Political Intrigue and Dusk by J.S. Wayne
There is an old, old truism that one should never discuss
politics or religion with strangers. This rule has a sound basis, because
people tend to be passionately, even irrationally devoted to their own points
of view and to challenge those points requires both delicacy on the speaker’s
part and a willingness on the listener’s part to consider an alternative
perspective. As rare as these qualities seem to be in the human animal, it is
no surprise that more bar fights and wars have begun over both than over
possibly any other excuse in the human lexicon. It’s a sound rule, generally
speaking.
But we all know I’m not very good at following rules by now,
don’t we?
In the real world, I find politics boring at best and sleazy
at worst. I watch the machinations of political powers and players with a kind
of grim fascination, wondering what the crabs beneath the one at the top of the
bucket will do to advance their own agendas at the other’s expense. Whenever I
hear a politician speaking, especially from a place that seems sincerely
altruistic, I read between the lines, because I’m cynical enough to assume that
somehow, some way, a lot of someones somewhere are about to get bent over and
shafted without the benefit of lube, a courtesy reach-around or even a farewell
kiss.
Then again, there’s the world of fantasy. In this complex of
fantastical and imaginative worlds, politics always seems to play a crucial
role one way or the other. You can see it in Star Wars, Star Trek, The Lord of the Rings, The Sword of Truth, Harry
Potter, The Dresden Files and Game of
Thrones, to name just a few. Those with less political power are
necessarily at odds with and the mercy of those with more power, influence, and
of course liquid wealth, no matter what you call it. As much as most people
despise politics and politicians in general, it seems we cannot ever escape the
reality that political power shapes and moves these worlds, for better or
worse.
With Dusk, it
would have been easy for me to make the titular world a political Titan, a
force against which even the Interstellar Confederacy which Terra heads would
be forced to employ a very delicate and cautious hand. However, I saw a great
deal of value in doing it the other way. My reason for this is simple: It is
hard to root for an overwhelmingly powerful force, while humans always seem to
appreciate the underdog, the little guy who just wants to be left alone and go
about his own business. Keep the nobles and the ruling class off the peasants’
backs and they’ll get along just fine, to paraphrase Parke Godwin in Firelord.
We have all seen the story where a young, idealistic person
rises to an unthinkably high level of power without any training through a
series of accidents, coincidences and machinations. With Dusk, I chose not to
do this either. In theory, every member of the Dusk Diplomatic Corps is
perfectly capable of seizing the reins of political power if necessary. In
actuality, power is often granted based on one’s magickal talents or for the
most human reason of all: because the person selected to lead is considered to
be malleable enough to suit the ends of those who prefer to remain powers
behind the throne. In Olivia, I found both: a young but well-trained woman who
has a high degree of magickal talent and an innate ability at the games of
politicking and diplomacy, but who is not considered a threat by those beneath
her in the DDC hierarchy. She is also intelligent enough to recognize when
things don’t quite add up, and ruthless enough to want to seek out the truth in
what she sees, no matter where it leads.
As Dusk is a small, out-of-the-way world so far out on the
Galactic Rim that it just barely qualifies as a part of our galaxy at all, the
DDC perforce had to be a major force in daily life on Dusk as a protective
measure against those who would seek to plunder the planet for their own gain
to the detriment of those who had chosen to live there. However, Olivia needed
a mate, someone who could understand the toll that such power and its responsibilities
would take upon her. She also needed a bodyguard, because while Dusk is
nominally a very peaceful planet, murder and political assassination are far
from unknown. Enter Merrick Grissom, handsome and devil-may-care to balance
Olivia’s beauty and innate seriousness. Merrick’s devotion to his duty is
eclipsed only by his devotion to Olivia, which makes him willing to go along
with just about anything Olivia desires.
While politics are not at the heart of Dusk, they do inform the characters’ actions and reactions to a
great degree. Their enemies are not at all reluctant to use influence or
violence to achieve their ends, which places Olivia and Merrick in a great deal
of danger. This is why I found “Quick” Silva such a perfect foil for Merrick’s
boyishness and Olivia’s daring. As a combat veteran of far too many dustups on
far too many worlds, he has developed a sense for danger that is almost
magickal in its own right. As the characters get to know each other through
shared danger, mistrust, mixed signals and miscommunications Quick finds
himself more devoted to Olivia and Merrick than he ever thought possible. This
devotion, in turn, grants him the strength to do the right thing, even though
his actions will inevitably brand him a traitor and turncoat.
Dusk is not a
political intrigue story at its heart, even though politics play such a huge
role in the lives of its players. Instead, I have tried very hard to create a
fully-realized world where real people, just like those you see in any town
anywhere, live, love, struggle and fight against one another and outside forces
that care nothing about them or their safety, security and happiness.
Ultimately, Dusk is about love, about
new beginnings in a place so alien it may never properly become a “home,” and about
how just a handful of good people with good and honorable intentions may change
the seemingly inexorable destiny of an entire world. There is darkness and evil
on Dusk, to be sure. There is also light, love and hope.
Sometimes to truly consider the human character and
condition, we must first remove humans from our own world, dump them off
somewhere or somewhen in circumstances that would strain the modern human’s
sanity almost beyond endurance and see what happens. This is what I tried to do
with the Dusk trilogy. Whether I succeeded or not, gentle reader, I leave it to
you to decide.
Before I leave, enjoy this excerpt from Dusk: Tides of Astaroth, available now at Changeling Press!
To his surprise, Merrick realized nothing hurt. He should, he knew. After
the
beating he’d given and taken at Kozlowski’s hands, he should hurt like
seven different
shades of hell. Instead, he felt pleasant warmth, calm…
And his cock was painfully erect.
The soft darkness around him faded into a cool teal glow, allowing him
to pick
out shapes but not make sense of the details. Off to his left, cloth
rustled. He turned his
head, realizing as he did that his back pressed against a surprisingly
soft and
comfortable surface. The supple resistance molded itself to his back,
and he sank into it
a little more deeply as he peered at the source of the sound.
Olivia’s naked foot poked through a nearly invisible curtain, its
presence
betrayed only by the sequins worked into its surface. She moved slowly,
as if in the
opening steps of a dance she had not yet become proficient in, raising
one shapely foot
before lowering it so she balanced daintily on the ball. Then an
alabaster expanse of
smooth, sleekly muscled leg followed. Merrick gulped, sweat beading on
his brow as
his groin bristled at the unexpected thrill. She knew how to seduce a
man more than
adequately, but he had never seen her like this before.
With a tiny shock of realization, he noticed his ass was cradled by the
same
material that cupped his back… and he was as naked as Olivia’s leg. It
made no sense,
but he elected not to argue, sinking into the unknown material and
enjoying the show.
And a show it was. Olivia inched into view with a feline grace that
reminded
him of a Terran kitten he’d once watched playfully stalking one of his
classmates’ pet
hruczek. With each new vista of flesh she revealed, his pulse throbbed
a little harder
until it thundered in his ears and his cock jerked with every
heartbeat.
Finally she stood perfectly divided by the sparkling curtain, one side
still hidden
behind the fabric and the other revealed to him. She lifted one hand
and lowered it to
her mound, slipping her fingers into her seam and gliding them down her
clit to find
her opening. A low gasp pushed her lips into a pout as she massaged her
pussy, letting
her fingers roam over her flesh. Even from here he could detect the
tangy scent of her
arousal.
His mouth watered for her. He wanted to taste her, to lick and suck at
her sex
until she baptized his face with her sweet nectar and then take her
deep and hard until
she screamed out her release and clamped down on his cock to spur on
his own crisis.
Though his mouth was moist with hunger for her, his throat was dry as
the powdery
sand to the northeast of the city, leaving him unable to give his
desire voice. He could
only watch, paralyzed and shaking with need, as she continued forward
with tiny,
mincing steps, rubbing herself into a crescendo of whimpers the whole
while.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” said a familiar male voice from across
the room.
Merrick jumped and flicked his eyes off to the right, toward the voice.
Quick sat
there, naked as Merrick and just as hard. Oh, great. Isn’t there anywhere we can go to be
alone?
“When did you get here?” he croaked, forgetting the dryness of his throat.
Quick shrugged. “Search me.” Then he looked down at his bare body and
back
up again. “On the other hand, it’s not like I have many places to hide
things right now.”
The unexpected flash of humor coaxed a huff of laughter from Merrick.
“What
do you want?”
Quick’s face flickered through a series of uncomfortable emotions too
fast for
Merrick to pin any of them down. “Relax. I’m not here to steal your
thunder. You
haven’t had much time with Olivia lately, and I just want to watch.”
Merrick raised his eyebrows. “You’re into afternoon theater, then?”
“Never really thought about it before,” Quick retorted. “Way I figure
it, I owe
you some time with her. All I want is to watch how you two make love. I
might even
pick up some pointers on what she likes.”
Merrick inclined his chin. “What about what she wants? Maybe she
doesn’t want
you to watch right now.”
Quick scoffed. “Riiiight,” he said, drawing the word out into a
dimension of
sarcasm Merrick vaguely remembered visiting with some regularity as an
adolescent.
“That’s why her eyes are riveted on you right now. She doesn’t even
know I’m here,
Merrick. You’re the only thing she sees, the only man she wants.”
Quick was unusually articulate, Merrick noted, but that didn’t mean he
was
wrong. He shrugged.
“You wanna see what Olivia likes? I’ll show you.” He turned just in
time for
Olivia to press her lips against his. He met her eagerly, opening to
her and inviting her
to open to him in turn. She did so, the soft velvet of her tongue
meeting his with a
pleasant shock of renewed desire. He forgot all about Quick, about
pain, about anything
except the exquisite feel of his lover so close and yet so far way.
She finally pulled away. Merrick fought down a groan of protest as she
moved
back, just beyond his arm’s reach.
“What do you want?” she asked, her voice oddly modulated in the
stillness.
“You,” he murmured. “I want to taste you… “
She smiled. “Then you will have it.”
She turned, showing him a lush expanse of narrow back, flared hips, and
firm,
high-set buttocks. He started to murmur in appreciation…
Dusk: Tides of Astraroth
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