Book Information
In the Orbit of Sirens by T.A. Bruno
Series: The Song of Kamaria (#1)
Published: October 4, 2020
Genre: Sci-Fi, Adventure
Pages: 502 (Print Length)
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Short Blurb
THE LAST FRAGMENTS OF THE HUMAN RACE ARE FORCED TO ADAPT TO A DANGEROUS NEW WORLD OR FACE EXTINCTION.
When starship mechanic, Denton Castus, is caught in the destructive path of a devastating war, he abandons his home and seeks refuge on a distant planet. However, this new safe haven has undiscovered threats of its own. Eliana Veston, a scout preparing the planet for the refugees, struggles with a deadly pandemic that is killing off colonists. The hunt for a cure unleashes a new threat to humanity—the Sirens—mysterious beings with incredible powers and a deep hatred for invaders.
⚠️Content Warning: Extreme deaths, Violence, Mysterious Disease
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CAN I JUST SAY THAT THIS BOOK WAS TOTALLY OUT OF THIS WORLD?!?!! **SMIRKS** 😉 It was seriously good and I was hooked with the whole plot. I feel like I was in a love & hate relationship with Roelin while I was reading it.
There’s something about Sci-Fi that entices me and scares me a little bit because what if we really end up in a world like that? Who knows!?
In the Orbit of Sirens is a book set in space and focused on survival.
If you are a fan of space, warships, sirens… basically everything about Sci-Fi, you’ll love this!
I was also given a chance to have a quick interview with the author as a part of the book tour for Storytellers on Tour. ❤️
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘢𝘸𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦…
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘦𝘶𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳.”-𝘛. 𝘈. 𝘉𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘰, 𝘐𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘳𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘴
**start of interview**
Hello, I’m Jea! I’m one of the people who got the chance to read In the Orbit of Sirens. I totally loved the synopsis and I wasn’t disappointed when I started reading it. Thank you so much for writing a book like this!
Anyway, here are my questions:
Thanks for having me, Jea!
Have you always wanted to become a writer?
Yes. I always wanted to be a storyteller, but I never felt confident I could write a full-length novel for a long time. I tried different avenues into storytelling, first, through little comics I drew as a kid, then onto bigger graphic novels in high school and college. At one point, there was an attempt to make a short animated film. When I was developing assets and animating for that film (some of it exists!) I realized that my story needed more room than 5 minutes of animation could grant it. It was finally time to buckle down and write a long-form novel like I had always wanted to. I was finally confident in myself.
Who are your favorite writers and what are your favorite books?
I’ve recently gotten into reading books by Vernor Vinge, just finished A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky, and loved them. But there have been a lot who have inspired me. Neil Gaiman, Dan Simmons, and Ray Bradbury were significant influences on me.
When was your first time writing? Can you tell us something about it?
I wrote my first “books” in junior high, but they weren’t anything worth publishing. They were called ESPIONAGE and were mainly ripoffs of the videogame Metal Gear Solid but with my own personal twist. I put a few little easter eggs from those little books into In the Orbit of Sirens. More for my own amusement than for a reader. But if you’re looking, Councilman Trevor Blaise is named after Trevor Blaze from my old books (I know… very 7nth Grade naming there!)
What was it like to conceptualize the whole book? What inspired you to write a Sci-Fi book?
As a kid, I loved anything to do with NASA. I have an art-brain, so I knew I’d probably never develop the math chops to be an astronaut (sad but true, I’m still awful at math!) So the next best thing to do was to become an astronaut in fiction! I drew a little comic book called Space Explorers. My buddies and I went on space adventures every week in 3rd grade (it became very popular in that class!). As the years went on, that tiny seed planted in 3rd grade grew into what In the Orbit of Sirens became. I kept building on the foundation (I did a healthy amount of housecleaning on stuff that didn’t work. It was a 3rd grader, after all). Eventually, I had a world but no plot. When I started making the short animated film, I took an isolated chunk of what could potentially be a plot and developed it. The animated short was about Roelin Raike surviving in the Kamarian wilderness. It’s a scene that actually still happens in the novel, although some of the context has changed. As I was attempting to explain why Roelin was there, eureka! I had an epiphany that I had found the plot for my world. In the Orbit of Sirens was born.
How and when did you start writing the first draft of In The Orbit of Sirens?
After having my little epiphany, I started brainstorming with my friends and brothers, just small ideas at first. I then attempted to write the book twice, the first time it didn’t quite take. I was trying to pants it (write straight through without making an outline) when I discovered I’m a plotter. I tossed out that version and wrote an outline. That helped build a solid foundation, and it was finally time to write. I’ll admit, the first draft of In the Orbit of Sirens is pretty different from the final draft. In my first draft, there was more set up for how the Odysseus crew got to Kamaria, and the origins of all that. Eliana even flew on the Telemachus with Denton. After beta readers went through it, I cut all the extra shoe-leather and started the book on Kamaria, with Eliana searching for the last elements needed to cure lung-lock. I may use the stuff I cut to build out a prequel. We will see!
Will you write Sci-Fi again or will you try another genre?
I already have! I am in the final editing stages of the sequel to In the Orbit of Sirens, and I am knee-deep in writing book three of this trilogy. I love this world, and I plan to bring more stories to Kamaria in the future after completing this main trilogy.
“We either have a murderer or a monster out there.”
Excerpt From In The Orbit of Sirens, T. A. Bruno
How hard was the world-building? Was it inspired by something else or did you start writing it from scratch?
I love world-building. I started with what I have learned over the years from various nature documentaries. I wanted to get the natural side right. Kamaria is a world filled with creatures of varying degrees of mental energy. The Auk’nai can read empathic thoughts and speak to each other mentally. In contrast, lesser beasts of the world can project mental images on their prey to lure them into traps. I built outward from that natural world. How do the auk’nai live? What do they believe in? What doesn’t work? You can’t lie to something that can read your empathic thoughts, after all. A society that can’t lie would be very different from our own.
Who were your inspirations for the main characters “Roelin”, “Denton”, “Nhymn”, “Sympha”, and the others?
I didn’t really have people as inspirations for my characters, but they all started with philosophical ideas. Roelin and Denton are two sides of a coin. Denton reflects what is great about Kamaria and how it’s a beautiful place. Roelin shows us that Kamaria isn’t kind to everyone. It holds a darker side. Nhymn and Sympha represent how I feel about creativity. Sympha can create but can’t control her creations. Nhymn can’t create but can control things that aren’t hers.
“It was a small field of incredible glowing flowers. Tiny insects danced about the flowers, gathering all the pollen they could carry and buzzing away. It was a place that seemed forgotten since the construction of the wall.“
Excerpt From In The Orbit of Sirens, T. A. Bruno
Out of everyone in your book, if you could only choose one, who’s your favorite character and why?
Tough question! I’ll preface that I love all my characters, but for this question, I’m going to front Eliana Veston. She’s forced to make some tough calls, and she’s faced with some dark times, but she manages to retain herself through this adversity. She’s a brilliant scout, and she fights with her mind better than most characters could with a weapon.
What’s your favorite scene and quote from the book?
One of my favorite scenes in the book is during Denton’s scout assessment when he has to go overnight in the forest with Major Pavel Volkov. It reminds me of fishing with my friends down by the river, some fond memories.
My favorite quote comes from George Tanaka. When he is rallying Marie Viray, he says;
“It’s a challenge, and a worthy one. If you give up now, that will be your only failure.”
Did you have to study something to be able to write some parts of the book? Most especially for the scenes where they talk about technical/mechanical stuff?
One scene that actually ended up cut from the book, when Denton and his parents forge a ring, I did a lot of research on. Most of the scene still happens, but I cut out the entire process of making the ring. It was there at one point, though! In full detail. At the end of the day, it was a little too much fluff in a novel that needed some trimming.
Can you describe your book in one sentence?
The last fragments of the human race are forced to adapt to a dangerous new world or face extinction.
Do you have any plans for a sequel?
Yes, It’s almost ready too! I hope to publish it later this year. I’ll have more news on that within the next few months, with a conclusion to the trilogy coming sometime in 2022.
“𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅.
𝑵𝑶 𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑵𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑩𝑨𝑪𝑲.”-𝑻. 𝑨. 𝑩𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒐, 𝑰𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑶𝒓𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒔
Can you give any advice to the people who want to become an author like you someday?
Allow yourself to make mistakes in your first draft. Editing as you write can be the downfall of your progress. You will be editing it after you complete the first draft, and it might go through more revisions after that, but you don’t know the book you wrote until it has an ending. So have fun, and plow through that first draft, then go back and make it look right.
Lastly, do you have anything that you want to say to your readers?
I want to thank everyone who took a ride to Kamaria with me. It’s been amazing seeing responses to In the Orbit of Sirens, and I hope you enjoy the adventure that awaits you in the Delta Octantis system.
Thank you for the interview! Great questions.
**end of interview**
Are you a fan of audiobooks? Well, here’s the good news!
T. A. Recently released the In the Orbit of Sirens audiobook!
Check it out on Audible US.
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Giveaway Information:
We’re hosting a tour-wide giveaway, and invite you to take part! We’ve also added the giveaway in the tour schedule post here.
Prize: In the Orbit of Sirens by T. A. Bruno
Winners Choice: Hardcover, paperback, or audiobook– 5 winners, US Only
Starts: March 21st, 2021 at 12:00am EST
Ends: March 28th, 2021 at 11:59pm EST
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Book Links
Check the book through these links!
- Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55430661-in-the-orbit-of-sirens
- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Orbit-Sirens-Song-Kamaria/dp/1734647000/
- Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-the-orbit-of-sirens-t-a-bruno/1137418784
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Author Info
T. A. BRUNO grew up in Chicago and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the film industry. Since then, he has brought stories to life for over a decade as a previsualization artist. At home, he is a proud father of two boys and a husband to a wonderful wife. IN THE ORBIT OF SIRENS is his debut science fiction novel.
Website: http://tabruno.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TABrunoAuthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TABrunoAuthor/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TABrunoAuthor
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/T.-A.-Bruno/e/B08FW4T3VF
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/tabrunoauthor
Book Tour Information
Dates: March 21st–March 27th
Event Link: https://www.storytellersontour.online/2021/02/20/tour-sign-up-in-the-orbit-of-sirens-by-t-a-bruno-2/
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