We are excited today to bring you an interview with Bethany Jacobs about her newly released debut novel, These Burning Stars, out now from Orbit Books.
“A dangerous cat-and-mouse quest for revenge. An empire that spans star systems, built on the bones of a genocide. A carefully hidden secret that could collapse worlds, hunted by three women with secrets of their own. All collide in this twisty, explosive space opera debut…”
In addition to this interview, you can read a first-chapter excerpt from the novel at io9.com.
And please go buy a copy of These Burning Stars from your favorite retailer or support your local library by requesting/checking a copy out!
For more details on the novel and its author, please read the official book blurb and author information that follow the interview. Thank you again to Bethany for doing this interview and writing such a captivating space opera!
- Can you tell us some about your debut novel’s journey from some initial ‘throwaway lines’ about space pirates through your experiences with Pitch Wars, finding an agent, and working with Orbit? And how those also impacted your journey as a writer?
It’s quite a saga, let me tell you! While I began THESE BURNING STARS just for fun, it slowly evolved into something complex and dense, like a house of cards. In the first year and a half that I worked on it, it went through intense revisions and rewrites. Villains became good guys. Everybody’s name changed like six times. Then in late 2019 I shared the first chapter with author Michael Mammay. He encouraged me to enter it into Pitch Wars, where I was lucky enough to get teamed up with freelance editor Jake Nicholls of Future Worlds Editing. We did some great work together on further revising and polishing the novel. The Pitch Wars contest culminated in an agent showcase, after which I received some offers of representation from truly fantastic agents. I ended up signing with Bridget Smith at JABberwocky Literary, and we went on sub after a short round of edits. Within about four months, I had an offer from Priyanka Krishnan at Orbit, and she signed me for a trilogy!
- You seem to have a deep appreciation for (and talent at writing) morally ambiguous characters that readers might find themselves both loathing and adoring at the same time – seeing their evils, yet recognizing there is some central core of potential good there. What has drawn you to these types of characters, and is that how you see people in general?
These are the characters I love in fiction! And yes, this is how real people are. It’s certainly how I am—morally gray. I don’t know how to write characters with unambiguous morality. In fact, if I do write such characters, their fixed morality is usually a failing in itself, because anybody who is absolutely certain of their own rightness is inherently ignoring the messiness and uncertainty of the real world. Also, I will say that it’s very pleasurable to write bad people! It’s a release, a way to exorcise my demons and my anger. Making such characters simultaneously likable is just a fun way to ask the reader to confront their own complexity.
- Continuing that question, morally ambiguous characters work really well in Space Operas, and particularly in one like These Burning Starts that tackles themes of atrocities, blame, justice, and guilt. Did those themes play a role in shaping the characters, or vice versa? Do you think you’d be writing characters such as these regardless what genre you were working in?
I do think I’d write characters like this regardless, though if I was writing romance there would probably be a lot less murder! In the case of TBS, the themes of complicity, blame, genocide—they were core to character development. They shape the characters and in turn shape the plot, and the two are irrevocably interconnected. Honestly, it’s a chicken and egg situation. I’m not sure what comes first, plot or character!
- The themes of oppression and social justice play out in the politics of the Kindom and the Jeveni. You’ve spoken before of the influences of works like Sven Lundquist’s Exterminate all the Brutes, Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s Silencing the Past, and This Bridge Called My Back (edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria E. Anzaldúa) on your novel. Are there specific events or peoples that went into the Jeveni’s history and culture? And did the influence of those works also extend into other elements of your novel?
When thinking about the Jeveni, I was considering two groups: refugees, and oppressed laborers. For the former, groups at the top of mind include indigenous people, Syrians, Bosnians, Jews—and, of course, Palestinians. These are groups that have been forced out of their homes into a larger world that does not necessarily want them, and that certainly wants them to assimilate (consider indigenous children kidnapped into boarding schools). The Jeveni evoke those histories and experiences. Also, the Jeveni arose from my knowledge and research on the forced or oppressed labor of African American slaves, immigrant farm workers, Chinese railway workers, etc. The Jeveni are also oppressed laborers, both before and after the destruction of their home world. So those histories define and drive the plot of the novel and the mission of its characters.
- A quote from near the very end of the novel related to the theme of oppression and justice (and resistance) is: “That’s what order means… Storms may trouble the water, but no one can defeat an ocean! So, either you learn to ride the waves, or you drown!” A core message of the novel is that this argument is false, but I think you offer two examples, through the characters, of trying to defeat that ocean. Six has taken the solitary road; the Jeveni, a collective one. By novel’s end, they both perhaps learn something. But, do you see resisting oppression working at both levels?
I believe the individual absolutely has a role to play in fighting injustice. The problem occurs when the individual thinks they can work alone—that they have no obligation to the larger community, and nothing to learn from that community. We see this dynamic frequently with the white savior complex, which is this fantasy of the individual stepping in and solving a huge injustice for an oppressed group (usually people of color). But that fantasy often leads to more harm. There is a rich history of oppressed people groups organizing and collaborating to save themselves. The individual is better off aligning their efforts to the mission of the collective than ignoring the wisdom and experience of that collective.
- Did you consciously look to follow the Rule of Threes for These Burning Stars? There are the three women leads: Esek, Chono, and Jun. There is the political organization triad of the Kindom: the Clerics, the Cloaksaan, and the Secretaries. The novel itself is three-fold directed: plot-driven, character-driven, and theme-driven. And then there’s the enigmatic Six: a Three with duality. Is my mind imagining all this?
I won’t go into the idea of Six as a three with duality, but you’re definitely on to it there! The rule of three is certainly at play in this novel, as I agree that it’s an effective writing and organizing tool that to me just feels… pleasurable, I guess? Both to read and to write. But Six also disorders that rule. We have the three leads, and then we have a fourth—a shadowy disruption to the logic of the rule. I will also say that the sequel largely departs from this structure. Make of that what you will!
- The devoted queer relationship between Jun and Liis reads so honestly true. Are these the characters closest to your own reality? Other queer relationships seem to also be present in more subtle ways, that may remain platonic or may become more in future books. You also incorporate gender fluidity into the novel in a very effective and beautiful way. Can you speak more on this and its importance to you?
There’s so much violence and anger in this book—I wanted to center a loving queer relationship because, A) I’m queer and that’s what I want in my fiction! and B) I needed to remind the audience that this book is as much about love and resilience as it is about oppression. There is deep devotion and love among many of these characters, and that will grow in future books. As a queer person who is always hungry for representations of queer love, it felt instinctive to incorporate this into the novel. As for the gender system in TBS, it’s quite complex! It’s certainly not a utopia, but it does imagine a world where we can pick our gender, and there’s something very liberating about that. I want a gender fluid world. I think it’s more interesting. So while the system I invented is not meant to be perfect, (in fact, it has some serious problems) it normalizes gender queerness. And we need more of that.
- These Burning Stars arose by your taking a break from writing another novel that I believe you’ve said dealt with identity and religion. Did elements of it go into the character of Chono? (Who, I admit, is my personal favorite.) Identity and spirituality/religion play importance in influences you’ve mentioned elsewhere, like Le Guin, Lewis, L’Engle, and Butler. Are there other non-literary influences on those themes?
I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to write a book that doesn’t deal with religion in some way. I was raised evangelical, which, as a queer person and a woman, was quite damaging to me. But while I’ve moved away from Christianity, the idea of religion and spirituality is always heavy on my mind. Chono, I think, represents the conflict of religious belief. She is a devoted cleric, but also aware of her own complicity in atrocities. Being religious does not automatically make her good. Sometimes it’s a cover for horrible actions. Esek is representative of that. But Chono represents the ability of spiritual faith to be redemptive. When Chono disconnects from the organized power structure of her faith, and acts purely on the principles of justice that her gods represent, she is actually able to do good works.
- Your novel began with some lines on space pirates, and they still do appear, just not as a major focus in this book. Will we get a deeper look at anyone with their perspective in future volumes? And speaking of future volumes, are there still some twists and jaw-dropping surprises in store?
Pirates do show up again—but not until the third book! There is also a character in the sequel who, though not a Braemish pirate, is essentially akin to the pirates, and I think he’s quite delightful and that you’ll enjoy getting to know him!
- And finally, the obligatory question: Is there anything else you’d like to let Skiffy & Fanty followers know? Can you tell us anything about what you are working on for the future? (Does that abandoned novel still have possible life?)
From a publicity plug angle, readers can sign up for my newsletter at bethany-jacobs.com, where you can also find information about upcoming events, as well as links to my social media profiles.
As for future work: I’m afraid the abandoned novel is dead and buried. But that’s okay! When we write, we grow, and while I’ve grown beyond that book, there are other projects in the works that draw on things I learned while writing it. Things I’ve started or hope to start soon: a novel about a sentient planet that corrals and controls its human colonists. Also, another space opera—where gods are born from the dead, and an emperor-god periodically yanks his warrior mother out of cryo to fight his battles.
Official Book Blurb:
“Jun Ironway—hacker, con artist, and occasional thief—has gotten her hands on a piece of contraband that could set her up for proof that implicates the powerful Nightfoot family in a planet-wide genocide seventy-five years ago. The Nightfoots control the precious sevite that fuels interplanetary travel through three star systems. And someone is sure to pay handsomely for anything that could break their hold.
Of course, anything valuable is also dangerous. The Kindom, the ruling power of the star systems, is inextricably tied up in the Nightfoots’ monopoly—and they can’t afford to let Jun expose the truth. They task two of their most brutal clerics with hunting her: preternaturally stoic Chono, and brilliant hothead Esek, who also happens to be the heir to the Nightfoot empire.
But Chono and Esek are haunted in turn by a figure from their shared past, known only as Six. What Six truly wants is anyone’s guess. And the closer they get to finding Jun, the surer Chono is that Six is manipulating them all.
It’s a game that could destroy their lives and devastate the stars. And they have no choice but to see it through to the end.”
Official Author Information:
Bethany Jacobs is a former college instructor of writing and science fiction, who made the leap to education technology. When she is not writing, she enjoys reading, trying out new recipes, and snuggling in bed with a TV show she’s already watched ten times. She lives in Buffalo, New York, with her wife and her dog and her books. These Burning Stars is her debut novel.
Author Photo Credit: Mary Ganster, 2023
Cover Design Credit: Lauren Panepinto
Cover Art Credit: Thom Tenery
