Someone asked me recently if I felt like Evonne after her daughter left to train on Ghent. It took me a moment to realize the similarity. Now that the seed has been planted, it’s become a weed that no RoundUp can exterminate. Therefore, this month’s selection for the Spirit of Ink is my own novella, Lux University. This science fiction young adult romance was written in 2017 and is a follow up to The HIVE, a Matriarch trilogy.
This story takes readers to another planet and a school for young women with exceptional powers, while exploring life two years after an alien invasion stripped them from Earth. Lux University is a coming-of-age story, touching on the trials and tribulations of navigating adolescence and becoming an adult in a world where minds can be read and challenges to the death are expected.
This book is written from a teen’s perspective, but the question posed to me still resonated. In The HIVE, a Matriarch trilogy, Evonne searched the galaxy to find other humans taken from Earth. When she did, she worked to set up a safe home for them where they could learn to become Torsian citizens, hence, the creation of Lux University. In this novella, Evonne must say goodbye to Alisa as she goes to the healers’ planet, Ghent, to learn the art of healing from one of the only other known female healers of the Galaxy.
How does that resonate with me? My daughter is in her first year of college, studying health and life science, and I’m finding that I have too much time on my hands. My husband disputes the term, “empty nesters”, and in a way I do too. Afterall, our house still seems to have a revolving door of family and friends, along with our two cats who delight in playing tag at 3:00 AM every morning. And like Evonne, I am staying in constant contact with my daughter, living college life all over again through her.
I have paired this book with a lemon drop martini. Fresh lemon juice represents the sour feeling of the empty home combined with a little Grand Marnier and a sugar rim for the sweet knowledge that our child is becoming an adult and will soon be paying her own way. The Tito’s vodka, well, that represents the sharp slap of college. This bitter sweet vodka-based cocktail is served straight up – chilled with ice strained, just like the cold hard reality of life. Cheers!
– JY Olmos, Author
One thought on “The Spirit of Ink for September”
Robert Arreola says:
Sent you a review and this post tells me that I was close in my analysis, although I could not include all my thoughts.Such a lot of effort to create a work like yours.Congratulations and just keep writing,allowing others to see your soul ,sharing the way you see the world, and influencing others for the better in all ways.