![On a dark brown, leathery background, gold scrollwork frames the title, "The Cost of Power, Book One: Return" by Joyce Reynolds-Ward.](https://wyrmflight.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/return-cover.jpg?w=640)
Gabriel Martinierre is visiting from Joyce Reynolds-Ward’s contemporary western science fantasy, The Cost of Power, Book One: Return.
Gabriel Martiniere glides into the ball, dressed in a black pinstripe morning suit with a brocade gold and black vest, a black Stetson on his head, pointed-toe black Nocona Western boots that faintly jingle with each stride he takes, as if invisible spurs fit on his heels. Two rings glimmer on his right hand–one a golden signet, the other a heavy gold ring with a big emerald that glows with red and gold lights within it. While his carriage is regal, there’s a wariness in his expression as he looks around the room, frowning slightly. He moves with the grace of a trained and conditioned fighter, and while there isn’t a sword strapped to his side it wouldn’t seem out of place–though a gunslinger’s pistol hanging low on his hip would also fit. A faint golden glow surrounds him as he bows to the Queen. Is he completely mortal, or is there more to him than it seems?
“Well met, my lady Queen.” A cultured speaker, but there’s something compelling about that tenor voice. A voice that could command others into battle. Is he truly a modern man, or a throwback to an earlier era?
Character Questions
Are you on the run from the law? Not exactly. That is, I’ve told my beloved Ruby that indenture bounty hawks are after me to force me into indenture because I owe a lot of money for college and medical expenses for my family. In reality, I testified against my family’s privately-held company for their human rights abuses using mind control techniques to create an indentured military program. As a result of my testimony, I have a price on my head, set by my uncle Philip. I don’t dare tell Ruby the truth because it puts her at risk. I’ve lived in peace with Ruby for four of the five years I’ve been in hiding. But that could all go away. I’ve heard that a true crime streaming show, Criminal Injustice, intends to not only cover what happened at the trial but use actual footage from my testimony. What must I do to keep Ruby and her aging grandfather safe–especially since I suspect that Ruby is now pregnant?
In your world, do people trust magic, or is it evil? In my world, most people don’t think magic exists. I know otherwise. There are several magical artifacts that belong to my family, including a poniard that certifies all oaths sworn on it are valid. We claim descent from the fairy Melusine, and I’ve had–several odd encounters in the past that may involve the Melusine. The foundations for mind control technology are hazy enough that they might as well be magical. For me? I don’t trust magic. I trained in agricultural robotics and am a decent programmer in my own right–I managed to insinuate a worm that trashed the research databases tied to mind control technology. It worked better than it should have. Technology, or magic? I’m inclined to think that magic, if it exists, is problematic at best.
Author Questions
What is your POV on so-called “artificial intelligence” in the arts? First of all, I come at this question based on my training in special education evaluation as well as ten years experience as a special education caseworker. I do not believe that artificial intelligence is now or ever can exhibit the sort of creative thinking that will allow it to independently create works of art. What we are seeing now is brute force large language models that have quick access to massive amounts of information. However, those LLMs cannot extrapolate or generalize effectively based on that information. They can only reorganize and restate what has been fed to them. They are incapable of making those intuitive connections that the human brain can make.
At the moment, I believe that A.I. is at the high point in the hype cycle, and will plunge into a massive trough of disillusionment sometime in the next eighteen months.
What is your purpose in writing? I like to tell stories that I would enjoy reading.
The Cost of Power, Book One: Return
When rodeo queen Ruby Barkley fell in love with broke saddle bronc rider Gabe Ramirez, she thought he was on the run from indentured servitude due to massive debt. Then she learned that her love was really Gabriel Martiniere, wealthy descendant of aristocratic brawlers, in hiding due to his testimony against mind control programming abuses of indentured workers performed by his family’s company, the Martiniere Group.
Not that brawling has been a part of the Martiniere heritage since the mid-nineteenth century. These days the Martiniere Family’s income relies on agricultural technology, security services, and pharmaceuticals. Not fighting. Not mercenary companies. Their battles are waged in corporate boardrooms and financial manipulations. But the hidden history of the Martiniere Family surfaces in Gabe—and his father Philip.
Gaining power always demands a cost. Ruby and Gabe walk a knife’s-edge balance between victory and defeat—not just for them, but for the multiverse. And if they lose themselves in the quest for power, they might just lose who they really are.
Joyce Reynolds-Ward
Joyce Reynolds-Ward’s work includes themes of high-stakes family and political conflict, digital sentience, personal agency and control, realistic strong women, and (whenever possible) horses, frequently in Pacific Northwest settings.
She is the author of five speculative fiction series: The Netwalk Sequence, Goddess’s Honor, The Martiniere Legacy, The People of the Martiniere Legacy, and The Martiniere Multiverse as well as standalones Federation Cowboy, Beating the Apocalypse, Klone’s Stronghold and Alien Savvy. Her new trilogy, The Cost of Power, will be released in September, 2024.
Joyce is a Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off Semifinalist, a Writers of the Future SemiFinalist, and an Anthology Builder Finalist. She is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, and a member of Soroptimists International. Follow her online at X/Twitter, Instagram, CounterSocial, and Bluesky.
Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my website, Bluesky, Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram.
You can’t judge a book by its cover…but I like it.
Now weird coincidence time.
Just yesterday, I started working on a poster that uses virtually those same colors. (I know, that was a popular combination about 150 years ago. Nice to see a revival!)
And just yesterday, I sent in some information related to Doctor Who–who has a new companion name Ruby Sunday.
And just yesterday, with more of the Ruby Connection, I sang to myself part of The Rolling Stones’ song “Ruby Tuesday.”
Well, we’ll see if this post works (WordPress is being cranky with me). I love coincidences like this.
Ruby’s name comes from a peak in the Wallowas–Ruby Peak.
So interesting to combine science fantasy with the Western hero!
I do a lot of that these days….
OMG I’m such a sucker for horses and horses in stories!
I’m interested in your rich-evil-family villains, too. Is this already a trope, or are you breaking ground here?
Not sure if it’s a trope or not. This world is somewhat nastier than our own, because indentured servitude in response to massive debt is a thing. Billionaires are more powerful, and in this case we have warring families. It’s a mafia family story except the families involved aren’t explicitly engaged in organized crime. The feud goes waaaay back, to the Middle Ages.
OMG I’m such a sucker for horses and horses in stories!
I’m interested in your rich-evil-family villains, too. Is this already a trope, or are you breaking ground here?
Sounds like a great premise for a lot of strife. Wishing you all the best with it.
Thank you!