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The Leviathan Chronicles: The
Last Stand at Aeprion
by James Mascia
Welcome to the Virtual Tour for The Leviathan Chronicles by James Mascia. I asked James to comment on how he does his world building. I hope you will enjoy his post as much a I have. Now here is James.
How I Did My World Building
The Leviathan
Chronicles is like a classic pulp science fiction story. So, in order to
build the world for it, I essentially started from the bottom floor and build
level after level on top of it. Through the fifteen years since I started the
project and finally published one of the stories, it has actually had a number
of versions.
When I started on The
Leviathan Chronicles, it was originally intended as a Star Wars fan
fiction. It was set in the Star Wars universe, yet included none of the
traditional characters from the movies or books. This idea quickly fell away,
to be replaced with a story, set in our galaxy, but in which Earth is a distant
memory and humans are a minority. Then, it changed yet again, to include Earth,
but an Earth unlike the one we know today, where thousands of years ago colony
ships were sent out thousands of years ago in the hopes of averting the
extinction of the human race, and then forgotten and humanity miraculously
survived back on Earth. It is in this last version of my world that the current
stories are set.
So, the question remains, how did I build my world? The
answer to that is easy. I didn’t.
I know it sounds strange, but hear me out. I start with
several ideas.
In The Last Stand at
Aeprion, I started with the idea of a man searching for a fabled living
planet. Even when I wrote this story fifteen years ago, that was all I started
with, this simple idea. I thought it would be fun to have a character that was
like Indiana Jones in space. So, I started the story (even as I rewrote it
recently for publishing) with essentially a blank canvas. That canvas quickly
got filled in. My character, Joel, was from Earth, which is still thriving, but
overcrowded, so he wanted to leave. He travels with his wife, who convinces him
to search for this godlike living planet, and in the process they come across
an alien hunter, who then becomes obsessed with having them as trophies on his
wall.
So, yes, I suppose I did build my world, but I did so as I
was writing the story, filling it in with the essentials as I went. This is
definitely not the traditional way of doing things (or so I’m told), especially
for science fiction. Many authors have things plotted out piece by piece. Some
authors have whole maps with details of planets and peoples on different worlds
before they even put pen to paper. Now, I do have things like that, however, I
add them to my journal as I come up with them.
I do it this way because I want things to be spontaneous. I
can change the direction of my story in any way I want (and I usually do). So
for me, having my world fixed until it is written on the paper doesn’t work
with me. But once it’s written, it’s set in stone. For instance, when I revisit
Aeprion in future stories (which I will), I will be using what I wrote for this
story to build that world further.
Where will it take me, I don’t even know yet. But for me,
that’s part of the fun of writing the story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Still reeling from his wife's murder, Joel tries to escape the alien
hunter and fulfill a promise he made to her. Years of searching for the fabled
planet, Aeprion, has left the space freighter captain torn between giving up
the search or giving himself up to Kraxem, an alien hunter.
When
Kraxem and his minions attack Joel's ship again, he is forced into the nebula,
where he'll have to do repairs. Once there, his thoughts revert back to the
final day of Kate's life and the promises that were made. Learning to come to
terms with her loss and release the guilt that he feels will be a hard battle
to fight, but giving up will prove to be even more difficult and, perhaps,
deadly.
Steeling
his resolve to forge on, Joel vows to find the fabled living planet before
guilt devours his soul and all is lost.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My Thoughts On Leviathan Chronicles
I enjoyed the Leviathan Chronicles. Often I do not like books with multiple flash backs but in Leviathan Chronicles it works really well. This is action, adventure and loss than many of us can identify with. It is not a long book. The plot is real Space Opera with a touch of more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT
Joel ran from the cargo bay to make a beeline for
the cockpit. “We’ll talk about this later.” Then he addressed the computer.
“Wanderer, raise shields and start the engines.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Kate was two steps behind him. “What are you going
to do?”
“Clean up your mess, as usual.” He jumped into the
pilot’s seat and grabbed the controls. “Hold on!”
Through the viewport, Joel found himself staring
down the barrel of a particularly nasty-looking plasma cannon. Behind that
cannon stood a group of aliens with yellow, wrinkled skin over a wide-stretched
head and bulbous eyes sticking out at each side.
One of these aliens, who appeared to be in command
by the way he was barking orders at the others, wore a cape that flapped in the
gusts being created by the revving engines. This particular alien glared at him
with a piercing stare that seemed to bore into his skull.
“Would that be the other interested party?” He
toggled some switches, helping the engines cycle up faster.
“Yeah, that’s him.”
“I think he really wants that rock.”
The ship shuddered again and the viewport filled
with a blinding light as the cannon fire struck the shields. Alarms beeped
rapidly on the console until Joel slammed his fist down on it.
“I take it back. He wants to kill us, and then he
wants the rock.”
“Shields down to 60 percent,” Kate warned.
Another shot hit the shields, setting off another
round of blaring alarms.
“35 percent.”
Joel stared at the alien. Having never encountered
this particular species before, he wasn’t an expert at reading their facial
expressions. But if he had to describe what he was looking at, he would have
said it was unchained rage.
“Open the loading ramp and drop that stupid rock
out.”
Kate glared at him in disbelief. “What? No!”
Joel spun in his chair to face her. “I’m assuming
you’ve already scanned the hieroglyphs on it, right?”
Kate nodded, her bottom lip quivering, knowing what
he was about to tell her.
“Then we don’t need it anymore. This guy obviously
wants it, and is willing to do anything to get it. And since I don’t want to
die today, let’s let him have it.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and
Links:
He
fights evil across the known universe and crushes them between his fingers (at
least, he does this with his words).
James
Mascia is an accomplished writer with a bestselling series, High School Heroes,
as well as a bestselling graphic novel, The Poe Murders. He has always been a
fan of sci-fi, and is glad to be delving back into the galaxy once again.
James
teaches in Maryland, where he also writes. He has a lovely wife and a tiny
terror (a two-year-old) driving him mad, but making him laugh.
Check
out some of his other work below:
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April 13:
Long and Short
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April 14:
Lilac Reviews - review
April 15:
Independent
Authors
April 16:
Lisa
Haselton's Reviews and Interviews
April 17:
Archaeolibrarian
- I dig good books! - review
April 20:
Straight from the
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April 21:
Unabridged
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April 22:
Mixed
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April 23:
CBY Book Club
April 24:
Kit 'N Kabookle
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