Emerging Author: Rhonda Mason, THE EMPRESS GAME

One of the toughest walls for a new writer to crack is the publishing market, and Rhonda Mason nearly saw the process crack her. The debut author of THE EMPRESS GAME struggled with rejection and uncertainty.

“Yeah, it’s been a long, long road. For me, the hardest part was handling the rejections,” she said. “My thesis novel (an epic fantasy) went through the rounds with all of the agents, and while it got a lot of attention and requests for full (manuscripts), it ultimately was rejected by everyone. I took that very hard. I even stopped writing for a while because of it.”

Unable to sell her manuscript, Mason switched gears and began working on a space opera that finally broke through. In THE EMPRESS GAME, people battle in a tournament of ritualized combat for the chance to be queen. It was a genre that Mason loves to read.

“One of the things I love about space opera (versus harder sci-fi) is the chance to use technology in creative ways, even if it’s not 100-percent scientifically accurate,” she said. “Tech isn’t my fave element in a story, character and character interaction is. I love being able to work in a futuristic setting while still focusing on my character arcs.”

Unlike her heroine, Kayla, she isn’t as brave or confrontational. But Mason, who divides her time between writing, editing, bulldogs and the beach, does share her character’s dedication to family.

“Kayla and I share an intense devotion to family. I was born into a family of five, but then my dad left and I grew up in a family of four—me, my two sisters and my mum,” she said. “We became super tight as a result, and I love my family to pieces. Kayla and I share that protective instinct and willingness to sacrifice for family.”

After signing with a literary agent, doors opened for her work. She signed with UK-based Titan Books over a larger US-based publisher, although she admits she hadn’t a clue who they were at the time.

“What sold me on Titan Books was the enthusiasm they had for EG,” Mason said. “They made EG a lead title, gave it fantastic cover art, but most importantly, they actually spent resources promoting it. That’s something I doubt I would have gotten as a debut author at a Big 5.”

Now that her publishing dream has been realized, work is underway on the second and third books in the trilogy, which might take almost two years to complete. And then it’s back to tackle the project she originally hoped would be her debut.

“I am very much looking forward to getting back to that fantasy novel I started while EG was on submission,” Mason said. “I honestly don’t know if I’ll return to space opera after that. EG is the only space opera story that’s ever come to me. Guess I’ll have to just wait and see!”

Giveaway

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About Rhonda Mason

Rhonda Mason writes space opera and fantasy fiction with kick-ass female protags who save the day. Of course, they get into a fair bit of trouble along the way. Aside from hand-to- hand combat, Rhonda loves snorkeling, bulldogs and flying up north to visit her family.

She has a masters in Writing from Seton Hill University's Writing Popular Fiction program where she focused on speculative fiction.

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About THE EMPRESS GAME

One seat on the intergalactic Sakien Empire’s supreme ruling body, the Council of Seven, remains unfilled, that of the Empress Apparent. The seat isn’t won by votes or marriage. It’s won in a tournament of ritualized combat in the ancient tradition. Now that tournament, the Empress Game, has been called and the females of the empire will stop at nothing to secure political domination for their homeworlds.

The battle for political power isn’t contained by the tournament’s ring, however. The empire’s elite gather to forge, strengthen or betray alliances in a dance that will determine the fate of the empire for a generation. With the empire wracked by a rising nanovirus plague and stretched thin by an ill- advised planet-wide occupation of Ordoch in enemy territory, everything rests on the woman who rises to the top.