Karin Lowachee's Blog

I'm decommissioning my Patreon and launched a Ko-fi account. As I roll out content in the future, especially related to my Warchild Mosaic, hopefully this method makes it easier for readers internationally to contact and contribute, and for me to deliver my writing directly to you. For readers who would like to directly support my ability to write and thrive, I appreciate you. More to come!

https://ko-fi.com/karinlow

...about THE MOUNTAIN CROWN. Here's an excerpt of me talking about Méka as a protagonist:

"I wanted to write a woman who is not a warrior, who is at peace. She’s not wild, she doesn’t have snarky comments everywhere, she doesn’t extend her energy beyond what’s required in the moment. She’s very capable and not intimidated by these people who have invaded her world, but she understands how to maneuver in it. It’s economical. She will wait. She will act when she needs to act, and not when she doesn’t. I wanted to write that kind of personality because I don’t see it often in fiction, and especially with women, because people interpret it as passive. They interpret passivity as a negative. But if you’re trying to not impact the world, and you want to be in harmony with the world, how do you move through the world? You’re not going to assert yourself and demand attention, or move with self-righteousness. I took a risk in having her as a point of view character. It would have been so much easier to do from Lilley’s point of view, right? He’s much more overtly dynamic. But I chose Meka, because if I’m going to introduce her culture, I want it to be through her lens. The ultimate statement of the story is through her eyes. She’s an atypical protagonist, because she doesn’t try to assert her will upon the world, and she doesn’t feel entitled to anything. I have to check myself and my own programming, too. When I was writing, I kept thinking “wouldn’t she resist here? wouldn’t she fight?” I had it that she thought about it, but then thought, “what’s it going to get me?” She knows she’s maneuvering in a world where she has very little power, societally speaking. If she wanted to assert herself, she could damage everything because of her abilities, but she doesn’t. So as a writer, I had to resist the urge to make her Action Hero Meka. Her actions come from her whole worldview. When creating characters, I can’t just throw characteristics onto personalities; to me, they have to be holistic to them as people. I knew going into that some readers might not dig it. They might think she doesn’t have enough personality, or whatever. But to me, there’s something very beautiful and powerful about people who move through the world with that kind of innate confidence and strength, and they don’t push it onto other people."

Full interview HERE.

Come join me in my first ever AMA over at REDDIT!. I'm talking about The Mountain Crown (which is released today in North America) and everything else, so let's hang out!

UNDER THE SILENCE: A Warchild Mosaic Novella is now LIVE in eBook format! Print coming soon! Buy on Amazon.

Here's the description:

Twenty-year-old Ryan Azarcon is still healing physically and emotionally from an assassination attempt, coming to terms with life aboard his captain father’s exiled military ship Macedon. He’s struck up a workable friendship with Jos Musey, a former spy and now peace negotiator with new alien allies and their human sympathizers, of which Jos is a part. Politics is one thing, but trying to navigate the fraught waters of complicated relationships is its own battleground. Especially when the nature of it all begins to unexpectedly change.

Under the Silence serves as an intimate continuation to the award-winning novel Burndive, the second published novel in the Warchild Mosaic.

Cover art and design by Tara O’Shea @fringeelement on IG
With design inspired by @dalehalvorsen (who created the covers of all the reissued books) 🙏🏼💛 ✍🏼

A new novella in the Warchild Mosaic will be available SOON. Here's a sneak peak of the title graphic.

It seems people are still downloading the old ebook versions of BURNDIVE, etc - not sure how or why when a search on Amazon (where they're available), all the new editions come up immediately and I had the publisher remove the old ebooks. Maybe they're downloading it illegally but if anyone comes by this page, this is where you'll find the new editions that don't have the errors (which I had no control over). I ended up fixing all of that in the reissues of all 3 novels.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Karin-Lowachee/author/B001IXO6L2

Blaise @ Under the Radar SFF interivewed me a couple weeks ago - it was a fun discussion and you can listen to it HERE. I give some hints of what's upcoming, as well as doing a deep dive into the Warchild Mosaic.

I also have a short story in this amazing illustrated horror anthology DEATH IN THE MOUTH. Buy links HERE.

I want to have a zoom session with readers on SUNDAY, MARCH 6 @ 3pm EST. I’m thinking to do another @ 9pm EST for overseas readers.

I offered this to Patreon members but it’s open to all.

If interested PLEASE DM me your email address so I can send the invite.

I’ll be talking about my work of course but will happily discuss general writing things, take anyone’s questions, and perhaps read from new work (like Matryoshka). Please feel free to pass this along to others.

My story "Survival Guide," which originally appeared in The Dystopia Triptych's second volume Burn the Ashes, was chosen for the BASFF 2021 edited by Veronica Roth.

For more information and where to purchase the anthology, check out John Joseph Adams' website HERE!