Roslyn Sinclair - The Lily and the Crown
Reader 1
Welcome, Roslyn, thanks so much for joining us!
Roslyn Sinclair
Thanks so much for having me! I'm excited to be here!
Reader 2
On the plus side the book is very fresh in my mind. :slightly_smiling_face:
Reader 1
What did everyone think of The Lily and the Crown?
Reader 2
Loved it. :smile:
Reader 3
I absolutely loved it.
Reader 4
So good!
Roslyn Sinclair
I mean, I dunno... :joy:
Reader 3
It really explored some dynamics I think take a fine hand at story telling to do well and knocked them out of the park
Reader 5
Loved it (and I will admit I wasn't sure if it was going to be my type of book...I was pleasantly proved wrong!)
Reader 3
My wife says the same thing about her writing, so I guess that's common enough
Reader 4
Fantasy/space pirates aren't normally my thing either! But the writing was so good that I was completely pulled in from the start
Roslyn Sinclair
I'm so glad y'all enjoyed it!
Reader 3
I wish I had been recording when I was trying to explain it to my wife. It was like one of those “explain your job badly” posts in real time but I read her some snippets and I think she's going to read it now
Reader 5
@Roslyn Sinclair
just a curiosity of mine. You described an age difference between the two. Did you have a set number of years in mind for the age gap? Or just a generalized idea?
Roslyn Sinclair
Good question! Some of it was just based on what I thought would be a realistic age range for who the characters were at that point in their lives. Ari was so young and naive, so I thought early twenties at most; meanwhile, Mir had needed enough time and life experience to rise to her position, so I estimated late thirties, early forties minimum.
Reader 2
I knew it! My packages arrived just as book club started. Now I have to remember what questions I was going to ask... :confounded:
Reader 6
A bit late joining--fantastic book! Amazing in Audible, too.
Roslyn Sinclair
Angela Dawe is SO GOOD!!
Reader 4
I loved Angela Dawe's narration
Reader 7
I love space opera / space pirates so naturally i gravitated towards Lily and the Crown... plus the dymamics btwn Ari and Mir are something I dont see/read too often and i immediatelt felt drawn to it. Their relationship is so... visceral? Even more so because they are in such close quarters (literally and figuratively) that they become each other's world even if just for a short time. Every time i read Lily i get so enthralled and engrossed in their story!
Reader 6
She totally got into the spirit of it: funny, poignant, cruel, sweet
Reader 3
Okay my confession is that I cannot remember what Mir is supposed to look like because Angela’s voice kept reminding me of Elena Bartell. So in the version in my head Mir looks like Trinity from the matrix
Reader 6
My Mir looks like an older Xena the Conqueror
Roslyn Sinclair
@Reader 6
I like the way you think!!
A fan named Roman has made some really wonderful fanart of the story that really captured how I imagined both Mir and Ari: https://romans-art.tumblr.com/search/lily+and+the+crown
Reader 5
I was picturing the queen from Raya and the Last Dragon lol
Reader 3
Okay that totally helps. I'm going to reread in print and I'll picture this
Reader 2
I was wondering what happened to the one guard and the one botanist from the beginning of the book.
Roslyn Sinclair
The Senior Royal Botanist was swiftly removed from his duties and reassigned to a far distant planet so he could start counting rows of corn one by one. As for the guard, he probably met the same fate as the one who hit Ari with the shock rod!
Reader 3
Good. I like when all is as it should be
Reader 8
Will you be making a follow up to their story? The baby? A new Cranley :sob:. I know we got 8 years later at the epilogue, but it's SUCH a good book and the characters are amazing!
Roslyn Sinclair
I have not--at least not yet! But if I ever do another space sapphic romance, I don't see why I couldn't set it in that universe; two new characters living under the rule of the mighty Empress Mir, maybe?
Reader 2
I was really sad about the whole incident with the shelves...
Roslyn Sinclair
I'll never live Cranli down. Never.
Reader 2
Maybe have them reincarnate as a human in another world and give them a romance and a happy ending there?
Roslyn Sinclair
Now there's a thought! A pretty gal named Cranli...or Cranley, maybe? With very large eyes and long, thin limbs...
Reader 3
I'm curious,
@Roslyn Sinclair, how long did it take you to write the first draft of this book? Any major things added/changed/removed from that first draft you feel comfortable sharing?
Reader 2
What took the most time during the world building for this story?
Roslyn Sinclair
To be honest, in the first draft/fanfic, I spent very little time world building--it was enough to carve out a vaguely defined "space empire" as the setting for the romance, which was the real focus of the story. When I revised it, I had fun adding more details about what Ari's dad's role was, why their station was important, how the empire functioned, etc.
Reader 1
Ari’s whole world-within-a-world was so interesting and it was a beautiful way to develop her character. Why botany? Personal interest?
Roslyn Sinclair
I wish! I'm no good with plants (probably a good thing, since I have a cat who likes to eat them). Botany serves, I think, as a good contrast to Mir; where Mir's built her career on conquering and enslavement and murder, Ari's life is centered around growth and protecting life.
@Reader 3
, the book started life as a novella-length fanfic back in 2007, actually! And if memory serves (though it was a long time ago), I wrote it very quickly--just in a month or so, I think. Revising it into a novel took considerably longer. I wanted to develop the universe more, give Ari more backbone/smarts, and write some new scenes (like the one where they play space chess and the one where Ari defends Mir from the guard). I also restructured the ending a fair bit!
Reader 6
This is one of those fanfic-originating books where it just doesn't show. Vivian Darkbloom's fanfic is like that.
Reader 3
I really enjoy the chess scene. That was a major piece of my evidence in explaining my theory to my wife.
The defending the guard seen was a great addition as well. I think it was important to Ari’s character development to see that while she was soft/gentle/yielding on the surface that she had a strong core
Roslyn Sinclair
Thank you! I really wanted to show that Ari could be a match for Mir in more ways than having a tender heart. She had to be brave and be able to think on her feet, too.
Reader 8
Your writing is quite remarkable. I have read your other books and I quite enjoy the humor you infuse in the stories, as well as the way you portray pain, longing, sensuality, etc. It’s visceral.
Roslyn Sinclair
Thank you so much! I love getting into a character's head as deeply as I can. I find that if I can do that, everything else in the story springs from there.
Reader 2
I'm going to be stuck on that whole Cranli in another world idea now. I imagine them as Lady Cranli in a fantasy world. She has a favorite tree in her family's yard. She wields two blades that she holds with a reverse grip so they look like mantis arms. She finds love and then has to fight to defend it.
Reader 4
And she doesn't die!!
Reader 2
So I guess my me this this book club meeting isn't so much a question as it's this I guess? Or maybe I can still think of a question.
Roslyn Sinclair
@Reader 2
perfect. Now she needs a love interest...or is her whole life devoted to the practice of martial arts?
Reader 2
Maybe she's a tomboy who has a bit of a taste for hunting, but also learns to fight to defend herself while out hunting and other adventures?
Roslyn Sinclair
Ooh yes. I like Cranli as butch.
Oh!! I just remembered! In case it makes anyone feel better, someone adopted a kitten and named him Cranli. There are pictures on Twitter!
So he lives on...
Reader 3
We need tshirts or something. Long Live Cranli
Reader 5
@Roslyn Sinclair
as far as Ari's father is concerned. He wanted her to have someone so he "gave" her Mir. In your mind, what was his purpose in that? Did he just want a companion for her because he knew his time was coming to an end? Or in your mind did he realize there would be more between them, even Ari had never acted on her sexuality? I guess I'm wondering if her father knew deep down who she truly was? (edited)
Roslyn Sinclair
We can set up a donation fund to an insect preservation society of some kind...
Reader 1
There is that whole thing about female mantises eating their mates - maybe that is her fatal flaw, a curse if you want to go fantasy with it or just a tragic event from her past that makes her believe she cannot find love, she’s destined to kill her mate - all except her true love
Reader 2
Or she escapes the fate of her mates dying because her true love isn't a male?
Roslyn Sinclair
@Reader 5
, to me, Ari's relationship with her father was the saddest aspect of the whole book. He has no idea of who she is, nor any true interest in finding out (which I think echoes with a lot of queer kids' experiences with their parents on some level). He focuses on his work and doesn't know how to engage emotionally with her in her mother's absence. I don't think it occurred to him that she'd find romance with a slave, but he does care enough that he doesn't want her to live in complete isolation or be unprotected.
Reader 5
That's how I was reading it.
Reader 1
I kept waiting for some posthumous indication that he did care about her. Totally brutal but sadly realistic that it never came, except in the form of money which is probably all he thought she needed from him.
Roslyn Sinclair
Yeah :disappointed: There's a reason Ari has always found more safety with plants than people, and it starts with the person who should love her most never being there for her beyond providing material things. Then she meets someone who wants her for who she is, and it's a revelation.
Reader 6
I had thought that maybe the father--a skilled commander--knew without knowing what Mir really was
Reader 3
Where did the name Mir come from?
Roslyn Sinclair
The story started life as fanfic for The Devil Wears Prada, so it's short for Miranda Priestly
Reader 2
I wonder how he'd feel knowing that his daughter ended up with his great nemesis, and that she'd been right under his nose and he'd missed it.
Roslyn Sinclair
Awful, I hope!
Reader 6
But the nemesis was also the likeliest protector for the dorky ingenue
Roslyn Sinclair
@Reader 6
right?? I love a good dose of dramatic irony.
Reader 5
I had mixed feelings when Mir took Ari captive. Part of me thought it horrible she just took her without explaining the situation and allowing her to choose. Another part of me thought "damn that's hot! When is some badass warrior chick going to come drag me off because she can't live without me"
Reader 3
Me too and then I tried to imagine Mir strolling through the halls looking for her and it just…no
Roslyn Sinclair
I agree on both counts! There's definitely an appealing aspect to the whole "I am irresistible to this hot supervillain" thing that wouldn't exactly work out so well IRL.
Reader 2
Who was the other genetic parent of the child? Was it Mir using advanced sci-fi technologies or another donor?
Reader 7
It's "space magic" (just kidding)
Roslyn Sinclair
@Reader 7
you might not be kidding...I did leave that vague, didn't I! Let's go with advanced sci-fi technologies, because when it comes to an imperial heir, having another person in the mix would only complicate things, I bet.
Reader 1
I definitely read it that science had sufficiently advanced to allow them to have a child together. And unless I majorly missed some clues, it didn’t seem like anybody raised an eye at a same-sex couple either, which is always great to see
Roslyn Sinclair
Yes! There need be no homophobia in space.
Reader 2
I had assumed it was a possibility considering the presence of hyperspace travel. You need to have a certain degree of technological advancement just for that.
Reader 7
you can pretty much just explain away things with "well, it's the future/in space, so XYZ is possible" in scifi
Reader 2
Huh... when I was asking about what happened with some of the other characters I forgot to ask about what happened to the previous Emperor. I assume their ending was not as happy as the botanist and the guards endings.
Well, with sci-fi things have to be a little bit more defined and logical compared to fantasy. You can get away with a lot by making it advanced enough, but if you push it too far you can lose a lot of believability. It still happens in fantasy with magic, but I feel like you can push it a little farther.
Roslyn Sinclair
Yes, it's hard to take over an empire while keeping the previous sovereign alive--that's a recipe for insurrection, which Mir would never tolerate, especially since she's concerned with an outside alien threat. I imagine we got a King Louis XVI situation where he was charged with crimes against the people, and then, chop-chop. She's sexy, but not nice...
Reader 2
I imagine it went beyond that as well. Not just the concern of him being a threat, because there was also the level of corruption surrounding and involving him as well.
Roslyn Sinclair
Oh yes--no such thing as a ruler without skeletons in the closet. Mir would be able to find ample reasons to dispose of him.
Reader 5
Those are my favorite characters lol
Reader 1
Can you tell us anything about what you’re currently working on, Roslyn?
Reader 3
@Roslyn Sinclair
what's your favorite part of the story?
Reader 2
What was the scene you found the hardest to write?
Roslyn Sinclair
@Reader 1
I'm putting together notes on a contemporary ice queen romance featuring a powerful woman who's breaking away from the corporate life to start her own perfume firm, and a chemist who works in her lab!
@Reader 3
probably the scene where Ari and Mir go to dinner, and then Ari is hit by the guard as she tries to protect Mir. It let me show more of life on the station, plus Ari's courage, and it gives the reader a big glimpse into how intense Mir's feelings for Ari really have grown.
I'm going to say that the whole arc between her father's death and Mir's "death" was the worst, because that's when she feels so abandoned and alone, culminating even in the death of her pet. It was hard being in her head then. I felt so guilty!
Thank y'all so much for inviting me! I had a really wonderful time