Guest Post with author JL Hilton

I asked Jen about her ideas and how Glin was created. And here are her answers:

My idea for the planet Glin came from a combination of things. I wanted a very rainy place similar to Ireland, because I love rain, and I wanted something unusual. I was fascinated with the concept of there being one continent and the rest of the world is the “Great Ocean,” as Duin calls it in the book. This is a little bit like Pangaea, when all of the continents on Earth were connected into one super-continent, about 300 million years ago.

The aliens who live on Glin — who refer to themselves as “the” Glin — are based on dolphins. Sort of a “What if humans evolved from dolphins and not primates?” Dolphins have counter-shading (dark on one side, light on the other), which is for camouflage in the water. That’s where I got the idea for the Glin coloring, and also their lack of hair, lack of ears, and big, gray eyes. The Glin are also based a little bit on hunter-gatherer neolithic humans of about 40,000 years ago.

Water is not only a part of their world and their religion, it is the basis of their language. In inventing the names and words, I went with onomatopoeic sounds — things that sound like what they are. Or, in the case of Glinnish, what things sound like when water hits them. Glinnish is a language of drips, drops, splashes, rain falling, water rushing. Like the “pitat” plant, which is a plant with big waxy leaves that go “pitat” when rain hits them. Or Duin’s name — pronounced a bit like “doo-IN” — is based on the sound of a water drip hitting a pool.

Most of the story takes place in a human colony on Asteria, which is a made-up world I put in the real location of Alpha Centauri. Alpha Centauri is called a binary star system because it has two suns, but there’s also a third star, a red dwarf, nearby. That third star is what gave me the idea for Tikat, the dying planet populated by insect-like creatures. I’ve always heard that cockroaches can live anywhere and will populate the Earth after a nuclear holocaust.

Thanks for the opportunity to share a little bit about the universe of Stellarnet Rebel. For more info about the book, you can check out these websites.

www.StellarnetRebel.com
www.JLHilton.com
Contactinfinitefutures.wordpress.com

And now for the good part!! There’s an ebook copy available and the only thing you guys have to do is sign up in the rafflecopter below!

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Review: Stellarnet Rebel by J. L. Hilton

Stellarnet Rebel by J. L. Hilton

Stellarnet Series #1

e-ARC provided by NetGalley courtesy of the publisher

Publisher: Carina Press

Genre: Science Fiction 
Release date: January 2nd 2012
Number of pages: 273
Rating:

 

Book Blurb:

Welcome to Asteria, a corporate-owned, deep-space colony populated with refugees, criminals and obsessive online gamers. Genny O’Riordan has shifted in from Earth determined to find a story that will break her blog into the Stellarnet Top 100, and even better—expose the degradation of the colony’s denizens.

Duin is an alien—a Glin—a hero of a past revolution against the Glin royal family, yet branded a terrorist. Duin speaks every day in the Asteria market, hoping to spur humans to aid his home world, which has been overtaken by the evil, buglike Tikati.

When Genny and Duin meet, what begins with a blog post becomes a dangerous web of passion and politics as they struggle to survive not only a war but the darker side of humanity…

My Thoughts:

The first thing that got me interested on this book was Genny and the fact that she is a blogger and the author showed to was a future were people can live as this. Genny is smart and act like an reporter most of the time, plus she has an incoming from her blog. She shows all the injustice from aroung the universe. Yes, they are interstellar. And I do love a good alien story, because the authors can travel and create different worlds.

 

In this book Genny traveled to Asteria, a colony for refuges and decided to show all the injustices, from cleaning to homeless. But what she didn’t expect was Duin, an alien, the first she ever met. This colony as several others was created by the humans and usually only humans lived on these.

 

Being a blogger the first thing Genny did was try to understand Duin and why was he making an speech about he’s planet distraction. I loved Genny because she’s true and loyal to her investigations, showing everything she discovered and really trying to help Duin find resources and an army to save his people.

 

The book is really great, we can meet Duin and his passion for the water, since he’s planet is based on water. We can understand this different future and how things continue the same. Plus there’s a triangle in some parts of the book, but I will not say when to not spoil. Also a MMORF game called Mysteria that shows how addicted people continue for their technology. It really helps in times of battles.

 

I loved this world and the Glin, will definely read the next one on this series. I’m so glad that in the end the US decided to do the right thing. 

Books in this Series:

#1 – Stellarnet Rebel

#2 – Not revealed

Quote:

“I’m done, Duin.”
“You haven’t eaten much.”
“I’m done waiting.” Genny got up from her chair and moved into his lap. With one hand, she slid the bava fabric off of his shoulder.
“Oh.”
There was another hunger. With relentless lips and hands, they consumed each other. She didn’t just want, she demanded him. Genny removed her clothes and Duin wound the bava around them both, cocooning her against his bare skin as he held her in his lap.
“I don’t know much about Glin anatomy,” she reminded him.
“I do have an advantage. There’s a deluge of information on the Asternet about human mating.”
“It’s called porn, Duin.”
“And it’s very helpful. Though there are some things I don’t understand.”
“I’ll teach you anything you want to know.”