
Buba applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Daughters of Flood and Fury, with the following results:
From page 69:Visit Gabriella Buba's website.At least he could ease today’s frustration and give Lunurin a place to vent her fears. He wouldn’t let the past rear its ugly head and poison what he and Lunurin had built together, not yet. Not with so much at stake and nothing to be gained.If there was going to be anything on page 69 of Daughters of Flood and Fury I couldn’t have orchestrated it better, I love a good innuendo. As a window into the whole work those coming in from page 69 would end up expecting a much higher percentage of steamy scenes and a banter-filled Romantasy vibe. They might be blindsided by the amount of high stakes fantasy politicking, family drama, and high seas piracy they get instead. But as a character study I think page 69 tells you everything you need to know about Alon and Lunurin’s relationship, two of the three main characters of Daughters of Flood and Fury.
He pressed his lips to the nape of her neck. Lunurin lifted her head, her dark eyes catching his with heated intention, and he was drowning. He kissed her. Her fingers threaded into the hair at his nape, pulling him closer. Her touch was electric, and he was water before her.
With a sweep of her arm, she cleared her worktable. Broken shell scattered in all directions. The saw bounced off the floor with a clatter and they both jumped, glancing toward the shut door, to see if anyone would come to investigate. But the distant doings of the house continued undisturbed.
Lunurin’s face creased into a laugh. “They’re avoiding my tantrums, I fear.”
Alon kissed the wrinkles above her pert nose. “Good… if anyone comes to check on us, I might do something drastic.”
“Promise?” Lunurin teased.”
I’m a huge fan of intimate scenes that dig at characters’ deepest emotional vulnerabilities. If my characters are stripping down, they’re doing it both physically and figuratively. At home, in private, with her husband, Lunurin doesn’t have to be all powerful, always poised, Lady Stormbringer crowned in lightning with her goddess burning in her eyes. And with his wife Alon doesn’t have to have all the answers, be the perfect diplomat, being present with her is enough.
Where the test falls down is that this passage gives no hint of Inez, and Daughters of Flood and Fury is truly Inez’s book. While Alon and Lunurin remain behind in Aynila struggling to unite their allies to defend their city against the Codician Armada, Inez is chasing her own demons. Busy running away to sea to find her own way with her tide-touched magic and the truth of the rumors about her traitor of a sister returned to the archipelago as a Saint, to aid in the reconquest of Aynila.
My Book, The Movie: Daughters of Flood and Fury.
Writers Read: Gabriella Buba.
Q&A with Gabriella Buba.
--Marshal Zeringue