As a middle school ELA teacher, the last thing that I want to do when I get home from reading through hundreds of poorly written essays with numerous spelling errors and grammatical mistakes, is read. However, once summer comes around, I task myself with making a list of books to get through before it’s back to the grind. Last summer, I was in a super scifi mood, and decided to walk around my local book store to see if I could find a hidden gem. That’s when I came across Cascade Failure by L.M. Sagas. Although I do subscribe to the proverb “you should never judge a book by its cover,” I was instantly drawn into the art work. I turned to the back of the book, was intrigued by the synopsis and decided to give Cascade Failure a chance. It was only after reading the first few chapters that I quickly rushed out to purchase the sequel Gravity Lost.
I recently was able to have a chat with Sagas about what drove her to become an author, what inspired her to write the Ambit’s Run duology, and most importantly, what she has planned for the future!
When did you know that you wanted to become an author?
I’ve been writing as long as I can remember, but making the leap to try to become a published author is definitely a more recent thing. I think I was probably in undergrad (okay, so recent is relative) when I looked at one of the stories I’d been picking away at and thought, huh, it would be pretty cool to see this on a bookstore shelf one day. School kind of slowed things down, but it’s true what they say–there really isn’t a time limit on chasing that dream. And now here I am!
What work of science fiction got you into the genre?
Oh, Star Wars, hands down. My dad is the biggest Star Wars fan I’ve ever met, and growing up, there were shelves full of Expanded Universe books, the most wonderfully eyeroll-inducing Force puns, and this really awesome Darth Vader helmet that I’m 90% sure did the voice modulation thing (or my dad could’ve just been hella good at impersonations–it’s a mystery). There’s just something about an entire universe that’s so different from ours, so new and strange, but also so relatable and human (for a given value of the word) that I loved even when I was too young to put words to it, and I love it even more now.
What inspired you to write the Ambit Run’s series?
Apart from the (possibly genetic) love of classic scifi like Star Wars, Star Trek, etc., I got the itch for this particular book when I was muddling through grad school finals and wanted the TV equivalent of comfort food. Enter: marathon reruns of Stargate Atlantis, Firefly, and Killjoys. And I just wanted to write something like that–something that feels new and exciting, but that also feels a little bit like putting on that old, worn-out hoodie fresh out of the dryer, hunkering down on the couch, and humming your way through an intro song you know by heart.
The main cast of characters you created are great, my personal favorite being Saint, how did you go about creating these characters? Are any of them based on friends or family- do their names hold any significance to you, or did they just feel right?
I think one of my favorite things about writing has always been the characters. When the concept is right, it kind of feels like they just show up. Maybe they need a little shaping up, a little seasoning, but they’ve always got this sort of core identity that sticks with them through the drafting. Jal, the big, golden retriever born in the dark. Saint, the gruff soldier hiding a gooey marshmallow core. Nash, the medic-mechanic with the bedside manner of a rusty cheesegrater. Then they grow from there. And somewhere along the way, I buckle down and make myself figure out what to call them, which is a highly scientific mix of vibes and whatever names I’ve heard recently that sounded kind of cool.
(Jal may or may not have gotten his name from my FIFA 15 career character. In another life, he could’ve been a winger!)
What was your biggest challenge in writing both Cascade Failure and Gravity Lost? Were there any major changes that you made to the final version?
Definitely the POVs. As you saw, each book has four main POVs (and a couple surprises!), and trying to not only split a single coherent story apart into that many perspectives (who’s doing what, when, where, and with whom), but also give each of those perspectives something unique to bring to the story, definitely felt like trying to walk a small pack of hungry dogs through a crowded pet store. Honestly, though? It also made for a heck of a lot of fun.
Not many, actually–which was a huge relief, because there was higher-than-average amount of winging it happening with both of these books. It took a couple of tries to actually get the proverbial car out of neutral (I think the current version of the Cascade Failure opener was Take Three or Four), but after that, the books played pretty nice.
When can fans of the Ambit’s Run series, myself included, expect the next book to be released?
So, at the moment, the Ambit’s Run books are planned as a duology, with Gravity Lost being the last planned book in the set. That being said, I absolutely love this universe and these characters, and if the publishing stars align for me to get to revisit it, I’ve got a few more adventures in mind for the ol’ Ambit crew.
Are there any other projects that you are particularly excited about that you wanted to share?
Got a few things in the works, but nothing I can share right at the moment! I’m admittedly Not Awesome at the social media thing, but I’m around on most of the main sites and will definitely share any updates there!
You can purchase Cascade Failure and Gravity Lost in most places books are sold, and make sure to check out L.M. Sagas on instagram to stay up to date on her future works!