Today is the release day for Zenith by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings! To celebrate I have an interview with these lovely ladies. But first, more about the book:
ZENITH: Part OneThere is darkness sweeping across the stars.
Most know Androma Racella as the Bloody Baroness: a powerful mercenary whose reign of terror stretches across the Mirabel Galaxy. To those aboard her fearsome glass starship the Maurader, she’s just Andi, their captain and protector.When a routine mission goes awry, the all-girl crew’s resilience is tested as they find themselves in a most unfamiliar place: at the mercy of a sadistic bounty hunter connected to Andi’s past and a harrowing betrayal.Meanwhile, on the far side of the galaxy, a ruthless ruler waits in the shadows of the planet Xen Ptera, biding her time to exact revenge for the destruction of her people. The final pieces of her deadly plan are about to fall into place, unleashing a plot that will tear Mirabel in two.Andi and her crew embark on a dangerous, soul-testing journey that could restore order to their ship—or just as easily start a war that will devour worlds. As the Marauder hurtles towards the unknown, and Mirabel hangs in the balance, the only thing certain is that in a galaxy run on lies and illusion, no one can be trusted.
From internet sensation Sasha Alsberg and author Lindsay Cummings comes a new serialized space opera, full of action, fantastical intrigue, and steamy star-crossed romance.
For fans of popular sci-fi books and fantasy books for teens such as Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, Wool by Hugh Howey, Truthwitch by Susan Dennard, and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas.
About the Authors:
Lindsay Cummings is the 24-year-old author of THE MURDER COMPLEX duology and THE BALANCE KEEPERS trilogy for HarperCollins. She lives in North Texas, where she writes full time.
Lindsay is represented by Pete Knapp at New Leaf Literary.
Find out more about Lindsay and her books, and get writing/publishing advice on www.lindsaycummingsbooks.com
Sasha Alsberg is currently attending Emerson College as a Writing, Literature & Publishing major.
When she is not writing short stories for class or obsessing over Scotland she is making YouTube videos on her channel Abookutopia.
Sasha is represented on YouTube by Collective Digital Studios.
For her writing, she is represented by Joanna Volpe at New Leaf Literary.
Author Interview:
First things first, I’d love to hear a bit about how you ladies met and why you decided to write together.
Lindsay: Sasha and I met shortly before my debut novel, The Murder Complex, first published. I sent her an ARC to review for her brand new YouTube channel and Instagram account, and we started talking about bookish things shortly after that. A while later, we met in person in Chicago when I was on tour, and Sasha just had the BEST personality ever. She’s so bubbly and fun; we clicked instantly. About a year ago, we started talking about writing a book, jokingly at first, and then it sort of just… happened.
Sasha: We met almost three years ago on the magical world of the web. Lindsay messaged me to see if I would want to get an ARC of her debut novel, The Murder Complex, and of course I said, “YES!” We hit it off from there and finally met a short time later in Chicago at a signing Lindsay was having.
For those who may not be familiar with it, can you tell us a bit about Zenith and The Androma Saga?
Zenith is actually serialized, so “Part One” is out now for readers to dive into. It’s a fun space-action book set in the fictional Mirabel Galaxy, and follows a crew of female space pirates who set out on a rescue mission. When their trip suddenly takes a dangerous and unexpected turn, LOTS of trouble ensues!
Serialized stories seem to rising in popularity. What made you decide to release The Androma Saga in this way?
We wanted to get Zenith out to our readers A.S.A.P. and serializing it seemed like the best way possible! Plus, it helps that our readers don’t have to wait a year for the next installment, just a few months.
What was the best part about writing together? The most challenging? What did you do when you had differing opinions about something?
Lindsay: It’s so much fun to write together! Sasha has a killer creative side with her film background, and I’ve loved seeing her develop her writing skills. When we started writing together, I think we both didn’t realize just how well our voices would mesh. It was an awesome, pleasant surprise! We often get on Skype while we write, and we spend a lot of that time laughing and having a ton of fun. When we get stuck, it’s nice to have that other person’s brain to pick ideas out of! The most challenging part is probably getting our stuff done on time…we like to procrastinate. 🙂
Sasha: Lindsay is such an amazing author, and I learn so much from her. I am studying writing at college, which is awesome, but I learn more from Lindsay since our minds think alike. Plus Lindsay is a wizard so that’s pretty cool. It’s hard not being in the same state because even though Skype is awesome, it would be cool to write next to each other as well! We usually work it out if we have different ideas or meld the two together to make it into one. Luckily this hasn’t happened very often!
Zenith is a space opera. I am so on board with that. What stories/events/experiences made you want to write a space opera?
Lindsay: Growing up, my dad introduced me to Firefly, and I was hooked! I know Sasha loves the show too! I also have always been fascinated by outer space, aliens and UFO’s, and just wondering: “What’s out there?” Zenith is kind of my interpretation!
Sasha: I. Love. Space. I was obsessed with Stargate Universe and Firefly, and those shows stuck with me. I totally believe in aliens, and scifi has always allowed me to have fun with this belief! Lindsay and I are scifi geeks and proud of it!
I’m a sucker for books with maps. I noticed the Mirabel Galaxy map on the “Extras” section of the Androma Saga website. Looks like you ladies had to do some world building! What was that like? Did you have to do any research?
Lindsay: Tons of research! Luckily, Sasha is a science geek, so that helped with lots of things, but I also love checking out Pinterest for inspiration, reading other scifi books, watching scifi shows (Expanse is GREAT!), and just generally immersing myself into that genre.
Sasha: Like Lindsay said, I am a science geek—if I wasn’t going to school for writing, I would be an astronomer—so world-building was such a blast. JD Netto was the graphic designer who did our map and I loved working with him to figure out how it all was supposed to look: a black hole in the middle, asteroid belts, solar systems galore!
What are you loving right now? (Books, movies, TV, products, music…whatever!!)
Lindsay: Game of Thrones, of course! And I’m big on The Bachelorette, because I love the drama! It helps clear my head from my own writing-obsession, which I think is healthy sometimes.
Sasha: Game of Thrones as well! AMAZING! And of course, my true love, Outlander. I just marathon-ed Percy Jackson and Heros of Olympus series last month but have been reading lots of other smaller series now! Music—always, always, Celtic music!
Be sure to check Zenith: Part One out online: Website – Twitter – Amazon – Book Trailer
Liselle @ Lunch-Time Librarian
Great interview! I’m always curious about how writers work together to create a single cohesive novel. It definitely seems like a different type of writing but these authors clearly work well together.