Author Guest Post with Robyn Singer: The True Adventurer

Layla N’gwa is finally free to attend art school and live a life of peace. She’s sipping spinach smoothies in the quad with her new friends, attending protests against the ongoing war, and studying to fulfill her dream of becoming a great glassblower.

Welcome to the November 15th stop on the blog tour for The True Adventurer by Robyn Singer with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, more guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.

Author Guest Post

Things That Inspire You and Why

My writing is primarily inspired by two things: my dreams and my grievances. I love writing characters who have traits I wish I had, and putting them in scenarios I aim to one day live through. For my conflicts, I take influence from real-world issues that upset me, breaking them down, and having my heroes triumph over whatever manifestation of them I pit against them.

My new book, “The True Adventurer,” is the third and final part of The Ricochet Trilogy. The series’ main hero, space thief Yael Pavnick, was designed to be everything I would have loved in a hero when I was little. The happy found family of misfits Yael builds around herself is also something I’d one day love to have for myself. I’m a big fashion lover, which is why Yael and the rest of the women in the cast are dressed in fabulous outfits that I describe in great detail.

Like most people, there are many things that I hate about modern society, and I take shots at quite a few of them over the course of my three books. Rampant classism and wealth inequality, nationalistic imperialistic armies, discrimination against neurodivergent people, familial responsibility, abusive families, unescapable propaganda, and the way modern media is treated as disposable have all been subject to my ire. More subtly, I comment on the seemingly cartoonish nature of the evil people who make the real world a worse place for everyone by presenting incredibly over-the-top villains from an equally deliberately satirical society.

All of this aside, I take inspiration from a lot of the media I enjoy. Within The Ricochet Trilogy, DNA of Doctor Who, Killing Eve, Star Wars, One Piece, and Digimon can be found. As people, we are nothing more than the culmination of experiences and, as writers, we are nothing more than culminations of things we’ve watched, read, and experienced.

About the Book

The True Adventurer
by Robyn Singer

Published 5 November 2024
Cinnabar Moth Publishing LLC

Genre: Science Fiction
Page Count: 264
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

Layla N’gwa is finally free to attend art school and live a life of peace. She’s sipping spinach smoothies in the quad with her new friends, attending protests against the ongoing war, and studying to fulfill her dream of becoming a great glassblower.

Layla’s former friend, Kaya Langstone Bythora-the boy-band-loving cyborg princess of the Cykebian Empire-has embraced being evil since killing Yael, and now acts as the ultimate sword of her mother, Empress Molina. With Kaya’s help, her mother will become the absolute ruler of the universe by winning the war with the Utozin Authority. Kaya wishes she wasn’t doomed to be a monster but feels resigned to her fate and just seeks acceptance from her only friend, Layla.

Layla loves her new life, but she can’t stand back and watch as Kaya is used as a weapon and her old professor conquers planet after planet. As a war rages with the fate of all life in the balance, Layla and Kaya find themselves on opposite sides. Kaya may be the most powerful cyborg ever designed, but Layla has some new tricks up her sleeve. Has absolute order snuffed out all freedom, or is there still room among the stars for a little chaos? Only together can Layla and Kaya find the answer.

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Excerpt

“What’s our ETA, General?”

“We should be reaching Caldey-Cocoon’s atmosphere in twentyfive minutes, Princess.”

I twirled my hair around my finger. “Splendid.”

The voyage from Cykeb had been peaceful. I’d had ample time to listen to music and shop for art in my room, torture the prisoners I’d brought along with me in the brig, and take advantage of the other amenities my ship offered.

The Winjolla, named after my departed, beloved aunts, was second only to my mothers’ flagship, Ricochet Supreme, in terms of grandeur. 2400 meters in diameter, it was crewed by a staff of 15,000, all of whom I was free to terrorize to my heart’s content, with 30,000 ground troops also living on board.

I’d gotten to design every aspect of my ship, from its weaponry, which was capable of leveling small continents, to its torture chamber, which I prided myself on being the most nightmarish chamber of horrors ever devised—putting even Mother’s past works to shame—to its spa, swimming pool, light squash court, juice bar, and karaoke studio.

The only thing my ship lacked was someone to enjoy all of this with, but my mothers rarely ever left the palace, and there was no one else worthy of my time. I’d tried forcing some of my lessers to have fun with me in the past, but the only enjoyable parts of those experiences had been when I‘d blown their brains out. Being better than and above everyone else could really suck.

On the bright side, I was almost 14. In just over one year, I’d be allowed to make the members of EZ Street my personal concubines. Then I’d never be lonely again.

Plus, the highlight of these trips was always the destination, not the journey. As the crown princess of The Holy Cykebian Empire, and the most advanced cyborg in existence, I had the honor of serving as my mothers’ ultimate sword. If a rebellion took place that our soldiers couldn’t quash themselves, or if initial conquest was met with more resistance than initially anticipated, I was deployed to handle it. I never failed my mothers. I never would.

“Princess, we’ve arrived.”

Grinning from ear to ear, I rose from my chair in the center of the bridge. “Beam me down. I’ll let you know when to deploy the troops across the planet’s surface.”

“Yes, Princess. Understood, Princess.”

My helmsman did as he was told and a moment later, I was standing in the middle of Caldey-Cocoon’s capital city: Jeradoth.

The blood-red sky matched the dirt beneath my boots. Their architecture was cylindrical, all of their buildings the same sickening shade of green. The air stank of cold macaroni and cheese. From what I’d read, their only major export was middle- quality feathers.

I’d only been here five seconds, but I couldn’t fathom what about this pathetic world its people treasured so much that they wouldn’t want to be a part of the empire. It wasn’t as if I was complaining, though. If every world submitted immediately, I’d never get to have any fun.

About the Author

Robyn Singer is a lifelong New Yorker, and since she was a kid playing with her action figures, all she’s wanted to do is tell stories. She went to SUNY Purchase to get a degree in Playwriting & Screenwriting with a minor in Film and has produced several comic books, but she’s always had her eye on becoming a published novelist.

As an Autistic, bisexual trans woman, diversity and inclusion in stories are vitally important to her, and she seeks to represent as many groups as possible in her work. While she wants to show characters of marginalized groups experiencing joy, she also draws inspiration from real-world problems which bother her.

The Sunrisers (Cinnabar Moth Publishing, November 2022) is her debut novel. She writes novels and short stories of all genres and for all ages, and she continues to produce comic books. Her ongoing series, Final Gamble, will begin publication by Band of Bards in 2022.

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Giveaway Alert!

The author will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner.

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