Five friends get in over their heads in Marc B DeGeorge’s new humorous YA scifi action adventure, The Starship Sneak. They discover a Empire-wide conspiracy, but can they stop it before humanity goes to war with an unknown alien race?

Marc, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Please tell us about The Starship Sneak.

The Starship Sneak by Marc B DeGeorge

Genre: YA Science Fiction Action and Adventure
Book heat level (based on movie ratings): PG

Renton (Rance) Quigley He’ had two big dreams—and he was failing miserably at both.

First, he wanted to become a fighter of injustice, just like his dad. But that went out the window the same day his father did. It wrecked poor Rance, and since then, he spent his days yearning for something that was never to be.

Rance’s second—if unrealistic—dream was to date his childhood friend, the beautiful, intelligent, and most amazing Kayley. He considered her so out of his league that he had almost accepted it would never happen. And to complicate things, Kayley and the rest of his friends would soon leave to continue their education far away from their hometown. In two months, Rance would be alone… again.

Then it happened… War!

A surprise attack on their colony planet by a mysterious alien race created a panic. These highly advanced aliens are relentless and powerful—but something doesn’t add up. Why do they attack so sporadically? And why doesn’t the Empire do more to protect their fledgling colony planet?

Will Rance and his friends seek the truth, or will they become distracted by the next, greatest star-chart?

What species/races of people are in your book?

Humans and a short fuzzy alien race that are called the Teddys.

Do you have non-sentient creatures or animals in your story? If so, what are they?

Animals are mentioned but they are not a main part of the story except for some small furry creatures that are essentially food for the Teddys.

Language and Culture

This section describes languages and culture in your story world.

What languages are spoken in your story universe?

The primary language is called Empire Common. It’s a dialect of British English with a few other words from other languages mixed in.

If you created a language for the story, what is it called?

The aliens in the story have their own language that the main character calls “Teddyese”. It’s a combination of sounds – clicks, buzzes, whistles and chirps that is difficult for human to pronounce, but not comprehend.

Please give us a few words in this language and their translation.

Unfortunately, there is no way to do that in type! A few of the Teddys can speak a limited amount of Empire Common, though their interpretations of the language can sometimes be odd. Especially when the main Teddy character takes up human colloquialisms and slang as a hobby.

In the culture of your story world, what is different from ours?

The fundamental difference is that ethnicity and culture has melded together to create a big stew of ideas, traditions and cultures. Everyone in the Empire is of hapa, or mixed race, and only a few things, like food culture and bits of language from old Earth still exist. Part of the story in the series is of the main characters discovering things about their specific heritage that they never knew before because of the gentrification that the Empire has imposed on everyone. Still, humans are individuals and they try their best to create their own traditions.

What special laws are important to your story world?

The law of the Empire is a constitutional monarchy, so while there is a government body that makes laws for the common people, the Emperor can do whatever he wants either inside the boundaries of the law or outside. The one risk there is that the Central Planets of the Commonwealth could overthrow him if they deem him unfit to rule, so there is still a balance there. Outside of that, many of the laws are similar to our own.

What rights (such as equality) are challenges for your characters?

There are citizens of the Empire—those with full rights and protections under law, and there are non-citizens. The main characters are all non-citizens and often come up against the restrictions and biases that are created when non-citizens are not offered the same protections.

Story Setting

Writers usually know more about their story world than they can say in a book. This is your chance to show off things you couldn’t say or had to imply rather than state.

Describe one of the worlds where your story takes place.

The homeworld of our characters is a colony planet called Angelcanis. The planet got its name because of an atmospheric effect, similar to the Aurora Borealis that gives the planet “wings” It is visible from space. There are two major continents that make up about 35% of the planet’s surface. Everything else is ocean.

What makes this world unique?

Geographically, this is a young world with no major mountain ranges. There are large areas of land that are highly fertile, and because of its orientation to their sun, there is very little extreme weather of any kind.

Tell us about the age of the culture in your story, i.e., are the people part of an ancient civilization, a newly formed group within an established culture, pioneer colonists, etc.

Angelcanis, being a colony, is not as well developed as the Central Planets, so not every bit of technology from the Empire has made it there. But it is the most developed of the colony planets, so things like computers, self-driving taxis (there are few personally owned vehicles). The culture is somewhat homogenized, being a lot of sameness in how people dress, the colors and styles not widely varied. Lawns are picture perfect, houses are neat and tidy, it’s all a bit processed-looking.

What food or drink is available to your characters?

Angelcanis is a planet of vegetarians! The idea of eating dead animal flesh is repulsive to everyone, which becomes an issue for them as the story evolves. Cusine is a mixture of things from every culture on earth. For instance, congee (rice porridge) topped with ginger, scallions, cilantro and goji berries is a favorite breakfast dish. The main character loves his taro fries, which all his buddies steal any chance they can. There is alcohol available but the characters don’t drink.

In what ways was it helpful to have a map (or sketch of one) for your story? (Provide a link to an image, if available)

I never created a physical map, but I could if so inclined. I have an image of the entire planet in my head, and I’m constantly looking at it, so I don’t think I’ll forget what Angelcanis looks like anytime soon.

Character Physiology

Whether your characters are humans on a new world, aliens on our world, or something in between, this section discusses their physical nature.

What are the physical characteristics of the race/species of your main characters?

All the main characters are human, descended from explorers on mass colony ships from a long-ago earth. Because of this, there was a lot of intermixing of races and cultures and now most citizens of the Empire look a lot alike, but the main characters, having come from a different and younger expedition, still have kept many of the characteristics of their ethnic background. For instance, Rance, the main character, is Brazilian-Chinese, with a smattering of English in his heritage. His friend Kayley, is English-Russian-Catalan. All of the main characters have backgrounds like this, part of the reason they stick out when compared to the bland features of the citizens of the Empire.

The aliens, self-named the Teddys, are short in comparison, being about half the height of humans. They are vaguely bear-shaped, with short, stumpy legs and arms, and a pair of long tentacles that protrude from their backs. These appendages are the ones they use for both manipulation of objects and for locomotion. Their bodies are covered in a fuzzy fur which comes in a rainbow of colors. Pink, brown, blue, green, black, yellow, red. Etc.

What physical differences exist in the way your characters communicate (i.e., telepathy, empathic abilities, etc.) with each other?

While the humans in the story communicate through speech and language, the Teddys—the aliens—have integrated technology into their bodies and have created a mass network of knowledge and thought that any of them can draw upon.

What differences, if any, exist in the way your characters reproduce?

The Teddys are gender fluid, however they typically choose to be either male or female for reproductive purposes.

Are there more than two genders in your story world and if so, what are they?

While not mentioned directly in the story, transgender and nonbinary people do exist in the Empire and are generally accepted by society, as are people belonging to the LGBT+ community. Issues only typically arise on a personal level. For instance, the character Surela Afton Jee, who is queer and very non-traditional, has a difficult relationship with her mother, who is very conservative.

Sharing World Building Expertise

This section lets you share things you learned while writing.

Please give us three tips you find helpful when creating a story world:

First, think about your story and how much your world is a factor in it. Do your characters simply move through it or do they interact and get affected by it?

Imagine what it might be like to live or visit there. What would you see? What would you eat? Would you need money to pay for things? What kind of clothes would you wear? What’s the climate like? All of these things are important, even if they never make it into your manuscript.

What do your characters think or feel about the world they live in? This can go towards character development, too, as I think both are interconnected.

When you researched for your story setting, what kinds of things did you learn?

For this story, I mainly drew on my own personal experiences of traveling around the world. I did research a bit of geology and meteorology so I can understand how the beach and the oceans interact, and what causes rain and other weather elements.

I also researched the cultures and languages of the main character’s heritage, mainly things I didn’t know or was unsure about. This was the most fun part of my research as I learned things like the different names for rock, paper, scissors from around the world. That was fun, plus looking up words and names in different languages was interesting, too.

What things should writers avoid when building a science fiction world?

Be mindful of cliches or tropes. Or, if you’re going to use them, find a way to make them unique to your story. We’ve all read the dystopian wasteland story that happens after a nuclear war. Could there be another reason for it? Or how could you make that sort of world more interesting (and more challenging to your characters) so that readers can be pulled into the story more?

Share a resource you found helpful when researching for your story.

I love using YouTube as a starting point to learn some basic things about a topic. So much video to watch, and some of it by some highly knowledgeable people. Many videos provide links to their sources, and these are really good to explore. I also use Pinterest to search for ideas on clothing and how people wear things.

What’s your advice for writers who want to create a solid background for their story world?

Don’t be afraid to speak to real people! If your story is hard sci-fi, then interview a scientist. Trust me, they’ll love the fact that you want to speak with them. Just don’t waste their time, or yours. Do some research first, and ask them their opinions about things, or if something might be possible or plausible. It’s a waste of your time and theirs if you’re just asking them the basics. If it’s information that you can easily find online, that’s not what you want to be asking.

Where to buy The Starship Sneak

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KT6Z6QV
Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w?ean=2940160762722
iBooks https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1596190655
Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-starship-sneak
Google https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=hDpPEAAAQBAJ

Marc B DeGeorge

Marc B DeGeorge has made every attempt in his adult life to maintain a balance between how much science and how much art he dabbles in. Sometimes, he’s even successful. When he was young, he wanted to be an astronaut, and then an aeronautical engineer—he even went to Space Camp! But then he learned how to play guitar and his space dreams took a back seat. He spent a decade playing professionally in bands and studying music in college (university only took five years). These days, things have come round full circle, and Marc envisions the future by writing books that imagine what challenges humanity may face, and what we might accomplish together.
When Marc isn’t writing, he performs traditional Japanese music on shamisen and writes, shoots and edits performing arts photos and video—check out some of his work here: https://www.musemarc.com
Website https://marcdegeorge.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MarcBDeGeorge
Amazon Author page https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B09LDCNVHV/