Tag: Goodbye to the Sun

A Few Quick Questions with…Jonathan Nevair

Earlier this morning, I posted my take on the novel Goodbye to the Sun–out today, I should add. Now, I get to present this Q&A the author was gracious enough to participate in with me. There are some great answers here (at least I think there are), hope you enjoy.


Describe your path to publication with this.
Goodbye to the Sun was the second novel I wrote. The first will never see the light of day and I now understand that it was more a personal exercise in getting my “literary legs” than a book to be shared with readers. I’d written academic essays, etc. for years but fiction was an entirely new language. One important piece of feedback I got from an agent on the first book was that while they enjoyed it, especially the world-building and prose, they wanted more investment in the main character – more emotional connection.

I took that to heart and Goodbye to the Sun was the result. I did a good deal of research on how to write characters that are emotionally charged and how to increase empathy and investment in a reader’s relationship to a protagonist. When it came time to construct the plot for Goodbye to the Sun, I decided to model the story off of one of the most heavy-hitting examples I could find – the tragedy. It had everything I needed to ground the story in a rollercoaster of emotional transformations, struggle, and hardship.

After an early structural edit and feedback from a sensitivity reader, Goodbye to the Sun was sent out into the literary agent ether, and then, someone I follow on twitter posted a call for submissions to a small indie press specializing in SFF and horror, Shadow Spark Publishing. They were closing to submissions the next day – talk about luck… I whisked off a query letter (an improvised one, not the official one I’d been using for agents) and got a response back and a request for a partial manuscript. From there a full request followed, and after some back and forth, I signed a three-book deal.

I knew I was in the right place for the series when I read the mission statement that Jessica Moon and Mandy Russell had on the publishing house website. It made clear that they were seeking authors whose works tested boundaries and experimented with approaches – they wanted fiction that pushed in new directions. The POV structure of Goodbye to the Sun is a bit unorthodox and I was thrilled when they read the manuscript and responded positively to the story and my writing. From there, it’s been the usual publication process – editing rounds, proofs, cover designs, etc.

All authors have more ideas running around in their head than they can possibly develop—what was it about this idea that made you commit to it?
This is a great question because I don’t usually stop and reflect on the process of literary invention. As an art historian and educator, much of my recent focus has been on ethics. At the time I was writing Goodbye to the Sun, I was teaching and writing academically about ethics in art and that spirit translated into the Wind Tide universe. One thing I am starting to understand is that while I may not consciously know it, I have something to say in my fiction writing – whether it’s human themes, issues relating to ecology, or just wanting to share an appreciation of the wonders of the imagination (often visual) with others through the written and spoken word (that’s one of the reasons I love my job as an educator – putting visual experience into words and sharing my perspective with others, and engaging in a back-and-forth with others about their impressions, is one of the best parts of being an art historian).

What really made me stick with this story is the characters. Razor and Keen became intimate and close companions and something about them forced me to commit to their journeys and see them through to a narrative resolution. I didn’t grasp it until I’d written Goodbye to the Sun, but I’m a character-driven writer. I adore world-building, both settings and cultures, but when it comes down to it, I build them to put characters into the settings – to live with them in those worlds and experience what they experience, struggle alongside them, and revel in their growth and evolutions.

Clearly, you put a lot of time and effort into the world/culture-building for the novel—were there historical analogues for some/all of these groups? What kind of research did you do for this?
This is one of the reasons why I am enjoying writing science fiction – it presents a whole new, expanded set of research experiences necessary to build convincing and interesting secondary worlds. I spent time reading about tidal cycles, wind, and tropical weather to construct the two main planetary settings for Goodbye to the Sun. Some other random world-building research tangents arose like the nature of cave systems, bioluminescence, and a very intimate reading on trees (Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees) to help develop not only the famed cantinool trees on Heroon but also a broader ecological philosophy emphasizing a hidden biological communication network tied to a cause-and-effect system of human interaction with terraforming, etc.

It was also the time when the most recent cycle of Star Wars movies hit theaters and as a big fan from my childhood, the films drove me to fantasize about living in a similar secondary fictional world. Rogue One was especially inspirational to me. The rebellion, as well as the very complicated set of players mixed up between opposing sides (and the emphasis on family vs. state that related to other important sources like Antigone), played an important role as a precedent. The Motes are indebted to that source as well as giving a nod to the Fremen in Frank Herbert’s Dune.

As a middle-aged person, I’m drawn to stories of people who’ve been pushed back into circumstances of their youthful years, and I’d read Legend by David Gemmell not too long before writing Goodbye to the Sun – Keen Draden probably has some Druss “qualities” sprinkled on him. I’ve also had a lifelong interest in martial philosophy and many texts written over the centuries provided source material for Keen’s warrior philosophy and the fighting scenes. Razor’s voice and tone were strongly influenced by some other writing research I did on character voicing. Although not written in the same POV, I was strongly affected as a writer by Essun in N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season.

What was the biggest surprise about the writing of Goodbye to the Sun itself? Either, “I can’t believe X is so easy!” or “If I had known Y was going to be so hard, I’d have skipped this and watched more TV”
Oh, this one is easy! And I’ll take the, “I’d have skipped this and watched more TV for 200$, please.” Even though I set up plot points and had an outline, as well as a close sense of how this narrative would adapt a tragedy model, I got bogged down at ACT III – halted in my writing tracks. It took a month of talking to myself (out loud on walks with my dog, in my head, and many scribbles that were scrunched up and tossed in the trash) to find my way out. I learned two things from this: first, I needed to be open to change and surprises in writing, but have a general plan and an “arc” for the entire plot, and second, sometimes you need to just sit down and write to get out of a rut. These are, of course, personal reflections and not advice to anyone else writing fiction. I heeded my own words for the second book in the Wind Tide series, Jati’s Wager, and that one went much better with no torturous plot crises.

Let’s play “Online Bookstore Algorithm” (a game I’ve recently invented). What are 3-5 books whose readers may like Goodbye to the Sun?
Gareth Powell, Embers of War
Essa Hansen, Nophek Gloss
James S.A. Corey, The Expanse
Becky Chambers, A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
Frank Herbert, Dune

Thanks for your time—and thanks for Goodbye to the Sun, and I hope you have plenty of success with it.


PUB DAY POST: Goodbye to the Sun by Jonathan Nevair: Broken People and Broken Worlds Hope for a Better Future

Goodbye to the Sun

Goodbye to the Sun

by Jonathan Nevair
Series: The Wind Tides, #1

eARC, 307 pg.
Shadow Spark Publishing, 2021

Read: April 27-May 3, 2021

What’s Goodbye to the Sun About?

Several years ago, Keen Draden served as a Legion soldier on Heroon. He left the planet a changed man, a damaged man who found the numbing he needed to get by in a bottle. Now a diplomat, he finds himself on a different planet—one with some parallels to Heroon, however. While in transit on the planet, his transport is attacked and he’s taken hostage by the losing side in a civil war in a truly desperate move.

When this scheme doesn’t work the way they expected, Razor (his captor) comes up with a new plan to get some value from Draden. He sees this as an opportunity to do some good, and achieve some personal goals (the latter are far more important to him than the good). The two leave the planet and begin traveling with Jati, another former Legion soldier—one who isn’t quite as far gone as Draden.

Jati has business that takes him to Heroon, Draden’s personal affairs take him there—and he needs to confront some ghosts from his past, as well; and Razor hopes—almost against hope—that Heroon holds the key for her people’s survival.

Sure, but What’s it Really About?

So that’s the plot—at least the beginning of it—but the novel is ultimately the story of someone (or multiple someones) rebuilding themselves. Not by casting aside the mistakes and tragedies of the past, but by absorbing the lessons learned from calamity, embracing what they meant, and doing when they could to turn the hardships into something for the greater good.

When the novels leans into that, it’s at its best and is the kind of thing I relish and enjoy pressing others to read. I’m not sure it stays that kind of novel long enough to justify enthusiasm, however—but I’ll get into that later.

In addition to that, this book is about family—natural as well as found family. Religion. Power. The obligation of the power to act on behalf of the powerless.

Worldbuilding

This is one of those SFF novels that makes it obvious and plain that there was a lot of detailed worldbuilding done before the book really even started being written (or so it seems). THere’s a complex history behind Draden’s time on Heroon, there are elaborate cultural practices, expansive technology, and layers of political realities and bodies.

You don’t have to read much of the novel to get an idea about the detailed nature of the worldbuilding—and it’s one of those aspects that’s in your face at every step, and you’re still learning about the world as the novel ends—with more that needs understanding. THere’s something very attractive about that.

There’s something maddening about it, too—there are so many, many things I just don’t understand about this fictional world. While I don’t need to have an exhaustive knowledge of everything mentioned in the novel, I also shouldn’t have to shrug my shoulders and move on when I have no idea exactly what’s being talked about and am pretty sure I’ll never get an explanation for it.

For example, I have a very clear and detailed understanding of the dominant culture’s protocols to communicating gender identification when meeting someone by different means (there were frequent mentions of it), but I’m not sure if Draden was actually drinking mercury, or if Quicksilver was a brand name, a category of potent potables, or what. It’s a somewhat unimportant example, but it’s illustrative. (I could’ve used military, political or religious examples there, but this is the most concise and easily explained one).

Antigone

The novel is described as “a space opera inspired by the Greek tragedy, Antigone.” I read the Sophocles play back in High School and in College—I remember it being one of my favorites, and so I was excited to see how Nevair tackled it.

Sadly, it turns out I remember practically nothing about the play, much to my chagrin (I really thought I did), so I can’t comment on how the novel reflects the play. But I thought I’d mention it for those who read this blog and might be interested by the notion.

Plotting and Prose

When an author is painstakingly careful with every word, every phrase in his prose it takes two forms (broadly speaking, at least): the first is that it comes across as fantastically smooth, and feels effortless (think Eames or David). The other form almost seems to boast in the care used, the text beats you over the head with the amount of care exercised in selecting each word (think Jemisen or Rothfuss).

His book seems to fall into the latter category. I, obviously, can’t describe the amount of labor Nevair poured into the text, but it feels like each word in the final version was the result of rewrite after rewrite after rewrite to get it precisely the way that Nevair wanted it. This amount of care draws attention to itself in much the same way as the worldbuilding in this novel does.

Despite the clear labor over the words, it really seems (stress on “seems”) that the same level of planning wasn’t used for the story—it feels like there were multiple novels started in this book, and after a few false starts, the book finally had an arc that it stuck with through to the end. I didn’t get the sense that we’re going to take these two (and eventually three) characters on a journey from A to B via C, D, and E. It felt more like a journey from A to B via C—well, no, maybe D? On second thought, E.

I know that’s not how Nevair actually approached this. It just felt that way to me. I’d also say that story and character took a back seat to the themes Nevair wanted to explore and the worldbuilding. I’m all for expansive worldbuilding and overarching themes, but not at the expense of characters or plot.

So, what did I think about Goodbye to the Sun?

I don’t know. I respect and admire the obvious craft and care seen in these pages, I think most of what he tried to accomplish is well-worth exploring. I just think it could’ve been more effective. I think the care undercut itself.

But I don’t really want to say anything negative about the book because there were so many technical aspects, so much technique displayed, and all of that is commendable and well done. But I can’t bring myself to be entirely positive, either.

In the end, I think I’d encourage people to try it for the experience, but to go into it with the right perspective. And then I’d ask people to come back and talk about it. Maybe you can convince me one way or another.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

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