A Foray into Light Novels

I got distracted this past year working on a light novel. “Light novels” are a style of novel popular in Japan that are essentially short (e.g. ~50k words), usually illustrated, and often in a series. They tend to lend themselves well to television (i.e. anime), and many fall in famous (infamous?) genres (yes, I’m looking at you isekai).

My hope was that Triple Strike, a semi-episodic sci-fi action comedy adventure about alien space pirates and the human who joins the crew after being “accidentally” kidnapped, would lend itself to the light novel format.

Triple Strike: Threads of Fate cover featuring pyrean captain, Sven Jiordson, his genetically modified iguana, Eric, and the (mostly) human inspector, Alan Beringer

What I wrote (and am writing) is not isekai, but to say it’s not related to Japanese media would be a bit of a lie. Triple Strike was originally a high school comic heavily inspired by the works of Leiji Matsumoto (namely his space operas about pirates written in the 1970s), and to a lesser extent the action-comedy anime of the 80s and 90s (think Yu Yu Hakusho among others).

Even if you don’t recognize the name “Leiji Matsumoto,” you may be familiar with the Daft Punk movie, Interstella, where he acted as the visual supervisor. If you are familiar with Matsumoto-sensei’s manga works, you likely know the name “Captain Harlock.” While it was the incredibly edited-to-the-point-of-incomprehensible dub of Galaxy Express 999 that first left its indelible imprint on my childhood psyche, how could I not fall in love with characters like Captain Harlock and Queen Emeraldas as I branched out into his other works?

These space operas are dramatic to say the least (everything about the narrative is beautiful, wistful, and tragic), but that wasn’t the angle I took with Triple Strike, despite my love for the over-the-top drama of old anime. Triple Strike was meant to be more light-hearted – a good, fun romp.

Bad things happen (and being conceived in high school, the propensity for melodrama runs high), but at the end of the day, what I tried to take from Matsumoto-sensei’s work was his Peak Aesthetic of old-fashioned ships sailing in space, a unique sense of anachronistic sci-fi world-building, and the romantic, ongoing themes of freedom and fate (if pushing a little less on the “tragedy” side of those things!).

An example of the original comic. The overall plot line has changed pretty dramatically, but Sven and his sister, Natalia, arguing while Alan sighs in the background will continue to be a feature.

The original version of Triple Strike was a comic, and while I continued to pick at it for years and years after high school, the project was ultimately too time-consuming, and I’d grown as both a writer and storyteller, so the existing narrative structure didn’t work for me anymore. Last year, a couple things changed.

1) An old friend from high school, who is without question Triple Strike’s biggest fan, asked me to finish the series, if not as a comic then at least as a book.

2) I discovered the work of Mo Xiang Tong Xui (colloquially known as MXTX).

I fell in love with MXTX’s work in the same way I’d fallen for Galaxy Express 999 all those years ago. MXTX is both really funny, and a master of Peak Aesthetic. (Seven Seas Entertainment is bringing over all of her works, and they are all beautifully illustrated and translated, so maybe consider checking them out!)

Her danmei/BL romances exist within these expansive, compelling plots full of action and intrigue. They are romances, sure, but they’re also thrillers, horror, mysteries, action, adventure, comedies etc, etc.

Essentially the works of MXTX represent the lack of compromise I want Triple Strike to have: I want it all. I want it to be a good old-fashioned rollicking adventure with swashbuckling, crime-solving, sentient lizards, exciting planets, fun aliens, and of course a healthy helping of queer romance.

But I also wanted to create a universe that has its share of problems, yet takes place in a future where humanity has grown just a little as a species. Fossil fuels and wars are considered antiquated. There are no longer political attempts to regulate another person’s gender or sexuality. The most powerful human organization is a transportation regulatory body. Now if only the technologically superior pyreans would stop insisting they’re robbing vessels out of love for human literature on the Age of Sail.

A preview illustration from Threads of Fate. Sven’s and Alan’s relationship gets off to a rocky start when they first meet.

If any of this sounds interesting to you, the first book Triple Strike: Threads of Fate is fully rewritten and illustrated with the second book, Triple Strike: Pasts Revisited, scheduled for release later this year! Please consider picking up digital copy of Triple Strike: Threads of Fate through one of these stores:

Amazon
Kobo
Barnes & Noble

A physical copy is coming soon as well (more on that soon!).

Questions or comments? Want to just chat about how amazing Queen Emeraldas or Heaven Official’s Blessing are? Please contact me at: akulagames@proton.me

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