Birch is a boy living Penn's nightmare. He didn't have a family that could protect him from the Warden's Commission, and he didn't have anywhere to run when his family was in trouble, so he's been raised in captivity because his sisters were all touched with special abilities, the same as Penn's. He doesn't even know his own birth name, as he was given the nickname "Birch bark" as a child and it stuck.
When they first meet, Penn writes him off as someone spoiled and weak, assuming that he's an officer's son because of his appearance, but she soon learns that none of her assumption bear out. Like many of the cast-offs taken in by The Show, Birch's early life was miserable. Seen as not-quite-human by an organization that's decided everyone born into a touched family has more in common with aliens than Earth, the fact that Birch is male makes him a particular fascination of those curious to see how he differs from sibling-sets that are solely female. And he's got the scars to prove it - both on his skin and in his memories.
Birch has also cultivated the same sort of public docile behavior many caged animals adopt out of self-preservation, which is something that irks Penn to no end. She wants to lash out, but he's been in the system long enough to know that direct attacks often end in more pain. It's not easy for the two to get along for long because their natures are so different, but eventually Penn comes to understand that these differences can be strengths. He becomes the temper to her steely nature, and tempered steel is much harder to break.
Sing Down the Stars: Klok
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Nowhere in the strangely anachronistic world in which Penn lives will you find someone more unique than the boy called Klok.
Like Birdie, Klok came to the circus with a single name and no hint of his past life or biological family. (They call it running away to join the circus for a reason - people are generally running from something they don't want to be found by,) However, in this case, he was actually raised by members of The Show before he arrived at the train. Squint and Smolly, the train's engineer and his wife (both of who are under four feet tall) raised the boy alone until his was about ten years old. This was no easy feat, considering at sixteen he's bigger than most grown men.
Of course, there's one other huge difference between Klok's backstory and Birdie's. Klok's is pure cover-story. Rather than running away or being orphaned like most children of The Show, Klok was created without parents. Yes, created - as in android.
Built by Magnus Roma, and designed to look like Roma's deceased son, Klok is a spectacular creation. Strong, brilliant, and protective, Klok was everything the Warden's Commission was hoping for in the soldier they commissioned Roma to build... except he's also compassionate and capable of remorse. This "flaw" made him unsuitable for military service, and so Roma conspired with his friends Squint and Smolly to hide his "metal man" away where he couldn't be corrupted into the soulless killer he was meant to be.
Now Klok works as a stage hand, literally doing the heavy lifting for the circus as it picks up and puts down stakes for each performance. On the road, he becomes a valuable ally to Penn and her friends, which is a situation she finds uncomfortable given his appearance. She's known since she was a child that she's the one who killed her brother, so being followed by someone who looks so much like him is disconcerting. And given that he can only "speak" via text on a view screen where his voice box should be, she's forced to face her past on a regular basis - whether she can deal with it is another matter.
Like Birdie, Klok came to the circus with a single name and no hint of his past life or biological family. (They call it running away to join the circus for a reason - people are generally running from something they don't want to be found by,) However, in this case, he was actually raised by members of The Show before he arrived at the train. Squint and Smolly, the train's engineer and his wife (both of who are under four feet tall) raised the boy alone until his was about ten years old. This was no easy feat, considering at sixteen he's bigger than most grown men.
Of course, there's one other huge difference between Klok's backstory and Birdie's. Klok's is pure cover-story. Rather than running away or being orphaned like most children of The Show, Klok was created without parents. Yes, created - as in android.
Built by Magnus Roma, and designed to look like Roma's deceased son, Klok is a spectacular creation. Strong, brilliant, and protective, Klok was everything the Warden's Commission was hoping for in the soldier they commissioned Roma to build... except he's also compassionate and capable of remorse. This "flaw" made him unsuitable for military service, and so Roma conspired with his friends Squint and Smolly to hide his "metal man" away where he couldn't be corrupted into the soulless killer he was meant to be.
Now Klok works as a stage hand, literally doing the heavy lifting for the circus as it picks up and puts down stakes for each performance. On the road, he becomes a valuable ally to Penn and her friends, which is a situation she finds uncomfortable given his appearance. She's known since she was a child that she's the one who killed her brother, so being followed by someone who looks so much like him is disconcerting. And given that he can only "speak" via text on a view screen where his voice box should be, she's forced to face her past on a regular basis - whether she can deal with it is another matter.
Sing Down the Stars: Winnie and Birdie
Monday, September 28, 2015
No hero's journey is complete without a cast of supporting friends to back them up along the road.
I've made a brief mention of Penn's circus friends in the post about The Show itself, but since they're the core group, I'll go into a bit more detail in the last few days before the novel's published on October 6.
Winifred Singh -- Known as Winnie to her friends, Winifred Singh has traveled with The Show for four years at the start of the story. As far as anyone knows, she's either an orphan or a runaway who ran afoul of the Warden's Commission at some point, leading to the scars she wears long sleeves to cover up. Though she portrays a siren in The Show's sideshow, she's never spoken a word.
Winnie's a girl with secrets on top of secrets, and she keeps them buried so deep she hopes to never remember them. But when The Show's train is sacked, it turns everyone's life upside down -- literally. When things get shaken up that badly, a few things are bound to end up falling into the open, and Winnie ends up on the run for the second time in her life.
She's a loyal friend, but how much can you really trust someone who's used to sacrificing anything they have to in order to survive?
Birdie Jesek -- Whether Birdie is her given name or not, no one knows. It's the only name the truly bird-like little girl has ever given or answered to, and as for the "Jesek" part, she gets that from her adoptive family: "The Flying Jeseks," who are The Show's acrobats. Bruno Jesek and his wife (known affectionately as "Mother" to one and all) have made a habit of stitching their family together from people who have nowhere else to go, and Birdie's no different. A confirmed survivor by the age of eight, Birdie was alone and half-starved when she found The Show, and she latched onto stern Bruno as a source of consistency and protection. She also proved a natural at the high-wire and related acts, and was soon an official member of the Jesek company.
One of the youngest Show-members by far, Birdie's seen more in her short life than most adults three times her age, but she's still a kid, and she's spent her two years on board the train learning how to be one again. She delights in mischief - usually at the expense of her favorite target Jermay Baan, and thrills at the chance to finally "fly" during a performance, but it's once the group is on the run that she truly begins to shine. Birdie proves herself to be resourceful and clever in ways the rest of her friends and make-shift family never imagined.
Birdie has secrets, too, and once they come out, Penn's world will never be the same.
I've made a brief mention of Penn's circus friends in the post about The Show itself, but since they're the core group, I'll go into a bit more detail in the last few days before the novel's published on October 6.
Winifred Singh -- Known as Winnie to her friends, Winifred Singh has traveled with The Show for four years at the start of the story. As far as anyone knows, she's either an orphan or a runaway who ran afoul of the Warden's Commission at some point, leading to the scars she wears long sleeves to cover up. Though she portrays a siren in The Show's sideshow, she's never spoken a word.
Winnie's a girl with secrets on top of secrets, and she keeps them buried so deep she hopes to never remember them. But when The Show's train is sacked, it turns everyone's life upside down -- literally. When things get shaken up that badly, a few things are bound to end up falling into the open, and Winnie ends up on the run for the second time in her life.
She's a loyal friend, but how much can you really trust someone who's used to sacrificing anything they have to in order to survive?
Birdie Jesek -- Whether Birdie is her given name or not, no one knows. It's the only name the truly bird-like little girl has ever given or answered to, and as for the "Jesek" part, she gets that from her adoptive family: "The Flying Jeseks," who are The Show's acrobats. Bruno Jesek and his wife (known affectionately as "Mother" to one and all) have made a habit of stitching their family together from people who have nowhere else to go, and Birdie's no different. A confirmed survivor by the age of eight, Birdie was alone and half-starved when she found The Show, and she latched onto stern Bruno as a source of consistency and protection. She also proved a natural at the high-wire and related acts, and was soon an official member of the Jesek company.
One of the youngest Show-members by far, Birdie's seen more in her short life than most adults three times her age, but she's still a kid, and she's spent her two years on board the train learning how to be one again. She delights in mischief - usually at the expense of her favorite target Jermay Baan, and thrills at the chance to finally "fly" during a performance, but it's once the group is on the run that she truly begins to shine. Birdie proves herself to be resourceful and clever in ways the rest of her friends and make-shift family never imagined.
Birdie has secrets, too, and once they come out, Penn's world will never be the same.
Sing Down the Stars: Warden Arcineaux
Friday, September 25, 2015
So in the last post, I introduced you to Warden Nye, the man doggedly pursing Penn and her friends. There's no question that he's dangerous and manipulative, but that doesn't mean he's the biggest, baddest threat there is, because there's another warden in the mix, one so terrible and feared that he's known as poison to those who've encountered him.
Meet Warden Arsenic... I mean Arcineaux.
A small, blocky man with the appearance and charm of a gargoyle, Arcineaux is ruled by pride and ambition. He believes he's destined for bigger and better things than running a single outpost for the Commission, and he's not the sort to let things like humanity or compassion get in the way of that destiny.
To Penn's horror, she discovers that there are monsters in the world beyond the mechanical wonders her father built to entertain the patrons of their circus. Human monsters that can bleed, but they can also injure. They can cause pain, and they can kill, and the worst of them enjoy it. They don't see people like her as human beings, but as tools, advantages and weapons to be caged and wielded at will.
Everyone seems to fear this man from the moment they meet him - with the exception of his nemesis Warden Nye. Both men have their sights set on controlling a new secret facility built by the Commission, but worse they both want Penn and her friends, and they're willing to do anything to get them.
**Don't forget to pop into this post if you'd like a chance at one of the copies I'm giving away!**
Sing Down the Stars: Warden Nye
Thursday, September 24, 2015
One of the main aspects of Sing Down the Stars is a Chase. The bad guys are chasing the good guys, and in this case, the bad guy is Warden Nye.
Penn first sees him before her final performance. A warden on circus grounds is concerning, especially since Nye's arrival coincides with the disappearance of Magnus Roma. There's no safety buffer to keep him out of her space because her father can't run interference. Worst of all, he seems to know more about The Show and its performers than an outsider should.
Once Penn and the others are actually on the run, Nye proves to be an unshakable adversary, and while he may never actually be a step ahead of them, he's right on their heels so they never get a chance to catch their breath.
He's smart and he's ruthless with a sociopathic calm Penn finds unnerving. He's also a man with secrets going back as far as The Great Illusion and the arrival of the Medusae, and while trying to escape, Penn is shocked to find that Nye's secrets have more to do with hers and her father's than she'd like to admit.
The world is rarely the way we assume it to be as children, and Penn is about to get an entirely new perspective on things.
Penn first sees him before her final performance. A warden on circus grounds is concerning, especially since Nye's arrival coincides with the disappearance of Magnus Roma. There's no safety buffer to keep him out of her space because her father can't run interference. Worst of all, he seems to know more about The Show and its performers than an outsider should.
Once Penn and the others are actually on the run, Nye proves to be an unshakable adversary, and while he may never actually be a step ahead of them, he's right on their heels so they never get a chance to catch their breath.
He's smart and he's ruthless with a sociopathic calm Penn finds unnerving. He's also a man with secrets going back as far as The Great Illusion and the arrival of the Medusae, and while trying to escape, Penn is shocked to find that Nye's secrets have more to do with hers and her father's than she'd like to admit.
The world is rarely the way we assume it to be as children, and Penn is about to get an entirely new perspective on things.
Sing Down the Stars: The New Old World
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
So aliens have visited your planet and left, what's a civilized world to do next?
How about: Do the stupidest things imaginable because it's the only course of action that can be agreed on, even if it doesn't do much of anything to fix the "alien problem?"
That's pretty much the world Penn is born into in Sing Down the Stars. A quarter century after alien visitors appeared in the sky, then left, the world is still debating whether or not those visitors were ever actually there in the first place. And since bureaucracy can be counted on to take the strangest courses of action, that uncertainty has manifested in odd ways around the world.
Since the aliens came to the modern world, twisted logic dictates that they weren't - and aren't - interested in cultural landscapes of less modern times. With this in mind, entire cities have rebuilt their structure to mimic that of earlier days. Some went Victorian, others hopped back to the 1950's, and some simply froze in place, refusing to allow any public signs of progress.
Major cities have moved their technology underground - both figuratively and literally. Nighttime means radio silence, television silence, computer silence, and total blackout as the official policy for avoiding mentions of alien invasion becomes to pretend it never happened. Earth simply decides they won't attract attention.
With this in mind, it's easy to imagine that special events like The Show, with its permits for lights and lasers would be a huge draw for the curious. Kids born into the post-alien world don't get many chances to see cutting-edge technology on public display, so crowds flock to the circus grounds like naughty children who think they're getting away with mischief.
This isn't a brave new world. It's a timid, and anachronistic one.
How about: Do the stupidest things imaginable because it's the only course of action that can be agreed on, even if it doesn't do much of anything to fix the "alien problem?"
That's pretty much the world Penn is born into in Sing Down the Stars. A quarter century after alien visitors appeared in the sky, then left, the world is still debating whether or not those visitors were ever actually there in the first place. And since bureaucracy can be counted on to take the strangest courses of action, that uncertainty has manifested in odd ways around the world.
Since the aliens came to the modern world, twisted logic dictates that they weren't - and aren't - interested in cultural landscapes of less modern times. With this in mind, entire cities have rebuilt their structure to mimic that of earlier days. Some went Victorian, others hopped back to the 1950's, and some simply froze in place, refusing to allow any public signs of progress.
Major cities have moved their technology underground - both figuratively and literally. Nighttime means radio silence, television silence, computer silence, and total blackout as the official policy for avoiding mentions of alien invasion becomes to pretend it never happened. Earth simply decides they won't attract attention.
With this in mind, it's easy to imagine that special events like The Show, with its permits for lights and lasers would be a huge draw for the curious. Kids born into the post-alien world don't get many chances to see cutting-edge technology on public display, so crowds flock to the circus grounds like naughty children who think they're getting away with mischief.
This isn't a brave new world. It's a timid, and anachronistic one.
Sing Down the Stars: The Circus Performers
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
The Show Family
Like many traveling circuses, the people who perform in The Show are like family, which is why it's all the more devastating when their train home is overrun. This is just a quick primer of the different acts and the people who play them.
The Flying Jeseks
These are The Show's acrobats. Led by Mother Jesek and her husband Bruno, the Jeseks tend to add to their family as they find people in need of a home. Their youngest child is a girl named Birdie who is among those stranded with Penn when the train is raided. She's been with them for two years, and only just got the confidence to "fly" during their act herself.
Nagendra
Frightfully ghoulish, Nagendra is a walking contradiction. Part snake charmer, and part poet, he's someone Penn has known her entire life. An Oxford man, he's transformed himself into a spectacle of tattoos an piercings to erase his real features, and he's the source of most of the information Penn has gathered about what's known as The Brick Street riots from before she was born. Nagendra speaks of them often, but only when he's had too much to drink.
Squint and Smolly
Both dwarves, Squint and Smolly no longer perform with the circus, though they still travel with it. "Small Molly" was once a featured performer with a legendary temper. Now, she's mostly a second mother to the children of The Show... still with a legendary temper. Her husband, Squint, is the train's engineer. Second only to Magnus Roma in his ability to plan and build, he's the one who keeps the train running smoothly.
Zavel the Mystic
Winnifred Singh
Winnie's mute, which is ironic since she plays The Show's siren. She performs in the sideshow before the main event, doing her act in a tank of water while wearing a mechanical tail. Full of secrets and covered in scars, Winnie's got a past that Penn has been warned not to ask about.
Klok
Klok is a little different from the rest of The Show performers. Like The Daughters of Magnus Roma, he's using the circus as camouflage to hide in plain sight, but he doesn't do an act; he's a stage hand. Klok's a teenager, as far as anyone knows, but he's enormous - and he's not human. He's a metal boy with a soul, a defective "soldier" created by Magnus Roma, and hidden away because Magnus couldn't condemn him to a life of killing and violence.
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