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Jan

Inner Diverse, Book 2 of Splintered Universe Trilogy NOW in Bookstores!

full cover no script Inner Diverse, Book 2 of Splintered Universe Trilogy NOW in Bookstores! Book Two of Nina Munteanu’s Splintered Universe Trilogy, “Inner Diverse” was released December 13th 2012 by Starfire World Syndicate with cover art done by Costi Gurgu. It is currently available in bookstores.

In Book Two of this metaphysical space thriller trilogy, detective Rhea Hawke continues her quest for truth and justice in a world that is not what it seems. Rhea’s relentless search takes her to the far reaches of the known universe from the treacherous Boiling Seas of the Weeping Mountains of Horus to the blistering deserts of Upsilon 3. Amidst the turmoil of an imminent extra-galactic war, Rhea holds the key even as those she trusts betray her. No one is what they seem in this fast paced second of three books.

“Nina Munteanu is not only a master of metaphor, she is a creator of fantastic worlds and cultures. She combines her biological background with the infinite possibilities of the cosmos and turns an adventure story into a wonderland of alien rabbit holes. When the action starts it goes into hyper-drive, and her protagonist, Rhea Hawke, is a fresh and multi-faceted heroine. A fascinating and enthralling read.”— Craig H. Bowlsby, author of Horth in Killing Reach and creator of Commander’s Log.

“Hawke is a maverick in the Wild West tradition, up against the world; and a genetic mystery with lethal powers. As always, Munteanu sticks to science in her storytelling, and clips along a brisk pace.”—Lynda Williams, author of the Okal Rel series.

“Am supposed to be recording some pick ups today and working on some accents for three of the audiobooks I’m finishing up but instead I get myself sucked into book two of Nina Munteanu‘s Splintered Universe trilogy!”—Dawn Harvey, voice artist.

FullCoverWTitlesBlurbLowRes Inner Diverse, Book 2 of Splintered Universe Trilogy NOW in Bookstores!

Full cover art for “Outer Diverse” Book 1 of trilogy

For more on Costi Gurgu, the impeccable artist of the Splintered Universe Trilogy, see my previous interview with him here on The Alien Next Door.

Here’s a short excerpt below on his Triptych design for the trilogy:

SFgirl: you came up with a “Triptych” design for the Splintered Universe Trilogy. What inspired you to come up with it and what do you like about it?

Costi: There is the danger of spoilers in this answer. The fact is that your main character, Rhea, undergoes a certain evolution from a regular human being to… let’s just say something else. And that evolution has three parts, one for each book of the trilogy and it also has a touch of divine. So, the triptych design, so often used for religious paintings, fits like a glove on the entire concept.

Costi was nominated as a finalist the Aurora Prix Award, Canada’s top award for works in the genre of the fantastic, in the category of Best Artist for his work on Book 1 of the trilogy, Outer Diverse.

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Nov

Nina Munteanu Interviewed by University of Bucharest

Nina Munteanu

Nina Munteanu at Gaudeamus Book Fair, Bucharest

Some time ago, PhD student at the University of Bucharest in Romania and member of the Central European Association for Canadian Studies, Marilena Dracea-Chelsoi, contacted me with an interest in Romanian diaspora artists in Canada. We struck up a friendship through our collaboration and I met Marilena later at the Gaudeamus Book Fair in Bucharest where I celebrated the launch of my book there in late 2011. But I’m getting ahead of myself—as usual.

Here’s the spring 2011 interview with Marilena:

MDC: When I first came across your name on the Internet, I realized immediately that you have a certain Romanian descent. Could you speak a little bit about your roots?

NM: My father is Romanian; he grew up in Kovin and Beograd, Serbia. My mother is German, from Malente. After marrying in Paris, they immigrated to Québec, Canada. I was born in a small town in the Eastern Townships, the youngest of three siblings and with a propensity to read like my mother and tell stories like my father. My father was a poet, a historian and worldwide traveler, who never lost his passion for literature and writing.

MDC: You collaborated with Romanian magazines (Imagikon, for example). How did you become acquainted with them?

NM: They found me! Editor in Chief, Mircea Pricajan, contacted me and invited me to be part of their excellent magazine. And next thing I knew, I was helping them with their English and writing a weekly movie/book review. Imagikon was, at the time, Romania’s only all-English speculative magazine and I was proud to be part of that very cool endeavor.

MDC: Why did you choose the SF genre as the main way of expressing yourself? I read your book The Fiction Writer. Get Published, Write Now! It is a short course for those who want to write. However, I noticed that it was included in The Alien’s Guidebook Series, which is again sort of connected to the SF realm. Yet the book has many chapters that can very usefully be applied to other genres, as well, and the guide can be used by teachers during class writing lessons. So, why do you focus mainly on SF?

NM: I was always fascinated with science and eventually got my degree in ecology and limnology. In high school, my professor of English inspired me to investigate our humanity in literature through symbols, metaphor and imagery. Science fiction is an excellent genre for this exploration through the introduction of “the other/the unknown”. My ecological training also helped me as a world-builder. So, writing science fiction came naturally to me.

MDC: Was the guide inspired by your own career as a SF writer?

NM: Definitely. I brought much of my personal experience as a professional author to this guide in addition to using over a dozen other expert writers and editors, from science fiction and other genres of writing. I even used my own rejection letters in the guide!

MDC: I noticed that in Darwin’s Paradox you chose a Canadian setting – more specifically the Toronto of the future. This surprised me because I expected, in the future, to see less clear borders between towns, between countries…What’s your own opinion about globalization and the future of humankind?

NM: The huge city of Icaria-5, while set in former Toronto, Canada, lies in the jurisdiction of North-Am (which encompasses all of North America). In this world, cities—because they are so huge with nothing but wilderness between them—behave and operate somewhat like autonomous fiefdoms, with their mayors acting as “barons” who, in turn—if chosen—may sit on a government panel, the Circle. The governing body of the entire continent is actually not known by the public and I don’t reveal much of it in Darwin’s Paradox. Some of this is revealed in the prequel Angel of Chaos. I modeled the political structure loosely on the technocratic model, where scientists and technologists run the government. Regarding globalization, I think there are many practical challenges to a global government; based on our relationship with the environment and climate and reflected in our culture. People operate at the individual, family and community level and less so globally; this is why governments logically operate at these levels, too. Of course, if you remove these factors—many of which were removed through enclosed cities like the Icarias—then it is more possible to create a global identity removed from the distinctive characteristics of a locale.

MDC: At the end of the novel Darwin’s Paradox, Julie and Daniel have to leave Icaria and return to the heath in order to protect their unborn child. Was this a message to the people of today that no matter how much society technologically evolves, pure nature unspoiled by any human action is the best place for safety and happiness? The name Icaria clearly comes from Icarus whose attempt to fly succeeded only for a while and then failed because the wax on his wings melted. So, I thought that somehow any attempt to change the natural state of human beings doesn’t lead to a perfect…improvement, let’s say. Am I right?

NM: Yes, you are, and then some! I was definitely evoking the Greek myth of Icarus in naming the enclosed cities of North-Am and using this myth as a metaphor for our relationship with and use of technology. Icaria is also the name French philosopher and utopian sociologist Etienne Cabet gave to a fictional communist utopian community in 1843—a communal society based on liberty, equality and fraternity. So, Icaria is both of these and the book reflects the paradox and irony of an imperfect humanity “realizing” a utopian model.

MDC: What can you tell us about Angel of Chaos, the prequel to Darwin’s Paradox, a book that came out at the end of 2010? (Just a few hints about the actions and the main characters)

NM: Well, of course Julie Crane and in-her-head AI, SAM, figure prominently in the prequel, which plays out in a fast-paced medical mystery-thriller in the enclosed city of Icaria-5. Readers learn about humanity’s relationship with technology and machine through Julie’s interaction with the AI inside her mind. We also find out more about Julie’s past as an orphan in the slums of Icaria, how she met Daniel, the future father of her daughter Angel, and other characters like the mysterious Gaia and Frank, Julie’s lascivious boyfriend. Julie’s relentless search for a cure to Darwin’s Disease leads her to a horrifying discovery that incriminates her in a heinous conspiracy to recast humankind. And, of course, we find out why Julie must flee Icaria at the end of the book.

MDC: You are involved in writing projects, in teaching courses in science and environmental education, you travel a lot and you have a blog THE ALIEN NEXT DOOR on which you discuss with your readers. What other projects do you have in mind for the near future?

NM: I am working with editors on revising two books for publication next year. One is a historical fantasy that spans from medieval times in Poland to near future Paris. I also have a space adventure trilogy coming out about a bad-attitude galactic cop trying to solve the mystery of a slaughter of a religious sect. A book of my short stories is also due next year. Of course, I continue to travel; I hope to get to Romania. A publisher in Romania is considering my fiction writing guidebook and I’m excited about touring the country with it. I am also actively teaching my online courses, doing workshops, and personal manuscript consultations and personal coaching.

The Spring 2011 interview was recently published on Academia.edu. You can go to this link to read the full interview, which appeared in Issue 6 on January 2012.

******

P.S. This interview was conducted in Spring 2011, so I’d like to give you a publication update on it—mainly, because so much has happened since then!

The historical fantasy that starts in medieval Poland The Last Summoner was released in July 2012 and has been an amazon.ca bestseller in historical fantasy for several months. The space trilogy I was referring to is The Splintered Universe Trilogy. The first book, Outer Diverse, was released in October 2011. Book two, Inner Diverse, will be released December 2012 and the final book in the trilogy, Metaverse, is scheduled for release sometime in 2013. Natural Selection, my collection of short stories, is scheduled for release in spring of 2013.

In addition, I am happy to report that my writing guidebook The Fiction Writer: Get Published, Write Now! was accepted by Editura Paralela 45, who translated it into Romanian and published it in June 2011. I attended its launch at the international Gaudeamus Book Fair in Bucharest and finally met with Marilena!

Editura Paralela 45 has picked up another of my guidebooks and has translated it and released it in Romania in November 2012. The guidebook is called The Journal Writer: Finding Your Voice and offers advice and information for journal keepers and anyone wishing to write expressively. The English version will be released by Starfire in Spring 2013 and you can read excerpts here in future posts.

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Sep

Interview with Dawn Harvey about Outer Diverse Audiobook

Nina Munteanu

Dawn Harvey

When Iambik picked up the contract to do an audiobook of Outer Diverse (Book 1 of The Splintered Universe Trilogy by Starfire), I was already excited. I had no idea how fun and fulfilling the experience was going to be.

Iambik provided me with a few voice artists to narrate Outer Diverse. Something about Dawn’s voice—how she spoke as Rhea Hawke—resonated with me. I was vindicated a thousand fold in selecting her to be the “voice” for Outer Diverse. Working with Dawn was a pleasure. Dawn is a dedicated professional; she created unique and consistent voices for the book’s thirty-odd mostly alien characters. She ensured that each character had the appropriate vernacular, tone, accent and cadence. Then she did proofs and confirmed them with me. She also tackled the “alien” vocabulary; Rhea’s universe is full of strange and foreign terms. Dawn sent me a list to make sure she was pronouncing everything correctly—mostly made-up words. This lady is dedicated to her craft and her art!

I recently invited her to my sentient ship for a pockta nectar and a chat about her world. Here’s a snippet of the interview (she’s also a lawyer so I had to condense the 30-odd pages into these; I’m sure you appreciate that. For a small fee I will send you a full version of the interview.)

SF Girl: Outer Diverse is the first book in The Splintered Universe Trilogy. What was the first thing you thought of when you read Outer Diverse? What do you think of Rhea Hawke? She’s had quite a ride already in Book 1. Will she make it to Book 3? (cheeky grin)

Dawn: Outer Diverse is the first full-length novel I have ever voiced. When I auditioned for it, I had only a page or two of the book to review so imagine my shock and surprise upon reading the book and realizing that I was going to be voicing over 30 different characters from over 20 different species! So, my first thought upon completing my first read was, OMG—what have I gotten myself into!?! I love Rhea. She is so strong yet also so fragile; like many of us. She is also headstrong, determined and fearless. I guess I can relate to her as I am also all of those things. People don’t usually see the fragile in either of us but it is certainly there. And yes, she will make it to Book 3. At least she’d better!

SF Girl: How do you prepare yourself for a reading? Do you have a protocol that you follow?

Dawn: Most of my training has been with Pat Fraley and Vanessa Hart but I have also trained with Scott Brick, Jeffrey Kafer, Kathy Garver and many others. In the end, you have to come up with the process that works best for you. I’m a real spreadsheet girl. The first thing I do is read the book, cover to cover, to get a feel for the characters and the story. I then go through the book again and start making my spreadsheets which set out information about the characters including any personal characteristics described in the book by the narrator, the character himself and anyone else in the book that interacts with or talks about the character. When I have all of that information gathered, I then complete a matrix on each character that addresses voice characteristics for each. From those characteristics, I come up with each character’s voice. Then, I’m ready to begin actually recording

SF Girl: How long can you read for any stretch? What are the best things about readings? What are the worst things?

Dawn: When I was a kid, all of my report cards said “Dawn is a good student but she talks too much” so I guess I’ve always been in training. So far, I haven’t hit the limit of how long I can read. I take my laptop down into my booth and start working…I get totally lost in the reading. I’ve always loved reading out loud. I have absolutely no idea why it took me so long to figure out I could do this for a living as I’ve been listening to audiobooks for years. They’re great for long car trips with kids.

SF Girl: What equipment do you use for narration?

Dawn: My recording software is Twisted Wave and I record on an Apple lap top. My audio interface is an Apogee One and my mic an MXL-990. Been thinking about upgrading that lately. I read the text using my iPad. I edit on a desktop Mac using Rokit 5 speakers. Yes, I have drunk all of the Apple kool-aid. It is better than a PC for doing audio and video work and so it has taken over my world.

SF Girl: You did at least twenty distinctive voices in Outer Diverse. Voices ranged from a New Jersey-like accent for a Xhix to a multi-timbral resonance for a Venik trader. How did you decide on which one to use and how do you keep it all consistent in your head?

Dawn: I take my character clues from the script. I felt the need to run my final decision for the characters by the author; as this is part of a three book series, and I didn’t know what was coming in books 2 and 3, I felt it was very important to do this. I’d hate to get to book three and then find out that character XYZ was supposed to have a lisp! In the case of this book, I grouped the characters by species. I felt it was important to have a “sameness” to the voices of the species and then could vary each character within the confines of their particular species. The easiest way for me to keep consistency for each character is to give each a “representational” character. So, for example, the voice of Rhea’s boss, is my version of Lou Grant from the old Mary Tyler Moore series. He may not sound like Lou Grant to anybody else, and it’s probably better if he doesn’t, but when I do MY impersonation of Lou Grant, the voice comes out the same every time. So, that really works for me. The hard part is coming up with the representational character to go with the description I have of the character. So, sometimes, I have to modify it somehow like maybe a character would be Lou Grant if he talked out of the right side of his mouth or in a higher pitch, for example. Every time you add a little twist like that, you get a new character voice. I had a multi-tabbed spreadsheet to help me as well. One tab listed all of the characters and the chapters they were in with color-coding to remind me of what species they were. Another tab had each character’s voice description and representational character. So, when I went into the studio with a plan of which chapters I would be reading, I could quickly see which characters were in those chapters and then familiarize myself with their voices before I started. If one had spoken several chapters ago, I could also go back to that earlier chapter and just refresh my memory of that voice. Don’t let anyone tell you this isn’t a lot of work!

SF Girl: What was the most challenging voice in Outer Diverse and why?

Dawn: The most challenging voice for me was Shlsh Shle She. He was described as having a squealing, slobbery, mushy voice like he had a mouth full of wet food. His speaking apparatus was made up of a number of wet folds resembling female genitalia. It was a real challenge to honour his physical characteristics while still being understood. Not much point in speaking if the listener can’t understand what I’m saying. I cringed when I did my character analysis and realized how many lines he had! Apparently it all worked out ok in the end but that was scary!

Sf Girl: What is your favorite voice in Outer Diverse and why?

Dawn: My favorite voice is Benny, Rhea’s ship. He’s my version of C3PO from Star Wars. I just love his character and he has the same name as my youngest son who, though named Benjamin, decided he was to be called Benny when he was 5 years old. At 15, he’s still Benny! I just loved the coincidence.

SF Girl: Tell us a little about the process with Iambik from receiving the book in your hands to the final proofs and edits.

Dawn: Iambik sends me the book, we agree on a delivery deadline and sign a contract. Iambik loads the book up into a shared Dropbox folder and I download it and start my review. After I have recorded and edited a chapter, I upload it to the same Dropbox folder. A proof listener reviews the file and sends me any corrections required. I do the corrections and upload it again. They check it again. This continues until all is well and is repeated for each chapter. We work from a shared spreadsheet (see, spreadsheets are my life) so we can keep track of where we are with each chapter. Once all of the chapters are complete, Iambik compiles them into one document to be ready for download and releases then to the public.

SF Girl: Have you ever turned down a narration job and why?

Dawn: Yes, but so far only because I didn’t have time to fit it into my schedule.

SF Girl: Tell us about Poker Girls…

Dawn: Poker Girls is a 1/2 hour crime drama whose central character is Summer, an undercover cop, who uses the game of poker to catch unsuspecting criminals. I play Theresa, an alcoholic judge who was just recently kicked off of the bench by her boss, Sophia, played by Judy Norton (Mary Ellen from the Waltons). Poker Girls began as a film making apprenticeship assignment and morphed into a webseries and now a TV series. The creator, writer and executive producer, Jewelle Colwell, who also plays the lead role of Summer, has put her heart, soul and a lot of money into making this happen billion! You can find us on Facebook if you’d like to make contact with Jewelle (Poker Girls, TV Series).

SF Girl: Dawn, you are BOSS! Are there any awards or accolades out there for voice artist? If so, can you name them so I can vote you in. Also, how can we help promote Dawn Harvey? How can people show their appreciation for your fantastic voice and dedicated artistry?

Dawn: There are awards. Those I know of are the Audies (the academy awards of Audiobooks), the Audiophile Earphone awards and you can become a Golden Voice. I think the latter requires a few more books in the “amazing” category than I have so far – LOL. Someday. I looked in Wikipedia and it lists five awards, the Audies, Galaxy National Book Awards, Odyssey Award, Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album, and TDK Australian Audio Book Awards. I don’t know about all of the other awards but I do know that for the Audies, the 2012 deadline for books released by the end of July is Aug 31 but the submission has to be made by the publisher. That’s about all I know.

As far as helping me, the best you can do is download the book, listen to it, love it, tell all of your friends about it. You can contribute reviews to the Iambik site and you can contribute reviews there as well. You could also put comments on my website, DawnofVoice.com.

SF Girl: Thanks so much for joining me here on my ship and answering all my annoying questions.

Dawn: Thanks for giving me this opportunity to spew forth ad nauseum.

SF Girl: No problem. I’ve been having some issues with parking my ship lately—orbit taxes and such—so, I might be coming to you for advice…

Dawn: Sure. I’d be happy to help.

***********

You can read the interview in its entirety on The Alien Next Door (all 60 pages–I told you she was a lawyer!–just joking.)

You can hear a sample of Dawn’s work on “Outer Diverse”: Chapter 17, where Rhea meets up with Zec, her old partner in crime, is showcased at the end of my interview on Vancouver COOP Radio. You can also listen to the Prologue, on my Tumblr site, SF Girl.

To get your copy of the audiobook go to the Iambik Audiobook site. Purchase your copy for $6.99 and enjoy some pure entertainment. Thanks, Dawn.

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Aug

Costi Gurgu Finalist for Best Artist in Auroras for “Outer Diverse”

Nina Munteanu

Front+Cover+ONLYLowRes Costi Gurgu Finalist for Best Artist in Auroras for Outer Diverse Congratulations to Costi Gurgu for being celebrated by the Aurora Prix Awards for his stunning cover art on the book cover of Outer Diverse (first book of The Splintered Universe Trilogy byStarfire World Syndicate).

Costi was recently honoured by the Auroras for his imaginative and elegant cover art that resonates impeccably with the story inside.

I recently interviewed Costi about his art and particularly what he created for Outer Diverse . Costi used a triptych approach for the three covers of the trilogy to reflect the evolution of the entire trilogy and the fractal relationship of the worlds represented.

Costi came up with the triptych approach to the three covers after a discussion about the story arc of the protagonist Rhea Hawke (a determined but troubled Galactic Guardian tasked with solving the mysterious massacre of an entire spiritual sect). Rhea Hawke is a complex character. Her journey of self-discovery and her three-stage evolution is reflected eloquently in Costi’s cover art and design of the trilogy. What more could a writer ask for? I am honoured by his work.

Look for more of Costi’s work in Books 2 and 3 of The Splintered Universe Trilogy . They are scheduled for release by Starfire in fall/winter of 2012 ( Inner Diverse ) and spring 2013 (Metaverse ).

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Aug

Iambik Audiobooks Releases Nina Munteanu’s Space Thriller

Nina Munteanu

Nina Munteanu’s space thriller Outer Diverse is now a scintillating audiobook by Iambik Audiobooks narrated exquisitely by Dawn Harvey. Harvey breathes incredible life into this fast paced metaphysical thriller about a female detective who must solve the mystery of a spiritual sect massacre. Rhea comes alive alongside a gaggle of sordid and macabre characters in Harvey’s rich narrative. A rollercoaster ride guaranteed to entertain.

WHO NEEDS COFFEE WHEN YOU HAVE DAWN HARVEY!

Outer Diverse is the first book of the Splintered Universe Trilogy, set in and around the Milky Way Galaxy. The first book begins as Galactic Guardian Rhea Hawke intestigates the massacre of an entire religious sect, catapulting her into a treacherous storm of politics, conspiracy and self-discovery. Her quest for justice leads her into the heart of a universal struggle and toward an unbearable truth she’s hidden from herself since she murdered an innocent man.

What people are saying about Outer Diverse:

“A master of metaphor, Munteanu turns an adventure story into a wonderland of alien rabbit holes… a fascinating and enthralling read.” -Craig Bowlsby, author of Commander’s Log - Read More

“A rollicking science fiction plot with all the trappings…Hawke is a maverick in the wild west tradition…a genetic mystery with lethal powers.” –Lynda Williams, author of Okal Rel series - Read More

About Dawn Harvey:

“I just finished and thoroughly enjoyed “Outer Diverse”. A metaphysical, Sci Fi, Thriller with rich characters. Dawn Harvey told the story brilliantly and played the characters wonderfully. Definitely worth listening to.” –Dan Wallace, narrator, Lions Den Productions.
“I am absolutely thrilled to recommend Nina Munteanu’s audio book. Awesome, Dawn. Dawn has transported me into a new world of imagination. Dawn is absolutely magic in her skill of character building, her voices are amazing. To me nothing is finer than Nina the writer and Dawn doing the voice overs in the audio book. I can’t wait until read and hear more in the future.” –Vanessa Rottner, reader
“I bought a copy too and listened to Dawn Harvey’s rendition of Rhea Hawke and her diverse entourage of aliens as I drove across the States back to Toronto…I was entertained in high fashion! Who needs coffee when you have Dawn Harvey!” –Nina Munteanu, SF writer

The audiobook goes for $6.99. For a limited time if you type in the code “diverse-launch” you get 10% off.

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Tag-Archive for » Outer Diverse «

Writer’s Toolkit Master Class DVD

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Watch the trailer for Nina’s SF thriller “Outer Diverse”

Watch the trailer for Nina’s Historical Fantasy THE LAST SUMMONER

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