Authorpreneur Dashboard – Nathan W Toronto
Rise of Ahrik
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Book Bubbles from Rise of Ahrik
Rise of Ahrik
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Trailer: https://www.facebook.com/riseofahrik/videos/917708211671334/ Rise of Ahrik is a story about love and fate in the face of violence and war. It has been thousands of years since The War, and civilization has endured a slow rebirth under the rule of women, but war threatens once again. Zharla, the young scioness of a powerful mining clan, must choose between two brothers to marry: Ahrik, a petulant military officer soon to be sent off to war, or Shahl, an aspiring scholar and the one she loves. She is forced to marry Ahrik, but when Shahl is accused of a vicious crime, the three begin to discover that the accusation, the war, and the secret clones that fight it are bound together in an awful triad that seeks to rob them of their agency and destroy women’s rule. Civilization once again hangs by a thread.
Book Bubbles from Rise of Ahrik
Opening Scene
The first scene is always the hardest one to write. I wrote (and discarded) at least three other opening scenes before I got the one I liked, one that captured all the conflicts in the book. I also wanted to suppress the science element; it's there, but it's subtle. My hope is that readers from all genres will be drawn in by the story, by the characters and the choices they're faced with.
Premonition
This was one of the first scenes I wrote, but also one of the scenes I spent the longest time writing. Dealing with her decision to choose Ahrik over Shahl--even though she was coerced--is at the core of the novel. I like how this scene builds in its opening stages, since it marks a turning point in how Zharla sees herself and in how she approaches life. She felt remorse for having betrayed Shahl, the man she loved, but this remorse transitions to a mix of confusion, guilt, and rage as this scene progresses.
Tradition and Independence
Zharla is caught between tradition and independence. More than anything, she wants to marry the man she loves, a peace-loving activist for men's rights named Shahl, but her mother uses an age-old mantra to try to convince Zharla to marry Ahrik instead. Zharla, young and untested, is torn. Little does she know how soon she'll have to grow up. Likewise, life has a penchant for surprises. We're never ready to change when we need to, much less when others force us to. The real question, as it is for Zharla, is what we do with the surprises we're dealt.
A Battle Turns Sour
War is a vicious thing, the province of chance. A dead Prussian general once said, "No plan survives contact with the enemy." In this scene, Ahrik learns that despite his love for his men, and despite their years of preparation for combat, unexpected circumstances can still rear their ugly head. "War," as yet another dead Prussian general avers, "is a contest of wills." In this chapter, we find out whether Ahrik has the will to fight the monstrous odds stacked against him.
Zharla's Moment of Freedom
This is the moment when the main character, Zharla, decides that she will no longer be governed by the choices of others. This all comes crashing down as the story progresses, but I like how this scene shows Zharla's feistiness in the face of her conservative, overbearing mother. Would that all of us could maintain this exuberant, youthful zest for autonomy. How life's experiences shape and mold us into the adults we become! Some of us never lose this healthy disrespect for authority, some of us let life squish us into vacuous shells of obsequiousness, and most of us just sit in the middle. The question is, are we pawns in someone else's game, or do we set the rules?
