We chat with author Everina Maxwell about her latest release Ocean’s Echo, which is a stand-alone space adventure about a bond that will change the fate of worlds, set in the same universe as her hit debut, Winter’s Orbit.
Hi, Everina! Thank you for joining us again! How has the past year been for you?
In the little biography on the back of my books it says ‘collects books and kills houseplants’. Well, I’m proud to say that last year when I wrote that I had five houseplants and this year I have two. The book situation is out of control. I’m thinking of changing it to read ‘does the dishes and makes breakthroughs in the field of advanced algebra’ and see if it works for next year.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
I was writing as a child but it kicked into high gear when I did NaNoWriMo when I was about sixteen. The audacity of starting a whole book and the delight of having finished it! The book was terrible. I made a cover for it in MS Paint and my mum read it.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
I can’t have been that young, but I remember reading Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small, a formative YA about a girl who becomes a knight, and knowing it was good because it made press-ups sound like a good idea that someone might at any point want to do. Stephen King’s On Writing made teenage me think of writing as a job someone could do. And at the moment I am thinking a lot about Some Desperate Glory, a book officially coming out in April next year… and I see there’s a question for upcoming books, so I’ll save it 😉
Your latest novel, Ocean’s Echo, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Psychic soul-bonded soldiers in space!
What can readers expect?
It’s a standalone queer romantic space adventure, so expect hijinks, pining, explosions, and the rewards of love via the mortifying ordeal of being known. When Tennal—a rich socialite, inveterate flirt, and walking disaster—is caught using his telepathic powers for illegal activities, the military decides to bind his mind to someone whose coercive powers are strong enough to control him. That’s Lieutenant Surit, the child of a disgraced general. Out of a desperate need to restore a pension to his other parent, Lieutenant Surit agrees to be bound to Tennal and keep him conscripted in the army, a task that seems impossible even for someone with Surit’s ability to control minds. Tennal just wants to escape, but Surit isn’t all that he seems. And their bond may just be the key to their freedom.
Where did the inspiration for Ocean’s Echo come from?
I’m a very character-driven writer. I had Tennal, who is a funny, deeply unhappy disaster whose response to a problem is always to make himself into a bigger problem, and Surit, an honest person desperately trying to be ethical in impossible situations, and all I wanted to see was what happened when they both hit a problem they couldn’t solve. I was delighted to discover both of them react by escalating. The army did not know what had hit it.
Can you tell us a bit about the challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
Funnily enough, I started this one several years before I finished it, and I threw out and rewrote the middle several times. I must have about eighty thousand words of unused material. Ultimately I had the romance down the whole time, but it was when I realised I had to go deep into the main character’s family as well that I finally got it right.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I really enjoy Tennal, the main character, because he’s such a great story engine. Every time he hits conflict he makes things worse. I love both reading and writing characters who aren’t fazed by someone trying to push them down, even when they’re not winning and it looks like they’ll never win again.
What’s next for you?
Hopefully another book! No details yet, but I’ll announce when I can on Instagram (@everina_maxwell) or Tumblr (@avoliot).
Lastly, what have been some of your favourite 2022 reads? Any 2023 releases our readers should look out for?
I’ve really loved sapphic space pirates The Red Scholar’s Wake and queer Anthony-and-Cleopatra retelling The Stars Undying by Emery Robin (Mark Anthony is a hot butch). Also as I mentioned above, I’m really looking forward to sci-fi Some Desperate Glory hitting shelves, which follows a girl growing up in a war cult in space after Earth has been destroyed, and it dives deep into ‘what if humans were a pariah species because of our violent tendencies’ together with a main character with the most vertiginous hate-her-to-rooting-for-her arc I have ever experienced. This book dismantled my mind in the best way. I am very excited for everyone to read it.
