KS Augustin
KS Augustin is primarily a writer of science-fiction and fantasy romance. Like most authors, she has held down a variety of jobs, including corporate trainer, lecturer, satirist, martial arts instructor, project manager, political essayist and small business owner.
She was born in the global South (Malaysia) and, with her husband, has lived and worked in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. She will tell you often that her husband is from Poland because she is so proud of him. They have two children, nicknamed in her blog The Wast and Little Dinosaur. The Wast was born in California and Little Dinosaur was born in Melbourne, Australia.
Concepts in books
While trust is an integral part of any romance, Augustin is also fascinated by the concepts of discrimination and ambiguity. All her work to date contains elements of these concepts:
The Seti species in The Commander's Slave suffered perhaps the ultimate in discrimination, the entire genocide of their people, and the book is the story of how their commander tries to obtain some justice and continuity for his species.
Toh, the hero of On Bliss, is a shapeshifter, held in suspicion by the galaxy at large. He holds himself apart from the rest of the population on the prison-planet of Bliss, leaving Hoara Felin to wonder if all that she's been taught about the murderous shapeshifters is true.
Heron Meed, from Prime Suspect, is a male-dominant hermaphrodite, also subject to discrimination from an uneasy and conservative galaxy. At the start of the story, it is bitter and petulant, until it learns to begin trusting again. And the person it trusts is the lush Subah Doisson, who has seen life pass her by and is resigned to a life of apathy ... until, that is, Heron comes along.
The heroine of The Dragon of Ankoll Keep is a small thief called Gamsin. She has issues with physical intimacy after two previous rapes. Ankoll is the man who helps her regain her confidence in herself. Ankoll is a pure beta-male (he whistles off-key, is considerate and supportive, and loves to cook) with a problem. At the beginning of the book, he is under an enchantment. And, at the end of the book, he is under an enchantment. It's just a different enchantment.
Ebony Strike (from Combat!) is a renowned martial artist who has, at best, ambivalent feelings about the planet she's left. From the time she was young, her overriding ambition was to leave the poverty of her homeworld but, despite herself, she finds she cannot turn down a direct plea from its inhabitants. The children are starving...will she help?
Augustin has also written a space opera (no romance), entitled Genesis: Qolari Diplomatic Corps. Here, we have another young woman eager to escape the suffocation of her homeworld. But it's not poverty Alshandiel Dolrahn is escaping, but the rigid Qolari caste system. When she joins the more outward-looking government organisation, the Department of Other Matters (DOM), she thinks she has found redemption. But DOM is a different kind of trap, and it has its own ways of holding onto its recruits.
Universes
Her works take place in three universes to date. The Fusion is more like a dysfunctional utopia. The plots set in the Fusion tend to span planets and their politics. Actions of characters have consequences far beyond themselves. Stories set in the Fusion include The Commander's Slave, Combat! and Genesis. Humans don't enter into this universe; Augustin is not sure if Earth has even been discovered by the Fusion. Augustin acknowledges the influences of Star Wars and Iain M Banks in this universe.
The Republic is a human-led and human-dominated coalition, with all its associated bigotry, conniving and corruption. Stories of Republic characters are tighter and more intimate, relating how people work within an essentially rotten society.
The Land is where the adventures of Gamsin and Ankoll take place. This was originally a world created for a fantasy comedy about cheese-making but Augustin decided to use it to tell Gamsin and Ankoll's adventures. The premise for the series began with the question: what if the prince doesn't kiss the princess? Or the princess doesn't kiss the frog? What happens then?
Books
The Commander's Slave (New Concepts Publishing) On Bliss (Total-E-Bound) Prime Suspect (Total-E-Bound) The Dragon of Ankoll Keep (Samhain Publishing) Combat! (Samhain Publishing) Genesis: Qolari Diplomatic Corps (Samhain Publishing)
Web presence
Augustin keeps an all-in-one (website plus blog) site at [1] She updates this regularly.
