, after I graduated from college and entered the working world. Work and family slowly ate at my free time, and I no longer had the energy after a long work day to focus on a complex book for hours on end.

But as I continued to read and write, my stories evolved and my tastes slowly shifted. Growing up between two cultures myself (French and English), I witnessed the confusion and heart break that can come from cultural assumptions, and perhaps not surprisingly, that theme crept into the stories I was writing. Yet it was very important to me to keep a story simple, easy to read and enjoyable. While I did at one point adore complex stories that built incredible worlds, my brain filled up with the complexities of life and I stopped wanting to read about the complexities of other worlds.

How to balance the two? Bringing to life a culture, yet keeping it simple, believable and interesting as I spun a story? Enter romance, which I also read quite a bit of during my formative years. I didn’t need a complex plot, as I already had a complex situation playing out in the conflict and character interactions. Most romance novels are pretty simple: man meets woman, they fall in love and after some problems which they invariably resolve, they end up living happily ever after. How did that impact my writing? Move the story to Earth, pair the aliens with human characters people could relate to…and voila, I had a story that bridged the two genres.

Do my characters end up living happily ever after? Spoilers are never fun: I can say, though, while I do enjoy HEA’s (happily ever afters) and usually end up there, who said a book needs to end on it EVERY time? I’m playing between genres, after all, and science fiction encourages lots of series. Romance encourages HEA’s….merge the two and you get six more books currently written and just waiting for publication. Stay tuned and we’ll all learn more together!

My top 5 authors who inspired me to write

The top authors who inspired me to write when I first got started:

1. J.R.R Tolkien: I love how he created stories, developed worlds and cultures. As a linguist, he had a fine understanding of not only language, but culture itself. I am still in awe that he created a language. It’s quite a bit tougher than it sounds. My own efforts in that direction were never all that successful beyond words and concepts.

2. Marion Zimmer Bradley: Her Darkover series is a masterful creation of a culture, which she then pits against humans in culture clash. Although the series became darker than I tend to like to read, she has had a considerable impact on my writing and my story building over the years. I voraciously read any Darkover novels I could get my hands on.

3. Julian May: Her Pliocene Exile and Galactic Milieu series were incredibly intricate, interwoven through six million years of history. Each character (and there were a large number of them, long before George R. R. Martin appeared on the scene with large numbers of disposable characters) was meticulously drawn, down to the sub characters and characters who appeared only for several arcs in the story, then disappeared. Even after reading that series more times than I can count, I could never manage to find any holes or consistency errors. That intricacy and interconnectedness of the story has always been something I’ve aspired to.

4. Katherine Kurtz: Deryni series. Historical novels set in an alternate past England-ish. I adored this series when I was a teenager. She followed several characters in different story “arcs”, offering clash between humans and humans with “extra” psychic abilities, something that inspired me and made me realize you didn’t need to follow one set of characters to keep a story interesting. As I’ve read more about the actual Earth history of the region, the attention to detail, the historical and political accuracies always made that series feel so realistic, and is something I’ve always wanted to reach toward. I want you to think you could meet my characters walking down the street, or I wouldn’t have done my job as an author.

5. Jennifer Roberson: Chronicles of the Cheysuli. This series made me more interested in dynasties (as did my endless fascination with English and French aristocracy). Although this series got rather darker than I liked, it definitely left an impact on my writing and the dynasties I created in my culture.

By the time I was in college, much of my writing style and story was formed and the authors I read, while quite enjoyable, were no longer as influential on my writing. They still inspire me now, though, and there is nothing more I love than a series that gets my creative muse whispering in my ear.