In The Orbit of Sirens
Welcome to my stop on the tour for
in the orbit of
sirens
by T.A. Bruno
find FEATUREd
Book & Audiobook
Author Interview
Review link
Exclusive teaser for book 2
Giveaway
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Hello friends,
I am super excited to take part in this book tour for T.A. Bruno today. If you haven’t heard me say it before, let me tell you, In The Orbit of Sirens is a fantastic sci-fi novel and among the best books I have read. I can’t recommend it enough! When I received this book for review, I was blown away by the stellar artwork, cover-design, and superb quality bookbinding! Ridiculously top-notch!
Check out the novel and my interview with the author BELOW!
There also is an amazing giveaway run by Storytellers with this tour and you can enter for a chance to win a copy of the novel in the format of your choice: Hardcover, paperback, or audiobook – 5 winners - at the end of this post :)
Don’t miss the special teaser in the post below!
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in the orbit of sirens
SERIES: The Song of Kamaria (#1)
AUTHOR: T.A. Bruno
PUBLISHED: October 4, 2020
PAGES: 502
GENRE: Science Fiction, Adventure
BOOK BLURB
THE LAST FRAGMENTS OF THE HUMAN RACE ARE FORCED TO ADAPT TO A DANGEROUS NEW WORLD OR FACE EXTINCTION.
When starship mechanic, Denton Castus, is caught in the destructive path of a devastating war, he abandons his home and seeks refuge on a distant planet. However, this new safe haven has undiscovered threats of its own. Eliana Veston, a scout preparing the planet for the refugees, struggles with a deadly pandemic that is killing off colonists. The hunt for a cure unleashes a new threat to humanity—the Sirens—mysterious beings with incredible powers and a deep hatred for invaders.
Meet the author
T. A. BRUNO grew up in Chicago and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the film industry. Since then, he has brought stories to life for over a decade as a previsualization artist. At home, he is a proud father of two boys and a husband to a wonderful wife. IN THE ORBIT OF SIRENS is his debut science fiction novel.
Author Interview
I have met you in our online reading community and had the pleasure of reading your book, which I absolutely loved. Can you tell us a little about your debut sci-fi novel IN THE ORBIT OF SIRENS?
Hi Scarlett, it’s been great crossing digital paths with you. I’m thrilled you enjoyed my book, and I’m a big fan of the photos you’ve taken of it too. In the Orbit of Sirens has been a long-time dream of mine to create. The story takes place as humanity is pushed out of the Sol-System and forced to adapt to a dangerous new world. We follow two main characters, Denton Castus, a starship mechanic from Ganymede, and Eliana Veston, a brilliant scout searching for a cure to a horrible pandemic. The first part is told at two different times, with Eliana’s story being current day and Denton’s taking place during the final days of the war that took humanity to Kamaria. Eventually, the characters meet, and there are more problems to solve.
When did you first think of writing a sci-fi novel and how long did the process take from conception to publishing?
I’ve always wanted to write a thrilling sci-fi adventure, ever since I was a kid drawing little comics books of my friends and me. In a way, this book is the evolution of those little comics, with decades of revamps, false starts, and reworking. Now, it’s finally in the real world.
Are you a reader and is sci-fi your preferred genre to read? Who are our writing idols?
Sci-fi is my go-to, but I branch out a lot as well. I notice I drift into horror sometimes, as does my work. My favorite writers are Neil Gaiman, Vernor Vinge, Dan Simmons, and Ray Bradbury.
I understand you work in the film industry. Has that been part of your inspiration for IN THE ORBIT OF SIRENS? Any movies or scenes in particular?
My job in previsualization and layout has been a massive catalyst for my writing. I have had the pleasure of working with some top-name directors and learning how they approach a story. It has also helped me write big action scenes. The long con is that I wanted to write something that I would also love to work on if it ever got developed into a film. I wouldn’t say any particular scenes led to Sirens because I specifically created sequences I had not really seen before but always wanted to see.
As a first-time writer with a full-time job and two small children, how did you find the time to write? What was the most challenging part of it?
Luckily for me, I wrote most of Sirens before my kids were born! Funny that it didn’t get published until after having two kids. Before my kids were born, I’d find time to write in the morning and after work, sometimes late into the night.
Are you a plotter or pantser? And how did the novel differ from draft to draft?
I’m a big advocate of Plotting, but there’s a little bit of pansting involved. I start with a pretty solid outline, but I will say, Sirens took some significant detours compared to its sequels (debut writing stretches). Knowing where I’m heading with the plot helps me flesh out details and foreshadow. As you may remember, there are many things that happen at the beginning of the novel that are elaborated on at the end. If anyone ever reads it a second time, they’ll see how much is set up for the people who know where it will lead. (I know I’m being extra vague.) But that sort of thing would be much harder to accomplish by pantsing. But a little healthy pansting is necessary. Whole chapters, and even most of part 3, were written outside of an outline’s plan. By the time I reached the end, the story had started to write itself.
Your novel begins with two timelines to set the stage and adds another element with an underdog character, whom I’m a fan of. How did this come about?
Originally, Denton and Eliana both left the Sol-System together, and you got a lot of shoe leather about the Telemachus and Odysseus missions, even scenes with the first scout missions (one is mentioned in the book. I may even pick these scenes off the editing floor for a future companion novel). But beta readers pointed out that there was a lot of time spent leading up to where the plot begins. One reader suggested that maybe we start with Eliana already on Kamaria (some of the best advice on the novel I received). So, I workshopped that idea, and what came about was we see Eliana on Kamaria trying to cure lung-lock while the Telemachus is in transit, then we do some flashbacks to those days before the Sol-System exodus with Denton’s intro. You get to see where humanity came from and where it’s going, and both sides have their own issues.
Who are your favorite and least favorite characters? Any challenges in writing them in particular?
I love all of my characters, but I will say I specifically wrote some to hate on purpose. I’ll stick with non-main characters for this question because it was interesting to see what happened with them. For instance, Jess Combs had initially been a one-off character that didn’t go anywhere. After beta reader input (beta readers are amazing) Jess Combs became a huge character in the entire trilogy. You get to see her grow as a person. At one point, I wanted to shrink down my cast, so Jess absorbed some of the stuff that another character was going to do, and the novel is better for it. Jess has become one of my favorite characters to write. Mitch Harlan, on the other hand, was also fun to write but written to hate. Strawman, sort of, but in a way I hope readers find enjoyable. He’s my Biff from Back to the Future, the guy you know is wrong and evil, but love to see him fail. Even while doing the audiobook, my note to Michael (the audiobook narrator) was “make Mitch just utterly hateable,” and I think he did a great job.
In The Orbit of Sirens has such a great mix of sci-fi action-adventure as well as family and friendship. How important was it to you to have such a variety of elements in your novel.
Extremely important. I like to take the Steven Spielberg approach to storytelling, where something can have heart, adventure, fun, and some horror all in one story. It’s also based on my experiences moving across the country. I originally lived in Chicago with my family and friends. I moved to Los Angeles after college to pursue my career in the film industry. Along the way, I made new friends and figured out who I was. Denton does a lot of the same.
Were there parts that you omitted?
Thanks to changing Eliana’s intro, a lot was left on the cutting room floor. I may pick these back up for a future companion novel. Scenes involving Eliana’s time on the Odysseus in transit to Kamaria, the first landing there, and some of the first scout missions were all written and in the book for a long time. I’m not too mad they got removed because the stories inside still aided the character’s backgrounds. There is also a few scenes where I switched who’s perspective we were following. There’s a chapter in there written from Eliana’s perspective that had initially been Denton’s. What’s cool about cutting it out as a writer is knowing how both of their days went that day.
For those who have not read your book yet, tell me a little about the amazing art featured throughout the story as well as the stunning cover art.
Daniel Schmelling did the cover art, and Jason Michael Hall did the interior illustrations. I’m a bit of an artist myself, but I hired them because I knew they would do my story justice. Growing up, a lot of the novels I use to read had some images in them, and the covers were always hand-painted and gorgeous. Daniel is the only freelancer I contacted about handling my art because he is the perfect guy for the job. I needed something epic, with lots of meaning, that set the reader immediately into a scene and hand to look hand-painted; Daniel accomplished all of these feats. Jason Hall is a good friend of mine, and we had worked together for a few years and remained in touch afterward. During my time getting to know him, I got to see a lot of his artwork, and I always loved his style. When I asked him to create some stuff for Sirens I was thrilled he agreed! His chapter headers are based on some 3D models I created of the book's various ships (he made them look way better!). I am bringing both Daniel and Jason back for the rest of the trilogy and possibly beyond if they’ll put up with me long enough.
Your novel just published as an audiobook. What is your next endeavor?
Michael Reimer did an excellent job bringing my characters to life for the audiobook. I look forward to continuing working with him. For now, I have Sirens’ sequel getting closer to the finish line, hoping to publish later this year (no official date yet). I’m also knee-deep in writing the conclusion to the trilogy, and I hope to get that out in 2022.
If you had not made use of your writing talents, what else would it have been?
Before committing to the long-form novelization, I was going to make Sirens into a short animated film. I don’t think it would have done it justice though, and I’m glad I took the plunge.
Thank you so much for the interview!
Check out my review of the novel!
The illustrations in this book are stunning,
therefore I am super excited to share with you this
*Special Feature tease*
Thank you T.A. Bruno for sharing an illustration of Part 1 from your upcoming book #2 of The Song of Kamaria.
This illustration was done by Jason Michael Hall and features a view of Kamaria from a nearby cluster of asteroids.
It looks so awesome!
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your chance to win!
In the Orbit of Sirens by T. A. Bruno
– Winners Choice: Hardcover, paperback, or audiobook – 5 winners, US Only
Starts: March 21st, 2021 at 12:00am EST
Ends: March 28th, 2021 at 11:59pm EST
Thanks for stopping by and happy reading :)
Tour organized by
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