Voices of Humanity

More Voices Part 1

Author's Note

Ok so the people have spoken. I will share the 8 chapters I have!! Let me start with a bit of context...

When I read stories I am always wondering about back stories. I feel annoyance when characters just seem to magically have powers or skills that don't feel earned. No Mary sues/Gary stus hehe. Even if the character work I do doesn't make it into my final novel, I think that having that structure, in my mind at least, makes the characters more believable when I write them because I  as the author belive them.

In writing After Humanity for example I needed to know how Alice and Magnus met ( that's where the backstory chapters evolved from). I needed to know how Alice had the skills she seemed to have (that's where Alice's book came from!) Well there is one more character/storyline I needed to justify, at least in my own mind... Kathryn & Alice.

Alice's care for Kathryn is ultimately why she didn't speak to save Rachel's life from Magnus's trade (well one of the reasons). So why did Alice care for Kathryn so much? How did she become Alice's presumed heir?

You may or may not remember Kathryn telling Rachel the story of how she was bought at auction. (if you need a refresher, its chapter 20 of After Humanity). Well when I went to write that part of the chapter I had a vague idea of what had happened but... I couldn't seem to write it down. I had to actually write that mini story ( from both Alice and Kathryn's pov) in order to have Kathryn summarize it lol. A bit of extra work on my part but it was worth it. Once I had written that short bit of story? I was able to finish the chapter. That little snippet evolved into more chapters. A book from Alice & Kathryn's pov that covers Kathryn's journey to Magnus's estate, Rachel's time on the farm, and ends with Alice's death & Kathryn taking over her position officially.

Will I finish that book? I don't know. I have about 55k words but not all clean lol. What I do have however is the start of Kathryn and Alice's story. It begins with a very similar line to Voices of Humanity:

"I was born lucky"

Alice starts her book with the same sentiment. Acknowledging her "luck" within... a very rough reality. Kathryn's story is very different to Alice's but nonetheless they share some key similarities. That's what this book is meant to explore. How did these remarkable strong women come to be who they are? How did they survive? What drew them to each other? And with those questions... here is the story of how Alice and Kathryn first met.....

*Please forgive that its a bit messier than other work I might have posted. Its still very much a draft

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Chapter One

Kathryn

I was born lucky, at least as lucky as one born into this age could be given my species. Humans had long since lost any standing in our world and the sibla ruled with an iron fist. No human was permitted to go unaccounted for.

The free human enclave I was born to was peaceful, set at the foothills of majestic mountains that provided cool fresh water from melting snows each spring. We were asked to give up only ten citizens a year, far less than most. In return for our sacrifice, the sibla who maintained our village provided us with electricity, safety, and ample rations. They wanted us healthy and fat after all.

My mother had been blessed with seven surviving children, a true accomplishment given the lack of medical care we had access to and the cold winters that often left us encased in a world of ice.