They say the third time’s the charm.
But that isn’t the case for the characters in Rumor Has It (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), the third book in author Cat Rambo’s Disco Space Opera series.
As Rambo explains in the following email interview about this hopepunk- and military fantasy-infused science fiction space opera story, “things there don’t go as smoothly as they hoped.”
We did a deep dive on this series a few months ago, when the second book, Devil’s Gun, came out in paperback, so let’s just jump in: What is Rumor Has It about, and when does it take place in relation to Gun?
Rumor Has It picks up immediately after the events of Devil’s Gun, and the heroes are still figuring out the implications of a discovery made at the very end of the previous book. They want to get information from an old ally of Niko’s, and so they head towards that being’s residence, Coralind. Unfortunately, things there don’t go as smoothly as they’d hoped, partially because they’ve arrived right at the beginning of a major, station-wide festival.
When in relation to writing the first book, You Sexy Thing, and the second, Devil’s Gun, did you come up with the idea for Rumor Has It, and what inspired this third book’s plot?
I wanted to explore more of the relationships between the crew and how they’re reacting both to recent changes and losses, as well as new additions. And I wanted to do a really cool setting, which was Coralind, which was so much fun to write! It’s a hollowed out asteroid filled with different huge garden chambers, called Confluences, and creating the flavor of each one was a blast. I hope the readers enjoy them reading about them as much as I did creating them.
In Rumor Has It, Niko is in a squabble with the bank over insurance. Why did you go with such a mundane and financially-based plot point? Because I could see how this could be dull in the wrong hands; people still haven’t forgiven George Lucas for the whole “trade route” thing in The Phantom Menace.
Actually, I was dealing with some bank issues at the time that involved a lot of sitting around in their lobby waiting for people to talk to me and then finding out they’d never been there. So I might have written out of some of that frustration, which was one I figured many of my readers might be familiar with. I didn’t focus on the financial details so much as I did the emotions of the situation. When you know it’s your money and someone is holding onto it, it is infuriating and it’s hard not to take it a bit personally, as though they’re deliberately trying to thwart you.
In the interview we did about You Sexy Thing, you said that novel was a sci-fi space opera story but with some hopepunk and a little military fantasy. And then, in the Q&A we did about Devil’s Gun, you said that book was the same, genre-wise. Does Rumor Has It fall under the same genres?
Absolutely! To me space opera is partially about grand backdrops and spectacle, and I think I fulfilled that requirement nicely in this book, and managed to include the smell and taste and feel of things as well.
Obviously, Rumor Has It is not your first novel. Do you think there are any writers, or specific stories, that had a big influence on Rumor but not on anything else you’ve written, and especially not You Sexy Thing or Devil’s Gun?
I think Jack Vance gave me some of the lushness that I used to write the gardens and their foods, and there might be traces of Lois McMaster Bujold lurking in there, too.
How about non-literary influences; do you think Rumor Has It was influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games?
Anytime Jezli Farrren is in the picture, there’s a little trace of a Star Wars, because she originally appeared in a Star Wars role-playing game that fellow writer Andrew Romine ran. I like running a character that’s a scoundrel, and Jezli was such a good one I couldn’t bear to put her away.
You Sexy Thing, Devil’s Gun, and Rumor Has It are the first three books in a saga called The Disco Space Opera series, which will ultimately consist of 10 books. Of the remaining seven, how many have you figured out, plot-wise?
I have a very rough ten book plot arc planned out. And when I say very rough, I mean very rough. It’s mainly because I want to get down to answering a specific question in the last book that will have been simmering throughout.
So, do you know yet what the next book will be called and when it will be out?
Right now I have a fantasy novel in its final stages [Wings Of Tabat; out late 2024 or early 2025], but it’s next up to bat after that. So the schedule is, unfortunately, dependent on me. What I may do later this year is a slightly less intense version of the regime that I used to write You Sexy Thing, which I took from Chris Fox’s How To Write 5,000 Words an Hour. I never achieved that speed (sadly) but I did manage to get in a solid 5k a day.
The process was to roll out of bed at 5:30 AM, down a protein shake, head to the gym and work while listening to space opera flavored music and thinking about what I was going to write, and then come home and write in 30 minute sprints with 10-15 intervals in between until I hit 5K, which was the point where I would then allow myself access to things like email, texts, and above all, social media. It’s the avoiding social media that’s pretty key, as well as convincing yourself the world won’t end if you don’t look at your email first thing in the morning.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, the paperback version of the second book, Devil’s Gun, recently came out. We did a deep dive when that happened, but real quick, what is that book about?
Devil’s Gun follows the crew of You Sexy Thing as they try to recover after their disastrous encounter with Tubal Last, both emotionally and financially. They try to go through an interstellar gate only to find out it’s broken down. While waiting for someone to come along and fix it, they set up a pop-up restaurant. The someone comes along and turns out to be a con artist, but does help them get to an ancient relic, known as the Devil’s Gun.
And do people need to have read Devil’s Gun to understand Rumor Has It, or are these connected but stand-alone novels?
I always include a synopsis at the beginning of the book to orient the reader, which is useful to people who read the earlier books but may have forgotten key points. So, yeah, there’s an overarching plot line through the series, but each book has its own arc, its own complications and character developments, and above all, a tasty helping of what it’s like to visit the most varied gardens in the Known Universe.
Given that, what will someone get out of Rumor Has It if they’ve already read You Sexy Thing and Devil’s Gun?
They’ll get more time with some of my favorite characters, particularly the new additions to the crew! Part of the fun is making sure everyone’s storyline advances in one way or another, and all of that keeps going in this book.
Along with Rumor Has It and the paperback of Devil’s Gun, you also recently released the short story anthology The Reinvented Detective, which you co-edited with Jennifer Brozek. We did a deep dive on that as well, but again, real quick, what is that book about?
The Reinvented Detective is an anthology of science fiction detective stories, with protagonists including AIs, uplifted cats, and aliens. It was a lot of fun to put together.
Are there any stories in The Reinvented Detective that you think fans of The Disco Space Opera series will especially like?
I think they’ll appreciate “To Every Seed Their Own Body” by Guan Un, which is set aboard a spaceship and has a nice, uncanny feel to it. Also Rosemary Claire Smith’s “Murder At The Westminster Dino Show,” which is funny and quick. I hope to see more of her hero, Timidity Rex!
And are you and Jennifer working on a follow-up?
That depends more than a bit on the sales of the book and its predecessor, The Reinvented Heart, so I urge anyone interested to buy a copy or request it through their library 🙂 We would definitely like to do The Reinvented Coin.
Going back to Rumor Has It, is there anything else you think people need to know about it or The Disco Space Opera series?
I want people to have fun while they’re reading it. That doesn’t mean don’t take the characters seriously — please do! — but enjoy them as well, whether it’s prophet Lassite earnestly requesting permission to speak of doom or many-tentacled Skidoo cheating at cards.
Finally, if someone enjoys Rumor Has It, and they’ve already read You Sexy Thing and Devil’s Gun, they might want a break from all the crazy space adventures. So, what very different kind of sci-fi novel or novella that someone else wrote would you suggest they read?
I’d send them planetwards with Adrian Tchaichovsky’s excellent Alien Clay [which you can read more about here], which is much more serious, and involves a lot of really cool worldbuilding. I love everything he writes and this new one is just terrific.
Or, for a touch more fantasy, T. Kingfisher has a new book out, A Sorceress Comes To Call, which has a lovely Regency fantasy feel.
