I must admit, I took a couple of years out to write the Origins books after the end of Wilful Defiance (TG#4), because I needed some breathing space.
It was all a bit intense. If I thought the end of Harsh Realities (TG#3) had left me standing at the edge of an abyss, the end of TG#4 left me reeling.
The idea to take a step back started when I first started going to comic cons. I’ve had so many people ask if these books are suitable for teens, and my standard answer was yes, why not? There was no such thing as Young Adult fiction (YA) when we were kids. We read science fiction, we read books. My hubs was reading James Herbert and Isaac Asimov when he was eight. My only reservation was that there are some strong words in my stuff. I edit a lot out. And the few that remain are there for a reason. And I am aware that the language gets stronger as the books progress. But it made me think. I looked into what makes a YA book and it was awesome to see everyone say keep the language, keep the realism, keep the action and tension, give the characters a tough time, because that’s what we all want to read about, whatever age we are. Action adventure scifi is escapism. It’s rollercoaster good guys and bad guys, space battles, aliens, pirates, assassins and bounty hunters, heroes running around with guns, cats and dogs living together… If you love that stuff, it doesn’t matter how old you are.
But… the one big thing that everyone seems to agree on is that kids like reading about kids. So it got me thinking about LC. He never talks about what happened on Kheris when he was thirteen. So I just wondered, what if he did…
The TG Origins books are kind of Young Adult (YA) just because the main characters are teenagers. If you’re a teenager, read them first. If you’re not, read Residual Belligerence (TG#1) first then come back and read the Origins series when you know Hil and LC (you’ll see where they fit in once you get to TG#5). They’re fun books and they do add in to the whole story…