An Introduction to Martiniere Stories
All about this Substack--the World of the Martiniere Legacy
Hi everyone! This Substack is a collection of assorted pieces of the Martiniere Legacy world that either don’t fit into what I’m working on, are simply outtakes from that world, or are serialized rough draft versions of the current Martiniere Legacy book.
In the links you’ll find the completed rough draft version of The Enduring Legacy, called Repairing the Legacy here. The current Martiniere story in serialization is The Cost of Power, a story from the Martiniere Multiverse where Ruby learns who Gabe really is much earlier in their relationship—and what happens from there. Gabe’s relationship with his father Philip is quite different in this book.
At some point I will probably gather the short stories into an anthology.
So what is The Martiniere Legacy? From my webpage:
ABOUT THE MARTINIERE LEGACY
The Martiniere Legacy consists of a core trilogy (Inheritance, Ascendant, Realization) and several related works set either before or after the trilogy (The Heritage of Michael Martiniere, Broken Angel: The Lost Years of Gabriel Martiniere, Justine Fixes Everything: Reflections on Mortality). Except for the Trilogy, they are best viewed as interrelated works rather than a straight linear progression.
THE MARTINIERE LEGACY MAIN SERIES
Inheritance, Ascendant, Realization, The Enduring Legacy
The first three books of the Legacy are from the perspective of Ruby Barkley, the first and third wife of Gabriel Martiniere, and introduces the reader to the world of the Martinieres. Through the course of these first three books, Ruby learns that her ex-husband Gabe is not exactly who she thought he was during their first marriage–and that he is an heir to a toxic but powerful legacy that goes back centuries, to the Medicis and Borgias. Advanced agricultural technology and how it’s funded is a part of the Trilogy, as is a future where debt lands debtors into indentured servitude–often for life. And once one becomes indentured, there’s no protection against being the object of experimentation, including mind control programming, cyborging, and cloning. Another aspect is high-level political and corporate scheming as Gabe attempts to reclaim his heritage as the Martiniere, the head of both the Martiniere Family and the privately held family conglomerate, the Martiniere Group.
Ruby is a rancher, researcher, and former rodeo queen. She loves her northeastern Oregon Double R Ranch and her horses. The Double R and her horses kept her sane during her awful divorce from Gabe, and it provided a living for her and their son Brandon. And, as Ruby becomes more intertwined with the world of the Martinieres and Gabe’s heritage, the Double R becomes a refuge for the Martinieres who desire to break away from that toxic family history. The first three books chronicle the events which lead to the establishment of the Double R as a Martiniere refuge, and the rise of Ruby’s influence within the Martiniere Family and the Martiniere Group.
The Enduring Legacy can be read by itself, and has alternating viewpoints between Ruby and Gabe. It covers the thirteen years after Gabe becomes the Martiniere, and the ongoing struggle by Ruby and Gabe to correct Philip’s legacy by establishing their own, positive version.
It’s possible to buy the Series as an ebook set from Amazon. Link here.
There is a second series focusing on individual characters, The People of the Martiniere Legacy. Those books include Broken Angel: The Lost Years of Gabriel Martiniere, The Heritage of Michael Martiniere, and Justine Fixes Everything: Reflections on Mortality.
Here’s the Amazon series link for the People of the Martiniere Legacy—they are also available at other major ebook distributors. Link.
A third series that rose out of an incident in The Enduring Legacy (as well as Gabe’s final viewpoint in Legacy) is the Martiniere Multiverse. This includes the A Different Life subseries (A Different Life: What If, A Different Life: Now. Always. Forever.) and the current book in serialization, The Cost of Power. The Multiverse looks at “what if” scenarios where things could have happened differently. The A Different Life subseries explores the scenario where Gabe’s family didn’t die in a plane crash when he was twelve. Link here.
The Cost of Power (now serializing) looks at what would have happened had Gabe told Ruby who he really was four years into their relationship, just before they marry and while she’s pregnant with their son Brandon.
Power will probably be completed and released this fall (2023), before the serialization concludes.