Hello and welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, where today I’m chatting to the prolific Tim Pratt about his new novel The Necropolis Empire, the second book ina trilogy of Twilight Imperium novels from Aconyte Books. If you like a bit of characterful, irreverent humour in your galaxy-spanning space opera – whether you’re an established fan of the Twilight Imperium game or not – then definitely check this out (although I would recommend reading The Fractured Void first)! It’s available as an ebook right now, with the US paperback following in September and the UK paperback in October.
Without further ado then, let’s get straight on with the interview.
Track of Words: To start with, could you give us an overview of what The Necropolis Empire is about?
Tim Pratt: A young woman named Bianca Xing lives with her adopted parents on the bucolic backwater planet of Darit, a forgotten mining colony. Her parents found her abandoned in the woods when she was a baby, and she imagines secret origins and vast destinies for herself. Bianca reads old books and gazes up at the night sky, dreaming of exploring the galaxy, but nobody ever leaves Darit, and nobody from other worlds ever visits.
Until ships arrive from the Barony of Letnev, claiming that Darit is their territory now, and that all the inhabitants are now citizens of the Barony, with all the rights (not many) and responsibilities (taxes, deference to their new rulers, etc.) that entails. Then an official from the Barony warship arrives at Bianca’s home, and tells an unbelievable story: Bianca is actually the secret heir of an aristocratic Letnev family, essentially a princess, and they want to take her home, drape her in jewels, and give her the riches and power she’s inherited.
It sounds too good to be true… and Bianca is too smart to believe it, but the Letnev want her for something, and she’ll take any chance to get off the planet. Throughout the course of the book she discovers their dark plans for her, uncovers the truth of her own origins, and realizes she has powers far beyond anything she ever imagined. Also there’s chases, betrayals, punching, a planet full of death traps, ragtag crews, and found family.
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
TP: Bianca, as I mentioned, is the protagonist. Other significant characters include Letnev captain Severyne Dampierre; a Letnev doctor/researcher named Archambelle obsessed with ancient alien mythology; and down-on-his luck treasure hunter Heuvelt Angriff and his crewmates, a Naaz-Rokha duo named Clec and Ashont. Plus a panoply of other interesting people of various species, of course.
ToW: Is this a direct sequel to The Fractured Void, or more of a spin-off story?
TP: It’s a standalone story set in the same universe, taking place after the events of the first book, with some little bits of crossover: Severyne was a major character in the The Fractured Void, and Sagasa the Disciplinarian’s salvage yard/space station appears again, and even Heuvelt was mentioned in book one, though he didn’t appear in person.
ToW: Where did this specific story come from? Did you have this plot already in mind when you were working on The Fractured Void, or was there something else that inspired this particular story?
TP: I pitched three books to Twilight Imperium, so the broad outlines of the trilogy were in place when I started book one. Basically I just thought about the most fun sort of stories I could tell in this universe, and what tropes would work well to explore different parts of the setting: so there’s a chases and heists book, a ‘lost heir’ book, and a spy/espionage book.
ToW: What appeals to you about the Barony of Letnev in terms of characters to write about?
TP: Mostly I just love Severyne, who steals pretty much every scene she appears in, in both this book and the first one. The tension between her personal desires and impulses versus the highly structured, militarized society of the Barony of Letnev is where the fun comes in there. Severyne really wants to be a perfect model of a Barony officer, rational and cold and ruthless, and she’s really well suited to that in most ways… but bottling up her rage all the time means that sometimes, at inconvenient moments, she snaps, and she occasionally gives into other unseemly impulses, too.
ToW: Aside from focusing more on the Barony of Letnev, did you set out to explore any different elements of the setting this time around?
TP: Oh, yes. Without being too spoilery, I can say we shine a light on some very cool stuff from the Prophecy of Kings expansion.
ToW: I enjoyed the lighthearted, humorous tone that you took in The Fractured Void, which felt a little different to a lot of space operas. Have you taken a similar approach with The Necropolis Empire, or does this have a different sort of tone this time around?
TP: People who liked book one will probably like this one, yeah. Bianca especially is a delight, with a combination of irreverence, naivete, and brilliance that make her a joy to write about. All my books are Tim Pratt books, really. Cool stuff happens and there’s plot but it’s really all about the character interactions, and interesting people are often funny people.
ToW: What do you hope readers will get out of this by the time they’ve finished it?
TP: A brief respite from all the bad crap in the world, mainly!
ToW: What do you have planned for further Twilight Imperium stories and these characters in future?
TP: Book three is in progress now, and Severyne is back in that one, too, along with some familiar faces from book one, along with all new characters.
ToW: Is there anything else you’ve got in the pipeline that you can tell us about, whether with Aconyte or elsewhere?
TP: I’m writing the third Twilight Imperium book now, and my novel Prison of Sleep will be out from Angry Robot next spring – it’s a sequel to my multiverse adventure novel Doors of Sleep. There’s other stuff bubbling too, but nothing that can be announced yet. (More books about weird people doing weird stuff, though.)
ToW: Finally, if you could choose one Twilight Imperium faction to be part of, which one would it be and why?
TP: I usually say the Mentak Coalition, because I like their cosmopolitan society, and space pirates are cool. But, hey, why not join the Embers of Muaat? You never get cold and you get to ride around in a war sun occasionally.
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Tim Pratt is a Hugo Award-winning SF and fantasy author, and finalist for the World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Stoker, Mythopoeic, and Nebula Awards, among others. He is the author of over twenty novels, and scores of short stories. Since 2001 he has worked for Locus, the magazine of the science fiction and fantasy field, where he currently serves as senior editor.
Check out Tim’s website for more information.
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Thanks so much to Tim for chatting to me for this interview, and for giving us the lowdown on the latest Twilight Imperium novel from Aconyte Books! The Necropolis Empire is available in ebook right now – the US paperback is due out on the 21st September, and the UK paperback on the 28th October.
See also: my interview with Tim about his first Twilight Imperium novel, The Fractured Void – and also my review of The Fractured Void.
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