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To start off this column, I decided to begin with a question I'm often asked: I write the books as a stand-alone stories; before any book is published, I have readers check to ensure the story stands alone as complete even if you haven't read other books in the series. With that said, however, I should note that Schism and The Final Key were originally one book called Triad. Due to the length of the Triad, we decided to break it into two books. So I would suggest reading those two together, if possible. However, I have filled in the backstory in The Final Key, so that it can be read even if someone hasn't seen Schism. These two are a good starting point for a new reader interested in trying the series. The first book published is Primary Inversion, and is an excellent place to start the series. Primary Inversion is about the main character from Triad, but later in her life, when she commands a Jagernaut star fighter squadron. For readers who enjoy a space adventure with a bit more focus on relationships, Skyfall is a good place to start. It comes first chronologically, and is about how the parents of the characters in the other books met. It provides an introduction to the Skolia family and how the Skolian Empire relates to their rivals, the Eubian Concord (The Traders) and the Allied Worlds of Earth. If you want to follow the books and stories in choronological order, you would read Skyfall, "The City of Cries,""Stained Glass Heart," Schism, The Final Key, "The Edges of Never-Haven,""Light and Shadow," "Aurora in Four Voices," "Walk in Silence," Primary Inversion, The Last Hawk, The Radiant Seas, "'The Shadowed Heart, Ascendant Sun, Spherical Harmonic, The Quantum Rose, The Moon's Shadow, "A Roll of the Dice," The Ruby Dice, "Ave de Paso" and Catch the Lightning. Many of these books overlap in time, but explore the stories of different characters, so the list order is not exact. And each book contains a chronology and a family tree in the back for easy reference. An excellent Wikipedia entry has great information about the series. It also lists the books and short stories in order of publication. It is at: Links from that entry go to entries about the Skolian empire and other works. I would also invite folks to join the yahoo group for my works: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/asaro/ Also, my publicist has one for announcements: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/asaro-announce My private email is less reliable than the email group given above. I'm often swamped with email, so I'm perpetually behind in private correspondence and unable to answer messages anywhere near as often as I would like. If you've written to my email address and I haven't answered, my apologies! I try to keep up, but it often depends on when I download messages and if I happened to be online when one came in. Even if I'm not able to answer messages personally, please know I very much enjoy hearing from readers. :-) Well, time to get back to work. I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to share my stories and to have readers interested enough to ask about the worlds I've created. I look forward to your questions! All the best, Catherine Do you have a question for Catherine? Write to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/asaro/ *(I've been asked this question so often I've decided it wouldn't be fair to give someone credit for asking it! But in future columns, the asker's name will be printed, if he or she so desires) |