We have talked to The Biodome Chronicles author Jesikah Sundin about her books and writing in general.
Welcome to SFFWorld Jesikah, many thanks for giving us some time here. In your own words, who is Jesikah Sundin?
Thank you for having me, SFFWorld!
Jesikah Sundin is a high spirited but down-to-earth woman of impeccable taste in comfort clothes, serious skills in twisting hair into top knots, can drink anyone under the table … er, with coffee that is … has zero problems with being shallow or behaving with vanity despite comfort clothes and top knot while simultaneously capable of deep, philosophical discussions, preferably of an existential nature. She laughs a lot, even in inappropriate moments, and rambles when excited or suffering from social anxiety. In her downtime, when she’s not flinging memes onto social media like an internet ninja, you can find her fangirling about books, gardening, and cooking, but especially about her friends and family. There is nothing more important to her than the people in her life.
(Thanks for letting me talk about myself in the 3rd person, hee hee!)
First of all for those not familiar with The Biodome Chronicles can you tell us a bit about the series? What do you feel is unique?
Sure! My series is about how two worlds collide when a hacker from the near-future helps siblings in an experimental medieval colony decode the mystery behind their father’s death in a psychological game of survival. Each book features three point-of-view characters who represent their world: Seattle in the year 2054 or the medieval village of New Eden Township, the earth-based prototype Mars colony. The reader journeys between the dystopian/utopian worlds as the story unfolds and secrets unearth.
The Biodome Chronicles has been described as genre bending. It is part dystopian, near-future cyberpunk science fiction with touches of romance, and part medieval historical fiction with shades of fantasy. Suspending both worlds by a murder mystery, The Biodome Chronicles spins the yarns of a psychological game that creates the baseline of reality for the characters.
But, I feel its real uniqueness is that it falls within a new but growing subgenre of Cyberpunk called Ecopunk Fiction.
How did you get the idea for this series in the first place?
A collision of ideas, actually.
1) My love affair with Biosphere 2, which began in the 1990’s when I was the Student Coordinator over the G.L.O.B.E. Program (Global Learning Observations to Benefit the Environment). It was an interest that followed me into college. I studied geophysics and marine biology with designs of becoming a research/technical writer for NOAA and, later, for the Earth Science lab at Biosphere 2. I never finished my undergraduate degree due to unfortunate circumstances, but my love for earth sciences remains.
2) At the time I was brainstorming story ideas, I was exploring various philosophies behind multiple forms of deaths and births, not just physical. We can experience the birth, death and rebirth of a vision, our identity, our reality, and so forth. Metaphorically, I was able to connect this to my earth science lessons of closed loop systems (aka cradle-to-cradle cycles).
3) Expanding on the last answer, I was also interested in how these non-physical deaths played out psychologically, borrowing from Newton’s Third Law of Physics: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This led me to the latest studies in transgenerational epigenetic inheritance and nature vs nurture. If you can alter one’s nature, how does one nurture this new persona? I studied the use of role-playing in psychotherapy as well as personal accounts of live action role players, who shared the many positive effects of LARPing. I just knew this tale I was concocting had to use LARPers and their abilities to believably construct a whole world and functioning society from scratch.
4) Lastly, I thought about the world I was helping to create for the next generation and the present-day messages we are teaching the young. The most prevalent message being how we should live naturally like our ancestors and to love the Earth (organic food, being community-minded, natural medicines) while simultaneously embrace our mechanized global society and culture. We purchase our organic foods in what is essentially a glorified machine (modern grocery store) or at a farmer’s market (using a machine to travel to the market), and cook said organic food with an electric stove. The nature vs machine messages are endless. What a strange time to be alive! Confusing, too…
You have now released the second book in the series. What new challenges did you set for yourself with Elements?
Hmmm… By the time I began drafting ELEMENTS, my craft of novel writing knowledge had expanded considerably. The challenge was then to employ these new tricks without losing the original flavor of the story and characters. Hopefully I pulled it off, lol. I do believe the writing in ELEMENTS is far tighter and so is the storytelling, despite the book’s girth.
Can you tell us a bit about the covers?
With pleasure! My covers are created by the amazing Amalia Chitulescu. I’m thrilled to have her talent and illustrative magic clothe my novels.
What are your plans for the series?
Well, presently I’m in the heat of drafting the final book in the series, GAMEMASTER (The Biodome Chronicles #3). My goal is for a March 2017 release. *bites fingernails* Wish me luck!
How did you start writing? Was there a particular book or moment in your life that spurned you on?
My love affair with storytelling began in childhood. Daydreaming was my favorite hobby outside of reading. Though, due to ICU hospitalizations and major illnesses, I didn’t formally learn the mechanics of writing until I was ten. The learning curve was steep for me at this point, but I loved the challenge, satisfaction, and pride of overcoming my deficiencies and seeing real progress. I don’t recall a book that set this love into motion. I tend to become enthralled with most things I read, lol. I’m not entirely sure how to answer this question as I feel storytelling/writing is an innate part of who I am. I’m driven to overcome any obstacle to write.
What sort of challenges, as a writer, might you have faced before your first book was published? Any insights you would be able to share for those aspiring writers seeking advice?
I struggle with dyslexia which definitely hinders my writing process. I understand how difficult it is to find the right words and to construct a grammatically proper sentence. Therefore, this is the message I always tell aspiring writers:
It takes a village to write a novel! 🙂 As a writer, your job is to tell a story. That’s it. Tell a story. Pour words onto a page. Don’t worry if it’s well written or the worst stuff ever penned in the history of the world. An editor will polish the writing to make your story shine. Beta readers will help you fill in plot and character cracks and crevices so the reading experience is even smoother. But your job is to purge the story, no matter how messy the process. Neatly chisel each word into existence or vomit the letters onto the page. But get them out. Once you do, editors, beta readers, and fellow writers will be there to help you the rest of the way.
Can you tell us a bit about the process that led up to the series being published?
A few months before I began writing The Biodome Chronicles, at the end of a vacation, my husband and I drove up to Washington state from Northern California. For the endless miles along I-5, we brainstormed an idea for a video game that would take place inside a biodome colony on Mars. I would write the storyline and he would program the game. A few months later, I left a career and yearned for a new adventure, turning to novel writing as the answer. I found my and my husband’s notes, pulled ideas from our epic brainstorm sessions, flavored it further with my own musings and questions (as already discussed), and redesigned the plot, characters, and themes into what is now LEGACY, ELEMENTS, TRANSITIONS and, the upcoming final book, GAMEMASTER.
Leading up to publication, life threw in a beautiful moment of serendipity. I met a group of SFF authors at an event I heard about the day of and wasn’t even sure I could attend. We hit it off immediately. They held my newbie hand through drafting, revision, and the many steps toward publishing. We eventually formed a writing group to continue our support of each other that carries on to this day. I owe so much to these wonderful, talented writers!
How do you go about the marketing aspect and especially related to your online presence? Anything you’ve seen work better than other things?
I’ll be honest, I haven’t spent as much time marketing as I should have due to my writing schedule and home life demands. I do have a good social media presence that is growing steadily, however. I find that the best approach is a real one. Just be yourself. On social media, the idea is to foster conversation and form relationships. I’m not a character and they’re not dollar signs. We’re real people. So, let’s have fun forming an online community together! 🙂
What’s next? Do you have more new and exciting projects you’re working on?
Yes, I sure do! When I need a braincation from The Biodome Chronicles, I hop over to another Ecopunk Fiction work-in-progress currently titled “The Last Forest Kingdoms.” Not sure if this will be a standalone title or a series. I’m still in the outlining and world building phase, and probably will be for a while. Here’s a teaser from the current synopsis (just a snippet and still using placeholder names):
A terraformed machine designed for bio-environmental warfare testing.
Five Kingdoms separated by magnetic fields.
A forgotten people.
Until [GIRL] crashes on the uncharted moon and restarts [The Machine’s] program for permanent destruction during impact. A collision prophesied by [The Hooded Ones], woodland sibyls hunted and killed for heralding [The Machine’s] whispers. An event feared by one Kingdom, its ruler willing to annihilate all other Kingdoms to protect its secret.
There’s more, but people will just have to stay tuned 😉
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Interview by Dag Rambraut – SFFWorld.com © 2016
