Joseph masterfully navigates the complexities of her world’s political landscape with a
balance between character development and dramatic action.
In Resurrection, the exciting next volume in the Alterran Legacy series, Regina M.
Joseph explores how a colony’s relationship to its home planet changes when its lifeline is
severed. Stretched between two worlds, this is a battle between progress and tradition,
adaptation and stagnation, and the power struggle to control the emergence of a new way of life.
After an interstellar catastrophe reduces the surface of Alterran to a barren wasteland and
destroys much of its colony on Earth, including the portal between the planets, the colonists are
forced to make difficult decisions that threaten centuries of tradition. A hybrid clan emerges, led
by En.Lil, who realizes the old ways will lead to the colonists’ demise. When the portal is later
repaired and travel between the worlds renewed, the things the colonists did to survive come
back to haunt them as Alterran’s powerful elite questions their loyalty. The ruling En family is
eager to bring the Earth colony back in line. But those who tasted freedom on Earth are no
longer content with the prescribed society engineered by Supreme Leader Ama, and a power
vacuum on Alterran spreads cracks in the foundation of their perfect world.
When a message from the ancient Anunnaki is discovered deep underground, Ama’s son
and successor, Anu, takes it as a sign that his ascension as supreme leader is blessed. Will the
changes he seeks bring a new age of peace to his people, or will his departure from tradition
cause his downfall?
The story is wonderfully complex and rich in both interpersonal relationships and larger
political strategies. This is particularly true among Ama, Anu, and Anu’s son, En.Lil, as they
each try to gain power without upsetting the family dynasty. This generational tension is
handled with subtlety and realism through their conflicting goals and allegiances. Seemingly
every character has a plan to achieve power, which gives each action and speech a deeper dimension. This complexity, though, is also a drawback. With everyone scheming, it can be
difficult to keep track of alliances, motivations, and histories. However, Joseph masterfully
moves through the complexities with a solid balance between establishing scenes and dramatic
action.
An emphasis on dialogue and personality creates realistic characters, but they come at
the cost of rich descriptions of settings. This causes some scene changes to be confusing and
sudden. It’s not always immediately clear where events are taking place, particularly when the
portal between Alterran and Earth reopens and characters begin moving between worlds. This
would be helped by additional reminders about settings and past events from the previous books
in the series. Even so, the story quickly pulls through with engaging political intrigue, dramatic
betrayals, and fascinating links between Sumerian myth and interstellar civilization.
Resurrection is a beautifully crafted addition to a series that will leave readers eager for
more. With her talent for balancing complex concurrent plotlines and realistic characters, it’s
clear that Joseph continues to be an author to watch.
Eric Anderson
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Book Viral Review
I am humbled to share this wonderful review of Resurrection, Book 3 of The Alterran Legacy Series.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
A.G Riddle Interview by Regina M. Joseph
A.G Riddle Interview
by Regina M. Joseph May 2014
1. Your bio says that you spent ten years running Internet companies. Do you presently have a “day job” other than writing?
Nope. I've been writing full-time for a little over two years now, but I'm still not used to it.
2. When did you decide to become a writer and why? I was at a stopping point in my career and took some time to think about what I really wanted to do. I loved the creative parts of my job (starting internet companies/building web applications) and wanted to do something where I could spend most of my day actually making something that had a positive impact on people's lives.
3. As a reader, what is your favorite genre? Sci-fi.
4. Who is your favorite author? Tough one. I like too many to list!
5. Your bio also says that you spent two years researching The Atlantis Gene. Where did you look for inspiration? News articles, strangely. I've always been fascinated with human origins and the breakthroughs in understanding how the human genome has changed over time. I started with a mystery that really intrigued me: 70,000 years ago, the human race almost went extinct. From that population bottleneck, humanity exploded in number and range. Some crucial change in brain wiring occurred that gave us a competitive advantage over all the other hominid species alive at the time. That little mystery got me thinking and The Atlantis Gene took shape from there.
6. Did you have an interest in ancient history before beginning your research? Definitely. Even as a kid, I was really into history.
7. In a Kirkus article published in July 2013, you are quoted saying that you had spent only about $18 on marketing. Yet your novel has developed quite a following. To what do you attribute your success? Do you think that readers are trying to make sense of our lost past? I think so. I think people are naturally curious about where we come from, how civilization got to this point so quickly, and where it all might go. Those questions are at the heart of the series, and it offers some answers that are fun to think about.
8. Why do you think the ancient Atlanteans had technology even more advanced than we have? I will have to direct readers to The Atlantis World for that answer. :)
9. The Immari resemble the Illuminati. Did you intend a religious connotation? I didn't. I actually wanted to use made-up organizations to avoid any issues (as others have had by naming actual organizations). I try to learn from others' mistakes (as well as my own!).
10. Autism is important to your story. Has your research led you to believe that this condition has a role to play in human evolution? I worked closely with several Autism research organizations in my past career, and I think we're on the cusp of a major breakthrough in our understanding of Autism. I personally believe Autism is simply a difference in brain wiring and that the human mind periodically adjusts its brain wiring to see if an advantage arises. Some minds that are at a perceived disadvantage today could be the leaders of tomorrow.
11. In The Atlantis Plague, heroine Kate saves the human race from a pandemic. The description of your latest novel, The Atlantis World, hints at extra-terrestrial contact and that we will discover the truth about the Atlantean homeworld. Is there more than you can tell us? The Atlantis World follows Kate, David, and a team of scientists as they try to decipher a signal from space and unravel the mystery behind a new threat to the human race. We see the rise and fall of the Atlantean homeworld and how they came to be on Earth as well as their history with an ancient enemy.
12. Is this really the series finale? Yep. There's some talk about fan fiction, and I think that would be great.
13. What do you hope readers will take away from reading your series? A burning curiosity. A desire to learn more about where we came from and what our future might look like. I think it's healthy to ask those questions. The first two books are about humanity's past. The third (The Atlantis World) is about what our future might look like if we're not careful.
14. Will you be starting a new novel or series? If so, what genre? I'm working on a new series. It will also be a sci-fi thriller.
Please visit my website at http://alterranlegacy.com
2. When did you decide to become a writer and why? I was at a stopping point in my career and took some time to think about what I really wanted to do. I loved the creative parts of my job (starting internet companies/building web applications) and wanted to do something where I could spend most of my day actually making something that had a positive impact on people's lives.
3. As a reader, what is your favorite genre? Sci-fi.
4. Who is your favorite author? Tough one. I like too many to list!
5. Your bio also says that you spent two years researching The Atlantis Gene. Where did you look for inspiration? News articles, strangely. I've always been fascinated with human origins and the breakthroughs in understanding how the human genome has changed over time. I started with a mystery that really intrigued me: 70,000 years ago, the human race almost went extinct. From that population bottleneck, humanity exploded in number and range. Some crucial change in brain wiring occurred that gave us a competitive advantage over all the other hominid species alive at the time. That little mystery got me thinking and The Atlantis Gene took shape from there.
6. Did you have an interest in ancient history before beginning your research? Definitely. Even as a kid, I was really into history.
7. In a Kirkus article published in July 2013, you are quoted saying that you had spent only about $18 on marketing. Yet your novel has developed quite a following. To what do you attribute your success? Do you think that readers are trying to make sense of our lost past? I think so. I think people are naturally curious about where we come from, how civilization got to this point so quickly, and where it all might go. Those questions are at the heart of the series, and it offers some answers that are fun to think about.
8. Why do you think the ancient Atlanteans had technology even more advanced than we have? I will have to direct readers to The Atlantis World for that answer. :)
9. The Immari resemble the Illuminati. Did you intend a religious connotation? I didn't. I actually wanted to use made-up organizations to avoid any issues (as others have had by naming actual organizations). I try to learn from others' mistakes (as well as my own!).
10. Autism is important to your story. Has your research led you to believe that this condition has a role to play in human evolution? I worked closely with several Autism research organizations in my past career, and I think we're on the cusp of a major breakthrough in our understanding of Autism. I personally believe Autism is simply a difference in brain wiring and that the human mind periodically adjusts its brain wiring to see if an advantage arises. Some minds that are at a perceived disadvantage today could be the leaders of tomorrow.
11. In The Atlantis Plague, heroine Kate saves the human race from a pandemic. The description of your latest novel, The Atlantis World, hints at extra-terrestrial contact and that we will discover the truth about the Atlantean homeworld. Is there more than you can tell us? The Atlantis World follows Kate, David, and a team of scientists as they try to decipher a signal from space and unravel the mystery behind a new threat to the human race. We see the rise and fall of the Atlantean homeworld and how they came to be on Earth as well as their history with an ancient enemy.
12. Is this really the series finale? Yep. There's some talk about fan fiction, and I think that would be great.
13. What do you hope readers will take away from reading your series? A burning curiosity. A desire to learn more about where we came from and what our future might look like. I think it's healthy to ask those questions. The first two books are about humanity's past. The third (The Atlantis World) is about what our future might look like if we're not careful.
14. Will you be starting a new novel or series? If so, what genre? I'm working on a new series. It will also be a sci-fi thriller.
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