So, it took a few months but we finally have the recap of the chat we did back around April 2013 after ICoS ended.
Contains spoilers for Fade epilogue, therefore, for the whole series!
Questions and answers from the April 2013 chat with Sonny & Ais, regarding In the Company of Shadows and the end of Fade. The chat was done in celebration of getting over 100 members on the Sonny & Ais group on Goodreads.
Q: Will the series ever be published?
A: We hope so but we don’t know when. We still have to figure out editing. We will likely self-publish at that point and advertise it on our newsletter/at the GR group/our various social media accounts so you’ll know if you’re watching any of them :)
Q: How did Emilio and Zach get away?
A: Luke Gerant helped them to escape the compound, and then Emilio contacted Chance who helped them to get to an underground medical center he utilizes for his own purposes.
Q: So, what did the ‘yes’ mean in the epilogue? Are they going back or not?
A: We planned it out both ways– Boyd and Sin running, and Boyd and Sin returning. The series was left open-ended like that because it not only lets people imagine the ending they like the most, but because there are also good arguments for why it might go different ways. In other words, either answer could be correct.
Q: What do Sin and Boyd think about the government/Agency after all this?
A: It’s different for both of them.
For Sin, he still wants to protect innocents, and he sees the necessity of what the Agency does. He sees what could happen if they weren’t there, including innocent people who could be harmed. He’s always believed in the Agency’s mission. After working there for so long, he has seen them stop terrorists and protect civilians in many situations. However, he has never agreed with their policy of the ends justifying any means necessary, from collateral damage during missions to the way agents are treated on the compound. He also has trouble identifying as a civilian and being in a “normal” environment after living for so many years as a weapon.
For Boyd, he lost his trust in the Agency long ago and still doesn’t like them for everything they did to him, his family, and everyone he loves, as well as relative innocents (ex: Anderson McCall and Patrick Finley) As a result it’s a toss up for whether he would see the Agency as a necessary evil or more evil than necessary. If he were asked before the epilogue, he would have been happy to see the Agency destroyed for good. But knowing there is a new Agency brings up new questions about whether more good could be done inside or outside, whether his friends will be targeted and if so whether he can help protect them from inside (regardless of how he feels about the Agency), and so on. No matter those answers, he continues to have serious misgivings about trusting the Agency or government ever again and believes no matter what they say, they have ulterior motives that are self-serving and liable to hurt others.
Q: If they don’t go back, wouldn’t they just be left alone?
A: Unfortunately, no. They’d have to continue running for the rest of their lives. The Chairmen will see a new Agency be created. The question is whether or not Boyd and Sin will be on its side.
Q: Will there be a sequel?
A: We have talked about ideas for a possible spin-off series focusing on other characters with cameos of characters known from ICoS but we don’t know for sure yet. That’s something up in the air and would probably be far in the future if it does happen.
Q: The Chairman mentions everyone left behind was liquidated– does that mean they were killed?
A: Some people were selected to remain on at the Agency, but many were wiped out. Especially if they took part in the riot.
Q: Who did get away that wasn’t mentioned?
A: We won’t go into details of everyone but some of the people of note are Bex (there’s a possible idea about her coming back for revenge in the future), Cade, Pat and Emma who fled with his kids, and Adam got away with Gordon.
Q: Did Vivienne ever have any friends?
A: Not really, no. She and Boyd are alike in that they didn’t really connect with others, but Boyd had Lou and Viv didn’t have anyone. Cedrick was the first person she trusted enough to consider as a friend but obviously we know how that all ended. Incidentally, Ais is planning to write a story about Vivienne’s life, named Domino.
Q: Did you have everything planned out?
A: Yes, but some things changed as we drew closer.
For instance, their breakup in Afterimage happened because after Evenfall we realized it was the natural progression of their relationship, and it wouldn’t work to try to write it any other way. Some other things that changed were pretty significant.
SPOILER ALERT!!
Originally, Emilio and Carhart both died toward the end of Fade. In the courtyard scene, originally Carhart was going to be shot and killed almost instantly, and Emilio was going to berserk and basically go on a suicide mission to get himself killed. As it drew closer we realized their deaths didn’t push the plot forward in any way and would have been gratuitous death and angst. The idea of Carhart dying and Emilio living was toyed with, but Emilio would never save himself after the love of his life had been murdered in front of him.
END SPOILER ALERT
Q: Will we ever see more Emilio and Carhart?
A: Sonny is still writing 180 Proof Vega (the young Emilio series) and will probably write at least a oneshot of Emilio and Carhart following the end of Fade. They also appear in the high school AU joking fics.
Q: What other stories are going to be done in the future?
A: There are a number that might occur.
Sonny is planning to write a Kassian/Ryan novella at some point, and will be working on a sequel to After Midnight (which will happen concurrently with the second half of Afterimage in the ICoS timeline).
Ais has a number of ICoS-related stories she’s considered doing, including ones focusing on: JG, Genna and Riley; the history of Vivienne and Cedrick; Owen and possibly Jeffrey post-Fade; Tayla and Liani. Currently she’s started writing a series set in the past, focusing on Julian Jones, a private investigator who was good friends with Cedrick. It’s called Julian Files.
We also need to write the AU sex scenes we said we’d write. And we talked at one point about writing some sort of story which would include Ferals. (PS: note that Sonny is generally a lot more productive than Ais so his stories are more likely to actually be written)
Also, unrelated to ICoS, we each have future story ideas.
Right now, Sonny is revising a paranormal manuscript and planning to write a contemporary romance about teachers for Nanowrimo.
Ais has a fantasy series she wants to write, and some miscellaneous stories including lesbian and law enforcement themes. For NaNoWriMo, she plans to work on Domino (Vivienne’s story).
Q: Do you have any other plans for ICoS?
A: We had talked about some things, for instance “DVD Commentary” of chapters like S.U. Pacat did for The Captive Prince on her livejournal or other “omake”/extra and fun side notes about background of the series. If anyone is interested in that sort of thing, let us know.
For now, Ais is posting ICoS-related tidbits at her blog ‘The Inner Workings of an Ais,’ found at https://aisness.wordpress.com/.
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