She’s been gone for more than two thousand years, but people are still inspired by the life and loves of Cleopatra, who was the Queen of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC.
Just ask author Emery Robin, who, in his duology Empire Without End, resets the life of Cleopatra in the far future, and as a science fiction space opera story.
In the following email interview, Robin talks about The Sea Eternal (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), the second novel in the Empire Without End duology after 2022’s The Stars Undying.
Photo Credit: Tony Tulathimutte
For people who haven’t read the first book in the Empire Without End duology, The Stars Undying, or the interview we did about it, what is that novel about, and when and where does it take place?
The Stars Undying is a sci-fi adaptation of the early life of Cleopatra: her rise to power as queen, her romance with Julius Caesar, and her efforts to survive the aftermath of his assassination.
It takes place in the galaxy-spanning empire of Ceiao, and in its client world Szayet, a flooded planet ruled by a god living in a computer.
And then, for people who have read The Stars Undying, and can ignore me writing SPOILER ALERT, what is The Sea Eternal about, and when does it take place in relation to Undying?
The Sea Eternal picks up the life of Cleopatra where we left off: her romance with Mark Antony, and their conflict with Augustus Caesar, the first emperor of Rome. Anita Decretan, our equivalent of Antony, has been avoiding her responsibilities in the bed of Szayet’s queen for a year and a half, but a hunt for a fleeing assassin brings her out of Szayet and over the border of a rival empire. There, she discovers a terrible new technology that forces her into conflict with not only her enemies abroad, but her allies at home — and her lover on Szayet.
In the interview we did about The Stars Undying, you said it, “retells the life of Cleopatra and her romance with Julius Caesar.” Is The Sea Eternal a continuation of that retelling, or is it more of you deciding what would happen next in your version of the story?
It’s a continuation of the retelling, but a much, much looser one, and with a few more classical texts added into the stew. If The Stars Undying was a cover version of history, The Sea Eternal is the remix. I think readers will recognize some moments — for example, if you know anything about the real person Fulvia, you won’t be surprised by much that Anita’s sister Flavia does — but there are new characters who are entirely my own, or who are so far changed from their historical equivalents as to be basically original. And there are moments I think readers will be shocked by. I’m a little afraid of how people will react to how I adapted the role of Antony’s wife!
The Stars Undying was a science fiction space opera story. Though, as you said in our interview about it, “probably a little heavier on the ‘opera’ than the ‘space,’ if only because of the amount of theater in it.” The Sea Eternal is obviously sci-fi space opera as well, but are there any other genres at work in Eternal that weren’t present in Undying?
There are a few scenes in The Sea Eternal that are very much horror. I hinted at the more grotesque possibilities of this world’s sci-fi technology in The Stars Undying — there’s a scene where one character speculates about particles of an artificial intelligence filling the air and soil, people eating and breathing them — and, while that’s not exactly what happens, that’s very much the direction things are being pushed.
The Stars Undying was a little blurry about the line between sci-fi and fantasy, and The Sea Eternal is even blurrier. Which, to my mind, is very much in keeping with the source material in Plutarch and Shakespeare, which is full of ghosts, divine apparitions, and omens. Maybe any sufficiently complex magic is indistinguishable from technology (sorry to Clarke).
Speaking of people like Arthur C. Clarke, are there any writers, or specific stories, that had a big influence on Eternal, but not on anything else you’ve written, and especially not The Stars Undying?
Anyone who’s read Simon Jimenez’s incredible The Spear Cuts Through Water will see what I was trying to play with in The Sea Eternal, and why I wanted to play with it. That book is structurally a revelation; it completely popped open the top of my skull. The things it does with time and point of view are so heart wrenching from a reader’s point of view, and so exciting from a writer’s.
The Sea Eternal also let me have fun with the language of all the fairy tales I devoured as a kid: Hans Christian Andersen and Andrew Lang, of course, but also old Russian skazki and Jewish folktales, which are much more mine.
There’s also a piece of worldbuilding in this book that everyone is going to think I borrowed from Kurt Vonnegut, but which I in fact borrowed from Daniel Pinkwater.
What about non-literary influences; was The Sea Eternal influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games?
The monsters in this book are very much drawn from the imaginative well of watching Doctor Who episodes at 2AM as a teenager. I completely encourage anyone who wants to picture them as made of the £10-est special effects in the world.
As we’ve been discussing, The Stars Undying and The Sea Eternal form a duology called Empire Without End. Given that both books are now out, do you think people should read them back-to-back, or is there some reason why people should put some distance between them?
The Stars Undying and The Sea Eternal are very different animals, led by different characters, focused on different themes. When I wrote The Stars Undying, I wanted to make sure it could stand alone (in case no one let me write another book). Its hero’s arc is complete, and her ending is, I hope, satisfying on its own. The only question I think it leaves open is “What happened after Anita and Gracia got together romantically?” You can choose to answer that question yourself if you like, but it’s answered in spades in The Sea Eternal, and the other things that The Sea Eternal expands on — wars, gods, imperialism — are mostly just hinted at in The Stars Undying.
People who write a multi-book series sometimes expand upon it with side stories, prequels, or sequels. Are you planning on doing anything like that with the Empire Without End series, or is this it, it’s over, leave me alone Paul!
I think this story is done. I’ve finished covering the period of Roman history that I most love, and unfortunately — two-thousand-year-old spoiler — it doesn’t end well for the people I care about.
However, there is a bonus chapter in the hardcover edition. And years ago, I wrote a prequel short story about how Anita and Ceirran met, and maybe that’ll make its way to publication one day in some form.
So, is there anything else you think potential readers need to know about The Sea Eternal or the Empire Without End duology?
This book is a weird one; bear with me on the weirdness. And if you think something might be a literary allusion, you’re definitely right. I wish I could give people a list of the two or three classical texts I threw in here along with the Shakespeare play, but they’re major, major spoilers. You’ll know what they are by the halfway mark.
Finally, if someone enjoys The Stars Undying and The Sea Eternal, what sci-fi space opera duology would you suggest they check out next?
Feels impossible to answer with anything but Arkady Martine’s Teixcalaan series. If you like galactic empires, messing with minds and memory, and deadly diplomatic maneuvering, she’s heading up the field.
