Today I welcome a scientist to Author Wednesday. Aurora Springer is a biophysicist by day, but at night, she creates stories of romantic and suspenseful science fiction. Today, she’s stopped by to give us the background in the creation of her Grand Master’s Trilogy. Two of them Grand Master’s Pawn and Grand Master’s Game have been published so far. 

The Story Behind the Grand Master’s Trilogy

By Aurora Spring

The original concept for this trilogy dates back some thirty years ago. However, Book 1, Grand Master’s Pawn was not completed until last year and released in March 2015. Thirty years ago, I had compiled a stack of handwritten short stories and one novel, which was published in 2014, as The Lady is Blue.

My initial idea, being frugal, was to combine several short stories into a full-length novel. The organizing theme pays homage to Lewis Carroll’s Alice Through the Looking Glass. A young woman, the Pawn Violet, travels on missions to different planets under the command of a mysterious Grand Master. Two of my short stories and skimpy notes about a dragon morphed into Violet’s first three missions. Following the chess analogy, each mission is a move in a game of chess. Assuming Violet makes the first move, after four missions she has reached the seventh square of the chess board and can be promoted to queen in her next move. Violet enters the secret world of the Grand Masters, but she is not fully promoted until the end of Book 3.

Hints of some of my favorite authors arise in these books, including: Andre Norton, Anne McCaffrey, and Philip Jose Farmer. The White Mother in the book shares aspects of Miss Marple and Yoda. Violet’s Grand Master sounds like Darth Vader. Yet, characters acquire a life of their own. My story is a mystery, and “appearances can deceive” as one person says near the end of the book. The Grand Master’s griffin avatar may have been influenced by my visit to Bletchley Park, UK, where two stone griffins guard the main entrance to the mansion.

When I started writing in earnest, the story expanded into a trilogy with the beginning and end of each book etched in my mind. The twelve Grand Masters are humans and aliens with immense psychic powers. We learn that Violet’s father was murdered after he prophesied the destruction of the Council of Twelve Grand Masters.

The complex world of Grand Master’s Pawn describes visits to eight planets and five or six alien races, such as the Brululians, with their rotating eyestalks, and the dragons, who are the reptilian inhabitants of the Planet Sythos. In Book 2, Grand Master’s Game, we learn more about the powerful Grand Masters and the Council of Twelve. The divisions between the Grand Masters culminate in a battle between the opposing forces of four Grand Masters. Currently, I am writing Book 3, Grand Master’s Mate, and creating two new planets. As you may guess, there will be fewer Grand Masters by the end of the trilogy. I hope to publish Book 3 before the end of the year.

Building imaginary worlds is fun and laborious. The Grand Master’s Trilogy is my most intricate universe to date, and has generated a short story, the trilogy, and another potential side story.

About Aurora:  Aurora Springer is a scientist morphing into a novelist. She has a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics and discovers science facts in her day job. She has invented adventures in weird worlds for as long as she can remember. In 2014, Aurora achieved her life-long ambition to publish her stories. Her works are character-driven romances set in weird worlds described with a sprinkle of humor. Some of the stories were composed thirty years ago. She was born in the UK and lives in Atlanta with her husband, a dog, and two cats that sit on the keyboard. Her hobbies, besides reading and writing, include outdoor activities like gardening, watching wildlife, hiking and canoeing.

Click on the Links below to connect with Aurora and her books.

Grand Master’s Pawn
Grand Master’s Game 

Blog: Aurora Springer Novels
Amazon Author Page
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Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/101087717415198221200/posts

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