Boy Meets Boy Reviews: Darker Space

Excited squee....LISA HENRY is here!!!

Hi! Welcome to the blog tour to celebrate the release of Lisa Henry’s Darker Space. I’m visiting some of my favourite blogs around the place to talk a bit about writing Darker Space and sharing some of my influences, ideas, and even an excerpt or two! Don’t forget to leave a comment, for your chance to win a prize!

Each comment on this blog tour enters you for a chance to win a $20 Amazon gift card. Entries close October 21, 2015, and contest is not restricted to US residents. Remember to leave your email address in the comments so I know how to reach you!

Today I’m talking about my MC, Brady. Authors aren’t supposed to have favourites, but I think of all the characters I’ve created, Brady Garrett from Dark Space—and now also from Darker Space—is my favourite. Henry Page from the Playing the Fool series is right up there as well, but I’m not counting him because at least half his craziness comes from J.A. Rock. Brady, though, is all mine.

Brady is very much an imperfect character. He fucks up, a lot. He has anger management issues, he’s immature, and he has no impulse control. He also has a huge inferiority complex and a massive chip on his shoulder. If Brady was a Facebook status, he’d be it’s complicated.

I’ve always been attracted to stories with morally ambiguous protagonists, which is probably why I wrote one. Or maybe it’s because I can remember how it felt to be an angry, dissatisfied teenager just looking to rattle the cage, and basically let Brady be that kid. Except he’s a boy. And in space. With aliens. But the main difference between us is that Brady at least has a reason to hate the entire universe. I’m pretty sure I didn’t, but it never stopped me from trying.

And, honestly, Brady has a hell of a lot more heart than I did. He’s a fighter. He might only care about a few people in his universe—Cam and Lucy—but he cares about them fiercely and he’ll do anything to protect them, even when it’s hopeless. Especially when it’s hopeless. Brady’s not constrained by conventional morality. He doesn’t give a damn about doing the right thing, as long as Cam and Lucy are safe.

Brady’s not exactly classic hero material, which is what I love about him the most. Dark Space already had a hero—Cam. Brady was just along for the ride. But when it came to writing Darker Space, one of the first things I realised was that Brady had to grow. He had to change. And this is something Brady recognises as well. He has to try and shed his fear and his anger, and to step up. It’s not easy for him. He still makes mistakes. He still fucks up, a lot. Because he’s a twenty-year-old kid, and that’s what they do. But Brady does learn something important by the end of Darker Space: he learns he’s braver than he thought. Because when the Faceless, the things from his nightmares, are his only chance at surviving, it turns out that Brady can face his fears after all. Maybe even embrace them.

You can find out more about Darker Space at Loose Id.

Bio

Lisa likes to tell stories, mostly with hot guys and happily ever afters.

Lisa lives in tropical North Queensland, Australia. She doesn’t know why, because she hates the heat, but she suspects she’s too lazy to move. She spends half her time slaving away as a government minion, and the other half plotting her escape.

She attended university at sixteen, not because she was a child prodigy or anything, but because of a mix-up between international school systems early in life. She studied History and English, neither of them very thoroughly.

She shares her house with too many cats, a green tree frog that swims in the toilet, and as many possums as can break in every night. This is not how she imagined life as a grown-up.

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