Radio Show: Author Commentary - The Awakening

[keiramarcos]

On Sunday night, I'll be discussing my first and only completed project in the Sentinel Fandom that is not a cross over with Stargate. Questions in the chatroom, on the phone, or on my LiveJournal listing for this radio show are welcome.

Title: The Awakening

Author: Keira Marcos

Fandom: The Sentinel

Pairing: Blair/Jim

Betas: Ladyholder & Kelly

Status: Complete

Word Count: 69,152

Rating: NC-17 (for sex, violence, and very adult themes)

Warnings: Foul language, explicit sex, violence, murder, blood, discussion of sexual abuse and violence against minor characters, and various other things you might suspect in a story about a Sentinel Cop and his Guide. Mean!Carolyn. Selfish!Naomi.

Summary: Detective Jim Ellison doesn’t want a Guide. What he wants is peace and quiet and maybe for his ex-wife to disappear. Dr. Blair Sandburg, a successful profiler with the FBI, has nearly given up on finding his Sentinel. Then the night came where one’s pain drew the other across the country – neither will ever be the same.

Comments

[azurehart.livejournal.com]

What would you like to say to the idiots that complained because you wrote Blair as a strong and intelligent character instead of a weak, weepy, useless 12-year-old girl?

I personally don't get their opinion at all as I thought that canon Blair was a strong, intelligent, and resourceful person in his own right, but I know you had to deal with that a lot from the self entitled twits.

[black-castle.livejournal.com]

I loved this story. I like how you wrote their relationship and how you portrayed sentinel/guide culture. The case mystery was really well done. If you ever get inspired again, I would read more in a hearbeat...but since I read all the fandoms you write, and update is a happy update for me.

^-^

Spirit Animals

[silvershadowkit.livejournal.com]

I admit, I've always been curious about the spirit animals, especially in your verses. I haven't been able to watch all of The Sentinel episodes (I've had issues with the Internet before). I know that canonically, Jim has the leopard, but do you have a system for assigning spirit animals to your characters?

[samantha-kathy.livejournal.com]

I have to ask, how did you deal with writing what I call the horror part of the story - the death of that little girl, with Blair being with her on the spirit plane?

[shattereternity.livejournal.com]

I'm curious about Naomi. Since all guides in your 'verse have that dark empty place in them that is fulfilled by their sentinel, and according to "Awakening" Naomi and Blair's father was a perfect match. So if you could expand on how she was able to step away from that internal fulfillment of having a sentinel, since it seems that that empty space is very painful for a guide, if I"m reading that right?

[rogue53.livejournal.com]

What made you choose the beginning of this story over what you had written on a past EAD? Both are totally interesting and great to read, just wondering why you went with the one that had Jim hunting Blair.

And I second the spirit animal thing, how do you assign one?

[keiramarcos]

Those are two different stories actually. The Awakening only ever had one opening. I wrote it start to finish in about a month.

[rogue53.livejournal.com]

"Forget Me Not"? You said that you just went in a different direction.

Anyway, I like them both, and am astounded that you wrote it in a month!

[keiramarcos]

Ah, no, the plot was never the same on the two projects. The plot for Forget Me Not doesn't include a case like The Awakening. I started Forget Me Not then stopped and started over again with The Awakening which included a new plot. I guess that qualifies as a different beginning but I don't consider them that way now. The plot outcomes are just too different.

[vasaris.livejournal.com]

Even though I won't get to listen in (you would pick gaming night *sadface*) and will have to wait for the podcast: What exactly is your inspiration for the sentinel/guide center? You've carried it through most (or is it all?) of your sentinel stories in a largely unchanged format. Also, even if gay marriage isn't legal in the timeline of the story, why isn't there either an exception for sentinels and their guides, or at least some form of automatic civil partnership/power of attorney thing? I'd've thought that a government that wants bonded sentinels would offer that kind of protection. Which, in turn, makes me wonder what the ramifications of having Sentinels/Guides come out of the woodwork had amidst the religious right -- accepted as beings with gifts from God or vilified as agents of Satan that could break up marriages and tempt men and women into unpardonable sin?

I'll stop now, because I tend to pick horribly at world building, even when I think it's well thought out. I could easily go all day with clarification questions.

[vasaris.livejournal.com]

I suppose I should have expected that you didn't cover the religious reaction due to your views (I've read it all, so I'm not surprised -- just a little sad because your rants are kind of epic). I do kind of want to smack people at the Center for not reminding Jim and Blair about domestic partnership/POA stuff though. Jim realizing it because of Caroline (Carolyn?) was just kind of awful for him (that is not a critique, I just felt really bad for Jim and wondered WTF the Center is doing if they don't make an effort to keep Sentinels and Guides from getting screwed at 2am because the legalities weren't taken care of. Then again, maybe they didn't read the 'So now you're bonded, here's the inobvious shit you hadn't thought about' pamphlet that's in the little waiting area in the foyer.)

Also I'm proud to be Washingtonian and to have voted for our gay marriage initiative. A lot bummed it took so damn long, but there you go. Not that you could have known that, but I am proud of the people of my state. :)

[tamstercmt.livejournal.com]

The Awakening is the first story of yours I ever read (and it went downhill from there - JK!). I went into it not having any preconceived ideas because I had only seen a couple of episodes, so I had the gist of the idea. I loved the story, how you wove everything together, the spirit guides, the whole thing. Sentinel stories that portray Guides as weak and/or submissive make me nuts, because if you really think about it, the Guide enables the Sentinel to do what they do. It seems to me that if you look at it that way, the Guide is top dog.

I suppose I should ask a question - lol. At the end of the story there's the scene with the Alpha Prime of America and people watching out for Blair. Am I right in guessing that he is Blair's father? And does Naomi truly believe her Sentinel is dead? Or did they never really bond?

looking forward to the show later!

Where to Hear this Broadcast

[bedeeshee.livejournal.com]

Hello. I'm a little late to the party and was wondering if there is a place where I can hear your old radio episodes. Thank you.

Re: Where to Hear this Broadcast

[keiramarcos]

All of my radio shows are archived on Blogtalk. I keep a listing on my site:
http://keiramarcos.com/radio-show-archive/

TRe: Where to Hear this Broadcast

[bedeeshee.livejournal.com]

Thank you.