I wanted to model a story after my favorite book of all time, Beowulf's Children by Niven, Pournelle and Barnes. It a funny story how I ever came to read this particular book. I was looking among my husbands many books, many that he received from a Taco Bueno customer when my husband used to work there many moons ago. One caught my eye. Why? Because it had a picture of a baby and a machine gun on the cover. That's right. I randomly picked a book by its cover, and it turned out to be my favorite book of all time! I've read lots of Niven, some Pournelle and Barnes, and have never found another book like it.

Here are some of the things I love about Beowulf's Children.

First, Beowulf's Children is about the adventure of colonizing a distant planet, totally cut off from civilization. Second, there is a very definite second generation who value education. I love smart kids. My favorite character of the book is Old Grendel, a smart, cunning, deadly native animal. I rooted for her from the first time I met her, monster or not.  Several of the scenes near the end of the book, I played out in my mind again and again after I finished reading it. I've never done that with another book.

I wanted to write a story that had some of the elements I love in Beowulf's Children, including a new world, a smart second generation and something like Old Grendel. In the Eye is the result. A smart and cunning imp, Malica, inserts herself into a human conflict, causing havoc in the process. Next to Double Edge, In the Eye is my favorite story in the game. There are others I love too, including Depths of Peril and others you haven't seen yet.

Delilah Rehm