Travis interviews science fiction author Linden A. Lewis about their debut novel, The First Sister. Out today from Skybound Books, The First Sister is an epic space opera often compared to The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and Red Rising by Pierce Brown.
Linden and Travis discuss the time Linden ended up as an extra on The Walking Dead, consulting an astrophysicist to get the “science” part of science fiction as accurate as possible, and how the #MeToo movement influenced The First Sister.
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About Linden A. Lewis
Linden A. Lewis (she/they) is a queer writer and world wanderer currently living in Madrid with a couple of American cats who have little kitty passports. Tall and tattooed, Linden exists only because society has stopped burning witches.
Linden attended the Odyssey Writing Workshop in 2016, and her short fiction has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #215. She is represented by Alexandra Machinist at ICM Partners in New York City.
While there is a 95% chance Linden is a cryptid, she can often be spotted in the wild cosplaying or acting (yes, she appeared in an episode of The Walking Dead). Nowadays, she is most frequently found lurking on both Instagram and Twitter @lindenalewis, or at her website www.lindenalewis.com.
The First Sister
Combining the social commentary of The Handmaid’s Tale with the white-knuckled thrills of Red Rising, this epic space opera follows a comfort woman as she claims her agency, a soldier questioning his allegiances, and a nonbinary hero out to save the solar system.
First Sister has no name and no voice. As a priestess of the Sisterhood, she travels the stars alongside the soldiers of Earth and Mars—the same ones who own the rights to her body and soul. When her former captain abandons her, First Sister’s hopes for freedom are dashed when she is forced to stay on her ship with no friends, no power, and a new captain—Saito Ren—whom she knows nothing about. She is commanded to spy on Captain Ren by the Sisterhood, but soon discovers that working for the war effort is so much harder to do when you’re falling in love.
Lito val Lucius climbed his way out of the slums to become an elite soldier of Venus, but was defeated in combat by none other than Saito Ren, resulting in the disappearance of his partner, Hiro. When Lito learns that Hiro is both alive and a traitor to the cause, he now has a shot at redemption: track down and kill his former partner. But when he discovers recordings that Hiro secretly made, Lito’s own allegiances are put to the test. Ultimately, he must decide between following orders and following his heart.
Transcript:
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