THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX is out into the world! I was thrilled to be able to work with World Weaver Press on this novella. A lot goes into writing a book, and today, I'd like to give you a glimpse "behind the curtain," so to speak and share with you ten things you (probably) didn't know about this third installment of the Place in Time series!
#10 – I wrote the first draft of this novella in January 2017, which was the month before I submitted THE CONTINUUM to World Weaver Press.
#9 – There's a character in this novella who shares a surname with one of my critique partners. This wasn't intentional, but after I realized it, I decided to stick with it.
#8 – Cass, the protagonist in this book, was born on April 14, 2115 – exactly 203 years after the Titanic disaster and 3 years after the Continuum disaster.
#7 – Cass owns a "Save the Pigeons" t-shirt, which I imagine includes a picture of one of Mo Willem's drawings.
#6 – Cass's parents named her after her maternal grandmother; but I named her after a Trojan princess from Greek mythology. (Check out John Scalzi's blog on May 10 for more on that!). During the early draft stages, I'd originally called her Poppy.
#10 – I wrote the first draft of this novella in January 2017, which was the month before I submitted THE CONTINUUM to World Weaver Press.
#9 – There's a character in this novella who shares a surname with one of my critique partners. This wasn't intentional, but after I realized it, I decided to stick with it.
#8 – Cass, the protagonist in this book, was born on April 14, 2115 – exactly 203 years after the Titanic disaster and 3 years after the Continuum disaster.
#7 – Cass owns a "Save the Pigeons" t-shirt, which I imagine includes a picture of one of Mo Willem's drawings.
#6 – Cass's parents named her after her maternal grandmother; but I named her after a Trojan princess from Greek mythology. (Check out John Scalzi's blog on May 10 for more on that!). During the early draft stages, I'd originally called her Poppy.
#5 – In order to come up with names for the other girls that Cass meets in this book, I looked up the most popular names of babies born in the 1890s. Other popular girls' names that didn't make the cut: Ethel, Edna, Mabel, and Myrtle.
#4 – In this story, Cass uses her mother's surname, Argent, which is the French word for "silver" – a reference to Juliet Silver, another character of mine whom I've written about in a series of steampunk stories.
#3 – The working title for this story as I was drafting it was THE COMPOSSIBILITY THEORY, but as I was working on it, the story took such a different turn that the title didn't fit anymore.
#2 – One incident that did not make its way into this story is the June 12, 1914 Bagdad Train Wreck, in which the eastbound Santa Fe California Limited train struck a freight train on a siding outside of Los Angeles, killing 4 passengers and injuring 20. It wasn't until after I'd completed my story that I discovered this little bit of history and realized that Cass could have been on that train that day.
#4 – In this story, Cass uses her mother's surname, Argent, which is the French word for "silver" – a reference to Juliet Silver, another character of mine whom I've written about in a series of steampunk stories.
#3 – The working title for this story as I was drafting it was THE COMPOSSIBILITY THEORY, but as I was working on it, the story took such a different turn that the title didn't fit anymore.
#2 – One incident that did not make its way into this story is the June 12, 1914 Bagdad Train Wreck, in which the eastbound Santa Fe California Limited train struck a freight train on a siding outside of Los Angeles, killing 4 passengers and injuring 20. It wasn't until after I'd completed my story that I discovered this little bit of history and realized that Cass could have been on that train that day.
And the #1 thing you (probably) didn't know about THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX:
This is not the final book in the series! I've been busy working on book four, entitled THE CAUSALITY LOOP, which takes place a year after the events of book three. I'm looking forward to sharing more about it with you all soon!
Follow me online @wendynikel or subscribe to my newsletter at www.wendynikel.com for updates!
This is not the final book in the series! I've been busy working on book four, entitled THE CAUSALITY LOOP, which takes place a year after the events of book three. I'm looking forward to sharing more about it with you all soon!
Follow me online @wendynikel or subscribe to my newsletter at www.wendynikel.com for updates!
Wendy Nikel is a speculative fiction author with a degree in elementary education, a fondness for road trips, and a terrible habit of forgetting where she's left her cup of tea. Her short fiction has been published by Daily Science Fiction, Nature: Futures, and is forthcoming from Analog and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. For more info, visit wendynikel.com
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