Once Broken, An Introduction (Patreon)

Once Broken is the sixth and, at the time I wrote it, final book in the Tristan Series.

As mentioned in the introduction to Fractured Families, what became this book was the second half of Draft 0 of it. Even then, the whole thing was building up to one scene, Tristan’s understanding of who he was, and what he wanted. I don’t remember when exactly the idea for the scene came to me, but it us well before draft 0 of this book. In it’s way, it became the crux of the second trilogy, breaking Tristan, to rebuild him. The biggest challenge was that I didn’t want him to become ‘good’.

Tristan was never meant to be ‘good’. So I needed to work out what that ‘transformation’ would mean. In the End it became about understanding that having connections with others, mainly Alex, didn’t make him weak.

And then, I had to write everything leading up to that. In draft 0, they basically go to Samalia, speak with the priestess, hand over the Defender and it’s done, (At least, that’s how I remember it.) but that was the end half of a longer book. If it was going to be its own book, there needed to be more to it. So, I added complications that let me play with Tristan’s broken mental state, as well as Alex’s desperation at getting “his” Tristan back.

Since this was the final book in the series, at the time, I gave them an epilogue that hint established where they’d be a few years down the line, as well had hinting that their time as mercenaries weren’t over. I also used it to hint about the ‘war for Samalia’ which is a storyline I was never going to write, but firmly have in my head about Samalia’s future as a civilization in the face of corporate control.

And since my mind never stops, literally as soon as I ended this book, I had ideas for more stories in this universe. Not about Tristan and Alex, but about some of the other characters. Chief among them, the fifty-eighth. I don’t know what is was about it, but the moment Katherine confronted the leader of the mercs claiming to be the fifty-eighth and she laughed in their face. I had this vision of a better group, just as she described them.

I never came up with an actual story but they are still bouncing in my head. As well as something I call “the Fast and Furious in Space” for with I barely have the introduction, although I know who would be in the story as well as the ‘feel’ of it, as indicated by the working title. So who knows. Maybe, someday, some of those stories will see the light of day.

Until then, I hope you enjoy, and as always, I welcome Comments, opinions and suggestions.