Tales of Arkhide, together at last

The character of Katla Sofjasdottar has been living in my brain for a decade. I knew her, I knew what had happened to her and her world, I knew what would happen as she became an adult and saved her world (diplomatically).

I so wanted to share her with readers, but every time I started in, the story stalled.

The Writing Journey

I couldn’t figure out how to get all the bits of story together in one piece.

I started in the middle, with Katla as a teen, with flashbacks and big time jumps to get her to her mid-20s. But the story felt choppy and the themes didn’t gel that way. So I started again, with Katla in her mid-20s, but then two-thirds of the book was heavy backstory!

I shared bits of these versions of the story during classes at university and workshops at Futurescapes. People would love the bits, and I would get to chugging along again. And then it would fall apart again, like a mobile of the universe made with too-fragile string. Four years of this.

Through it all, I’ve always told the story in Katla’s point of view. It’s her story through and through. I love writing close third-person, so you’ll feel like you’re right there with her, in her skin almost as she navigates her world.

Finally, I realized, Katla at 8 was not Katla at 16 was not Katla at 24. Doh! But I didn’t want to give up the closeness of the narratives. I want readers to feel what Katla feels.

So, I wrote three separate stories. “Secrets of the Synths” is Katla at 8, curious and brave and innocent. “Worlds Apart” is Katla at 16, finding that just as her world is expanding, it is contracting, too. “Hidden Planet” is Katla at 24, confronting the Cooperative Realm and its predatory ways.

This three-part structure not only lets readers dive deep into Katla’s life but also see for themselves how she has grown and developed in her attitudes, skills, and abilities. How others change (or don’t) in how they interact with her.

With “Tales of Arkhide,” I am combining the stories that I always intended should go together, and in the order I think they read best. “Secrets of the Synths” starts off, its tone almost young adult. In “Worlds Apart,” you can hear the frustration, impatience, and determination of the nearly-there-but-not-quite adult. With “Hidden Planet,” Katla, fully adult, needs to step far outside her comfort zone to help her people in a crisis.

Arkhide: World of Wonder

I love the planet Arkhide, with its mighty earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis. I love its people, who are high-tech enough to license patents to the Co-op for funds and resilient enough to build entire cities they can pack up and move in three days when a volcano is about to blow.

In addition to these three stories, I’ve already revisited Arkhide twice. I used its orbital station as a setting in my novel “The Listeners.” And my newest novel is called, “The Elders of Arkhide,” so that’s pretty obvious. “The Elders” doesn’t include Katla but does have some familiar characters from both the Katla stories and “The Listeners.” All the novels are great reads on their own, but you’ll get more out of the “The Elders” if you’ve read “Hidden Planet” and “The Listeners” first.

As you travel through these three stories, you'll not only watch Katla grow from a curious child to a determined young woman, but you'll also see the world of Arkhide unfold in all its complexity. (Okay, not “all”—I might have another story planned.) These tales explore themes of belonging, resilience, and the power of cooperation in the face of both natural disasters and interstellar politics.

While each story stands on its own, together they form a rich tapestry that I hope will immerse you in this unique world. Whether you're new to Arkhide or returning after reading “The Listeners,” I invite you to experience these stories as I always envisioned them—as one continuous journey.

Thank you for joining me on this adventure. I hope Katla's story and the world of Arkhide will captivate your imagination as much as they have mine.

Tales of Arkhide is available in paperback and ebook

Get a taste -- read the first chapter of Hidden Planet