Meet the Author!
Hi Everyone, here is a Q & A with the author about the soon to be released "Fission Fallout" from Beyond the Stars: Unimagined Realms. Enjoy and feel free to submit your own questions via the "Contact Me" tab!
A Word with Chelsea Pagan
Q: What drew you to writing, what was your inspiration?
A: “Life” is my answer to both questions. I used to hate writing when I was a kid, until one day, I thought, that maybe, if I could put everything I’d lived on paper, it wouldn’t take up so much space in my head. Granted, I was 12 years old at the time, but it worked. Writing has been a way to explore experiences and emotions and individual realities ever since. Creating characters, getting into their heads has made me a much better person than I saw myself becoming. I’m far more tolerant of my fellow humans!
Q: What is Nuri? Aside from human.
A: Sounds a little like a Japanese snack now that I think about it, but, if you’re asking what gender the character is, I can’t tell you! Nuri is purposely ambiguous. When I wrote the story, I wanted to create a character that was all inclusive. Whatever the reader imagines, is what Nuri is. There’s no right or wrong answer. For now.
Q: For now? Does that mean this character is featured in other stories?
A: I do have a series of short stories in the works that involves the same galaxy, and addresses other characters in it—maybe even some who’ve interacted with Nuri! The project is in the beginning stages, so it’s still untitled.
Q: Maculatum: it’s described as a twin planet and it’s always dark, what the heck?
A: Well, as you know, the Maculata are engineering geniuses in both the biological world and the mechanical one. Maculatum was once a free-floating planet with no sun, but when the Maculata settled there, they were able to create a gravitational pull strong enough to establish a double planet, or binary system and other ways of surviving. They wanted secrecy and a rough element to discourage outside interference.
Q: If they’re such geniuses, why weren’t they able to detect the Fission Fallout? Nuri hints that they should have.
A: That is something that is explained in another, upcoming, story. Sorry!
Q: One more try—did you mean for there to be some sexual tension between slave and master, Nuri and Jannah? And how do you think that will reflect Nuri’s gender in the minds of your readers?
A: Good one—but I’m still not going to assign a gender to Nuri. I did absolutely put that tension in there. I hope it will raise some questions as well as add to the character’s depth. Nuri has been a slave for an amount of time that no one can determine, how much of Nuri’s emotional connections are genuine and how much is based on the need to survive?
As far as the readers, I suspect that they will probably project their own orientation onto Nuri—I know I do.
Q: What about other works? Anything we should know about?
A: Always! Sci-Fi is actually a recent endeavor for me, fantasy is my calling. My biggest project is a middle grade fantasy series called The Ariatless Chronicles, which you can read about here.