Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work.
Today: Joyce Reynolds Ward. The work of Joyce Reynolds-Ward includes themes of high-stakes family and political conflict, digital sentience, personal agency and control, realistic strong women, and (whenever possible) horses. She is the author of The Netwalk Sequence series, the Goddess’s Honor series, and the recently released The Martiniere Legacy series as well as standalones Klone’s Stronghold, Alien Savvy, Beating the Apocalypse, and Federation Cowboy. Joyce is a Self-Published Fantasy BlogOff Semifinalist, a Writers of the Future SemiFinalist, and an Anthology Builder Finalist. She is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, and a member of Soroptimists International.
Thanks so much, Joyce, for joining me!
J. Scott Coatsworth: What was your first published work? Tell me a little about it.
Joyce Reynolds-Ward: Well, I had some short pieces published in my junior high’s literary magazine. As far as professional publication, my first short story was published in a small magazine called Random Realities around—1997, I want to say. The artist who illustrated my story was featured on the cover. As it turns out, that was the issue that made Random Realitiesnoticed…for a short period. The story was called “The Ties That Bind” and ended up as being part of my first published book, Netwalk. Drastically rewritten, of course—but it was about a researcher who escaped from the National Security labs after the betrayal and death of his research partner. Marty Fielding flees to his former employer, Do It Right, Inc—a bioremediation and security company operated by his ex-girlfriend Melanie Landreth. As it turns out, Marty and Melanie end up having to flee because National Security is after them—and the technology that Melanie safeguards. Oh, and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons plays a role throughout the story.
JSC: How long have you been writing?
JRW: Since the early ‘70s. I got a personal reject from William Buckley over a piece of Watergate poetry—handwritten on the form reject card, no less. Alas, it’s disappeared.
I haven’t been submitting consistently, but during my high school years (those same early ‘70s), I was writing and submitting short stories and poetry. Of course, I didn’t bother to identify myself as a high school writer, and I was living in the exurbs of Springfield, Oregon, so there wasn’t a lot of science fiction fandom available then. No city bus, didn’t have a driver’s license, so I was kept pretty sequestered.
There was another dry spell during my college and early working years, until the late ‘80s when I was a stay-at-home mother because I didn’t have the credentials to get the sort of job that would pay for childcare, and money was tight. I did a number of side gigs, including trying to sell short stories and novels. I ended up writing for several feminist zines in the Portland area as well as a short-term internet column for The Catholic Sentinel and then a column for the Portland State Vanguard while getting my special education teaching certificate. After that, I worked on short stories, ending up with a Semifinalist placement in Writers of the Future along with a couple of Honorable Mentions. Then I started self publishing my novels and sold…something around thirty short stories or so, with Fantasy Scroll Magazinebeing my biggest sale.
JSC: How do you approach covers for your indie stories?
JRW: I am doing my own covers these days due to budget and A.I. concerns. I start by eyeballing potential comps. That can be difficult considering I’m often writing cross-genre, frequently SFF mixed with contemporary Western themes/style and relationships. Despite the underlying Western elements in a lot of current SF, there’s a strong negative reaction from a lot of the gatekeepers if you don’t follow the tropes of video Westerns, including Southwestern settings and frontier themes with heavy cowboy/Indian elements.
In any case, I’m trying to balance the different elements while screening backgrounds, etc, for potential A.I. problems. I generally go with Depositphotos and look for pictures that were uploaded prior to 2022.
Then I go to work in BookBrush. I used to make covers in GIMP, and I don’t miss it one bit, but I learned a lot from working in GIMP. I rarely have problems getting my BookBrush covers approved by distributors, which is a relief.
JSC: What inspired you to write The Cost of Power? What were the challenges in bringing it to life?
JRW: The Cost of Power trilogy has been one of my most ambitious projects. It’s set in my Martiniere Multiverse world, using characters I’ve written about in other series. I’ve dealt with other elements of that world in the other Martiniere series, but this one is entirely its own thing.
I had two major things I wanted to do with this story—first, examine the ins and outs of mind control technology and its problems; then second, take the archvillain from the other books, Philip Martiniere, and make him a bit more gray rather than evil. I’m happy with how I handled Philip’s redemptive arc; not so thrilled about the mind control piece. Though…I do like how I illustrated the degree to which mind control technology could warp even the deepest relationship at the end of the second book, Crucible. And I did more with digital thought clones than I thought I would. But then the water spirits stuck their noses into the book, along with elements from the Carolingian mythos, and…well…it’s probably a better story than what I first thought of. All the same it was a challenge.
Additionally, I wrote all three books before going back to do significant edits and revisions, and I’m glad I did. That’s a lot easier to write as a series.
JSC: Who has been your favorite character to write and why?
JRW: It’s a tossup between Gabriel Martiniere and his wife Ruby Barkley Martiniere.
Gabe is a very flawed character—well, no matter what universe I put him in, he’s had to deal with a lot of trauma from a very early age. Besides having a savior complex, he’s also a bit reckless and self-destructive. And he keeps a lot of secrets that he shouldn’t that end up biting him in the butt in the long run.
However…he’s also loyal, a bit of a dreamer, and hopes for a better world. While he ends up playing a leadership role in the Martiniere Group and the Martiniere Family, what he really would like to do is design agricultural robots with Ruby on her ranch and help Ruby run the ranch. Oh, and read old French poetry to Ruby. While seducing her. He’s a very sexy boy, our Gabe, and he’s hot for Ruby.
Ruby is a high-achieving, ambitious woman who doesn’t put up with a lot of B.S. Like Gabe, she experienced a lot of trauma in her youth, and it’s only been her drive to achieve that has kept her going and in one piece—that and her horses. She is brilliant in a take-no-prisoners manner, no matter what universe she’s in, a top-flight ag robotics designer specializing in nanobiobots that aid in precision agriculture development. Her early rodeo queen goals almost got her to the pinnacle of rodeo queen success—Miss Rodeo America (she was first runner-up as Miss Rodeo Oregon). As an adult she is driven to develop her biobots and see them succeed.
Plus she’s a damned fine horsewoman. Gabe is the major love of her life and the only man she’s ever trusted. Like him, she’s protective of those she loves and cares about, and will fight to the death to protect them. It’s not a coincidence that the Native spirit appearing to her in The Cost of Power is a black bear sow—Ruby is a Mama Bear. And she possesses magical abilities of her own.
JSC: Let’s talk to your characters for a minute –Are you happy with where your writer left you at the end? (don’t give us any spoilers).
JRW:
Ruby: Gabe’s alive and well; our kids are doing all right. I wish I could have talked to my counterparts in other universes but hey, my family is surviving in spite of water spirits, digital thought clones, and scheming assholes.
Gabe: I paid a pretty high price to gain this power I now hold (primarily in long-term health prospects since I’m fairly messed up). I owe Ruby so much for her role in getting me here. I would have liked to see how things unfolded further, especially since I suspect our two oldest kids are gonna be facing something magical and problematic, but that’s Eddie and Lily’s story, not ours. And I would have liked to have seen our grandkids in this world.
JSC: Were you a voracious reader as a child?
JRW: Oh yes. I devoured the Black Stallion series along with the Little House books. Then I moved on to other things, developing an obsession with books about Elizabeth I, then spy stories. I really didn’t start reading science fiction and fantasy until my early teens, I suppose because I’d gotten bored with other options.
JSC: What qualities do you and your characters share? How much are you like them, or how different are they from you?
JRW: Well, we all love horses (heh!). I suppose the keeping secrets piece and the protectiveness is a shared quality. My female characters (not just Ruby!) tend to share my mouthy tendencies, though I’ve moderated a LOT from my younger days.
I have not encountered the degree of trauma that my characters have. Nowhere near what they’ve undergone—mine has been the usual smart girl growing up in a timber town with very few others to talk to and being excluded, probably due to ADHD. And…my characters are significantly better at math than I ever have been.
JSC: Which of your own characters would you Kill? Fuck? Marry? And why?
JRW: I’d kill a number of the Philip Martinieres who pop up in the universes other than The Cost of Power. That’s okay—Philip tends to get eliminated in just about all of them. As for the fucking and marrying…stupid of me, but it’s probably Gabriel Martiniere.
JSC: What are you working on now, and what’s coming out next? Tell us about it!
JRW: I’m returning to the world of my first fantasy series, Goddess’s Honor, and picking up some unresolved threads in a series I’m calling Goddess’s Vision. At the end of Goddess’s Honor, in the book Judgment of Honor, the Big Bad Emperor is killed. But Goddess’s Vision picks up from the end of Judgment, where my protagonists face the reality of what it will take to repair the mess that the Big Bad has made of the Darani Empire. It’s not all bonbons and happily-ever-after in Daran, because the Empire was already on the brink of collapse, including the magic that has held it together.
Things aren’t that pleasant in the colonies, either, because there’s a new threat that was allied with the Big Bad that has schemes of its own. My protagonists Betsona and Heinmyets find themselves dealing with an Empress who isn’t—quite right—after what she did to depose the Big Bad Emperor, plus the rise of factions. Things aren’t peachy-keen with the Seven Crowned Gods, either. Though they deposed a problematic Goddess and replaced her in the pantheon, Stuff Is Happening with the deities…and that banished Goddess isn’t exactly gone, either. Plus there are two more problematic Gods.
I’m looking at it being a trilogy and am working on the first volume, Vision of Alliance. The other two books are planned to be Vision of Chaos and Vision of Order. I hope to have them ready to release by fall 2025. We shall see.
And now for Joyce’s new book: The Cost of Power: Omnibus Edition:
There is a shadow that seeks to batter the world into nothingness. It is our task as Martinieres to keep it at bay. –The Private Journals of Etienne Martiniere
When rodeo queen Ruby Barkley fell in love with broke saddle bronc rider Gabe Ramirez, she thought he was on the run from indentured servitude due to massive debt. Then she learned that her love was really Gabriel Martiniere, wealthy descendant of aristocratic brawlers, in hiding due to his testimony against mind control programming abuses of indentured workers performed by his family’s company, the Martiniere Group.
Not that brawling has been a part of the Martiniere heritage since the mid-nineteenth century. These days the Martiniere Family’s income relies on agricultural technology, security services, and pharmaceuticals. Not fighting. Not mercenary companies. Their battles are waged in corporate boardrooms and financial manipulations. But the hidden history of the Martiniere Family surfaces in Gabe—and his father Philip.
Gabe and Ruby face foes from other universes as well as their own, including a malign digital version of Philip—Philippe—intent on eliminating all other Philips and Gabes from the multiverse. Add in the multiversal feud between Fae water spirits who patronize not just the Martinieres but their greatest enemies, the Braun family.
Even worse, the centuries-old vendetta between the Brauns and the Martinieres has been revived with greater fervor since Gabe’s great-grandfather Charles unscrupulously excluded the Brauns from Cold War-era military mind control research. Charles also instituted a eugenics program involving genetic manipulation of his descendants, intended to recreate a Napoleonic-era Martiniere, Etienne, culminating in Gabe.
Why is Etienne so important? What is digital Philippe’s ultimate goal? Why did Charles seek a modern version of Etienne? How can Gabe and Ruby prevail over the threat posed by the Brauns and their supernatural and digital allies? What is the cost of the power they gain in order to win?
For gaining power always demands a cost. Ruby and Gabe walk a knife’s-edge balance between victory and defeat—not just for them, but for the multiverse. If they lose themselves in the quest for power, they might just lose who they really are—and the multiverse will fall.
THIS EDITION CONTAINS THE BOOKS RETURN, CRUCIBLE, AND REDEMPTION AS WELL AS SEVERAL SHORT STORIES.
100% HUMAN CREATED WORK.
Universal Buy Link
Excerpt
He dropped his tools into the short bed of the side-by-side and clambered into it, then drove around the corner of the Homestead field, dropping into a little draw with a spring that the Ryder family called Ladyslipper, after the family name for the calypso orchids that popped up there in April and May, along with morel mushrooms.
After cupping his hands under the trickle from the plastic pipe that fed into the stock tank and taking a big drink, Gabe splashed his face and hair from the trough. Then he took off his overshirt and t-shirt, dipped the t-shirt into the water and put it back on, shivering at the pleasant coolness. He dangled his sore finger in the water for a few minutes, sitting on the edge of the trough. Ladyslipper Spring was always cool, even on a hot day.
As he hoped, it eased both his body and his temper. Ron and Ruby didn’t need to be subjected to his outbursts.
Did he ever need to cool off before going back to the ranch headquarters.
Trouble was brewing.
Normally, he took this anniversary in stride. But this year—probably because it had been five years since the trial—one of the lurid true crime streaming shows, Criminal Injustice, featured the U.S. v. Martiniere Group trial that led to Gabe’s exile. It premiered tonight. From the previews Gabe had already glimpsed, while the actor portraying him didn’t have a strong resemblance, the producers were using clips of his testimony, teasing that they would really see the restricted videos, without showing them in the promotions.
That was a huge problem. Especially if someone like Nathan Bonham watched the show, and put the pieces together. Bonham would have no qualms about letting Philip know where Gabe was.
It was one thing for Gabe to make that conscious choice to reveal himself, once he was prepared and protected. Another for it to be forced upon him.
Gabe sighed. Short of disappearing, he didn’t have a solution. He had left a message with Serg Vygotsky. Maybe Serg could help him now—or perhaps he knew something that would make this situation better. After all, why hadn’t Philip sued the pants off of Criminal Injustice? Gabe didn’t think rehashing that trial was good publicity for his uncle or for the Group.
Then again, if Philip thought this show might lead him to Gabe….
No good choices. At all.
Plus—Ruby’s period was late and she had been nauseous in the mornings. If ever there was a crappy time for pregnancy to happen in spite of all their precautions—
He could think of other, worse problems that her symptoms might indicate. She had irregular cycles. Had once been diagnosed with endometriosis, along with a couple of Pap smears that were problematic. But Ruby hadn’t said anything to him about suspecting a pregnancy, and Gabe wasn’t willing to force the issue—yet. He wanted to get past whatever would happen as a result of Criminal Injustice.
With any luck, he could continue to live as Gabe Ramirez, ranch hand on the run from indenture bounty hunters. While Gabe Ramirez’s life was living broke, living tight, there was a lot of happiness in it that Gabe hadn’t known as Gabriel Martiniere, at least after his family died in that damn plane crash when he was twelve.
Ruby was the center of that happiness.
She knew that Gabe Ramirez was an assumed identity—but what would happen when she learned that he wasn’t on the run from indenture bounty hunters? That he was Gabriel Martiniere, and wealthy? That he could have financed her dreams of world-changing biobot designs easily, instead of the scratching and struggling they currently endured, hoping to save enough to build an independent lab?
He wasn’t sure he was willing to risk finding out how she felt about him being rich.
Then there were the nightmares where he seemed to be in a different life. Those had started up in the last few weeks, culminating in last night’s horrific dream where Philip killed him.
Anxiety? Most likely—and he didn’t trust any psychiatric medication these days. Not after what had happened during U.S. v. Martiniere Group and its aftermath.
Ah well. Agonizing wasn’t going to help anything.
As Gabe rose, for a moment he thought he saw a fur trapper’s rough form standing near the trough. It resembled a sketch he had seen of his ancestor Etienne Martiniere, who had been a fur trapper in the Northwest before returning to the Family from his exile, becoming Etienne the Martiniere.
The ghostly Etienne form pointed at Gabe, then at the dirt. Despite himself, Gabe looked. Something glittered underneath the water trough’s outflow.
Perhaps it was a nice piece of fool’s gold he could take back to add to Ruby’s collection.
“Pick it up,” he thought the trapper said before disappearing.
Gabe scraped around it with his index finger. Not a rock. It glittered gold, but what he felt was smooth and rounded, not the squarish shape of a pyrite crystal.
A piece of lost jewelry. Possibly something that had belonged to one of Ruby’s Ryder ancestors. Gabe dug in the damp soil, finally freeing the item—a gold ring, sized for a man’s hand. Flat-topped, covered with enough muck that he couldn’t tell if it was a signet ring or if it had once held a fairly large stone.
He rinsed the ring under the outflow, rubbing the caked mud off of the flat top. No prongs or edging to indicate it had once held a stone, so a signet. Gabe’s pulse pounded harder. Coupled with that vision of Etienne—and this date—fuck. The Family mysticism at work?
He turned the ring over, and gulped.
A crest featured the rough outline of a rampant dragon facing a rearing stallion with fleur-de-lis on both sides, with initials underneath.
What is it doing here, of all places?
It was what he thought. Gabe tightened his lips and closed his hand around the ring, to confirm or deny his suspicions. A familiar tingle prickled against his palm. Gabe opened his hand again, studying the initials. He had a damn good idea who the ring had belonged to.
EGM. Etienne Gabriel Martiniere.
Just like the figure he had seen. Etienne’s original signet had disappeared during his fur trapping period—but for it to show up here of all places, now? Still bearing the mysterious aura that surrounded many Martiniere artifacts—that tingle meant this ring was authentic, that it had been worn by Etienne Martiniere. That it had once been potent with oaths tied to the Martinieres, part of their legendary descent from a water spirit.
What does this mean? Especially finding it today, of all days?
Gabe studied the ring. An indicator that he should disclose his true identity? A warning for him to flee? Or simply mere coincidence?
Coincidence, he decided, and slipped the ring into his pocket.
He didn’t believe in omens. Should he give this ring to Ruby, as a Double R treasure, or stash it amongst his things? Or did it belong in his small personal safe, where he kept other things Martiniere? Then he could pass it on to Serg, who could safely deliver it to Uncle Gerry, the custodian for Family artifacts.
But only once Gabe was certain that it wouldn’t give away his hiding place.
All the same, Etienne’s deathbed warning to the Family kept echoing through his thoughts.
There is a shadow that seeks to batter the world into nothingness. It is our task as Martinieres to keep it at bay.
Why was it going through his mind now? Why hadn’t it been resonating through his thoughts when he was preparing to testify in U.S. v. Martiniere Group? That situation fit Etienne’s warning more than Criminal Injustice ever could.
What did the appearance of the ring really mean?