Sci-Fi / Fantasy
Date Published: 06-08-2021
Publisher: Sandpaper Press
Three thousand years ago the three races of Vinge, Human, Dak’or, and Fingalin, fled into space at the destruction of their planet. Now The Alliance between the three governments is at its breaking point. Between racial tensions caused by the elitist and wealthy Fingal trying to claim a divine right to rule, a deadly new quarantine-resistant plague that is sweeping through the primarily Drak’or outer colonies, and lack of funding and success in terraforming efforts, the treaty seems to be at an end. As people begin to turn to religion to save them, The Descendents, a powerful religious sect worshiping the Goddess Vyanna, readily fill the void.
Now the crew of a small mercenary vessel, captained by a man calling himself the devil, are on a relief mission to replace equipment for Deep Space Initiative Station 3122’s failed life support. Lieutenant Commander James Aiunys, the newest member, and tactical officer of the legendary crew is shocked when they are unexpectedly pulled out of hyperspace, and informed that the quarantine zone has been expanded to include the station. The mysterious Drak’or captain is undeterred. In a feat that seems more like magic than science, he turns the battle on its head, defeating one of the most powerful warships in the galaxy, leaving it paralyzed in space.
Upon their arrival however, the station is not what they had expected. The crew becomes concerned when they discover the station empty, an eerie resemblance to another station they had visited at the bequest of strange women with silver hair who smelled of apple blossoms.
When the power core fails during their investigation, The Captain is once again forced to do the impossible, leaving James with more questions than answers. With the government collapsing into chaos, the crew of The Shade find themselves on the run, caught in the middle of a sinister plot that will change the galaxy forever.
But there are darker shadows than the machinations of mortals lurking in the far corners of civilization. Brought face to face with their own humanity in a conflict older than the concepts of good and evil. They are forced to question everything they understood about themselves, religion, and even the very fabric of reality.
Interview with E. Sandborn
For those interested in exploring the subject or theme of your book, where should they start?
Seph is really its own starting point. It’s a great introduction to the Sci-fi genre with a good mix of elements readers interested in fantasy or contemporary fiction will recognize.
How did you become involved with the subject or theme of your book?
I have been an avid sci-fi fan ever since I was first introduced to Star Wars in 1995. It has always been my favorite genre in television and movies. Though as a child I mostly read high fantasy, fortunately there is some cross over between that and Sci-fi with series like The Dragon Riders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. There is a lot of influence from those types of books in Seph but there are also a lot of real world influences when it comes to things like cultures and religions. I have always been fascinated by religion and made an effort to become familiar with a variety of belief systems.
What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?
Well, my main goal was just to get it out there, so from that regard I feel like I achieved my goal. But I also really wanted people to read it and ask themselves some really hard questions about the nature of humanity, religion and things like good and evil. I think it will be a little while before I really know how effective it was in that regard.
Anything you would like to say to your readers and fans?
Thank you.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
It was very cathartic, it allowed me to get a lot of things I was feeling and thinking out in a constructive way. It was also really exciting to see how the story came together and evolved as I got to know the characters and explore this world I created in a way that was more tangible then it had ever been just stuck inside my head.
Can you tell us a little bit about your next books or what you have planned for the future?
My next book will be a YA dystopian novel, it will be called Cinnamon Latte and will be part of a three part series called Perspectives. It takes place in an unspecified near future where a computer algorithm tracks and determines nearly every aspect of peoples lives. I am also currently working on the next instalment of The Legacy of Vinge which will eventually have four books.
How long have you been writing?
I started Seph at the end of 2017, but I had plenty of false starts before that. The first time I started penning scripts for languages and such was when I was 12. My brother and I had been working out details of this world for a long time, The Lord of the Rings had just exploded and the Eragon series was just coming out. Everyone I knew was going to be an author then.
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Seph?
The main character James was originally supposed to be sort of an everyman. Someone anyone could relate to and be a window into this strange world of aliens and spaceships. As I wrote the book and got to know him I discovered a lot of interesting layers to his character. Like all of the main cast he is an expert in his field. Ex-special ops he is a tactician. He is very analytical and a very linier thinker. You could describe him as a problem solver and in a lot of ways it’s his curiosity that really drives the discovery in the book.
The second lead is Chloe, the best way to describe her is smart and capable. She has a complicated past which has left her with a lot of trauma and self-doubt resulting from the intersections of class and he race she occupies. But her history is also one of her strengths, because she knows things, and sees things that are invisible to the others.
Meghnah is Chloe’s best friend and a surrogate older sister. She the Shade’s navigator and a skilled martial artist. She provides some of our best insights into the religion known as Vhast throughout the book as she struggles to come to terms with her faith and place in the universe.
Fetu is the ships first officer, and is the glue that holds the whole crew together. He takes on the big brother roll to pretty much everyone and is heavily invested in each of them.
There are other characters I would love to talk about, most notably The Captain, but it is difficult to do so without spoiling too much of the book since a lot of it revolves around the mysteries surrounding his character.
If you could spend the day with one of the characters from Seph who would it be? Please tell us why you chose this particular character, where you would go and what you would do.
It would probably be Chloe, its really hard to say what we would do since the worlds we come from are so different. But I think we would probably just spend the whole day talking. I think I could learn a lot from her and I think of everyone she would be the most fun to hang out with, Though Fetu might be a contender for that. I don’t know how well I would actually get along with James or Meghnah in person!
About the Author
Ezra Sandborn got his start writing fiction as a dungeon master in online role-playing games . He draws on inspiration from his childhood, sitting under the trampoline and inventing new worlds and characters. Ezra became an author by accident, during a particularly difficult period of his life he was suddenly struck by inspiration for a short story. After sharing the story with friends and family everyone wanted to read more, and so he continued writing. In less than a month as the result of that novel accident Seph – The Reflection of Divinity was created. Ezra’s writing is defined by his complex characters, deep immersive worlds, and unique stories that challenge the conventional narrative, while exploring the deeper truth of human nature.
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