These two books belong together! Both Way of the Serpent and Shadow of the Hare open with the same scene: Two women (who may have known one another in the distant past?) cross paths unexpectedly in a greasy spoon down a side street in Dallas. The encounter has a profound impact on both women, but in very different ways. Way of the Serpent is Jenda Swain’s story. Shadow of the Hare is Malia Poole’s story.
Available July 4th at Reverie Books in Austin!
Ten years ago today, I published my first novel—Way of the Serpent. I’ve just finished reading through it again, editing and re-formatting in preparation for publishing it as part of a compiled two-volume collection of the four books of the near-future science fiction Recall Chronicles.
Way of the Serpent is a very political novel, and I had thought I might need to revise it a bit in light of what has happened over the past ten years. Instead, I found it to be even more pertinent today than it was in 2015. A government dominated by plutocrats? Check. A worldwide pandemic? Check. Concern over altered images and manipulated social media? Check.
Way of the Serpent will be paired with Shadow of the Hare in a single volume titled The Resistance, which tells you a little about who the two main characters—Jenda Swain and Malia Poole—are. If you haven’t read the Recall Chronicles yet ( or not recently), get ready for a satisfying dive into a political world a hundred years hence that feels all too believable. Get ready for The Resistance!
Donna Dechen Birdwell 