Worlds of Fantasy with Author David Brown

Today we have another guest stopping by, author David M. Brown is visiting as part of his blog tour for his book Fezariu's Epiphany.  He will be discussing the fascinating topic of building a fictional fantasy world. 

And all you lucky commenters get a chance to win a $25 gift certificate from Amazon, as that prize will be given away at the end of his tour (so be sure to check out the rest of his stops and comment for more chances to win).  So now on with the show, and David...

World Builders

One day in 1999 I was a college student who suddenly became a god. As you can imagine this sort of thing does take one by surprise but don’t worry, this wasn’t a visitation from some celestial being, it was the start of my fictitious world – Elenchera. Hours spent immersed in Final Fantasy VII on the Playstation and an introduction to Norse mythology had triggered the god within me and I knew it was time to create a world that would form the background to a series of novels.

Creating a world is no small feat and that’s just me being honest and not showing off! There are no right or wrong answers but, for me, I began by drawing a world map. I have no qualifications from the University of Cartography and my first world map was an undoubted work of naivety. Some squiggles that were mostly green with some yellow bits for deserts, brown pointy bits for mountains and let’s not forget that blue stuff that takes ages to colour in because it’s the ocean! Yes, my first world map was some simple lines coloured in with crayons but it was a start and once I’d started naming the individual lands the history began to take shape. Geographical features alone can dictate the history of your world. Are islands and continents near each other always going to be friends? If you have monarchs hungry for war then where better to start than your nearest neighbours when extending your kingdoms? The placing of towns also depends on your geography. Not many, if any, will be in the desert or mountains: the terrain isn’t the easiest to settle in and don’t forget the need for your locals to have access to water in the form of rivers and lakes. This very basic approach is how I began Elenchera, all seemingly obvious stuff but I knew it had to be right.

Once those maps were done - and over time there have been 500+ - I thought about world creation from a metaphysical point of view. There have been many myths about how our world started so I drew inspiration from them and chose the route of a god that created Elenchera with the assistance of a group of servants. A simple approach but it worked well in shaping the early centuries of Elenchera especially when I threw in a rebellion and war fought between the principal deity and his now former servants, the traditional good versus evil struggle. That war was fought on a huge landmass known as Elenchera but in the aftermath the world was broken up into twenty-three separate lands each with their own unique societies. Moving between each of the lands was time-consuming but essential.

I have a great love of history so being able to create my own from scratch was a privilege rather than an ordeal. I read Cassell’s World History from cover to cover, to understand early settlement and the progress of civilisations that rise to power and suffer inevitable falls from grace. This has happened all over the world at some point. We have the capacity to become powerful but can never hang onto it forever. With that book as reference I took each land in turn and imagined settlers first arriving there and building their first towns, slowly making their way across the terrain and building new settlements as and where geographical constraints would allow. You’ll find once you’ve taken these early steps the rest soon follows. You’ll have times of peace, war between nations, rebellions, journeys of discovery, advances in science and agriculture, maybe even your own Renaissance periods or Golden Ages for architecture or rises in popularity of literature. The possibilities are endless. I’ve spent more than ten years building Elenchera and it stands at 2,000+ pages and more than 47,000 years of history. Some may call me mad but I just smile and say I never knew madness could be so much fun!

Author Bio:

David M. Brown was born in Barnsley in 1982 and first conceived the idea of Elenchera in college. His love of history and English led him to read these subjects at Huddersfield University. David is inspired by medieval history, Norse mythology and Japanese role-playing video games and anime films. He lives in Huddersfield with his wife Donna and their six rescue cats.


You can find more of David and Elenchera over at these websites:

The Elencheran Chronicles: http://elenchera.com/

The World According to Dave: http://blog.elenchera.com/

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/elenchera
http://www.facebook.com/fezariu

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/elenchera

Fezariu's Epiphany

The White Oak, Clarendon’s oldest brothel, lured and destroyed men by the thousands. Fezariu was different. He had never been drawn by the White Oak’s vices but the brothel had still ruined him when he was just a boy.

Salvation came in the form of the Merelax Mercenaries – Elenchera’s most prestigious hired hands. They gave Fezariu the chance to escape from his past. Immersed in the world of dangerous assignments in the colonies Fezariu longed to forget everything about his childhood but only in facing the past would he ever be free of it.

Excerpt:

Prologue-

A sudden lull in the snowfall allowed the overhanging moon to bask the valley in its nocturnal splendour. Fezariu’s gaze fell upon the crystalline glitter on the surface of the snow and he felt a slight ironic smile come to his numb lips as he absorbed this intricate beauty in the midst of countless fading lives. In his arms, Tessera awoke and now seemed oblivious to the mortal wound she had suffered in the battle the mercenaries had so decisively lost.

"Do you remember when we first trained with General Bayard, Fezariu?" Tessera asked, briefly closing her eyes, causing tears to run down her face, their trace briefly alleviating the bitter and enveloping cold.

"My erstwhile teacher with selective hearing," Fezariu replied with a wry smile. "How could I forget?"

When Tessera failed to respond, Fezariu began to feel her edging closer to delirium. Her questions became frequent though she awaited no response or acknowledgement of any kind from Fezariu.

"Do you remember sitting on the wall overlooking Redemption with Vintaro and smoking Mizuansi?" Tessera asked, between painful coughs. "I can still see the luminous stars through the myriad of colours rising from the bowls of our pipes. The seemingly endless conflict throughout the streets was over and with it the rebellion. The city stood subdued and silent save for the foundations of the tallest buildings that still trembled in the aftermath of the devastation. Do you remember the torches that lit up the harbour at Strathmore? Our journey to Clarendon changed everything. We should never have gone there. It was never the same after that. Do you remember, Fezariu?"

 

You can find the complete schedule of dates for David M. Brown's Blog Tour here:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2011/06/virtual-book-tour-fezarius-epiphany-by.html



Fantasy, Dreams and Heroes: A Review of Becoming

My Review of Becoming by Marc Johnson:

I found the book an allegorical and metaphorical banquet, full of symbolism, with many of its characters standing as fantasy archetypes. Part myth, part dark fable, Becoming by Marc Johnson is a swirling gathering of lyrical thoughts, characters and images dancing outward in a non-linear story.

Becoming follows the quests of several characters: a boy, his father and their companion, a sister and brother and a hero as they wander through dreams and darkness. They embrace and fight against destiny but are inevitably drawn to their fate.

The book is a wonderful exposition that muses on the concept of the epic fantasy, while telling a rousing tale of good and evil laced with a sense of the unreal. It is a caprice of obscure complexity that makes your head spin (in a good way). Threads of thought on culture, religion, human nature and society seem to float through the pages as well, sweeping into the mix and blending well.

The book is poetic prose, imagery, parable, and character study strung along a twisting surreal road, and the narrative is beautiful to read. I had no problems with the existential nature of this book, but it may not be for all tastes. But if you are in the mood for a mind-bending, thought-provoking voyage, I recommend Becoming.

Interview with a Sci-fi Author

Welcome to Science Fiction Day here at the blog, as I present my interview with Jerry Travis, author of the time-traveling sci-fi series, The Safety Factor:

1. Tell us about your science fiction series, The Safety Factor.
This trilogy, all three books being released more or less simultaneously, is the story of three early 18th century women, who are thrust into the modern world. Two of the women are basically aristocrats, having come directly from Queen Anne’s court. The third is really not much more than a very intelligent peasant girl, who is trying to escape a sordid background.

2. Several people are listed as editors or contributors for those books. Is this series a collaborative effort?

Yes, this is a collaborative work. Since the story revolves around three women, I needed a lot of feminine input to make it work. Indeed, a lot of what my collaborators came up with, shocked even me! Though I’m writing fiction, I try to make things as realistic as possible. I seldom invent anything in the way of human relationships. Most of the personal interactions going on between the characters are based on actual, real-life experiences. Names have been changed, of course, as well as a little Hollywood style “compression” (combining two or more characters into one so that the audience doesn’t get lost in a multitude of identities to keep track of).

3. Why did you decide to write in the science fiction genre?

First of all, I like science fiction! Secondly, the story deals with poignant social issues, which most people would prefer to ignore, despite how prevalent they are in human society. Probably about the best way to address such issues, without losing your audience, is to present them in a science fiction setting. This helps distance the reader from sensitive topics, allowing them to keep an open mind. For instance, the original 1960’s Star Trek is credited with the first inter-racial kiss shown on TV. And remember the half-black, half-white episode? This was the only way to get these things past the network sensors at the time.

4. What is the hardest part of writing in the science fiction genre?

This genre isn’t particularly difficult for me to write in. I’ve got quite a background in science and technology, and science fiction has always been my favorite recreational genre. Good science fiction takes the frontiers of what we now understand of the world around us and speculates about the various places we humans may end up as that knowledge continues to develop. This is my opinion, anyway.

Consequently, some scientific information needs to be introduced into the story. Since your reader may be anyone from a teenager (or even pre-teen in some cases) to a scientist, you can’t assume your reader is familiar with the scientific concepts you’re using. Even if there are a scientist, they may not be familiar with all the branches of science, and in particular the ideas you’re using. So, it’s quite a challenge to present the concepts in such a way that your young readers can understand, and yet not offend the scientist intimately familiar with your topic.

5. Why did you decide to use time travel as a plot device for The Safety Factor?

This may make The Safety Factor story line sound boring, but believe me, it isn’t. My main reason for time travel was to bring human beings together from three different time periods (past, present and future), with their perspectives of the world intact. It’s one thing to talk about how things were in the past. It’s quite another thing to actually be a person from the past and have to struggle with concepts you simply don’t understand.

Believe it or not, almost all of our “modern” view of the world is squarely based on 17th century thinking. I felt the only way to truly understand why we view the physical world around us as we do, is to “become” a person from the 18th century, when scientific thinking had become generally accepted, at least within the intellectual circles of the time. We take so much for granted about how we view the universe around us, that we’ve forgotten where these ideas came from, and what they were based on.

For example, almost all of these 17th century thinkers believed in an “omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent” God. This includes Sir Isaac Newton, Gottfried Liebnitz, and even René Descartes. These beliefs were considered indisputable at the time, and are still - down to this day - incorporated into our “scientific” view of the world.

For instance, take the concept of infinity in mathematics. In my opinion, this is a “holdover” from 17th century (and earlier) thinking that’s never been reevaluated. It is an expression of their omni-x God, whose existence could not be questioned. But in the light of what we know of the universe now, are such concepts even reasonable? The current thinking says there was a definite beginning to the universe (the Big Bang) and there is a speed limit to how fast anything can move (Einstein’s speed of light limitation), so the universe can only be so big. On the other end of the spectrum, Quantum Mechanics seems to indicate there is a “granularity” to space and time, a minimum scale by which anything may be measured. Even Stephen Hawking leans towards the idea of there being a minimum length (the Plank length). Even if God does exist, there is no need for him/her/it to be “omni” anything. It does not require an infinite God to create a finite universe, any more than it requires an infinite person to create an artificial reality. A finite god would suffice to create our finite universe.

All of our science is based wholly on mathematics, the science of measurement. So if our universe is neither infinitely vast, nor resides within space that is infinitely divisible, why do we still think in these terms? Why is infinity still an integral part of mathematics, such as calculus, or even basic number theory for that matter? (In all fairness, there is a branch of mathematics called “discrete mathematics”, which has abandoned the concept of infinity, but this is not normally used in the mainstream and indeed is taught far less than calculus. Incidentally, Newton and Liebnitz “independently” developed calculus in the 17th century.)

We can’t really objectively examine our current “scientific” view of the world without going back and examining where these ideas came from. I thought a good way to do that would be in a fictional setting where people from different eras could interact with each other. That is what I’ve tried to create throughout the Safety Factor series.

6. How did you research your books?

Though I write fiction, I do spend a good deal of time researching what I write. This is important, not only for the suspension of disbelief, but for the ideas you’re trying to present as well. I’m not the sort of writer who writes just to turn a buck. I write to convey ideas, and I know there are a lot of readers out there who want to be exposed to new and different ideas. There are so many well-written, entertaining and informative books out there, why waste your time with books that merely provide entertainment?

When I’m writing, I use my own library, dictionaries and even the internet to do most of the impersonal (fact based) research. I like to seek out real-life events for human relationships, getting most of them from personal one-on-one interviews. I’ve used at least a dozen of my own books to research The Safety Factor series, half of which I acquired just for this project. If I’m in a hurry, the internet can be a good source, especially the Wikipedia, which I’ve used many times (http://en.wikipedia.org).

7. Do you write in any other genres than science fiction?

Yes. I write non-fiction technical books. My latest work along those lines was published in 2006. It’s a 400 page technical training guide for the information technology field. I have some published papers as well.

8. What other books have you written?

For fiction, I’ve only written The Safety Factor series so far. I’m very comfortable with it and will probably continue it for some time. Here’s the current list of available books:

The Safety Factor: The Use of Power
The Safety Factor: The Cost of War
The Safety Factor: Beyond Perfection

9. Is there another book upcoming in The Safety Factor series? Do you have any other projects forthcoming?

Yes, there is another Safety Factor book in the works, though it will probably be some time before it’s published. It will be titled: “The Safety Factor: The Great Lady”. There’s another book I have in mind, more of a YA type science fiction book. The latter is about an encounter between a time traveler and a Pacific Northwest Indian tribe near the turn of the 19th century. The wayward traveler meets and influences a young Indian, who becomes Chief Seattle in later life. The working title is: “Princess Featherhead” and may be changed (not that she is a “featherhead”, but likes to wear feathers in her hair – she is a bit of a featherhead, though).


Curious about Jerry?  Here's a short bio in his own words:

Hello.
My name is Jerry Travis. I’m a third generation storyteller. Both my grandfathers were excellent storytellers. As it child I used to listen to them for hours. My father also told many stories, and as he got older tended to tell the same ones over and over again (to our exasperation at times, especially his stories of WWII). I had never until the past few years thought of myself as a storyteller or a writer, until I started "The Safety Factor" project. In my line of work as an Information Technology (IT) professional, I have written a tremendous amount of technical documentation and training materials. My last major work along these lines was an inch thick, 400 page technical training manual. Don't let that scare you off though, as my fictional writing is very human and down to earth. The attention to detail I've learned throughout my career makes for very realistic and pleasurable reading.

My father was an Army lieutenant in WWII and directly helped bring some of the V-2 rocket technology from Germany over to the United States. He continued on in the military after the war, transferring to the National Guard where he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Simultaneously, he worked at The Boeing Aircraft Company for 30 years until his retirement in 1983. While at Boeing, he worked almost exclusively on government “black” projects as a mechanical and electrical engineer.

After I graduated from college with a Bachelor of Science degree (mathematics and computer science), I embarked on a rather unremarkable career working for the State of Washington in the IT field for 18 years. Then I got a chance to join a small IT consulting company in California and moved there with my wife and two sons. From the San Francisco bay area I entered into an ever enlarging world of technology and politics that took me all the way to Washington DC.

Some of the more interesting places I've consulted for are: The Aerospace Corporation, Bechtel Nevada, Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Justice - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Department of Justice - Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Fluor Hanford, HRL Laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Social Security Administration (SSA), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Uranium Disposition Services (UDS), and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).

This experience has given me many stark insights into science, government and politics, which I like to pass on to my readers. I'm sure you will find what I have to say about the real world we live in - presented under the guise of science fiction - as it must be - quite illuminating.

You can check out Jerry and his books at Goodreads and MySpace.

Guest C.L. Talmadge discusses "Writing a fiction series".

Please welcome my guest today, C.L. Talmadge, author of the Green Stone of Healing book series. She has a fascinating discussion in store for you readers, as she shares insights on writing a fiction series
Don't forget to comment for your chance to win a copy of her book set.




Writing a fiction series
By C.L. Talmadge

A series is what happens to fiction when the story is just too big to stuff into one book. What is old about fiction is new again.

During the 19th century, many of the novels we know today started out as serialized stories in daily or weekly broadsheets or monthly magazines. Two instantly recognizable examples are the works of Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s profiles of his famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. These authors were paid initially by the word or the column inch, which encouraged them to be prolific writers.

Their readers expected Dickens and Doyle to unroll their tales in stages and looked forward to the next installment. Serialized fiction gained new life in the late 20th century with two publishing phenomena, the Harry Potter and Left Behind series. Both of these showed publishers yet again that diverse sets of readers are willing to absorb fiction a bit at a time instead of all at once.

A fiction series is probably better suited to 21st century readers precisely they do not have to spend a great deal of time with each step of the plot. After all, there are blogs, fantasy sports, Facebook, movies, online news, text messaging, Twitter, YouTube and so forth demanding their attention, too.

The challenge for writers of serialized fiction is to give readers enough to feel satisfied yet hold more of the story in reserve to keep them tantalized. This is a delicate balance and there’s simply no formula for it. How it works out depends entirely on the plot. The easiest, most prevalent kind of fiction series features a character, very often a police detective or private gumshoe, with numerous cases to solve, each case forming a separate novel.

But it is possible to write one long story as a series, too. In this case, the tales that are best for serialization have lots of ups and downs, and twist and turns, offering numerous points at which the protagonist(s) face some sort of danger, challenge, or quandary. Ending at any one of these spots leaves some questions resolved and others still to be answered, inducing frustration and anticipation.

Several hundred manuscript pages into the first draft of what I thought would be one novel, I realized it had to be a series. The Green Stone of Healing® speculative epic was born. The series is really two parallel tales. The first is an old woman’s fictionalized memoire narrated in the third-person past tense. This is by far most of the story.

It is prefaced and followed, however, by first-person, present-tense short sakes about her current perils. This two-track structure is possible only when the author knows how the story ends. Readers also know how it ends (badly), but that is not as important as why it ends so terribly. And thanks to the memoire writer’s running accounts of her current challenges, they also know that hope survives. That is important when times are dark.

Another challenge in writing a series like this is the sheer number of characters involved over four generations and multiple countries. I began a glossary in the first book, and add to it with each subsequent book. Many times I refer to the glossary myself when writing about certain characters, just to refresh my memory about that character’s likely political affiliations and attitude toward the heroine.


Although crafting a compelling series makes fiction even harder than normal, it can also make it more rewarding, too. A series gives an author the luxury of character development over time and of exploring questions, like the why behind the what, that one-book works simply cannot or do not accommodate.

C.L. Talmadge is the author of the Green Stone of Healing® speculative epic. The fourth in the series, Outcast, will be published Oct. 1. Vote for the first book, The Vision, through Sept. 25 and get a free e-book on healing, love, and spirituality. Details at her blog: www.healingstonebooks.com/stonescribe

The Green Stone of Healing: The series features four generations of strong-willed female characters who inherit a mysterious green gem ultimately revealed to mend broken bones and broken hearts, protect against missiles, and render its wearers undetectable.
For more information about each book, please visit http://www.greenstoneofhealing.com/








You can check out her entire virtual book tour here:
http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2009/08/virtual-series-tour-green-stone-of.html