Introducing Harmony – Book 6 in the Celestial Serenade!

My mother introduced me to Star Wars as a teenager, and my love for space operas was born. We had the original trilogy – prior to any form of edits – on VHS, and I’m surprised I didn’t wear them out from watching them so many times. It was one of the stories that encouraged me to start scribbling my on tales, and its influence still echoes through many of my works.

The Celestial Serenade holds more of that resonance than most.

I’m sure many an insightful blogger has analyzed the Jedi Order and how they trained and managed their abilities. This is not that kind of blog post. But there is one thing about the original trilogy that has always stuck out to me.

At the end of The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda tells Luke that he must ignore the pain and suffering of his friends if he wishes to honor what they fight for. The only way, in Yoda’s opinion, for Luke to succeed at his task, is to deny his connection with the people he cares about.

Luke disagrees and leaves.

I always agreed with Luke that Yoda was wrong. In fact, I’ve always believed that Luke’s success in making Darth Vader realize he chose the wrong path was a direct result of embracing his connections with the people he cared about. New installments of the series seem to disagree with that sentiment, however, which makes me all the happier that I decided to express my opinion in story form.

My Secret Reason for Writing This Plot

The Order of Oracles is not meant to be a proxy for the Jedi Order. I didn’t really draw much inspiration from Star Wars when I created the Caltaran Empire. Though I will admit it’s one of the movies that helped me figure out how to write space battles.

But the Order of Oracles did have one directive that was based on Star Wars. They live in isolation and reject all connections with outsiders – including their families. They form no lasting bonds, prioritizing their ability to see the future over all else. And for generations, the Caltarans believed this was the best way to perpetuate the genes and cultivate the abilities of their Oracles.

They were wrong – just like Yoda.

Maybe it’s self-indulgent, but Alrayia’s revelation of how the Oracles’ ability really works was, for me, an expression of how important our connections with others can be. It was, in a sense, my middle finger to those who believe that those with power should separate and isolate themselves from everyone else.

How, then, will they understand what it is they’re really trying to protect?

As I’ve mentioned before, the full expression of Alrayia’s story was one of the most important reasons I decided to expand the Celestial Serenade from one trilogy to two. Much of her story fell into the cracks of the first book – out of necessity. But showing how it wove around and through the rest of the story was fun (in addition to teaching me how to handle more complex narratives).

The End Doesn’t Always Go According to Plan

When I originally penned Song of the Spheres, I genuinely thought it would be the end of the Celestial Serenade – which means Harmony would have been the final installment. Then I realized that I had inadvertently granted a character immortality (whoops)! That felt like a thread I couldn’t entirely ignore, so Soul of the Sun, the third Celestial Serenade trilogy was born.

Of course, I didn’t expect over the course of filling in character backgrounds for that trilogy to discover another important untold story. But this is how multilayer narratives ultimately work.

I don’t plan to write in the Celestial Serenade universe forever, though I do hope to tell some stories that take place in the setting but don’t necessarily feature the original characters. I’ve talked a lot already about how I like my endings to feel more like see you laters than this is goodbye forever. But I also understand that a series or set of characters can get stale if allowed to stick around too long.

Harmony did not end up being the ultimate end for the Celestial Serenade. But it is a ending. There is a time jump between this book and the next in the series. Which means the current plot and characters all needed to reach satisfying conclusions by the time I wrapped this installment.

I won’t say it isn’t bitter sweet to feel that sense of finality. But it doesn’t diminish my excitement to share the end of this first plot arc with you!

Harmony is Available Now!

Two wounded souls seek salvation.
Only one can be saved.

Kantis has been compromised, and the humans have fallen under attack – resulting in the disappearance of one of their own. Their alliance hovers on the verge of collapse as their new enemy closes his sinister net and the mistakes of the past come home to roost.

The only hope for the human-Caltaran alliance now lies with their hated enemy, the Ruvalli, who flee before the terror of the weapon they unleashed. But old biases are hard to kill – and the Caltarans have fought the Ruvalli for nearly 10,000 years.

While Anten and Salis rush to tame the tempers of the Council, and Liam attempts to keep the military united, Gaia races to save the shade of a once-innocent, long-forgotten boy who used to worship the ground Kantis walked on.

The ultimate fate of the Earth hangs in the balance as the Caltarans wrestle with the long elusive concept of peace. But it is individual relationships that might determine the outcome.

Grab your copy now!