I was the kid who scared her parents. I wore my jeans backwards, drew flowers on my face, told people I was from planet Venus, listened to rock music while sitting in my bedroom closet, and read entire books in a day. It didn’t surprise me that I was labeled as odd.
Years later, during the 90’s self help craze, one book stood out to me. Yes, I was barely a teenager but the title, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus pushed me into creative overdrive. Not only did the title contain the planet that I professed to be from, but it argued that men and women were different on a fundamental level. I was intrigued.
The idea started to take root in my brain. If men and women were from different planets, what would that be like? Well, first off, women would rule their planet (girls rule and boys drool, right?). We’d take the planet to the zenith of technological advancement, art and culture. We would be our best selves, and at the same time, we would be our worst. We would be jealous, disloyal, prideful, violent. We would rule with an iron fist and, if we didn’t get what we wanted, the entire planet would feel our wrath.
We would make men pay for every injustice they’d ever done to us. Their transgressions would be carved in the stones of the walls. Some of us would rise to glory, some of us would fall from grace. Some of us would stand defiant while others would cower to the status quo. Some of us would love, while others would allow their hate to consume them. This was The Slave Planet to me. I began writing it when I was nearly sixteen, and published it when I was eighteen. Over ten years later, I revised my original manuscript and self published it into what it is today.
The Slave Planet is set in an Earth colony thousands of years in the the future. Venus, once a barren, gassy, wasteland, has been transformed by Earthling scientist into a center of technology, art and culture in the universe. But something has gone wrong. Over the years, while women have risen to power, men have been subjugated and enslaved. In the midst of this is Nadira, a headstrong, beautiful young woman who has fallen into desperate, and very illegal, love with her slave, Kiln. When she is elected to the highest council in the land, her secret affair threatens to be revealed by the evil Czarina Arees. Arees is after one thing, total control over the most powerful government on the planet. Can Nadira protect her slave, and save her planet from the politician’s evil schemes?
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Encouraged by a family friend to write at the age of seven, Seven Steps has been telling stories of love, war, aliens, and monsters for nearly three decades. The Slave Planet is her fourth published novel. She is enjoys reading, laughing, travel, and spending time with her family. Seven currently resides in New Haven, Connecticut with her husband, daughter, and a sweet cat named Rosie.
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Thank you so much for sharing your story, Seven Steps (and fun for me, putting a face to your name)! So, readers, power vs love? What would you?
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Perilously yours,
Pauline