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| Rita Carla Monticelli |
Welcome Rita Carla to my
blog. Tell me where did you get your ideas for your book?
It all arose from an image that formed in my
mind. There was an astronaut who wandered alone in the Martian desert in a
pressurised rover. She was willing to know more about this beautiful and lethal
planet. I wondered where she was going, why she was alone, when would she run
out of her air and water reserves. Was she maybe sacrificing herself to go
where nobody has ever been?
From this idea came the story of Anna Persson,
a Swedish exobiologist, crew member of the Mars colonisation mission Isis.
Who, one day in the morning escapes in secret from their commune and penetrates
this red desert.
“Deserto rosso” (translation: Red Desert)
starts from this apparently inexplicable act. What Anna is not aware of is that
Mars has an incredible discovery in store for her. A mystery hidden in the
depth of the biggest canyon of the Solar System: Valles Marineris.
Can you tell me about the
novel?
This novel involves the reader, drawing them
in them to experience the feelings of an anti-heroin struggling for her
survival in the hostile Red Planet. The setting is described with the
technical-scientific exactness typical of hard sci-fi.
Thirty years have passed since the Mars
exploration mission Hera, whose crew died in mysterious circumstances.
This failure and the politic issues resulting from it slowed down NASA in its
run to conquer space. But now, it’s time for a new mission, called Isis.
This time the five crew members will be travelling over 400 million kilometres
not on a return trip, for they are destined to become the first colonisers of
the Red Planet.
Anna Persson, a Swedish exobiologist is among
the crew. Anna opted for this mission in the hope of starting a new life away
from Earth. But an unexpected discovery on Mars awaits her, a key to a mystery
hidden in the depth of the Valles Marineris.
It is also the story of normal human beings. They
have to face situations that are beyond both their range and expectations. The
crew are forced to live in a limited space within an enormous desert and
dangerous planet and without any conventions and control from Earth. They each show
their true nature, until death visits this small community, thus upsetting forever,
its difficult balances.
Packed with adventure, action, science and
emotions, Deserto rosso, makes a great read not just for sci-fi fans
but for all readers.
This novel is different
from other novels, can you explain this?
“Deserto rosso” is a science fiction serialised
novel, made up by four episodes. What makes it different from a normal
novel split in four parts is, each episode is written and published before I start
work on the next one. It is an experimental project in which, even if a general
plot already exists, its details can change because of feedback from the
readers. This makes it particularly interesting, allowing for continuous interactions
between my readers and I. It avoids those silent periods between the releases
of two books.
Between the two releases, the readers are kept
up to date on the various stages of the book production. This is possible
because the story of each episode is not self-conclusive. This way, the reader
wants to know what happens next and therefore they tend to interact with me
during the months of waiting. They may even influence the events - maybe only
details - which will be narrated in the following episode.
Explain further please?
I’ve already published three episodes in
Italian.
The first one, the pilot, is Deserto
rosso - Punto di non ritorno, (Red Desert - Point of No Return).
This is a novella (approx. 21,000 words), which allows the reader to imagine themselves among
the dust and rocks of Mars, its enormous flatlands and insidious canyons, half
way between the urgency to explore and the desire to survive. But it is also
the story of a selfish woman that, at the same time, is lacking
self-confidence. Despite her controversial choices, without regret she
stubbornly continues to go on. Even risking her own life, she demonstrates to
herself and to others that her life was actually destined to have a bigger
purpose. Her dark side emerges by means of her memories. She faces without
fears the unknown of a cursed planet, which somehow continues to take away the
lives of those trying to discover its secrets. Filtered by her erratic emotions
and her deeply rooted prejudices, the events are shown to the reader. Thus
involving them in an alternation of past and present by means of a gradual
crescendo that drives them to the epilogue, from which the rest of the novel
will derive.
The second episode is Deserto
rosso - Abitanti di Marte, (Red Desert - People of Mars) which is a short
novel (approx. 45,000 words), and the third one is Deserto rosso - Nemico invisibile, (Red Desert - Invisible Enemy), which has got the size of a
full-length novel (approx. 74,000 words).
The whole project started on June 7th 2012 with the release of the pilot and will end
on September 30th 2013,
when the finale will be published.
The series will be published in
English, with the title Red Desert,
in late 2014.
Author’s biography
Technical,
scientific and literary translator, web copywriter and biologist, Rita Carla Francesca Monticelli is an
Italian independent author. She has been writing fiction since 2009.
Her latest release is ‘Deserto rosso - Nemico invisibile’, the third in a science fiction, serialised novel
set on Mars, titled Deserto rosso.
Her work is enjoying much success in Italy.
Deserto rosso will be published in English, with the title Red Desert, in 2014.
Deserto rosso is available on Amazon, Kobo, iTunes, Google Plus,
Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Sony Ebook Store and Diesel Ebook Store.
Thank you Rita for taking the time to talk with me.
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