It’s Wednesday. I’m not sure how it got to be Wednesday, because I’m pretty sure the last time I blinked it was Saturday afternoon. My, how time flies when most of your kids have left home. Or something.

While the United States was arguing with itself and calling itself names over who would be elected president, I was arguing with myself and calling myself names over  Daughters of Suralia, the sequel to The Marann. Especially Part 3 of said book. Where [name removed] goes about the business of – should I even say?

I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by saying the first half of book 2 is about Marianne, and that the entire novel covers several events in her life as bond-partner to the most powerful man in Tolari space. (No, he’s not the most powerful Tolari alive. That’s the Jorann. But the Jorann is a woman.) In Part 3, however, I spend five chapters in another character’s point of view. (And you’ll never guess who.) Then in Part 4, I go back to Marianne. I suspect this breaks a rule by the Gods of Writing.

Do I care about The Rules? Well … yes. Yes, I do. Does that mean I’ll always obey them? Probably not. Rules are there for a reason, but I’ve found as a reader that authors can get away with a lot when the characters are vividly drawn, the writing is smooth, and the narrative voice is invisible. Plot seems to be optional. The Marann had a twisty little plot – Daughters of Suralia, not so much. This worries me a little, but I’m given to understand that someone wrote an entire novel which takes place between the time the protagonist stepped onto an escalator and the time he stepped off it. Book 2 definitely has more plot than that.

Spoiler:
In book 2, you’re going to get hints of just how much of a domineering autocrat the Sural can be. Control freak? You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.