About the Book
Book: Silent Stars (Tomorrow’s Edge Book Three)
Author: Brett Armstrong
Genre: Christian dystopian, science fiction
Release date: September 26, 2023
AD 2040: Barely eighteen, things have become much harder for Elliott. Reeling from the losses during the confrontation that brought Project Alexandria to a halt, Elliott feverishly hunts for the original files needed to finish it off. Finding only dead ends, he instead stumbles upon something dire: messages about the Babel Initiative. Conceived as a successor that would make Project Alexandria’s manipulations seem tame, this new threat once again forces Elliott into alliances with morally grey programmers known as siegers. Beset by continual setbacks and defeats, many siegers abandon the cause and go underground to survive the dangers ahead. The bleak reality that Elliott and those closest to him are almost certain to die in the fight against Dr. Almundson begins to set in. But Elliott isn’t ready to give in. He knows the cost of such a silent surrender will be humanity itself.
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
Brett Armstrong has been exploring other worlds as a writer since age nine. Years later, he still writes, but now invites others along on his excursions. He’s shown readers haunting, deep historical fiction (Destitutio Quod Remissio), scary-real dystopian sci-fi (Tomorrow’s Edge series), and dark, sweeping epic fantasy (Quest of Fire). Every story is a journey of discovery and an attempt to be a brush in the Master Artist’s hand. Through dark, despair, light, joy, and everything in between, the end is always meant to leave his fellow literary explorers with wonder and hope. Always busy with a new story, he also enjoys drawing, gardening, and spending time with his wife and son.
More from Brett
Dystopian stories remind me of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. In it, Ebenezer Scrooge is heartbroken for Tiny Tim and asks the Ghost of Christmas Present if the boy will live. The ghost, to paraphrase, says that if the shadows of the things present are not altered the child will not live. Dystopian stories show us the shadows of things that if left unaltered, if not safeguarded against, can bring dire consequences. Years ago, I began writing the Tomorrow’s Edge series because I was concerned. Looking at headlines and articles about everything from the latest tech developments to the weakening links in western society’s integrity, I could understand why so many people fear the future. For me, it was fear for a tomorrow that is the fulfillment of every dystopian nightmare to us, but because it is so gradual so innocuous in coming, those in the future living that dystopia won’t even see it.
Our hold on reality is tenuous in the modern digital world—particularly with AI deepfakes, virtual reality, augmented reality, and the metaverse increasingly edging into our daily lives. And when combined with post-modernist philosophy’s denial of objective truth it makes for a serious existential threat. So, I wrote a story about some teens living in the near future where it is very nearly too late to come back from that edge. Teens who are gifted a glimpse of truth and reality and now can’t turn back from pursuing it. I hope it isn’t a stretch already to see that a story like that is layered. The gripping, fast paced surface narrative has beneath it an adjuration and encouragement for those of us who follow Christ to cling to the Truth and the Creator of all reality, no matter what may come. Silent Stars takes that story arc to its conclusion and in writing it I discovered there was an even more potent symbolic meaning to “Tomorrow’s Edge” than us being on the precipice or a dangerous dystopian tomorrow. It was one of the most rewarding discoveries I’ve had as a writer and I hope you enjoy uncovering it as well.
Author Interview
- Are you a one project at a time author or do you have multiple projects going at once?
I’m 100% a multi-project author. Writing on multiple manuscripts at a time definitely helps to avoid writer’s block and give each story more time to steep and become clearer for me in terms of what could and should be happening in each respective story. I definitely recommend it, though I’ve also been writing and having releases in both Tomorrow’s Edge and Quest of Fire for years. That’s been a little rougher going. Writing multiple manuscripts works out nice, but publishing multiple manuscripts at the same time can be tough. Now that Tomorrow’s Edge is finished and I only have two releases left for Quest of Fire (Devastation this September and Book 7 in 2025), I’m working on another standalone novel and a duology that I’ve been wanting to work on for some time.
- How do you relax after a long day of writing?
For me, it’s really the reverse. Writing is what I do in the hours after my day job is finished and my family is asleep. Even on days when I take off work to write all day (usually to help meet deadlines) writing leaves me feeling renewed and excited.
Some things I do outside writing that are fun are drawing (also super relaxing), gardening (we have a small one we tend to every year), and playing whatever games my son has for me. He’s a big gamer so Minecraft and Mario have taken up a lot of those free hours. But he’s also got a ton of creative ideas, like having our own detective adventures in the house (akin to the old Carmen Sandiego game). Reading or watching something with my wife rounds out all of my non-work, non-writing relaxation time.
- Where do you find your greatest inspiration?
Forgive me for being roundabout in answering, because I feel like that deserves a thoughtful answer. To begin unpacking that I think it would be best to mention where I find the greatest purpose and direction for writing, which is in Scripture. I dedicate all my books “…to the glory of God…without Whom there would be no words worth writing.” Inspiration for what stories to write ultimately come from Him. My chief aim is to be a brush in the Master Artist’s hand though I don’t feel like I’m ever half the implement for making the art that I should be. But it is my prayer that He uses me, and to that end, I feel like everything I encounter in life—bad and good—He is able to use—with the Scripture He places in my heart—to craft stories through me. Every little thing encountered and internalized consciously and unconsciously across the years can be summoned at an instant when I encounter something He has prepared for me and the outcome is a synthesis of thoughts and themes and images that become stories for His honor and glory.
- Do you have extensive outlines when writing or do you write a book as you go?
For most stories I don’t use outlines. I’ll work on some plot notes that cover the major story beats, but those are as often just in my head as it is written down. I really like discovering things as I go. Stories usually unfold in such a way as to be more natural and entertaining to me that way. If I’m surprised, readers probably will be too. It also helps to keep me from engineering things for the good of characters I care about. If I don’t let them go through hard times the story won’t be much good to a reader who could use the encouragement of tale where evil is overcome with great cost and challenges. I think those stories are the best and most meaningful for us. Whether that evil is something horrific or something small. We need to see and be reminded that evil can be overcome and the Lord can and does make a way through the wilderness.
- Do you remember the first book you read? What sort of impact did it make on you?
I don’t remember the first book I read overall, but I do remember the first dystopian book. It was 1984 and soon after I had to read Brave New World as well for a comparative analysis in high school. I was taken aback by both how insidious and brazen the manipulation of society was in the book. I understand why the book has endured in the popular consciousness and why a future like it portrays is feared. Though I would say we are more in danger of a Brave New World type of future. I sincerely hope to be wrong about it, because that future is even more bleak. In it, people are so beyond recovering from the twisting that has taken place, the author, Aldous Huxley, seemed to deem the cause hopeless. Since those two books really shaped my initial view of dystopian literature, that was something I wrestled with while writing Tomorrow’s Edge, especially as I started to write Silent Stars. I had an ending in mind, but worried that for the story to truly resonate it had to end bleakly, as is the case in 1984 and Brave New World. I read Fahrenheit 451, ironically after readers kept comparing Day Moon to it, and liked it. It, like The Hunger Games, has a somewhat happy ending. Bittersweet might be the best term for them. Which I had kind of settled on as a best-case scenario for the ending of Tomorrow’s Edge. While I was finishing up Silent Stars though, I feel like the Lord took me by the shoulders and turned me around a bit. Made me see what I had been missing all along in terms of the core theme and heart of the series as it had played out. That’s why the tone of the Silent Stars ending isn’t tragic or bittersweet. It’s hopeful. Not hopeful in the sense of, “Gee, if the stars align, our wish for a better tomorrow might come true.” That’s just wanting something badly. Silent Stars ends with hope in the biblical sense. Clinging to the promise of the better tomorrow ever fair. That’s not to say the trip to that ending isn’t harrowing or that all the characters make it there (and for those that do, definitely not unscathed), but I think that was the lesson I drew from all of my dystopian readings: A dystopian story that matters shows the darkest tint the world can take and how it can ruin things for characters we relate to. But for Tomorrow’s Edge, it isn’t without purpose. Beyond it all is the sunrise to dispel the dark
Blog Stops
Stories By Gina, August 22 (Author Interview)
Texas Book-aholic, August 23
Vicky Sluiter, August 24 (Author Interview)
Library Lady’s Kid Lit, August 25 (Author Interview)
For the Love of Literature, August 26 (Author Interview)
Locks, Hooks and Books, August 27
Tell Tale Book Reviews, August 28 (Author Interview)
Through the Fire Blogs, August 29 (Author Interview)
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 29
Artistic Nobody, August 30 (Author Interview)
The Lofty Pages, August 30
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, August 31
Beauty in the Binding, September 1 (Author Interview)
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, September 2
Guild Master, September 3 (Author Interview)
Blogging With Carol, September 4
Giveaway
To celebrate his tour, Brett is giving away the grand prize package of $50 Amazon gift card, a copy of Silent Stars, and an illustrated print featuring a scene from the Tomorrow’s Edge series!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.