Five Books That Influenced Embers of War By Gareth L. Powell  With my latest novel, Embers of War, I’ve returned to one of my favourite subgenres: space opera. The story follows the exploits of the sentient warship Trouble Dog as she gets embroiled in a plot to conceal the true contents of an ancient alien vault. As a lifelong reader of stories set in space, I knew some of those books would inevitably end up influencing my writing. After all, we’re all made up of everything we’ve ever consumed. So, after much thought, I’ve prepared this list of the books I feel had the biggest impact.   1. NOVA by Samuel Delany Set a thousand years into the future, NOVA tells the story of Lorq Von Ray, last scion of a powerful and rich dynasty, and his quest to harvest the rare mineral illyrion from the core of an imploding sun. He believes a cargo hold filled with illyrion will be enough to tip the balance of power between Earth and the quasi-independent Pleiades Federation. Operating on several levels, the book explores Von Ray’s childhood and current quest, and relates them to Arthurian Grail lore, while also using the literary…

Planetfall is tense and addictive. It is the story of a colony of humans who fled earth in pursuit of God’s city on a faraway planet. This was supposed to be an answer for humans from earth, where things are not going so well. Since this is not simply the exploration of a new planet, but also a pilgrimage, religion and faith both factor heavily into this society. For me it was an interesting dynamic to have a people so technologically advanced, and also so faithful to this God and city they journeyed to. I honestly kept waiting for more of a scientific approach to explain some of their religious beliefs, perhaps because that is my personal inclination. So as a reader, some of the things that the society referred to as religious fact, I couldn’t help but want to know more, I almost craved an alternative explanation and wondered how the characters could accept things so blindly. Honestly, this aspect of the book fascinated me in a good way. Planetfall also examines the relationships between people as it shows how even surrounded by people, how easy it is to feel isolated and alone. The idyllic community the settlers tried to create sounds…