Alongi's new novel is Citadel.
My Q&A with the author:
How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?Visit C. M. Alongi's website.
Citadel is the name of the city, the only human city on the alien planet Edalide. The actual definition of a citadel is that of a protective fortress, and the people living here are in a constant state of war—both for their lives and for their souls (or, so they’re told).
I’ll be frank: I’m not good with titles. Earlier drafts had titles like Predators and Demons—demons being what the humans call their alien counterparts and “Predators” being what they actually preferred in those earlier drafts. And there was that whole unsubtle “humanity is the real predator and demon” layer to it.
What's in a name?
This is a futuristic sci-fi, so these characters are descended from our society from over four hundred years, closer to five. But they’re also very religious. The first people to build Citadel, the Founders, mostly had modern European names like Riley, Evelyn, Sarai, Gabriel. But those people still had access to older, more unique names like Augustus, Mia, Asiya and Ormus. Being the conservative society they are, they’d try to keep the names the same as the Founders.
This creates a weird dissonance where you have characters with modern names like Olivia and Riley in a very archaic, draconian society. It’s sci-fi in that it’s far in the future and on an alien planet, but humanity has lost so much knowledge and technology that they’re down to bows and arrows. One of the earliest deaths in the story is someone being executed for heresy, something you’re more likely to read about in a medieval history textbook rather than a newspaper.
The chimera (“demons”) on the other hand, are well on their way to creating their own language. Olivia first meets a chimera with distinctive spots that look like freckles, which is why she nicknames him “Freckles.” When they’re finally able to fully communicate, she learns that his actual name “Cyrij” means “spotted” in their language. Their ancestors didn’t have the luxury of names, so they take theirs very seriously.
How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?
Probably not that surprised. I’ve been writing some version of this story since I was twelve. The main character Olivia was originally a side character to give the heroes direction and guidance. The earliest version of Cyrij was a wolf cub named Mouse, and his personality and role in the story have remained largely the same. Olivia’s best friend Riley also originally appeared in very early drafts, although he usually had greater physical disabilities than the chronic migraines he has in this version.
The biggest surprise would probably be in the role of Olivia’s father, Ormus. In earlier drafts, he was the villain. Now that role goes to Riley’s father, Augustus, and Ormus gets to be a much more complicated character.
Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?
It’s definitely harder for me to write an ending. I’ll know where I want to start and vaguely how I want everyone to end up, but as I’m crossing that bridge, I’ll often find myself changing the outline, especially regarding the ending.
With Citadel specifically, I changed the ending multiple times, specifically which characters lived and died and what position Olivia specifically found herself at the end. There are about five alternate endings lurking in my laptop somewhere.
Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?
Some of these characters definitely have some overlap with me. Olivia and I both have a passion for reading and learning, we both have a low tolerance for BS, andwe both have an interest in martial arts. (I got a black belt in youth self-defense when I was thirteen and then did a stint with archery.)
Ormus’s story is also a bit similar to mine. I’ve never executed anyone, but I’ve certainly been in a position of social privilege and didn’t understand the harm my society was doing until it was directly impacting the people in my life.
Sergeant Peterson’s personality is similar to my grandfather’s—gruff, no-nonsense, heart of gold. Asiya’s is closer to my grandmother’s, in that she’s also a badass, just not loud about it.
What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?
Anyone who reads Citadel is going to see a lot of parallels and problems with our own world, both modern and historical: the mixing of religion with politics, the demonization and silencing of communities, the erasure of history to suit a regime’s own political agenda, etc. All of those definitely influenced the world of Citadel and its people.
On a lighter note, the Flooded Forest was directly inspired by a wildlife documentary about the Amazon. There are freshwater dolphins swimming in the rivers, and I just thought that was so cool and alien. That’s why the Flooded Forest—and the city of Citadel—experiences biweekly flooding in the form of tides from the freshwater sea. Depending on the week the forest could be dry and walkable or twenty feet under water.
The Page 69 Test: Citadel.
--Marshal Zeringue