People are sometimes shocked at the levels of sex and violence in In Serein. One person said that if I took Lord Lucian out of the book completely, made Isca 35 years old and apprenticed her to a friendly wizard couple who teach her one lesson in magic per chapter, I might have something that could sell.
Yees ... Alright ...
Now look.
I sat down in front of an empty document and promised that I would tell the story EXACTLY as it comes.
Exactly. No looking over the shoulder, no fear of what other people might think or say.
The story of Lucian and Isca is a violent story.
They live in a violent society and have been brutalised themselves all their lives.
Of course, both carry their scars.
Of course, both are damaged by this.
How could it be any different?
How could they do any better, given what they went through?
In Serein may be "make belief" whatever that is, but it isn't some airy fairy fluffy hallucination of "Heaven On Earth".
I think I've lived in the real world far too long to even want to write something like that.
But at the end of the day, they both try for better.
They both try to DO better.
What more can you ask of any man?
Or of any woman?
Sure, In Serein is hard sometimes. Brutal. Uncompromising and refusing to paint over the cracks in the walls of nicety and societal entrainment. Challenging.
But in that challenge lies the heart of In Serein.
For Lucian, for Isca, for all of them - and for all of us.
StarFields 2004
