“In the past, when I considered important women writers of military science fiction, three names have stood out most prominently: C.J. Cherryh, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Elizabeth Moon. Now I will add Diann Thornley Read to my list. With each novel, it becomes more and more evident just how important she has become to this field.”
—Dave Wolverton, New York Times best-selling author of The Courtship of Princess Leia and, as David Farland, The Runelords series.
For this post, I'm spotlighting Diann T. Read and her science-fiction books. I met Diann last year at one of David Farland's workshops and was excited to see her again a few weeks ago at LTUE, where she instructed and advised other writers. What I like about Diann is that she always has a positive attitude when I talk to her. I've heard our well-read mentor praise her work first hand. And if you're into straight up military science-fiction, you might want to consider reading her work.
About Diann T. Read and Her Book
Originally from northern Utah, Diann Thornley wrote her first story at the age of five and never stopped writing. She taught herself to type—with two fingers—on her father’s ancient manual typewriter at the age of six because it was faster than pushing a pencil. After winning a statewide writing contest, junior high division, at the age of fourteen, she began her first novel, which was based on the Arthurian legends. This endeavor filled most of her high school years and freshman year of college, until a handful of friends introduced her to science fiction by “kidnapping” her to go see an obscure little movie called Star Wars. The rest, as they say, is history.
Ganwold’s Child, first book of the The Sergey Chronicles, took seven years to complete, due to completing college and entering the U.S. Air Force. Following a year-long tour of duty in the Republic of Korea, Diann finished Ganwold’s Child while stationed at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. Echoes of Issel and Dominion’s Reach, the second and third books in the Sergey trilogy, were also written in Ohio.
Diann transitioned into the Air Force Reserves following Desert Storm, but her military career spanned 23 years and included deployments to Bosnia and Iraq. In December 2000 she married Jon Read, NASA rocket scientist and martial artist, and moved to Texas. Diann retired from the Air Force in June 2009 to return to her writing career and spend more time with Jon.
The Sergey Chronicles
When Tor Books originally published this trilogy in the late 1990s it was called The Saga of the Unified Worlds. It would have been more accurate to call it The Sergey Chronicles because it is, more than anything else, the story of one warrior family—Admiral Lujan Ansellic Sergey, his combat surgeon wife Captain Darcie Dartmuth, and their teenage son, Tristan Sergey—who become caught at the fulcrum of interstellar politics and the demands of their military duty. Wrenched apart and scattered across the galaxy by the brutalities of war, they face captivity, torture, coercion, and epic space battles to be reunited. Only then do their most devastating challenges begin. Having been separated by decades of time as well as lightyears of distance, each of them must confront his or her internal demons to make their family truly whole again, and to defeat a new and more insidious threat to their civilization. Between deadly special operations missions and scenes of deep-cover political intrigue runs a thread that proves how much one family can accomplish with patience, forgiveness, trust, dedication, and unity of purpose.
The Sergey Chronicles are all available on Kindle here and will be available on Nook here.
The Seventh Shaman
Akuleh’s mother died giving birth to him.
His Chanter father died when Akuleh was twelve, struck by lightning as he performed the Storm Stilling Chant.
Only three months ago, Akuleh watched in horror, too far away to prevent it, as a younger brother died in an accident. Now his abusive stepmother is calling him Death Bringer. Machitew. The Evil-Hearted One. “Is that the prophecy in my Birth Chant?” Akuleh wonders. If it is, he can’t stay. He must leave before anyone else he cares about is killed.
In Running from the Gods: Wanderer, 16-year-old Akuleh (aka Ku) leaves his desert home and shamanic way of life on the violent planet Tempest to defy the meanest Instructor Pilot in the known universe, challenge older rivals who have no qualms about killing to earn the Distinguish-ed Graduate medal, and win the heart of the green-eyed beauty Derry MaCalder, from the distant world Ardonar. But can he outrun his people’s gods, the Ancients, and escape the prophecy in his Birth Chant?
In Running from the Gods: Warrior, Ku advances from pilot training to a fighter squadron and is shoved into the harsh realities of war. The shadow of Machitew, the Death Bringer, looms over him as combat losses mount around him. Then Ku is shot down over occupied territory and wounded. Between evading cannibalistic enemy troops and assisting a pair of refugees, Ku receives a vision that reveals the meaning of the prophecy in his Birth Chant and changes every-thing, not only for himself but for Derry, too.
Running from the Gods is currently in the revision process, with an anticipated release in early 2014. The first draft of the third book in the series, Shaman Rising, is also well under way. Follow Diann on Twitter, on her blog Hero Journeys, and Like her Facebook page for upcoming events and updates on The Seventh Shaman series.
Follow Diann T. Read
Her Website: www.diannthornleyread.com
Blog: Hero Journeys
Twitter: @DiannTRead
Amazon
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