Frequently Asked Questions About Starship’s Mage

Over the course of various Q&As (that happen quarterly on Facebook Live) Glynn has answered your questions about Starship’s Mage and talked about his universe in general.

Here are some of his answers, starting with his most frequently asked question: how did the series come about?

Starship’s Mage is the Literal Interpretation of a TV Trope

Screw it, a wizard literally did it. All of our fancy tech that’s beyond stuff we can reasonably project is magic.”

FTL (faster-than-light travel) has many explanations in science fiction – some based on real technology or theories, and some that are entirely made up. Examples of this include the Minovsky particle in Gundam Wing, Element Zero in Mass Effect, and mass manipulators in Glynn’s other series, Castle Federation.

In the world of Starship’s Mage, this technology isn’t technology at all – it’s magic. Glynn got the idea from the TV Tropes entry called, “a wizard did it.” The trope doesn’t refer to an actual wizard, rather any technology that is not based on current scientific theories.

Instead of giving the FTL a projected future technological origin, Glynn imagined a world in which it was literally a wizard. Or, to be more specific: a mage.

From that concept, everything fell into place. Starship’s Mage started as a short story back in 2012, that he turned into a novella, then into a series of serialized ‘episodes’ that became Starship’s Mage book one.

Now, the series is ten books strong, with a new instalment arriving in the fall of 2021.

Starship’s Mage Has Arcs

Unfortunately, we have no ability to link between series on Amazon. So it’s easier for discoverability for readers to keep finding the new books to just have one very long series, intimidating as that sometimes is.”

Although it’s not particularly clear from the way that Amazon presents books to readers, but the Starship’s Mage series has several distinct arcs. As we’re not able to link series on Amazon, we were left with the choice to keep all the books under the banner of Starship’s Mage, or break out each arc into its own series. The latter would make it very difficult for readers to discover the next book in the series. So that’s why all books, whether they feature Damien or Roslyn as the major POV character are labeled as Starship’s Mage.

Here are the arcs and their corresponding books as of spring 2021:

Arc 1: Starship’s Mage

Starship’s MageHand of MarsVoice of MarsAlien ArcanaJudgment of Mars

Arc 2: UnArcana Rebellion

UnArcana StarsSword of MarsMountain of MarsThe Service of Mars

Arc 3: Mage-Officer of Mars (current arc)

A Darker MagicMage-Commander (coming September 2021)

Red Falcon Trilogy

Interstellar MageMage ProvocateurAgents of Mars

Standalone Novella

Pulsar Race

Which leads to Glynn’s other oft-asked question: when will Damien return as the focus?

Damien Montgomery Has Responsibilities on Mars

I’m not going to do an Honor Harrington and try and come up with reasons why a character who should be at home doing her job is out screwing around.”

Damien’s chained to a desk as of The Service of Mars. Glynn didn’t want to keep making up excuses for why Damien would shirk his responsibilities to Kiera or his role as Prince Regent. He had a significant arc over the course of nine books, and has now settled into an advisory role.

If Glynn had to stick to Damien, the series would have ended when the war with the Republic did. Having Roslyn as the new primary point of view character allows Glynn to continue telling stories within the universe of Starship’s Mage.

Passing the torch from Damien to Roslyn has ensured the series will continue for several more books. That doesn’t mean no more Damien at all – just that he will not be the primary point of view character going forward.

So what’s the plan for the next arc?

Roslyn Chambers is Currently the Primary Point of View Character

The latest arc is going to mostly be based around Roslyn Chambers, and covering her career rise from Mage-Lieutenant Commander, at the very least to Mage-Commodore over the course of about 10 years.”

As of The Service of Mars, Roslyn is the current main point of view character for Starship’s Mage. She has many qualities in common with Damien, but her role as an officer of the Royal Martian Navy and her more moderate (but still powerful) power levels leaves room for continued adventures. She is starring in the latest arc that will carry through the next several books.

But what about other stories within the Starship’s Mage universe? What about its origins?

Glynn Has No Plans to Write About the Eugenicists

To write a Eugenicist War novel or series would require me to get more thoroughly into the heads of the Eugenicists than I would really want to do. I don’t think that would be good for my mental health.”

Although it may seem like interesting fodder to delve into the Eugenicists who created the mage bloodlines, Glynn has no plans to set any stories during that time period.

Glynn has written the Red Falcon Trilogy and the standalone novella Pulsar Race, which explores different aspects of the Starship’s Mage universe. More in that vein is certainly possible, but delving in to the psychology of the monsters who created the mages? That strays too far from Glynn’s mission statement of delivering optimistic science fiction.

We hope that this covers the most burning questions readers have about Starship’s Mage. You also might be interested in 10 Random Facts About Starship’s Mage.

Got more questions about Starship’s Mage, Glynn’s other universes or the business of writing? Submit your questions here, and follow Glynn’s Facebook page for the announcement of the quarterly Q&As. You can also join the Facebook Group to chat with other fans about his work. 

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