The Burned Bridges Protocol by Abigail Borders238 pages, young adult, science fiction
Seven hundred years ago, disaster forced humanity to abandon Earth. Life on the colony ship New Edinburgh is all sixteen-year-old Lilliane, the best programmer in her year at the Institute, has ever known. A week ago, Lilliane woke up in a life-pod. Its destination? Earth itself. Because it's time to rebuild. It's up to Lilliane and the four other survivors of the New Edinburgh to reclaim humanity's ancestral home. Today, the life pod arrived at Lady Diana--the lunar holding station that was once the luxury holiday destination for Earth’s super-rich. It’s supposed to be a good place. A safe place. Not anymore. Today, Lady Di is a battlefield. Because while Lilliane and her friends thought they they were the only humans left, somebody else got to Lady Di first. And he will stop at nothing to keep Lilliane from ever getting to Earth.
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Guest post by Abigail Borders
BBP, partly dissected.
Firstly, thank you for allowing me this space in you blog. I am truly, very grateful. That being said, onward ☺
Protagonists’ names: Have I mentioned I am bad at generating names for my characters? Because I am truly horrible at it. So Kiddo was in school and I was racking my one working brain cell for names when inspiration struck from my salad bowl. Lilliane’s Yellow is a type of heirloom tomato. Tomain rhymes with romaine. Balsaine is a corruption of balsamic – as in balsamic vinegar. Hecuba is a Greek name associated with the sea – where we get sea salt. And Lemon is… well… lemon.
Antagonist’s name: I picked Kiddo’s brain for this one. Actually, quite a few of my characters are named after Kiddo’s friends. I’d tell him that I need a name, and he’d start listing his classmates until I hear a name I like the sound of. Davie Boy sounds so innocuous and benign, I could not resist. It also reminds me of the song Dannie Boy – which is sweet, sad, and (given what my character did) suitably creepy.
The Ark names: I must confess mea culpa. This bit didn’t make it into the manuscript because I couldn’t figure out how to include it without infodumping. The New Edinburgh colony ship did not actually originate from Edinburgh. When disaster struck seven hundred years before events in the novella, the human race unified and worked as one to fund, build and launch the Arks. All the Arks were named after cities – centers of history and civilization – because people saw the colony ships, and the evacuees on board, as symbolizing the best of humanity. Which is why the twins and Balsaine are Caucasian, Cleo is of African descent and Hecuba is of Afghani descent.
The Gentle Ladies: I’ve mentioned in Maureen’s blog that I’m a humanities person. Not a science person. Ironic, I know. So the Gentle Ladies is actually a bit of a cheat for me. I find it much easier to borrow and re-frame an existing myth, than to re-invent the wheel. Besides, scorpions flails are cool, no? It should be ranked right next to jellied skulls.
Cleo and chocolate cake: Cleo loves chocolate cake. As do I. When she talks about chocolate cake, she speaks for us both. I tend to make pound cake though, because that happens to be Kiddo’s favorite. But if I had my way, it’s chocolate all the way ☺
Abigail is fluent in three languages, grew up in Asia, studied History in the UK, and now calls sunny Southern California her home. When not working with flowers (and daydreaming about what a ranunculus flower fairy looks like) she sings about Winnie the Pooh while baking treats like pineapple tarts and sand dollar cookies for her son, El Kiddo. She has an-going love/hate relationship with all things chocolate, although coffee will always remain her first love. She also holds graduate degrees in International Management and Special Education. The Burned Bridges Protocol is Abigail’s first novella. Her first novel, Cyrion, is scheduled to be released by MuseItUp Publishing in spring 2015.
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Giveaway:
Five (5) digital copies of The Burned Bridges Protocol (INT) & a signed paperback copy (US)
Ends March 18th
This event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.
