Rites of Succession
Author
Jane McCaa
Author Bio
Scotswoman Jane McCaa has been writing pretty much since the moment she could hold a pen – she was writing science fiction before she even knew what it was. Her academic background is in Classics and Archaeology and she has taught and published in these fields, with specialist interests in the history of everyday life and the history of religion. She has also managed to fit in some Business Studies, work in publishing, P.R. and journalism, Diocesan admin and even jewellery design. She is also a qualified teacher of R.E. as an academic subject. She has worked with various charities. Her outside interests have ranged from rock-climbing and karate to embroidery and representing her university in cha cha. She studied Singing for many years. Much of her wide range of study and experience gets fed back into her work.
Jane McCaa was bon in the Scottish town of Clydebank, educated at the famous Mary Erskine School in Edinburgh, then at the Universities of Bristol, The West of England and Edinburgh. She has taught at every level from Junior School to University and remains in touch with quite a few former students. She now lives in the Scottish Borders. Jane McCaa is a pseudonym.
Description
As the third volume in the unfolding story of Delos opens, Zoe and Peter, their baby son, cousin Leo, who was along for the ride, and the former Grand Master are relaxing on their way home from an official visit when their space yacht goes into catastrophic technical meltdown and vanishes into an unplanned jump before their escorts can do anything to help.
Most people soon give up hope of their survival, but the consequences of their disappearance mean more than private and public grief. The fragile detente between Delos and Sikulos comes under threat – a threat that is particularly serious for Grigori Alexeivitch, one of the few who joins Platon Arete in refusing to accept that they have gone. He knows the Sikulan hawks have him in their sights. On Delos, Platon Arete comes under increasing pressure from the public and from his advisers to appoint a new heir. The next in line is his self-effacing niece, Sophia, who had always been happy as a younger child to know that the highest offices were not for her – and it shows in public.
Neither Platon nor Grigori can afford for it to be known that they are working together in the face of galactic fear and disapproval, but things get a lot more complicated than they already were when an Eirenian friend drafted in to help is murdered in the Delian palace. It becomes increasingly clear that the space accident was no accident, and the actions of the other great power bloc of the galaxy, Thebes, come ever more seriously into question. They resent the growing power and authority of the Delian League and have been exercising their economic muscle to the League’s detriment. Meanwhile, on a deserted planet, a group of stranded travellers has to survive and find a few answers of their own. One of the party holds a particularly disturbing secret which might explain a few things.
An increasingly isolated Grigori turns to a very unlikely ally, who was certainly not expecting to hear from him. Eirene has changed not just the political landscape but Grigori himself. Everything could be lost without Zoe and Peter.
The increasing tensions and build-up of evidence against Thebes begin to make war look inevitable, for the first time in his life Platon Arete looks weak, and his likely new heir weaker still. In the end some secrets will be revealed, some dark secrets kept hidden, and Delos will have to deal with a tragedy no-one could have imagined.
Book excerpt
Platon was now in conference with the Archbishop. “I know it feels like an unbearably final step, Lord Archon,” the latter was insisting gently, “but you have to turn your mind to preparation for a requiem. Public emotion is beginning to fester into a boil that will have to be lanced.
“I don’t think one needs to be so melodramatic, Your Grace. The Delian people cope well in a crisis.”
“Yes, they do , ordinarily – but this is an extraordinary crisis, and I’m afraid that not everything that’s being said in public is either sensible or helpful. We both know as well that while individuals may be calm, restrained and think things through, crowds – even Delian crowds – are a different species.” The Archbishop was deeply anxious. A funeral for a young family was not something he would be looking forward to , whoever they were, but he knew that this was where the healing would start, and more needed to be healed in this case than any normal person’s circle of relations and friends. “We need to bring the whole theatre of Church and State to this, Lord Archon. Billions across our planet, our League and from one arm of inhabited space to another will want to watch, and remember. We always have our contingency plans, of course, as do you, but there are specifics we must discuss.”
“The search is not over,” Platon replied to the Archbishop’s firmness with a firmness of his own. The Archbishop made an almost impatient gesture.
“Lord Archon, the Thebans have called off their contribution already, others are talking of it. You must come to terms with it – computer cancer almost never happens, but when it does no-one has survived it, despite all the failsafes the best minds can devise. The beacon signal that came out of the jump could mean anything or nothing. You know what the odds are against someone lost in space.”
Platon’s face was impassive. “You may recall that I also have occasion to know that sometimes they turn up.”
The Archbishop rubbed a hand across his eyes. It was part of his role to advise on matters of state, but it was compassion as much as duty that drove him now to try to change the Archon’s mind. “Your Majesty,” he chose the title carefully, “it doesn’t look good. People are questioning your judgement. Most of them are completely sympathetic to your reasons for not calling off the search, but there are also some harsher things being said about your refusal to accept reality.” Platon merely sat back in his chair, his hands quietly folded in his lap.
The Archbishop tried another tack. “In the immediate term you must at least address the constitutional vacuum – you must declare Lady Sophia the Heir-Apparent.”
“I feel under no compulsion to make that move yet at all,” Platon snapped back. “Sophia is very young, and this was never expected for her. The poor child is having enough of a hard time running Arete with her father holding her hand.”
Author Website
http://www.radisol.com/janemccaa/index.htm
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