I never set out to write a series. The first published book that I wrote (Rebels Divided) was written as a standalone story taking place after anger in this country led to a second civil war and a nation divided. Sound familiar?
Rebels Divided has two
protagonists, from opposite sides of the conflict, who have to figure out how
to work together to rescue her sister and gain justice for the murder of his
father. After I finished the story, Annabelle Scott (one of the
co-protagonists) bugged me to write her story, which became The Rebel Within.
This story is about the conflict between following her conscience and the
orders she is given after she is drafted into the elite military. It was fun to
write the second novel (now the first in the series) because it felt as if
Annabelle was narrating it to me.
After these two books were published, readers
pressed me to know more about Annabelle and to find out what happens next. That
story became The
Rebel Trap, which begins moments after the end of The Rebel Trap. It
continues her adventure and struggles with conscience with one additional
impediment. Her commander gives her audio implants and contact cameras to watch
and listen in to everything Annabelle sees and hears. It intensifies her
struggle between duty and conscience.
The challenges of writing a series out of
order was making sure that what happens in the new books one and two are
consistent with what happens in book three. When it came time to write the
Regina Shen series, I knew up front it would be a series because of the amount
of story I had to tell. At first, I knew it would be at least two books, but as
the stories unfolded, it became clear it would be longer. Because of this, I
made sure to have a rough draft of books 2-4 before I moved forward with
publishing book 1.
What holds the Regina Shen series together is
the struggle of an outcast young woman against the tremendous odds of her world
and the people who wish to harm her. She has to struggle against the forces of
nature and against the power of Federation agents determined to control her and
her DNA to further their quests for power. She becomes a pawn in a Federation
struggle of succession while as an outcast she holds not power. Yet she refuses
to give up.
Lance was raised by a roaming aerospace engineer, growing up in various parts
of the United States and Europe, as well as traveling through Asia. He took to
stories as his anchor, including the works of Asimov, Bradbury, and Heinlein,
and has been writing since age eleven.
Growing up, he was inspired by his father’s engineering work on
cutting-edge aerospace projects to look to the future.
In an ideal world, Lance would find time loops where he could step out for
a week at a time to read and write. Then he would return to the moment he left,
without life getting in the way. Of course, since everyone would have the same
ability, he suspects life would still sneak in.
Lance is also the author of short stories and novelettes.
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