Author Introduction: C. F. Bentley

[jpskewedthrone]

Hey, everyone, here's another Author Introduction! Let me introduce you to C. F. Bentley and her first book. You may also know C. F. Bentley under a few other pseudonyms, but I'll let her introduce herself. The book comes out this coming Tuesday, so check it out!

"First off, I big thank you to jpsorrow for allowing me to take over his space for a bit. Our overlapping f-list will recognize me as ramblin_phyl and by my two other pen names, Irene Radford (www.ireneradford.com) and P.R Frost (www.prfrost.com).

Yes, I have reinvented myself yet again. This time because Harmony [Amazon, Mysterious Galaxy] is entirely different from anything else I’ve written. I call it my spiritual quest with a literary twist in a space opera landscape.





I’ve been enthralled with the concept of space travel and lost earth colonies since I watched classic "Star Trek" on original network broadcasts. I can’t possibly be that old, but I think I am. I didn’t discover Heinlein and Haldeman until many years later. Those two authors made my addiction worse. Throw in "Babylon 5" and later incarnations of "Star Trek" and I’m hooked for life.

Most of my writing has been in the realm of fantasy, and there are fantastical elements in Harmony [Amazon, Mysterious Galaxy]. However, my primary story line revolves around some of the changes in culture, religion, morals, and biology that take place when a population cuts itself off from the mother world and its traditional roots. And how much we stay the same. I play with the idea that there is a big difference between faith and religion. I look at the mechanism politicians use to maintain control over a population--minimal education, rationing of resources, censored media, and separation of castes.

Yet when an artificial infrastructure that abhors change begins to break down because it refuses to evolve, strong leaders rise out of the ashes. How much of the old traditions must be kept, and how much thrown aside? Is a total restructuring worth the risk of civil war when aliens threaten invasion and a major influx of new ideas?

I hope that some of the ideas put forth will push the readers to stop and think about our own society and the troubled times we face in the future. For we will always face troubled times and needs for change. Society, like humanity, needs to grow and evolve to remain viable and meet the future. But tradition is the foundation that holds us together. Where is the balance?

Larry Rostant did a wonderful job in capturing the feel of the book in beautiful cover art. It evokes my beloved Stonehenge, ancestor worship among grave stones, and the electricity of change.

I hope you will join me in exploring this strange new world and then embark on new adventures in the "Confederated Star Systems" series that explore other cultures and societies, some alien, some bizarre human adaptations.

May you find Harmony in chaos."







C.F. Bentley's Other Incarnations

Irene Radford:

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P.R.Frost:

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Wow, it sounds fascinating!

[ex-kaz-maho.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a great book - really interesting themes. :)

And the cover is beautiful!

[hutch0.livejournal.com]

I like the sound of that, and the cover is indeed rather lovely. I'll put it on my list.
Stonehenge was one of the great disappointments of my life; I was much more taken with Avebury.

[ramblin-phyl.livejournal.com]

Avebury is special, but less recognizable to the public at large. The family home in the Merlin's Descendants Series is based upon Avebury--I just put it further north.

[hutch0.livejournal.com]

That's true. Everyone can recognise a photograph of Stonehenge, but I'm willing to bet that a photo of Avebury would baffle a lot of people, even over here. I wonder how English Heritage and the National Trust managed that all these years.

[ramblin-phyl.livejournal.com]

The fact that people can still wander freely among the stones at Avebury, touch most of them, commune with them, means there are a lot less people there with a lot less potential for vandalism.

I love the way people live among the stonesl, accept them as part of everyday life, almost take them for granted.